Dinner suggestions: What should we eat this week?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hi,

I’m looking for relatively quick/simple recipes that a working couple can share during the week. We’ve completely run out of ideas, and don’t want to eat out. I’ll eat just about anything, she shies away from seafood and any “tough” types of meat. She’s a capable chef, but has exhausted her family cookbook. I’m good at doing the dishes (so no messes, LOL).
On our current rotating menu:

kabobs/grilled veggies
meatloaf
pizzas/pastas (all kinds of sauces)
meat (typical fare - chicken cutlets, grilled pork/steak)
pseudo ethic stuff (mexican: tacos, fajitas, etc. Asian: stir fry, curry, etc.)

Any good wholesome family recipes you’d like to share? We don’t mind the cooking, but don’t have the time for the elaborate hour-long prep stuff that we find on most recipe sites.

TIA!

–Joe

2

Lentil soup

1 cup lentils
1 1 quart box of swansons chicken broth \pick a favorite brand of your own, make your own.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 tbsp italian seasoning [i prefer Penzeys, YMMV]
4 bratwurst or 4 frankfurters or equivalent amount of cabanossi, sopresata or genoa salami

simmer until the lentils and veggies are soft. Eat with a nice bread and tossed salad.

Dorm Soup
1 packace ramen - chicken. Break the noodles up
1 med onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
3 boneless skinless chicken thighs or 1 breast, small dice [half inch cubes]
1 quart water with flavor packet from ramen or 1 quart chicken broth

simmer until everything is cooked. Bread and salad
Farmers Breakfast, sort of … but it makes a great dinner=)
2 large idaho potatos, precooked and cut into cubes
1 large beefsteak tomato - peeled, deseeded and diced
1 small onion chopped
half cup diced ham
2 slices bacon, chopped
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
4 large eggs
4 tbsp milk

fry the bacon in a heavy skillet to extract the fat, and saute the onion. Add the ham, tomato, potato to the skillet and pour in the milk and eggs beaten together lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until the eggs are set and the veggies are heated through and serve sprinkled with the parsley.

3

Got a crockpot?

Get a brisket. Say 3 lbs. (naturally it needs to fit in the crockpot, but it’s okay to fold it)

Rub the brisket with a tablespoon or two of Liquid Smoke and put it in the crockpot fat side up

Combine: 3 tablespoons chili powder, 1-1/2 tsp. salt, 1-1/2 tsp. pepper, and about 1 tsp. of crumbled-up bay leaves

Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the brisket (i.e., the fat). Cover, cook it for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

It will be fork-tender and makes excellent sandwiches. You should be able to just scrape the fat off after you get it out of the cooker; there should also be some nice juice (you will need to strain out the soggy remnants of bay leaves). We like to have this as just meat with coleslaw & potato salad on the side–I have excellent recipes for both of those picnic standbys but frankly I usually just buy a couple of tubs of them at the store.

4

Polish sausage with green peppers and onions. Can be served as a sandwich or as a main dish.

5

You might find this book interesting.

6

We make a really easy one-pot meal with Kraft Mac and Cheese that tastes great, and is basically balanced. Take a box of Sharp Cheddar Mac and Cheese, cook it up with any frozen or fresh veggies dumped in with the noodles (we really like it with broccoli and corn), make it up as usual with the cheese package, add a can of tuna or salmon, add any extra cheeses you have around the house (cheddar, parmesan, mozza, whatever), add some sour cream or plain yogurt, add any extra spices you might want to toss in, and enjoy.

We also really like grilled chicken Caesar salads (made with a packaged salad) - also extremely easy. I like using teriyaki and soya sauce on the chicken for this salad.

That Farmer’s Breakfast sounds great, aruqvan. I will have to give that a go.

7

Have you ever heard of a mexican dish called, “Cabrito”? :slight_smile:

8

There’s my world’s famous Italian Chicken. Take one whole chicken (or pieces), plop down in crock pot. Pour bottled Italian dressing (regular or low-fat) over chicken. Cook on low three to four hours depending on how big the chicken is. If you don’t like the idea of the crock pot being on while you’re gone, this can be done at night and eaten the next day. A green salad, some good crunchy French or Italian type bread and a steamed veggie of choice makes this an excellent meal.

I do the grilled chicken caesar salad a lot. I also grill steak or pork tenderloin and top ceasar salad with that.

I’ll try to dig out and post a recipe for Polish sausage and potatoes over the weekend. This stuff makes a yummy Winter type supper.

Crock pots are great for what you’re talking about. You can make all sorts of soups and stews in 'em. They can cook overnight to have for supper the next night.

9

These are great - thanks for all the input. I’m definitely going to try some of them - we do in fact have a crockpot.

10

I have a couple of shelves of cookbooks here (because I have loved cooking for many years), but I only really use one or two of them on a weekly basis.

I get a LOT of recipes from www.recipezaar.com. There are a lot of recipe websites out there, but this is my favorite because it has filters that let you easily look for recipes by specific criteria.

For example, we have a 14yo daughter who has decided that she wants to be vegetarian. I can filter to see only vegetarian recipes, if I want.

I also try to create a weekly menu before doing my weekly grocery store run. The menu normally consists of 3 or 4 vegetarian meals, a chicken dish, a beef dish, a pork dish, and at least one dish we’ve never tried before. The filters at Recipezaar let me look for main entrées that meet each of those criteria.

Recipezaar also lets you filter based on preparation time and/or equipment. That means I can easily find recipes that take less than 30 minutes to prepare (for nights where both kids have extracurricular activities), or crockpot dishes (for nights where I want dinner to be ready to eat before we get home at dinnertime).

You can also look for recipes based on geographic location. I like to experiment with cooking from other countries (we had a very successful Ethiopian night last weekend, and I have done Greek nights, Thai nights, Korean nights, etc.), and you can filter for specific countries, too.

The free account lets you store recipes into your own cookbook, and add your own comments to those recipes, so you can easily find the recipes you use the most often, along with whatever modifications you have chosen to make to the recipe. (However, for recipes that get incorporated into the family repertoire, I generally copy the text, save it to a Word document on my computer, and print it out on a 4X6 index card.) Recipezaar will also let you create a menu and shopping list, if you want, although I’ve never used this feature.

11

I tried out a new recipe tonight, and it was a winner.

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, in bite-size pieces
1 6 oz. box Stove Top stuffing, chicken flavor
1 ½ c. water

1 T. Italian seasoning
1 28 oz. can Italian style stewed or diced tomatoes, well-drained
2 cloves minced garlic (or garlic powder, if you’re lazy like me)

½ c. mozzarella, shredded

Preheat oven to 400. Put chicken in 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over it. Mix stuffing mix with 1 ½ c. water, and let it sit while you…

Spread tomatoes and garlic over the chicken. Sprinkle cheese over that. Smoosh the stuffing mix over the whole thing. Bake 30 minutes, or until chicken is done.

(Warning: it’s supposed to serve 6, so unless you live with the gluttons that I do, you might have leftovers. I’m told it reheats well, or so says the friend who gave me the recipe.)

It only took me 10 minutes of actual work to throw it together, plus 30 minutes baking time. Not bad, for a work night.

12

I got a good quality garlic press, and I have never looked back. Fresh garlic in just about everything I cook, and it is so easy - whole chunk in, no peeling or anything, minced garlic out. This is one of those inventions that truly is worth buying for your kitchen.

13

Some of our quick dinner standbys are:

-Stroganoff with ground beef instead of sliced beef.

-Itallian sausage chopped up and browned in a pan then add Three Cheese sauce from Trager Joes on whatever type of pasta we have on hand.

-A sweet paprikia chicken over rice- super easy to make (I can post the recipie… If you or anyone would like it)

-Currued rice with rasins… as a side dish- put 1/4-1/2 tsp of curry and a handful or so of rasins in with the rice while cooking.

-Horseradish mashed potatoes, if you like that sort of thing. Goes great with a steak.

-I found a recepie for an Almond pea pesto pasta-Basically done when the pasta is cooked. Even great cold.

14

AMEN!

I had never used one until the Mr. & I began co-habitating. He is the better chef and brought along all his equipment. I’m now a garlic-press-using fool.
Back on topic: Tonight we’re doing quick and easy.

Oven baked subs. Just slap your meat & veggies of choice on a sub bun, wrap in foil and bake a bit, then unwrap and bake a few minutes longer. Or if your really pressed for time they can be eaten cold.

Another standby:

Tortilla pizzas- spread pizza sauce and a shredded cheese on tortilla, place another tortilla over that, then top as you would any pizza. I was suprised how good these were. The kids love em and the beauty is everyone makes their own according to their own taste (so less work for me!)

15

Lancashire Hotpot: cube some lamb, season it and dust it with flour. Slice some onions, potatoes and carrots. Place in a large oven proof dish. Crumble a couple of beef stock cubes into enough boiling water to come halfway up the dishes contents and pour over said contents. Slice more potatoes and cover the contents with them. Put butter on top of potatoes, and cook in oven for two hours. Serve with mashed potato or whatever else you want.

16

Buy a package of pre-cooked frozen shrimp. Thaw them out and de-tail them. Cook up some pasta. (I prefer angel hair.)

In a skillet, saute some garlic and one chopped sweet onion. Add a can of italian-seasoned chopped tomatoes. Throw in a pinch of red pepper flakes. Heat through. Serve over pasta, with some crusty french bread.

Voila! Dinner in twenty minutes.

17

Crap, my recipe doesn’t take long to prepare but takes ages to cook. Sorry :smack:

18

I saw this recipe on Good Eats last week, made it on Saturday, and it came out very, very, very good. :slight_smile: Not much prep work, although the time in the oven is a little long.

Chicken & 40 Cloves:[ul]
[li]Get chicken. I butchered a whole broiler, or you could pick up a package of legs, thighs or breasts (8 pieces). Salt and pepper liberally.[/li][li]Get large skillet, it should be oven-safe and have a lid.[/li][li]Preheat oven to 350[/li][li]Heat skillet over high, brown chicken on both sides in a couple tablespoons of oil.[/li][li]Add 1/2 cup olive oil, 40 peeled whole cloves of garlic, and handful of thyme sprigs. Add a bit more salt and more black pepper.[/li][li]Put lid on skillet, place in oven for 90 minutes.[/li][li]Remove skillet from oven, let rest. Turn oven to “Broil”. [/li][li]Slice bread (french, italian, whatever), place on an oven sheet. Brush oil from skillet (now infused with garlicy goodness) onto bread, place under broiler for 2-3 minutes until lightly toasted. Flip bread, apply oil to second side, repeat.[/li][/ul]
When serving, remove a clove of garlic from oil, mush onto toasted bread and spread. You can top it off with some warmed soft cheese or herbs.

The chicken just fell apart, tasted great, and the bread was one of the yummier things I’ve ever eaten.

Of course, I’m a big fan of garlic, YMMV.

19

I tried this Swedish Meatball recipe lastnight and it was delicious and took less than an hour.

I used premade meatballs, but there are plenty of meatball recipes if you want to make your own.

Sauce:

Combine

1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1 12oz. can Evaporated Milk

As much black pepper, nutmeg and garlic powder as you want.
Pour over precooked meatballs in 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350, 40 mins.

Serve over egg noodles

20

I like curries, and you can make them pretty fast. this is my basic recipe:

If you want to use meat, stir-fry it for a couple of minutes until golden/brown, remove from the pan (woks are great, a large frying pan will work too).

Chop up fresh coriander (optional, but tasty), a pepper (if you like hot food), ginger, garlic & onion, stir-fry for a minute or two.
Add coconut cream (canned or chop up one of those blocks and add water)
Add meat (I like chicken wings or drumsticks), seafood (I like squid - clean them and cut into rings), or veggies (green beans are nice, as are potao cubes - especially if you add a bunch of spinach at the very end)
cook until done, add salt to taste, add some chopped fresh coriander or spring onion if you like. eat with rice.

optional spices that you can add with the meat/veggies: cumin (esp. for green beans or squid) and tumeric (goes well with most things).
Also, you can make fast ramen dishes:

Make stock from a stock cube (about as much as you need for a big bowl of soup per person), add some veggies and herbs (carrot, parcely, celery etc) / shrimp peelings / whatever works for the stock. boild for 20 minutes or more if you have the time, strain the stock. Bring the stock back to the boil. (This is all just to make the stock taste a bit better, if you have some good stock already, just heat it up)

Quickly fry a good piece of beef / duck / chicken-breast with some peppers and spices until rare to medium done. Leave for 5 minutes. Slice thinly.

If you like, add some chinese leaves or spinach or something similar to the stock and boil for a minute or two.

Meanwhile: boil noodles (I recommend those thick long noodles for these dishes - it makes a better contrast with the broth). Cool them in a colander under a cold tap. Divide over # of bowls (you can do this earlier - once the noodles are cooled, they’ll keep for some time)

Divide sliced meat over the bowls. Pour the stock in the bowl. Optionally add chopped spring onions / coriander.