I am soooo tired of trying to think of things for dinner. I love to work but during the week I need things that are quick, any suggestions. I am running out of ideas. Plus, my ds is very picky so if we can please his tender palate I will be singing......
Here is one that sounds weird, but is actually very tasty, and super quick. You get a package (or however many you want) of Ramen noodles, (I think the pork flavor is the best for this, but chicken and beef work too) and you cook them according to the instructions, but instead of putting the flavoring into the water, you first drain the noodles, and then add in the flavor, and also add sour cream. I don't use exact measurements, but I would say about a 1/3 of a cup per package. I know it sounds weird, but it is so good! It's not the healthiest meal, but it is quick, and cheap.
The crock pot is my friend on busy days. The only downfall is that you have to actually remember to thaw out the meat the day before. :roll: I make everything in it from ham and beans or soup to roast or chicken breast.
My daughter is pretty picky also, but here's one meal she loves. We don't have it often because of the fat in the sauce, but that just makes it more special to her. It's chicken fettucine. I cut up boneless chicken breasts, season with garlic, salt, pepper, and some seasoning salt and let sit in the refrigerator a couple of hours so the seasonings "sink" in good. Then I saute the chicken and cook a pack of fettucine noodles. When the chicken is done, I pour in the alfredo sauce and simmer slightly. Serve over the noodles. It's simple because I buy packaged noodles and jar sauce. The only real prep work is the chicken.
I love the crockpot because I don't have to worry about thawing meat, I toss it in frozen if that is the way I have it.
Homemade sloppy joes. Make a double batch, eat half and freeze the other half for the next week. Put it in the crock pot with a timer to cook on low 4 hours. Perfect with potato salad or chips and watermelon or a salad. How about lasagna? Baked potatoes with a variety of toppings...broccoli, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, salsa, butter, cauliflower... Do you do tacos? Probably. You can make chix breasts or chix tenders and put them in the tacos instead. Or we really like lentils and rice with our tacos instead of burger lately. It is a good change.
An easy one I tend to forget about is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I keep bags of frozen shredded meat (chicken, pork, and beef) on hand at all times. They thaw quickly and can be used with any combination of sauces, gravy, or bbq sauce. My favorite is to use the shredded beef to make a package mix of stroganoff. Much quicker and easier than the normal way to make it. I have used chicken gravy with the chicken and eaten it with mashed potatoes. This week we are using chicken in chicken enchiladas, beef in fajitas, ground beef in sloppy joes. This week, I got smart and cooked all of those 3 things on Sunday so I can have less to worry about this week. Breakfast can also be an option, scramble some eggs and serve with fruit or tomato slices. As for lasagna, sometimes I get lazy and will just cook noodles, mix in pasta sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella and heat when ready to eat.
Thanks guys. Sometimes, I just stand in the kitchen and look around. With my husbands schedule he isn't here a lot for dinner, so its just me and the kids. I don't mind cooking when he is home. But, the kids would rather just have a bowl of cereal. So, I always stand there and think hmmm what to do. Last night I gave up and we went to Moe's. Which is a treat. But, my dd broke her foot yesterday.
I use this site a lot..like 3+ times a week. It is a Atkins style eating cooking site but I add rice or noodles for my family ( sometimes I don't , I will use shredded cabbage). I have used this site for 2 years now and there are always new recipes added. http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html Here is another great site I use often. She also has 2 cookbooks. New recipes are on the HOME page ( which is what I linked to) and click on INDEX to get the recipes from her year long adventure of only crockpot cooking. When you click on a recipe she has notes at the bottom of the post and tells you if it was good or if she did something different the next time and it came out better. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
Manwich tacos or taco salad pancakes and fruit Grilled cheese and soup Jarred creamy pasta sauce, cooked and crumbled bacon over linguine grilled chickem, corn on the cob Chicken ceasar salad chicken pot pie (I make my son one with out veggies) Italian sausage and Penne pasta with jarred or home made spaghetti sauce (my fav) pizza bread (french bread with the sauce, chees and toppings) fish stick and cole slaw