Fast Dinner Ideas? - Milwaukee,WI

Hi...When I run out of ideas, I usually make a veggie and cheese omelettes, pancakes; nothing wrong with breakfast for dinner. Soup, salads, sandwiches, wraps..how about fish and chips? My lil one is 22 months and she is very picky so I'm always trying to do different things.

I know you said not pizza, but we have been making tortilla pizzas lately and we all love them, super easy and we all have whatever toppings suit us, no fighting! Put pasta sauce on a tortilla, whatever toppings, cheese, put in oven until warm and cheese melted. That was last night, tonight was hamburger macaroni casserole, cooked ground beef, cooked macaroni noodles and tomato soup, mixed and heated in the oven, 30 minutes start to finish and my kids love it, pair it with a salad or raw veggies and you have a complete nutritious meal.

S.
www.LiveYourDreamsAtHome.com

LOL I'm with you on the tator tot casserole.
We do a homemade chipotle dinner. I buy Lowry's baja chipotle marinade for our meat (you can use chicken or left over roast for this), and add a lot of fresh lime juice and cilantro to the basmati rice; guacamole, sour cream, salsa, black beans, you can add cheese, lettuce, tomatoes if you want (I don't). Delicious!
I make a salad that I put romaine, carrots, cukes, red onion, grilled teriyaki chicken, and pasta in (you can buy the pre-cooked chicken at costco for this if you don't want to grill in the winter, or if you need it quickly).
Those are my "fast food" dinner ideas, in addition to taco salads and spaghetti. HTH

Check out Allrecipes.com. They have tons of recipe ideas and most are fast. They always indicate how long something takes to prepare and cook and the ingredients usually aren't too crazy - stuff you usually have on hand.

My kids love quesadillas (spelling?) now and then. I brown one pound of hamburger, (of course you could do chicken or whatever other meat) throw in a package of taco seasoning and a little water then make the quesadillas on a griddle. Put one corn (or flour) shell on the hot griddle, add cheese, onion, meat, whatever else you want, then the other shell on top, let it cook for awhile, flip and cook some more. You're done! Maybe serve with salsa, beans, sour cream, rice, whatever your family likes.

Do they like sweet and sour? Sweet and sour ham balls;
1 lb ham loaf
1 egg
maybe 1/2 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
little bit of milk
mix that up like you're making meatloaf then make it into balls and put in a 8x10 baking dish. Pour one jar sweet and sour sauce over top and bake uncovered 350 degrees about half an hour. Or make your own sweet and sour to put on top. I serve with rice and my girls love it. My boy won't touch it so he gets turkey and cheese sandwich :-)

salsa
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/02/soul-salsa.html

corn and potato chowder
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2011/01/smoky-corn-and...

salmon
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/03/herb-crusted-s...

tortolleni
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/02/nutty-pepper-c...

herb crusted pork chops
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/03/herb-crusted-p...

veggie pork chops
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/04/vegetable-pork...

I also use my salsa recipe to make chipotle chicken. Just stir fry up chicken pieces with chipotle tabasco sauce, corn, poblano pepper and black beans. Add it on top of rice and top with chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and gaucomole and plain yogurt (healthier than sour cream).

Do you have a crockpot? Lots of good and easy things with that.

This is chicken Nacho over rice really good
Shreaded Chicken
velvetta
rotel
black beans
cream cheese and taco dip mixed up

Bake for 25 min at 350
Its great its chicken so hope you like it.

I just put a beef stew together in my crock pot this morning and it's smelling pretty good right now. But that won't help you right now.
Chicken and Dumplings are fast and easy.
Diced up chicken breast sauteed in a deep skillet. Add a thawed bag of frosen mixed vegetables. Add a can of Cream of Chicken soup. Add water or milk to desired consistency. If I make mine on the runny side, I'll spoon drop some Bisquick dough into the pan, simmer 10 min with the lid off and 10 min with the lid on. The dumplings cook in the steam and are light and fluffy.

How about "un"fried rice?

Get 1 large chicken breast and chop it up small, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, whatever you like, cream of chicken soup, low sodium soy sauce and cooked rice.

Simply brown the chicken, add veg and soup. Simmer for about 5 mins on medium. Add 1.5 cups cooked rice and a few shakes of soy sauce and mix it all together. YUM!

A few things we do that are different and easy are:
1-... as someone mentioned breakfast for dinner
2- broiled salmon (rub some olive oil on and salt and pepper and broil) My husband likes teryaki on it - I like lemon... and a veggie and potato (kids love it???)
3 - cheese and cracker night - with cut up fruits and veggies & ranch, and we all just talk and grab what we like from the table and put it on our plates
4 - pork chops are easy in the broiler - with applesauce of course!
5 - artichokes - boil and melt some butter - fun for all (side dish)

We like breakfast for dinner!
easy egg casserole:
layer dish with tater tots
sprinkle cooked bfast meat over tots (sausage, bacon or ham)
beat 8-10 eggs and season (I use pepper and dry mustard) and poor over the top. bake on 350 for 50-60 minutes. (I know it uses tator tots, but its way different than tator tot cass :)

white chicken chili:
2 lbs cubed cooked chicken
1-2 onions chopped small, 2 garlic gloves chopped small then saute.
2 cans of green chili's (if you like a little kick)
3 cans of S & W white beans (drained)
add to 1 can of low fat/sodium chicken broth.
simmer for 30 minutes. can add a spoonful of sour cream on top if you like and serve with crackers or biscuits!

another easy bfast meal:
About 4 cups of cooked white rice.
8-12 slices of bacon, chopped into 1/4 inch slivers
6-8 eggs beaten for scrambling.
2 cloves of garlic chopped.
Black pepper and soy sauce
Fry bacon till almost crisp, drain and put aside.
Cooked scrambled eggs, do not over cook put aside.
Clean out the skillet and add 2 tablespoons of fresh cooking oil.
Microwave rice 2 minutes to get it warmed up, prior to frying.
Add garliic too skillet at med-high heat, add rice saute for a couple of minutes, add bacon saute for another minute.
Add pepper and soysauce to taste. Maybe 2 tablespoons.
Lastly add scrambled eggs saute one last minute.
Then serve.

King Ranch Chicken Caserole
(this is very easy and quick! mostly bc you boil the chicken which is fast, easier AND makes the chicken juicer)

* 1-1/2 lb chicken boiled (I get the breasts and cut them a little, then boil)
* 1 (14.5 ounce) package tortilla chips
* 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C.)
2. Layer the chips in a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
3. Combine the tomatoes, chicken soup, mushroom soup and onion. Pour half of mixture over chips. Layer the chicken pieces, half of the cheese and the remaining soup mixture.
4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melted.

hello
try this
buy a roasted turkey breast or roast one yourself.. add salt, pepper, garlic, sage... olive oil and roast until golden brown..
once cooled..slice thinly, grab some pita pockets.. fill them with roasted turkey, lettuce , tomato or truly whatever you like.. I use all sorts of things.. roasted red peppers.. calamata olives.. and bam.. DELISH!!

We also do Risotto... there are many great recipes online for that..
it's easy and you can really mix it up.. by adding either veggies or mushrooms..

Another dish we like are pork chops.. we either broil or bbq... and make extras for the next day. because they are also good cut up and put into a pita pocket ...

will your family eat a BIG salad? I love salad as does my family..
we use anything and everything.. what about doing a cobb salad one night... bacon, egg and whatever else you like.. I never stick by a recipe 100%.. in mine , I add red bell pepper and whatever else on hand.. in my house. we love vegetables.. so it's never a problem...

also, bbq ribs... ?? you can often buy those pre-sauced and all you need to do is throw on the barbie.. :)

I don't have any written recipes because I just make up recipes as I go..
but the above are easy to figure out..

also keep in mind.. throw out traditional meal thinking.. example.. sometimes, we have breakfast for dinner.. as long as it's food.. it should be fun and just taste good.. make hotcakes and eggs for dinner one night.. :)
or whatever your family enjoys.. have fun with it.. call it backward day or something. kids like games.. my son does..

best of luck

My daughter likes tuna mac & cheese.

I make a box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese as normal. Then when it's done I add in a can of tuna, and can of peas. Of course you could add whatever you wanted. Sometimes I've also added broccoli. Then I'll let the pan sit on the stove on low to warm up everything I've added.

Quick, simple, and one pan :)