Dinner does not have to be time consuming to make to be tasty!!

For the most part, I enjoy cooking. I don't enjoy cleaning up afterwards, but that's another story for another day. Over the years I have experimented with different ways to cook things. Some are very good and some are ok and some are not so great. But that is how we learn. If you want to be a better cook, you have to practice. You have to try things. You have to take risks. 

Making a tasty and healthy dinner does not have to take a lot of time or money. Take the meal in the photo for example. This is what I just had for dinner. I had a couple of hamburgers that I had thawed that needed to be cooked but I didn't really want a burger on a bun. I don't eat a lot of bread. I love bread, but I tend to save my bread eating for really good bread. Hubby only likes white bread, so all we have in the house right now is white bread and white buns.

 (Anybody have a favorite Multi-grain Bun?) 

This meal literally took about 15 minutes to make. I washed and cut up 2 small red potatoes and tossed them in a skillet with a little butter. I placed the hamburger in the same skillet but on the other side. I added salt and pepper. Then I was standing there looking at the food cooking, thinking "what can I add to this to make it more interesting?" I remembered that I bought portabella mushrooms at the store today so I grabbed a couple of those, washed them, cut them up and added them to the potatoes. The hamburger and the potatoes and mushrooms finished cooking at basically the same time, which was great. I placed the burger on one side of the plate and the potatoes and mushrooms on the other side as you see in the photo. I added some Mexican Cheese, which is a mixture of 3 different cheeses that melt really awesomely. I placed a lid on top of the plate at this point to capture the heat so the cheese would melt. Took about 1 minute, if that. The final touch was the jalapeño peppers.

1 Hamburger Patty -- This is what I had on hand. You could totally do a chicken or turkey patty or a black bean burger or whatever other substitution you like.

Quick Tip: Pat out burgers ahead of time and freeze them. I freeze them in a freezer bag with parchment paper in between. Then I can pop one off the stack if I just want one or I can thaw the entire stack (I usually make a stack of 6 burgers) in the fridge if we will be using them up quickly.

2 Red Potatoes -- Again, this is what I had on hand. Sweet Potatoes would be amazing with this and when our Zucchini start coming in, I am sure I will be making this with Zucchini. I often use Zucchini in place of potatoes for myself. I just like them a lot. I like potatoes too, but I do try to limit myself.

2 Portabella Mushrooms -- You could leave these out if you don't like mushrooms. Or you could use Peppers, Onions, Celery, Carrots; anything you like. You should always cook to your tastes. I don't think I have ever made a recipe exactly as the author wrote it. I always add my own touches.

Mexican Cheese -- Use whatever cheese you have. Cheddar, Mozzarella, Colby Jack, Pepper Jack; they all would work and taste amazing. 

Jalapeño Peppers -- I used some from a jar, but when the ones in the garden start producing, I will use those instead. I love fresh garden produce!

It literally took longer for me to type out all of the ingredients I used than it took to make this very tasty meal. It certainly took less time than it would have taken to drive to a fast food place or even have food delivered. It was also way, way better than fast food.

I challenge you to try new things, especially when it comes to cooking. It doesn't matter if you have never cooked anything before ever. Just give it a try!