I am in search of quick and easy meals. You know those meals that you tend to fall back on when you have a long, busy day. Since I'm going to start watching another baby next month, I think I'm going to have an even greater need of such meals. I know that most of these meals are more expensive and less healthy than making everything from scratch, but they help keep your family fed in a pinch. In fact one of my money saving books suggests always keeping ingredients for quick, easy meals on hand to help avoid the temptation to eat out on busy days. Here are some of my favorites which all take less than 15 min. to prepare (although some have longer cooking times).
Taco Beans
2-3 cans of beans, drained (or frozen beans)
1 can of corn
Taco seasoning (to taste--about 3 TB for me) [if you buy a big container of taco seasoning at Costco it's really cheap]
Mix beans, corn, and taco seasoning and heat over stove in a pot. Serve over rice. You can top it with cheese, salsa, chips, lettuce, etc.
Aztec Chicken
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1-2 cans of beans
1 can of corn or 1-2 cups of frozen corn
1 TB minced garlic
1 cup salsa
1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese
At lunch time put all ingredients, minus the cream cheese, in a crock pot on high (It takes about 4-5 hours). Right before dinner mix in the cream cheese and let it melt. Serve over rice and top with a green salad.
Italian Chicken
1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed.
In baking dish poke chicken with fork and cover with a little olive oil, vinegar (balsamic is best), soy sauce, basil, oregano, lemon pepper, and minced garlic. If your in a real hurry just use Italian dressing. Bake at 375 for 30 min. Serve with pasta and sauce.
Some of my other last-minute meals:
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
French toast
Hawaiian Haystacks (just use cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup for the sauce)
These are my most common standbys. Please share with me some of yours.
9 comments:
That red thai curry I posted on my blog a while ago is simply amazing. If you can get the coconut milk around a dollar (or make it yourself with shredded coconut and water) then it ends up not being so expensive.
Wow. These are your quick meals? Myself, I've been trying to perfect my secret cornflakes garnished with milk recipe, and Rachel makes a mean bread with meat combo, but we'll have to try your ideas sometime.
So Stephen, would those be name brand "Cornflakes" or generic "toasted whisps of corn" (or whatever)? Also, is that organic, hormone-free milk? And are we talking whole, 2%, 1%, or skim? Personally, I love cold cereal night, but granola suits my palate a little better than cornflakes.
Rachel, that sounds really good (the curry, not the meat/bread combo). Can you email the recipe to us?
Thank you for the recipes and getting the ideas going again! I have been in a grilled cheese or TCT (cheese/tortilla with salsa or something) rut myself and would love any other ideas so please send them along! I also go with the Mexican line often, it never gets old!
I personally love stir fries - Tofu isn't too expensive (but chicken/thin pork/shrimp also work) and you can cube it (slice the meat), pour soy sauce and sprinkle powdered ginger over it while you get out the bag of frozen stir fry veggies, fry them all up with some more powdered ginger, soy sauce and garlic to make it a little saucy, and serve over rice or noodles. Not as filling as some meals but works in a hurry.
PS- I'm actually having a hard time with lunch and breakfast, too. I feel like we eat the same things over and over, maybe that's ok if dinner is varied? Do you have any suggestions on that one, too? And I feel like I need a movie time to prepare the meals and get chloe down for naps! Just too much noise and chaos otherwise...any other suggestions:). Thanks Mary, you're great and we're happy to have you gone before us with the three kids:). Good luck with the fourth!
This is a great post. We always love breakfast for dinner if we do not know what to cook. Also, I have really started to love a good chef salad with toast on the side. I am always looking for new dinner ideas, especially ones that are quick and economical. You should bring your favorite recipes when you come down for Thanksgiving and we should exchange. What do you think?
A few more things after paying attention to this week, though I should email, sorry. One of our all time stand by's is of course spaghetti (or any kind of noodles and Hunts or other canned sauce:), add some ground meat or chicken and a side of veggies or salad. Also, we have a sour dough start so I use it about once a week and rotate between waffles and pizza crust. You can also find rather inexpensive pizza crusts in a can per my sister, to make it extra quick. Another favorite is "lata noodles" (from our Bengali neighbor) kinda like a curry stir fry with ramen noodles, onions, egg, frozen peas/carrots and spices. The kids love it and you can add chicken or shrimp or other veggies, use rice or other noodles as well.
Last one:) I forgot to mention the endless options with the grilled cheese, you can add salsa and sliced turkey or have a tuna melt, also apples and cheese melted on a tortilla are delicious. You can do anything as a quesadilla that you do as grilled cheese (I wish I thought of it more often!). We recently found skillet creations at the sav a lot here that work on tuna (I was having a difficult time with new ideas to use up storage:). And the 101 things to do in a crock pot book is one of my favorites if I can think to prepare ahead! Anyway, I'm excited for any more ideas, too!
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