Easy Quick Dinners

Tortellini with sauce- so fast to make, and even my picky kids eat it.

Kraft has a recipe for "Cheesy Chicken Crescents" that my kids like. You can assemble everything before-hand, and bake when you need it.

Don't forget about "breakfast for dinner". There's nothing wrong with scrambled eggs, toast, and a banana.

I love making pasta w/ italian sausage. Any sauce/pasta combo will work, and you can get the sausage in hot or mild. Add in a salad for a veggie and it's done. Takes no time at all, and my family loves it.
Also, if you look on the side of Bush's Great Northern Beans can there is a great recipe for White Bean Chicken Chili... so GOOD, and kinda tastes like chicken enchilada casserole.
And last but not least, kraftfoods.com has tons of recipes for quick and easy dinners. My favorite is Slow-cooker Lasagna. So good, and very easy!

Hope that helps.

We live by our crock pot, especially now that the weather is turning cooler. I love the Better Homes & Gardens Crock Pot cookbook. It has a ton of easy recipes and we have had most of them. Very tasty!

-I also have done panini style sandwiches on the indoor grill with a side salad. You just layer deli meats and cheeses on the inside with a little pesto on the bread, grill for 2-3 minutes and serve.
-Preheat the oven to 425 and place the needed number of boneless chicken breasts in a glass baking dish. Smother them with bottled barbeque sauce and bake for 20 minutes (flipping 1/2 way). You can cool them and just reheat them when you need them. They are tasty with a side of packaged rice and veggies.
- I usually cook several pounds of ground turkey at a time and then portion out into freezer safe containers. Defrost and add to pasta sauce for a hearty meal, tacos/salad, combine with rice and sauce and stuff into blanched peppers for stuffed peppers!

Everyone loves my chicken coconut curry.
In a deep frying pan, saute a few chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces) in a little olive oil. Add in a sliced up large onion, 2 cloved mince garlic, and 2 -3 sweet potatoes (peeled, diced into bite sized pieces). Cook and stir till sweet potatoes start to soften up. Add in Golden Curry sauce mix (I like mild, but it comes in medium and hot as well), then add a can of coconut milk.

I have the same problem - which means I do a lot of crock pot cooking. You can roast a whole chicken (the easiest thing ever). Just put the chicken in the crockpot in the morning on low, and cover it with mild seasonings because the chicken will not brown - but it will be very most and tender. To make the chicken healthier, toss the skin after its cooked because that is where most of the fat is.

Then add some frozen veggies (frozen broccoli has more vitamins than fresh broccoli) to your dinner, and some whole grain pasta or wild rice. The whole grain stuff is good for you, but takes longer to prepare. If you make a lot of it one night, you can store it for the future. Or you can invest in a rice cooker (they also cook pasta).

I also make a large batch ratatuouillie on the weekends. We have it for dinner on Sunday and Monday night. We try not to have meat at every meal. During the time I'm cutting veggies for the ratatuouille, I also cut up fresh fruits and vegetables for eating during the week. Watermelon is great at the end of the meal. Fresh carrots, celery and bell peppers are filling and easy to take with you on the go.

Cook's Illustrated is a great magazine with some 30 minute meals in there that never fail. You can also try cookscountrytv.com

tacos ground beef with guacamole(avocado,onion tomatoe)
beans and rice
chicken fajita with sausage

breast chicken sauted with onion ,bell pepper,jalapeño and cheddar sausage and add a little lemon pepper seasoning and ready in 20 min

try crock pot recipes... also rachel ray recipes.. takes 1/2 hour. on sunday you can make a few meals and freeze some... this always helps. one day a week buy pizza... see if a pizza place has a special on mon or tues..mine does.. 2 pies on tues take outonly 18. for both.. good deal.. we eat one.. and then i freeze the slice fo rthe kids to have as a snack.

We love cooking in the slow cooker- beef stroganoff, pot roast, beef stew. We just buy the packets in the gravy section and use the recipes on the back of the package.

I love the crock pot! I do pot roast, chicken, pulled pork, soups, chili...tons of things in their. I throw in all the ingredients in before I leave the house in the morning and dinner is ready when we get home from work. I love the cookbook. Fix it and Forget it. They have a low fat one also.

Another quick one we love is tacos. Cook the meat up and the kids can choose the fixings they want.

I am currently a SAHM, but while I was working I cooked up alot of my meats on Sunday and had them ready to go for the weekday. Examples would be cooking up taco meat, cubed chicken (which could easily turn into a chicken salad, quesadillas, or chicken tacos), or if we had chili on the weekend I always made a double batch and froze 1/2 of it. Lasagna is another 1 where I make a batch and use 1/2 for the weekend and freeze the other half and then take out and reheat during the weekday. Homemade mac n cheese is always yummy.

On weekends, I usually do 1 side item for our lunches. I am sure you could do the same for the weekday. Like Friday mornings I make up a big tub of pasta salad and so Fri, Sat, and Sun lunch includes pasta salad. Or I do potatoe salad or mac salad. But for us and our busy schedule it is easier just to do up a batch and the next few days eat off of it.

Good luck!

Along the same line as tacos are quesadillas. Set out bowls of ingredients (meats, cheeses, olives, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, sour cream, quacamole, etc) and let everyone build their own. Then you can cook them on the stove top in a frying pan or on the grill outside.

Here's a recipe my family really enjoys: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/ten-minute-szechuan-chicken...

It says "szechuan" so immediately you might assume it's hot and spicy but it's really not; look at the ingredients! It's mild. I serve it plain with some veggies but you could serve it over rice too if you wanted.

Even the usual tacos, hamburgers and grilled chicken will be cheaper and healthier if you make them at home.
I love my crock pot for roasts, stuffed peppers, etc. Just takes a little pre-planning to fire stuff in there i the morning.
Soups & chili can be frozen in batches.
What I am considering starting to do (b/c even though I work PT, I seem to be there more and more) is to cook several things on Sat or Sun and plop into the freezer so it's a matter of thaw & heat.

I am all for the crock pot, too. Another healthy and quick idea is tuna fish (if you even like that!)
A couple cans of drained tuna fish
Italian Dressing
Sliced green olives
Quick cooking brown rice
Mix it all together - add the dressing to your taste. Serve over a salad or on ciabatta bread. Good hot or cold.

How about grilled meat or fish and vegetables? How about baked risotto to make the day before (or even days before and then frozen in portions)? Or canned tuna mixed with boiled potatoes and green beans? Yummmyyy!!!

Hello~ Well, I was in the same boat and asked this question myself. It's hard to think of things even when you're a stay at home mom. Most moms recommended the crock pot and it's been a great idea. Google some recipes for crockpot and you can just be creative and try something. It's great especially with cooler weather coming up. Also, Rotisserie Chicken is good and healthy. You can always prepare sides or use it in recipes, such as chicken tacos, white chicken chili, etc. One night a week is Chick-fil-a. Quick, easy and can be healthy. This way you get a break. Don't do Tuesdays, kids night and it's crazy busy in there. If you cook on a Sat/Sun
double up or at least make extra meat. Use it differently in a day or two or freeze it. It takes planning, but once you get that down you'll be set. I have to do the same thing. Good luck and happy cooking!