What's for DINNER???
08 June 2009
This is a question I DREAD!!
Although I do enjoy cooking, thinking of a meal that is both nutritious and delicious, every single night is SO urgh......... Especially, because it usually doesn't cross my mind until about 4:30. This either means, I have to do some quick thawing, or make a basically meatless meal. I am always looking for new recipies to try. Especially if they are mostly pantry items, or just a few ingredients....
So, why am I posting?
I am BEGGING you all.
What are your EASY, 15-30 minute meal ideas?
Recipes please. I will forever be thankful for any great ideas or recipes. (But, it may not save us from toast and jam for tonight....)
Please comment, and leave a recipe....
I am on my knees, (and it is a lot harder for this chubby prego lady to get up, so take pity on me!)
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12 comments:
Shake & Bake Pork Chops or Chicken are quick (I give the chicken a quick pan fry to help it cook quicker in the oven). Enchilada casserole is yummy and easy or cook the meat with taco seasoning and make a taco salad buffet (my hubby loved that one)! Beef tips and gravy with instant potatoes are quick if you're short on time (I use the powder mix for the gravy b/c it's no fail).
Taco salad...Cook hamburger with chopped onion. Drain. Add can of creamed corn, taco seasoning packet and drained can of kidney beans. stir and let simmer. Meanwhile, break up tortilla chips and place in bottom of bowls. cut up tomatoes, avocados, cukes, any other topping you envision. top chips with meat mixture, add shredded cheese, lettuce and top with cut up toppings (tomatoes, cados and cukes), add sour cream (or my new sour cream substitute...greek plain yogurt), taco sauce of your choice and ENJOY. This only takes about 20 minutes and is one of our favorite meals! miss you guys...and your desserts during LOST. Hope you're feeling GREAT!!
Breakfast! We (or maybe just me...) love waffles, French toast or omelets for breakfast. And they can be savory or sweet.
We go meatless a lot, but planning our weekly menu has made a HUGE difference. I know people say it all the time, and it used to drive me crazy, but it helps. Chris will even start dinner when he knows what we're having. Plus, I know what we're having for dinner so I can think about it at lunch!
One of the things I do is buy a big thing of ground beef and cook it up (seasoned with onions and such if you like), and then separate it into small portions (maybe 1/3 pound) in ziploc baggies and put them in the freezer.
Since it's already cooked, it's a matter of moments to thaw it out for tacos or spaghetti or whatever for those last-minute (or low-energy) dinners.
frozen pizza...
I've done a freezer meal swap with a few other girls from church the last few months and it has been a LIFE SAVER for me. About 6 of us get together and make 2 different meals for each family in the swap (we all have about the same family size). We all end up with a dozen differnt freezer meals in the end even though we each made 6 sets of 2 different meals. It ends up being under $4 per dinner on average so we're saving money too! We've made things like frozen pizzas, lasagne, french toast sticks, cream cheese chicken, enchiladas, and anything else you can possibly think to freeze. Some of the meals have to be put in the fridge the day before to thaw but others can defrost in the microwave and be ready to go in no time. It makes for a day or two of crazy cooking when you're preparing the meals but life is SOOOOOO much easier when you get to use them and the clean up is a breeze as well.
Chicken casserole is a quick meal here. Cook some stove top stuffing. Place it in a casserole dish. Boil some chicken breast or buy a can of already cooked and shredded chicken. Shred the chicken on top of the stuffing and smother with cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. Cover with foil and bake till hot since everything is already cooked. You can do this with rice as well.
But our fave quick meal is potato bar. We love baked potatoes and we will top it with our favorites which we always have around. Ranch dressing for Larry and scallions for me.
20 minute spaghetti.
In one put put one jar of your favorite store bought spaghetti sauce (I use a natural sauce), a half a jar of water, one bag of shredded carrotts, one bag of baby spinach, and one bag of frozen ground soy "beef". Cover it and let it simmer until the noodles are done cooking. This feeds eight kids and two adults one meal so you'll need to cut the recipe down or freeze the extra sauce.It is our favorite meal. We eat it once a week.
Sauteed Veggies
I use chopped garlic, two zucchini, Two squash, one large onion, 1 can of artichoke hearts drained, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes drained, heart healthy butter substitute, and olive oil.
Chop all the veggies except the tomatoes (I like big chunks, but the kids like the veggies smaller). Heat a very big skillet over medium/low heat. add a couple of table spoons of butter and olive oil the the pan and het until the butter is almost melted. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Then turn up the heat and add the onions and cook down a little. Add the squash and zucchini and cook for about five minutes. Add the tomatoes and artichokes and heat through. I serve it over premade cheese raviolis from the frozen food section or in a lasagna. This recipe and one bag of raviolis will feed four kids and two adults. If you use less veggies it will cook faster.
My ten minute dinner is store bought lipton side dishes and chicken. I buy the lipton side dishes with veggies in them. I boil two chicken breasts. While those are cooking I start the water for the packet except i add a half a cup of water and one pound of frozen veggies. Cover the pot and let the veggie cook while you wait for the water to boil. when it boils add the packets, reduce the heat to medium and cook half the recomended time with the lid on and the other half with the lid off. Whe it's cooked i cut up the chicken and add it to the dinner pot. two bags of lipton sides, two chicken breasts and one pound of veggies will feed 4 kids and two adults. I don't think it is actually 10 minutes, but it is pretty fast so that's what my kids have named it. It is our wednesday dinner almost every week.
Sauteed veggies and couscous
four shredded zucchini, one large onion chopped, half a pound frozen corn, chopped garlic, butter substitute, olive oil.
Heat the butter and oil over low heat, add garlic and cook for a couple of minute. Turn heat up to medium and add onions. When onions are cooked add frozen corn and and zucchini and cook until corn is cooked thru. I use a full box of couscous, but you would need less. While the corn cooks cook your couscous in a sauce pan except use broth instead of water and leave out the garlic. When the couscous is cooked add it the the vegetables and your done. This serves eight kids and two adults. It is so good some of the kids will eat an entire bowl salad to get to the entree.
I have a ton more so give me a call if you are ever out of ideas. I don't start cooking until most of the kids leave so most of my meals are quick and easy.
Oh, I forgot about the eggs. Call me when you get eggs and I'll give you some egg recipes.
I have a couple. :)
Crock-Pot Lasagna: (This does take prep work early on, but once you get it together, you can leave it be while it cooks for dinner. This is a family favorite of ours).
-Brown and drain about 1 lb. hamburger meat -add to it 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning.
-Lasagna noodles (UNCOOKED)
-1 jar Spaghetti Sauce mixed with 1/3 cup water
-1 Ricotta cheese (I think it's a 12 oz or something close).
- 1 & 1/2 cups Mozerella/Cheddar Shredded Cheese
(You can add mushrooms but we don't like them in our lasagna).
In the crockpot, spray the bottom with Pam, lay one "layer" of noodles. The add a little hamburger meat, next spaghetti sauce, a little ricotta cheese, the shredded cheese and repeat. Do that until you run out of ingredients or until you get to the top. It usually takes anywhere from 2-4 hours (on high) depending on your crock-pot and how many layers you have. It's YUMMY
The other one I love is a recipe on the side of "Campbell's Cream of Chicken"...it's a good recipe for chicken and rice casserole. I usually leave the veggies out of it though..and serve them on the side- and have bread.
Hope that helps! Infact, I may make one of these for dinner tonight! ;)
Pita Pizza! SO EASY!
-A couple of pitas
-A jar of sauce
-Bag of shredded mozzerella
-lunch meat (we like ham)
-some leftover steamed broccoli chopped up
The rest is pretty self explanatory. Just put on your sauce, add your toppings (which of course you can use just about anything leftover for your toppings). Put them on a baking sheet in an oven pre heated to 400 and cook about 10 minutes. I keep pitas, sauce and cheese on hand all the time. You can also use leftover spagetti sauce too.
Cassity, I found a version of this on the internet and I have doctored it up a little, but it is SOOOOOOO quick and easy and is a great way to use your canned food storage stuff! It is yummy with the additional toppings fo sour cream, cheese, and taco chips!
Six Can Chicken Tortilla Soup
"Delicious and EASY zesty soup recipe that uses only 6 canned ingredients! Throw away the cans and no one will know that it is not from scratch!"
INGREDIENTS
•1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
•1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
•1 (10 ounce) can chunk chicken or turkey
•1 (15 ounce) can black beans-rinsed
•1 (10 ounce) can Rotel diced tomatoes
•2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup
•season to taste with garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and fresh cilantro
DIRECTIONS
1.Pour everything into a large saucepan or stock pot. Simmer over medium heat until chicken is heated through.
2.Top with sour cream, cheddar cheese and some tortilla chips.
Love Ya!
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