I already have recipes that use both, but I cycle through a few so often that I’d like a change.
A few requirements:
No pasta. I eat SO much of it usually that I think these should give me a break from it.
Relatively cheap. No explanation needed here, I don’t think.
As customizable in terms of ingredients as possible. There are a lot of things I don’t like, and it’d make this thread too complicated to just list them all (especially when I know I’ll miss something). So if it absolutely requires wine (I don’t drink any alcohol) or absolutely needs bell peppers to be tolerable, please note that. Heck, suggest your favorite switches!
Place chicken breasts in baking pan. Salt and pepper to taste - I usually add a few dashes of italian seasoning as well.
Mix ~3/4 cup sour cream with 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, spread over tops of chicken breasts. Then shake some bread crumbs over the top of that. (I don’t really measure any of this - just giving an estimate.)
Cover and bake at 375 about 40 minutes, depending on thickness of meat.
You could use mayo or a thick plain yogurt instead; or season it with whatever floats your boat.
I can have this ready to pop in the oven before the oven is even done heating up.
I do something like that with bacon and BBQ sauce. Cook the breasts as above, but pull them 3/4 of the way through. Wrap each breast with a strip of bacon (held in place with toothpicks) and slather with BBQ sauce. return to oven and cook until done. Serve with rice.
Shepherd’s pie (technically, I think Rancher’s pie when made with beef? But, whatever)
There’s nothing to it really, assemble in a pan:
Layer of browned ground beef
layer of cooked vegetables
layer of mashed potato
Bake 375F until the top of the mashed potato is brown.
Beef layer - the basic method is to brown beef with onions. other options include shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme… or bacon salt
Vegetable layer - whatever you have. I like green beans the best, corn is traditional. Some people use canned tomatoes. broccoli would be great I think, as long as you cut it up into small pieces.
Potato layer - instead of just potatoes, mix mashed turnip or celeraic in there. Or fry some finely chopped leeks until golden brown, and stir those in.
I’m a simple guy, but even I can make this dish. All it requires (for a meal for two people) is two chicken breasts, one sixteen-ounce jar of Alfredo sauce, and one cup of instant rice.
Cut the chicken breasts up into relatively small cubes (say, less than an inch per side). Put the cut-up chicken in a small frying pan with a little cooking oil and cook them until the outsides are white. Then dump them into a small cooking pot with the Alfredo sauce and simmer for about ten minutes. While that is simmering, cook up the rice.
At the table, you put down a bed of rice and splosh the chicken/Alfredo sauce combination over the rice.
My wife makes me cook up a side dish of vegetables too - some sort of nonsense about being healthy.
My wife started making chicken shawarma and it’s been good. I tried making it last night and it came out a little too spicy for some reason, but it was still very good. It was something close to this, but without the peppers, onions, and steak seasoning.
I really like the tahini and yogurt sauce on the chicken.
Make 2 packages of Knorr Rice Sides per their directions. I assume you can use the flavor of your choice, although we usually go with the Herb and Butter flavor.
Pour completed rice, as soon as you remove it from heat, into a large baking pan (we use a Pampered Chef 13" x 9").
While the rice is cooking, prepare 1.5-2 lbs. of chicken breast by covering the breasts with a LIGHT coating of light mayo, then dipping the breasts in either bread crumbs or matzo meal, seasoned to taste (garlic works well).
Place UNCOVERED in center rack of oven and bake for 40 minutes.
(ETA - This isn’t that different from Domestic Samurai’s dish, but we don’t use cheese.)
easy one-pan meal: chicken in cola, with potatoes.
Put potato slices and chicken pieces in baking pan.
Add some slices of tart apples (Granny Smith, etc)
Pour about 4 cups of regular Pepsi or Coca cola (NOT diet cola) into the pan.
Add a cup of sweet red wine if you want.
Bake in oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 40 mins.
The chicken absorbs the sweetness from the cola and wine.
The house smells good from the baked apples.
And it’s easy.
The hard part for me sharing recipes is that I don’t write anything down,and I forget times and temps so you have to use your own skills for that.
Dump a pound or so of ground beef in a medium sized pot and start to brown it. Put in a tablespoon or so of garlic, sprinkle on some chili powder and a dash of red pepper flakes. After the meat is mostly brown add in two bell peppers, sliced and half a sweet onion sliced. Stir a little and add two cans of stewed tomatoes and a can or so of water. Let it all simmer, covered, for about 20-30 minutes. This is where you need to eye ball it, turn off the heat and push everything to the sides of the pot and dump some minute rice in the center. Put the lid on and let it sit 5 minutes or so to absorb the liquid. Stir and serve.
Sometimes I do just the ground beef and stewed tomatoes, but then I leave out the chili powder and red pepper flakes.
I’ve also done it with just ground beef, chopped cabbage and stewed tomatoes.
For chicken I get some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can slice them up or leave them whole. I put them in the bottom of a glass baking dish, then I put some bell pepper strips and sweet onion strips across the top. Sprinkle on a little oregano or Italian seasonings, a little garlic, whatever the mood. Pour a large can of crushed tomatoes over top everything. Bake covered at 375 for about an hour, I don’t know until the chicken is done. (see why I don’t share recipes too often?) When the chicken is done take out of the oven and put a slice of provolone or mozzarella on each breast or slice and put back in the oven uncovered until the cheese melts.
I usually eat it over sea shell pasta (I know you don’t want pasta) but you can put it over rice or on a roll to make a sandwich.
If you don’t like bell peppers they are optional. Well pretty much anything is optional, don’t like it leave it out. You could add mushrooms.
We call this “chili,” but it’s very inauthentic. However, it’s cheap and easy.
Chop up some onion (as much as you like) and cook it until is soft, not crisp. Add about 1 lb ground beef and cook until it’s brown. Drain 2 cans of any kind of beans you like. I use a can of pinto beans and a can of kidney beans. Mix the ground beef & onion, the beans, a can of Niblets corn and a can of tomato sauce in an ovenproof casserole or bowl. Add a couple of bay leaves and a couple (or more) tablespoons of chili powder plus any other seasonings you like. I generally add a sprinkle of garlic power and a couple shakes of red pepper flakes. Cilantro is good, too, but some folks don’t like it. Another possible addition is to cook some fresh peppers of any kind you like with the ground beef and onion. Sometimes I add mushrooms. Put the concoction into a 325 to 350 degree oven until it’s hot, about 25 minutes.
My mom used to make this even more cheaply by starting with dried pinto beans and soaking them overnight.
“Aztec Stew”
Brown 1lb ground beef with onion and garlic. Add cut up red potatoes, sliced zucchini or yellow squash (I buy it frozen sometimes) and a big can of tomatoes. Add some Italian seasoning, or if you don’t like that, maybe chili powder. It’s also very good with just salt and pepper. Cook til done and serve with Parmesan (or whatever cheese depending on seasoning).
This thread is being bookmarked! Lots of great ideas here!
My contribution:
Brown 1 lb ground beef and 1 chopped onion, drain & return to pan
Add 1 jar alfredo sauce & 1 can diced tomatoes with Itailan seasoning. Simmer till bubbly. Pour over scroodle pasta. (Yeah, I know you said no pasta, but seriously… this is soooo good & easy! Might be good on rice, too, never tried it.)
Ground beef generally becomes meatloaf around here. It’s economical and I can serve two vegetables with it.
With chicken, sometimes I will slice it up, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and fry it in some olive oil. Then I melt down some raspberry jam for sauce. I get to serve vegetables with it too (also biscuits, for the rest of the raspberry jam).
Another chicken recipe I like a lot is Chicken Tacos. I cut the chicken up in chunks and cook it in a pan with a little olive oil, then add some fresh pineapple chunks. When those have cooked a little, I add some pineapple juice or water and a packet of taco seasoning. Then I serve it with warm flour tortillas, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
Guess I’ll post the always-popular Chicken Stir-Fry. First, the sauce:
1 and 1/3 cups soy sauce
1/3 cup corn syrup
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp (or more if you like it) ground red pepper
Mix together in a measuring cup or something before you get started. On to the cooking!
Cut chicken into short narrow strips, like 1.5 inch long by .5 inch wide. Heat up wok or large frying pan. Add a touch of oil, maybe 2 tsp, swirl. Put the chicken in and stir-fry (in other words, keep it moving), until it’s ALMOST done, fully white outside but still a little squishy. Take the chicken out and put it aside, in a bowl, loosely covered with foil.
Next, put a touch more oil in the pan and add your veggies. A bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables will do, any kind you like. Just stir them around until they’re just warm, you don’t want to cook them to death. Pour off the water that has accumulated in your chicken bowl and add the chicken back to the pan, along with your sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Then, you’re done. Serve over white rice.
I’m a lazy cook so I just get seasoning packets for the meat, but I do make a rough salsa with tomatoes, onions, cilantro and juice from half a lime and it makes all the difference. Serve with cheese and tortillas. I make this once a week.
I also make an enchilada lasagne thing, just poach and shred chicken or sautee ground beef. Then layer a store-bought enchilada sauce (I’m partial to Trader Joe’s), meat, cheese, corn tortillas. You could add a can of corn or Ro-tel too for extra veggies, or diced onion and/or peppers. Do a second layer of all, cover in enchilada sauce and cheese and cook covered for 40 minues, uncovered for anouther 5-10. Awesome, and super easy.
I also do the enchilada lasagna thing, usually in pie pans so that the tortillas will fit neatly. I add in some beans, though, either refried or whole beans.
This can even be a company dish, with appropriate garnishes. A dab of paprika sprinkled sour cream on top, after baking. Green onions, slice the green part lengthwise. Or diced bell pepper and onions.
I’ve been thinking about converting my “enchilada cup” recipe to a quasi-lasagna format to speed up prep, but was thinking about using lasagna noodles (the cup version calls for wonton wrappers). Tortillas do sound like they’d work, although I prefer flour. Think flour tortillas would do OK?
I find flour tortillas get mushy and slimy if they’re cooked in a casserole. They are basically flour and water and tend to dissolve into something like wet paper towels.