What's for dinner?

[houseelf]

Can we start another discussion about what you all are making for dinner tonight or what is normal fare. I get a lot of ideas from you all. Preferably share your quick and easy stuff...we don't do too much fancy fare around here.

Typical dinners in our household:

-Jennifer Hussey's Stir Fried Rice
-BLTs, soup, and fruit salad
-Pigs in a blanket
-premade chicken cordon bleus
-George Foreman grilled chicken (marinated in Newman's Balsamic Vinegar)
-sphagetti
-hobo dinners (Idaho baked potatoes with hamburger, veggies, cheese)
-package of cheese tortellin tossed with shrimp, butter, and lemon juice

Please share your ideas!

Kelly

[Auspicious]

Because we're trying to eat better and because I've had a few extra days off around the holidays, we're actually making things from recipies and perishables this week.

Last night we had nichoise salads, except spelled correctly . Lots of red-leaf lettuce and cubed tomatoes topped with half a large potato for each of us (cubed and boiled and cooled) and then little bits of each of egg, tuna, black olives, capers, and anchovies. It was supposed to have green beans but I forgot them until it was too late. The dressing was equal parts lemon juice, white vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil, with basil and salt&pepper, all put in a little tupperware and shaken hard. Good stuff--the dressing went especially well with the potato bits.

Tonight we're having an asparagus pasta thingy--angel hair, cut asparagus, and sauted mushrooms with a dijon-mustard based sauce.

Oooh, and Saturday we had Boca burgers on those giant bun-sized english muffins. G had avocado on his (actually we would both crawl across broken glass for avocado 8) ) but I stuck to lettuce and tomato and condiments.

Normally we are regulars at our local Subway franchise and we have a lot of meals that are some combination of pasta + a little chicken or italian sausage + vegetable + sauce all tossed together. We get a lot of mileage out of that one.

[SueC]

Last month, I was all about those frozen meals that have the meat and veggies in them and you just throw them in a skillet for 10-15 minutes. I'm going to always keep them on hand so it will save me from ordering out in a pinch.

Last night I made meatballs with egg noodles in a sour cream sauce--the recipe was on the back of the noodles and took less than 30 minutes to make, including the meatballs from scratch. I served it with a can of corn and refrigerated dinner rolls. That's about as good as it gets in my house.

I keep bags of frozen veggies that will be good in a stir fry on hand, then I can stir fry some chicken, throw in the veggies and some sauce, and steam some rice.

Meatloaf--put it in a pie pan (so it is round and flat) and it cooks in 30 minutes. Throw that with any veggie and mashed potatoes or bread and you've got dinner.

Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread.

Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Great if you forget to defrost any meat.

Here's a yummy recipe I got from an ex-boyfriend. Cut up and cook chicken, throw it in a 9X13 pan with 1 c. instant rice, 1 c. water, 1c. sour cream, 1 can cream of celery (or mushroom) soup, and 1 c. cheese. It's probably not very healthy, but it is very tasty!

Here's another one I've been making lately called "ladle it on lasagna". Cook those "mini-lasagna" noodles. On each plate, place noodles, then spaghetti sauce, and spoon ricotta and parmesean cheese on top.

I also have a cookbook called "Fix It and Forget It" that has tons of crock pot recipes that are good.

Good idea Kelly--I'll have to think about what else I make that is quick and easy.

Well, tonight's dinner is more time intensive. It's my post-partum spaghetti sauce (yes, wishful thinking on my part). I call it that because it's the meal I take to post-partum friends. It's sort of a caccitore style sauce with turkey sausage and lots of big olives. It makes about 4-5 dinners worth so we'll have one meal tonight and the remainder in the freezer for those dreary post-partum lack-of-food nights when I can't eat another bowl of cereal.
Otherwise...we are having red beans and rice (really easy, cooked with coconut milk and so yummy. I'll try to post the recipe.
Quesadillas with black beans, avocado, and goat cheese. ([/i]Goat cheese....so fancy!).
Lentil stew/soup that is also pretty easy to make and that Bryn loves. It's also easy to dress up a can of lentil soup with some sauteed veggies.
And I'm missing another night so I'm sure that means we will go out!

[Meenah]

I love my crock pot!! You can put anything in it.

I love salads, the bagged prewashed kind, I mix half mixed lettuces (whichever is on sale) and half spinach (also prewashed). I add fessh fruit, toasted nuts, and cheese. It all depends on what is in the house. Tonight it is pumpkins seeds, pears, and gorgonzola cheese. Toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can add leftover chicken breast or London broil.

[houseelf]

These are great, I thought of some more:

salmon patties: one can salmon (go through and carefully debone), one egg, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 chopped onion fried in olive oil.

Sauteed portabellos with red peppers and onions over cous cous

Tacos

Easy chicken stew: Bring noodles and pre-shredded carrots to boil in 2 cans chicken broth, add can of chicken with juices. Finish by adding a tsp of flour to thicken. Very yummy.

KB

[mommax3]

I also have that "Fix It and Forget It" crockpot cookbook and I love it. I made a beef bourguignon stew out of that last night since it has been in the TEENS for temps down here.....I know that is nothing to some of you, but it is pretty unusual for us. The stew was easy and delicous, although I did gag a little as I was browning 2 pounds of stew meat around 7:30 yesterday morning. I served it over egg noodles and even my kids loved it.

Stouffers has a chicken cordon bleu pasta that my kids like.....they love those frozen chicken cordon bleu things but I got worried about the amount of fat they have. This pasta dish isn't alot better, but enough to make me feel less guilty.

I am planning on making a chicken curry tomorrow....I already have the cooked chicken in the fridge. I had frozen it earlier when I had some leftover from another recipe. I like making this because I just make the curry and then individuals can add whatever they want to....I put out shredded cheddar, green onions, peanuts, and crushed pineapple, and serve the meat stuff over rice.

We also have some leftover ham from a New Year's meal.....I think I will make a ham, potato, and cheese thingie in the crockpot, depending on what I find in my trusty cookbook.

We have spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad or steamed broccoli a lot.

Eggs are always good in a pinch, and my kids would be seriously behind on their veggie intake if not for baby carrots.

That is all I can think of at the moment, but if I think of more I will post them. If it ain't easy, I don't make it, that's for sure.

Sally

[SuzySunshine]

Crock-pots...I have one and have barely used it! Can you recommend a good website or other cookbooks for recipes? I'm a recipe type of cook - my husband can just throw things together and it looks great, but I'm not like that! Since he is still in med school we can actually take turns cooking for the most part, the better meals are always the nights he cooks! I guess we won't have that luxury next year, of course I'll probably be doing a lot of eating alone anyway!

How about baked potatoes with cottage cheese, steamed broccoli, cheese, salsa....whatever else sounds good. (Did anyone mention that yet?)

Sally, your curry idea reminded me of a really easy baked chicken recipe. I'll try to post it sometime tonight.