{Guest Contributor} Easy Meal Planning: cooksimple by The Healthy Pantry

I’m very excited to share a post from momalamode.net’s FIRST guest contributor — my good friend, former colleague, and mom blogger extraordinaire, Pam Kirkbride.  Enjoy!

Pam Kirkbride is the editor and publisher of the New York City mom blog, Triple Threat Mommy , a social media consultant , and the mommy of two fabulous New York City girls. When she is not writing and consulting, she can be found tweeting @triplethreatmom, updating her Facebook status, Instagram-ing her latest pic and pinning on Pinterest.

As a busy mom, who is trying to be healthy, I’m attempting to figure out what I can and cannot cook. It’s hard because my staples are fried chicken cutlets, meat sauce and pasta dishes.  Not exactly a recipe for a healthy lifestyle.

While shopping in Whole Foods TriBeCa, I ran across this new (at least to me) meal kit called cooksimple Tamale Pie by the Healthy Pantry. The tagline on the box read, “Healthy Home Cooking Made Simple.”  The box also said, “Gluten-Free, Whole Foods and No Added Sugars.

You had me at “Simple.”

What I truly appreciated about this meal kit is the back of the box where it shows clear pictures of the ingredients you’ll need, and even variation suggestions.

The meal kit comes with the bean and seasoning mix, and cornbread topping mix – so all I had to purchase was the ground turkey and cheddar cheese because I already had the rest of the ingredients in my pantry (I’m sure you do, too). The instructions were simple. And in one skillet, five steps and 30 minutes — I had a complete meal ready to be eaten!

The Healthy Pantry was started by Keith Lauver and Chef Tony Sobiech .  Back in 2002, Keith went for a life insurance medical exam which revealed extremely high and dangerous numbers on his blood exam.  Determined to get healthy for himself and his family, he wanted to eat better. It was tough for him because he didn’t know how to eat healthy and doctors weren’t helpful. When Keith told Chef Tony, a friend and former colleague, about his search to eat healthy, Chef Tony told him that he also was a nutrition consultant.  Thus, the Healthy Pantry launched in June 2008 with two beliefs:

1. Healthier eating leads to better living – giving us more energy for our kids, our spouses, and ourselves!
2. People will eat healthier if it’s easy, tasty and accessible!

A family disclaimer: our girls didn’t try the cooksimple Tamale Pie because they are pretty much the-chicken-nuggets-and-pasta-kind-of-gals, but I loved it – I had leftovers for the next few days. My husband on the other hand, would have liked for the Tamale Pie to have more “kick” in flavor. Next time, I’ll add in a little bit of hot sauce to help him out.

cooksimple has seven meal kits available.  I’m definitely going to try them all. If it’s healthy and easy, I’m in!

1. Punjabi Curry
2. Tamale Pie
3. Tibetan Dal
4. Cranberry Wild Rice
5. New Orleans Jambalaya
6. Cowboy Chili
7. Asian Burger

{The author was not compensated in any way for this post. All opinions expressed are always hers.}