If you have resolved to spend less time in the kitchen this year, Annette Sturdivant is here to help you keep that resolution, with quick and easy recipes that are bound to become favorites for any busy family.

As Annette sees it, there isn’t a bit of sense in spending hours messing up every pot and pan in sight to prepare an elaborate meal when you can whip something up that tastes just as good, if not better, in a fraction of the time.

“I love to cook,” Annette says, “but only if it’s easy, easy, easy.”

The zesty, one-skillet pork chop dish that the Franklin County Farmers Federation member entered in last year’s State Pork Cooking Contest is a prime example. That super-simple recipe, which you can find at www.alfafarmers.org, won Annette the blue ribbon and a $500 cash prize.

Annette’s strong preference for quick-and-easy cooking took root in the 1970s, when she boldly ventured into the world of business and opened a women’s clothing store in downtown Russellville. With three children and a husband, Billy, who was working 40 hours a week at Reynolds Aluminum in Florence and farming on the side on their place east of Russellville, easy meals were a necessity.

Today, Annette’s still doing well with her dress shop, The Wagon Wheel, and Billy, who started farming full time not long after Annette opened her store, works hard raising poultry and beef cattle. The kids have all married, but they and the Sturdivants’ five grandchildren and one great-grandchild all live nearby, as do Annette’s mother and siblings. It’s a family that enjoys sharing meals together, so Annette still does a whole lot of cooking, and easy is as important to her now as it was three decades ago.

Enjoy these great recipes from Franklin County.