Need Quick/easy Dinner Ideas Please!

I buy a rotisserie chicken also and make chicken enchiladas or sprinkle the chicken my spaghetti or on salads. You can also go to Dickey's BBQ and buy a pound of beef or chicken for $10 and it goes along way. I make brisket tacos with that.

Hi L.!
Have you seen the Bertolli frozen meals? They're usually some sort of pasta concoction, but they're pretty yummy.

As far as things you might already have around the house, a crock pot meal or two might come in handy. Put boneless pork ribs in the crock pot with beef broth (2 - 4 cups, enough to about half-way cover the meat). Leave it for at least 6 hours. About an hour before you want to eat, set the oven to 350, drain most of the broth, use two forks to shred the meat. Our crock pot has a stoneware insert, so I do all of this right in the crock pot. Once you shred the meat, dump most of a bottle of BBQ sauce in it (Sweet Baby Ray's in our fave), stick it in the oven for about 20-30 min. Pull it out when it's dinner time and serve it on hamburger buns (or whatever bread you have handy). Yummy BBQ sandwiches!

ALso, anything you can prepare ahead of time will be good. I have used nap times to prepare a meat loaf, then put it in the fridge (covered, of course, or all the fridge will smell of meat loaf) until I want to cook it. Then all I have to do for dinner is microwave some baked potatoes or make some mac n cheese. Open a can of green beans and you have a meal.

Spaghetti is always a quick favorite.

Have a couple of sandwich nights.

And, the kids always like having breakfast for dinner. Eggs, toast, fresh fruit...

Find out all the "kids eat free" nights around town. Sonic and Chick Fil A do Tuesday nights. Buy one Get one hamburgers at Sonic, and Chick Fil A is a free kids meal with purchase of a combo.

On crazy days, we just pick up a rotisserie chicken. Microwave some frozen veggies, heat up some rolls, dinner is finished. You can use the leftover chicken the next night to make quick soft chicken tacos (tortillas, cheese, lettuce, chicken, done). Also, I read this on menus4moms.com- when you brown ground beef, do a a few more pounds than you need. Put the extras in ziplock bags and freeze for another night. And I agree, enlist the help of your 12 year old- she may enjoy it!
Good luck!

I like to buy those frozen packages of itallian sausage and bratwurst, you can make several meals from them.
One of my favorites (and super fast) is Spinach Pie (http://rexipe.com/recipes/614-italian_spinach_pie) which really doesnt have a huge spinach flavor, and the sausage really gives it a nice kick. Serve with frozen ravioli (i like portabello mushroom) and garlic bread. Takes about 45 minutes to make all together, but prep time is only about 10 minutes, so really you just pop it together and put on the kitchen timer.
Leftovers are great cold or for breakfast!
Use up remaining sausage in spagetti or in eggs! For the bratwurst, its great on an (electric) grill and i like to use leftover grilled sausages in those beans and rice mixes (u can buy for like 79cents or so), serve up some jiffy corn bread/muffins and thats an easy delicious meal that costs practically nothing.
I also love my crockpot! You can cook a whole chicken in for dinner one night (i usually add some red potatoes and baby carrots about halfway through cooking time and bake up some canned dinner rolls), and use the leftovers to make chicken noodle soup in the crockpot the next - just get rid of the bones, pop in chicken, noodles, (fresh or frozen) veggies, some spices to taste and a can or two of chicken(or veggie) broth. Cook on high for two or three hours. A great way to use up leftovers too!
Also, on foodnetwork, theres a great show called Quick Fix Meals w/ Robin Miller (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_rm/text/0,2757,FOOD_...) she very creatively manages to make several days worth of dinners using simliar ingredients and leftovers in no time at all.

Check out 5 ingredients in 15 minutes by Cooking Light for super easy meals that are healthy and delicious! No joke! They look just like the pictures and taste great. I lost 25 lbs eating out of this cookbook and walking. Not that you are trying to lose weight but it is super healthy for your kids!

Also make chicken spaghetti...great as leftovers too!

8-12oz package of pasta
1 can of creamy chicken mushroom (campbells) if you can't find this use 1 can of cream chicken and 1 can of cream mushroom

1 cup of cheese
1/2 cup of milk (or more if needed)
1 can of rotel (you can use the mild if you want)
PLUS chicken (you can use the already cooked chicken in the fridge section such as the southwestern style for added taste or just the grilled by Louis Rich OR you can boil/bake your own)

Boil pasta and drain
Mix all ingredient in pot on stove so it mixes well and gets creamy. Add more milk and cheese if needed.

But in glass casserole dish, top with a cheese if want and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Its super easy and great! Use you can reduced fat cheese, milk, cream soups to lower the fat/calorie content if wanted.

We make our own pizza at our house for quick suppers... we buy the wal-mart brand pizza dough mix - it only costs about 40 cents per package. We combine 2 packages of dough and add some olive oil (otherwise it tends to stick). That takes about 3 minutes. Let the dough rise for 10 mins or so. Then top with whatever you like. My favorite is mozz cheese and a can of chunky tomatos with basil (del monte I think). Bake for 1/2 hour or so, and you're ready to eat. My family loves pizza night, and it comes out way better than what can be delivered to your house.

Welcome to the area. We are from New Jersey and have been here for 5 years. If you have any questions - just e-mail.

Whenever my husband is not home for dinner - I do the breakfast thing...pancakes, eggs, cereal. You can't do it for 3 weeks but here and there work well.

M.

Hello L.,
Have you heard of the dinner station? I am a mother of a 6 yr old, 3 yr old, and soon to be newborn in a couple of weeks. Many times I run out of ideas or don't have to time or energy to shop, so once a month I go to the dinner station with a girlfriend and we put together dinner meals. The dinner station has a website and you can look up the menu meal options for the month. I pay $85.00 for 8 dinners that serve 3 people each. All the ingredients are provided for the recipes and you put it together in ziplock bags to store in your freezer. You can pull the bag out the night before or morning of to be thawed for dinner. The dinners are usually ready in less than an hour unless it is a crockpot meal. The best part of the meals are the choices and the fact that they are meals your children will eat, not anything wierd. The dinner station meals have saved me a ton of money, time, and it keeps me from ordering less healthy takeout. The closest dinner station for you may be in Corinth, but check the website. I hope this helps. B.

Hi L.,

It appears you've had some great tips! I love mamasource! Welcome to the area! Are you familiar with Pampered Chef? We've got some really amazing things to help from recipes, to tips and tricks to (of corse) our extensive product line.

Let me know if you'd like more info! Quality, home made microwave meals in minutes! 10 minute pork tenderloine... 30 minute whole chicken. The list goes on!

Let me know either way! Best of luck! Feel free to email me at ____@____.com and to check out our product line at our corporate website. If you need anything please allow me to help you out! www.pamperedchef.com

Thanks and best of luck!! ~T.~

Hi L., welcome to Denton. We moved to South Denton 5 yrs. ago from Indiana. Looks like you've received some really great ideas. One recipe my family really loves is Tator Tot casserole.
You will need:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can crm. of mushroom soup
1 pkg. tator tots
1 pkg. Cheese (cheddar or whatever your family prefers)
Some milk and salt and pepper.

Use a 9x13 casserole dish and press the uncooked ground beef in the bottom of the dish. Salt and pepper the meat to your taste. Mix the crm. of mushroom soup and some milk together. I don't use much milk, maybe a 1/4 cup. Enough so that it's not too thick, but you don't want it runny either. Spread that over the meat, top with your cheese and line with the tator tots. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hr. to 1 hr. 15 minutes. However crispy you like your tator tots. I usually do mine for 1 hr. 15 minutes. My son especially loves this.

And I also saw Allyson posted about Homemade Gourmet meals. Those are wonderful, quick and easy to do. I used to sell Homemade Gourmet and still use the 4 meals in 4 minutes. They have so many different meal solutions. Good luck.

Hi L. I am a mother of four. 9,7,2 and a 5 month old. I love Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals. From start to finish and they are very healthy and all my children love it. I suggest going on to her website and she will even plan you a grocery plan for the whole entire week and categorize it for you. Let me know if you need anything else.

On the Go Mother in Carrollton

Hi..I sell Homemade Gourmet and we have over 20 meals that are quick and easy. Most of the mixes require 5 ingredients or less and 15 minutes or less prep time..Please send me your addresss and I'll deliver a catalog to you. Or all the mixes can be found in our on-line catalog at www.homemadegourmet.com

Thanks
A.
____@____.com

Here's a quick one. It only takes one pan, so there is very little prep and even less clean up. We call it Hot Rice.

1 pound uncooked hamburger meat
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 can Campbell's beef broth soup
1 can rotel tomatoes
Mix all 4 ingredients in 13x9 pan, cover with foil, cook for 1 hour at 350. After it's cooked for an hour, mix in 8 ounces of sour cream, then cover with shredded cheddar cheese. Put it back in the oven until the cheese melts. The end.

I usually put a salad together really quick and some garlic cheese bread. It's great as leftovers, too.

Here's some easy ones that should get you 2 nights of meals each.

1. Slow cooker whole chicken
Rise and pat dry a whole chicken
Season to taste
Make 3 or 4 "balls" from foil and place on bottom of crock pot
Place chicken on top of foil balls. Cook on low 7 hours

You can then do anything with the chicken - it will just fall off the bone. You can make chicken tacos, make salads and top with the chicken, or just have the chicken with rice and veggies.

2. Tomato/Mushroom Roast
Get a 2 - 3 lb london broil or rump roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato soup
1 package dry onion soup mix

Mix both soups together. Place roast in crock pot and top with soup mixture. Then sprinkle dry soup mix on top.

Cook on low 8 - 10 hours. Serve w/ mashed potatos.

I live in S. Denton too. I hope you like it here; we love it!

As for recipe ideas, try allrecipes.com. You can enter in the ingredients that you have on hand and it will give you recipes for them. Honestly, when my husband is away I rarely cook. Of course, my oldest kid is only 6, so the expectations are different.

Just the other night I was trying to figure out dinner, and was at the store already. I bought one of those Bertolli frozen pasta meals (farfalle with parmesean sauce and spinach) and a bag of frozen veggies. I just cooked them on the stove and them combined them. It was ready in 10 minutes and tasted fresh. There are some really good frozen options out there now.

My family loves things like tacos, sloppy joes, homemade chicken strips (bread crumbs and an egg wash), and simple things like that. Does your 12-year old cook at all? Maybe you could enlist her help in the kitchen.

Good luck!

I agree with Nicole..Tacos and Sloppy Joes are quick and easy meals that most kids like. You can also get the frozen chicken strips and warm them in a pan or microwave and make quick fajitas. Another quick meal is the Zatarain's red beans and rice, only takes about 20 mins to cook. I usually buy turkey smoked sausage or kielbasa and slice it up and throw it in with it. My 4 year old has loved it for a long time. I also like to do roast in the crock pot, the night before I put a rump roast in to the crock pot, add chopped onions, baby carrots, and potatoes, and then add some garlic salt and pepper on top. (Prep time is about 5-10 mins) The next morning before I leave for work, I add water about half to almost 3/4 of the top of the roast, then turn on and leave all day to cook. That way when we walk into the door after work, dinner is ready, all you have to do is slice the roast and thats it.

Sometimes I am in a rush dinner time so here are a few of my meals. I choose chili dogs, manwich, tacos, quesadillas, hamburger helper, tuna helper tetrazzini. Hopefully this helps. If you need further explanation on anything please email me back.