I need help making easy, quick dinners

I feel like I always have food in the house to make but by the time I get home I'm exhausted and just end up with cereal. DH doesnt like that too much lol

What do you make thats easy and quick and not expensive? Any leftovers would be good for lunch too!

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

You can make taco salad with those taco mixes in the mexican aisle. They even have a low sodium variety. We use turkey chop meat and put it in salad with tomatoes, cheese, and I crunch up some multigrain tortilla chips. I suppose you can add black beans too, now that I think of it.

We also have a George Foreman grill and make turkey burgers, chicken, etc. and it's SUPER fast and easy.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

my poor DH got only a handful of cooked meals when I was pregnant, I just didn't have the energy or desire to cook!

Now that I have the little one, it's difficult to cook dinner, although it's getting a little better. These are some quick and easy things I make:

I take Chicken Breasts, throw them in a pan with some olive oil. I buy pre-sliced mushrooms (or canned mushrooms), throw them in with the chicken with some chicken stock and sautee the mushrooms with the chicken.

Side of rice, and viola, dinner in less than 30 minutes.

Another staple in our house

Turkey Sausage w/peppers and onions...

Cut up sausage into bite size pieces, cook in a fying pan with some olive oil when they are close to cooked, sautee with peppers and onions. On REALLY lazy or time constrained nights, I have frozen onions and peppers in the freezer on hand and use those instead of fresh, so I don't have to cut anything.

Taco Salads

Ground Meat of your choice, packet of taco seasoning mix. Sometimes I mix that with black beans. I use the pre-bagged salads and just add some shredded cheese, a dolop of sour cream and a diced up avocado for garnish.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Shake n bake pork chops with those frozen steamer bag veggies.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Thank you! I guess I need to go to the store soon to get some basic things. All we have in my house is cereal, pasta and snacks. Those cravings really got the best of me! I need to get more meat and vegetables.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

I like to do chicken stirfry...I cut up some thin sliced chicken cutlets, sautee in a little oil...when it's cooked on the outside, I add a bag of frozen mixed veggies (anykind you like) and then add some teriyaki or soy sauce..some salt & pepper.

Pierogies- fried in some butter with onions and sour cream on the side.

Pasta with garlic & oil and Little red peper is my go to on nights I don't feel like cooking or have nothing in the house.

Turkey sausage & peppers with onions..served either with rollss to make sandwhiches or over rice.

I do cut up chicken cutlets with peppers & onions and some sofrito over rice.

Pasta & peas with garlic & oil.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Tacos are easy too!..just buy the taco box and cook the beef everything is inside the box except for the extra fixings ..cheesse sour cream

I also make hamburger helper quick and easy..grilled chicken with baked potatos are easy too

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

i posted last week and this week's menus on the thread on Food & Recipes...

Getting a rotisserie chicken from Costco ($4.99!) is great... that can give us 2-3 days of meals.

We'll usually just eat the chicken as-is for 2 nights and vary the sides:

maybe one night with rice and peas, another night with a baked potato and sliced cucumber, couscous and roasted broccoli, etc.

Then another night we'll slice some of the chicken breast and throw it on top of a big salad...

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Burgers are super easy to make. I like to load up on ground beef when it goes on sale - like at our supermarket it was $1.99/lb 2 weeks ago, so I got 4 packages.

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Another easy thing is paninis - you can do just mozzarella, tomato, & pesto... serve with mixed greens salad.

Or you can get more fun and do like chipotle chicken, avocado, & pepperjack cheese, served with kettle chips

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BBQ chicken drumsticks are super easy. Just preheat oven to 450 and rub chicken with chili powder, salt & pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, then put on some BBQ sauce (on both sides) and bake for 5 more minutes on each side. Serve that with rice & pillsbury biscuits!

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you can do greek pita pockets... i just grill chicken with my fave seasonings (lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, hot sauce, chopped garlic) and then stuff them in toasted pitas with chopped cucumber, minced red onion, feta, dill, and lemon juice.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

i love the rachel ray recipes bc they're quick and I usually have most of the ingredients and when i follow teh directions theres almost always plenty leftover for lunch the next day.

You could also make double recipes on the weekend and freeze so when you get home you just have to heat the dish up...i do this with soups, sauces and baked ziti

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Get a crockpot with a timer, set it and that is it. There are tons of recipes available and it is such a lifesaver. I dump everything in it and set it before I leave for work- it cooks all day and I get home and it is waiting for me. I use my crockpot so much in the fall/winter.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

I have a hard time cooking when I get home too.

My favorite staple is the Stovetop Bruschetta Chicken Bake (the recipe is on the Chicken Stovetop box).

So easy and quick.

I also do shake and bake pork chops.

When it's nice out - we've been grilling burgers and grilled chicken.

DH loves to cook so he does most of the cooking thankfully!

ETA - I also like making chicken fajitas - very quick and easy.

Message edited 9/22/2009 4:41:54 PM.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Mac & Cheese
Breakfast for dinner
Tuna fish & egg salad work anytime of the day in our home (although I'm not eating it until post 1st trimester if I do at all)
Baked Potato with Rot chicken
Can of soup-Clam Chowder is a hit with both of us
HTH

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

Such awesome ideas!!! I've been having my poor DH cook for the most of my pregnency... I guess I should try some of these!!! lol

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

from chop meat I make:
- chili
- meatloaf with mashed potatoes, jellied cranberry sauce and a veggie (left overs can be turned into meat sauce with peas and pasta)
- chafing dish meatballs (grape jelly and ketchup with lemon juice)
- hamburgers
- meat tacos

chicken
- get a premade chicken that is one meal
- with left overs make chicken tacos
- grilled chicken with potatoes
- lemon chicken with veg and pasta
- orange chicken with brocolli and rice
- breaded chicken cutlets
- sauted chicken with butternut squash
- chicken pad thai (thai kitchen brand box and get the extra ingredients listed on the side of the box)
- grilled chicken ceasar salad

steak can go into the broiler

fish
- salmon
- tuna melt

pasta
- lasagne
- gnocci with motzarella and veggies
- frozen pizza

I usually make a meat with either a pasta, rice or potato and a veggie. Sometimes we will do a salad with that but DS does not love salad.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners

I made dinners either on the weekends or nights where I had some energy and froze them when I was PG with my DS. You can stick them in the fridge before you leave for work so that they start defrosting.

Some of the things I liked were: Chili, bean & veggie soup, grilled chicken (on the grill- individually wrap each in saran wrap and then put in a bag),meat loaf (DH and I will make 4 and freeze them), my dad's homemade sauce (he freezes it in ziplock bags). You probably already have some favorites that can also be frozen.

For "fast" food I also like: canned lentil soup with pasta or rice, rotisserie chicken, frozen or canned veggies.

You can also make a batch of pasta or rice before the week starts so that you just have to heat.

These are also coping strategies for when the baby comes. My DS is 2 right now. I basically have about 5 minutes to get his dinner together at night when I get home (generally at 6:15p) before he starts melting down. So I need foods around that can be heated fast.

Re: I need help making easy, quick dinners