Quick dinner ideas

[Guest]

I'm working more, under more general stress, and have less time and energy. Dinnertime comes around and I just want to shove cereal at everyone and call it good. Especially nights like tonight when I also have to go to YW.

 

Anyway. . . what are your go-to quick meals that are tasty and reasonably healthy?

[PolarVortex]

I often make a vegetarian one-dish meal that I invented myself and call "slop."  You might want to pick another name if you serve this to a skeptical spouse and children.

 

Prepare brown rice as usual, with the correct amounts of rice and water.  Add the following as you bring the water to a boil. Exact quantities aren't important, just whatever looks right to you.

 

Grape tomatoes

Chopped mushrooms

Chopped garlic

Chopped onions

Any other frozen vegetables you like (corn and broccoli are really good, so is spinach)

 

Don't stir, let the rice sit in the liquid in the bottom of the pan and cook normally.  Do the usual thing for rice: bring to boil, then cover and turn down the heat and let simmer for 25 mins or so.  

 

When the rice is done, microwave a can of black beans until the beans are hot.  Combine everything in a big bowl.  Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle with sunflower seeds, and (optionally) sriracha sauce. 

 

If you don't like rice, this recipe also works with lentils and quinoa.  (It's delicious with quinoa.)  The combination of rice and beans is really good for protein, and quinoa is a protein superstar.

 

I invented this after hearing a podcast from a doctor who said that our meals should contain GOMBS: greens, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, and seeds.  I eat it all the time now.  Takes about a half hour and requires almost no attention while cooking.  You probably could kick it up a notch with some interesting spices.

 

Do not use a crockpot, for some reason the rice turns to total mush. 

 

Happy cooking from Polar's kitchen to yours...

 

Edit: Sorry, they're called "grape" tomatoes, not cherry tomatoes.  

Edited January 29, 2015 by PolarVortex

[classylady]

I always kept a bag of Frito's on my pantry shelves for a quick meal the kids loved.  This meal was given to me from a sister in the ward after I had just had a baby.

 

1 bag Fritos (probably any corn chips would do)

1 to 2 cans chili with beans (depending on family size)

1 diced tomato

shredded lettuce

Grated cheese

Sour Cream

 

Heat chili on stove.

 

Place a handful of fritos on a plate.  Dish several spoonfuls of hot chili over it.  Add shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and grated cheese to taste.  Then add a dollop of Sour Cream.

 

Some of my kids didn't like tomatoes, so they didn't add the tomatoes.  Some didn't like lettuce.  And they usually didn't add the sour cream.  They can add what they like and how much they like to it.  This may not be the most nutritious meal, but it's filling, and my kids would eat it every time.

Edited January 29, 2015 by classylady

[classylady]

Rice-a-Roni (or any Rice Vermicelli mix).  I usually used chicken flavor, but any flavor will do.

1 can tuna fish

 

Follow directions on box by browning the Rice Vermicelli mix, and then bringing it to a boil.  I then add a can of drained tuna to the mix and then let it simmer for the amount of time suggested.

 

While that is cooking, heat up some frozen veggies as a side dish.

 

I add the tuna because in my mind it gives it more nutrition.

 

 

 

Homemade Tostadas

1 to 2 cans Refried beans (depending on family size)

Tortilla shells (I usually used flour shells)

grated cheese

diced tomatoes

shredded lettuce

sour cream

 

Home made tostadas are always fast and easy.  Just heat up canned refried beans.  I would smooth it over my tortilla shell, add grated cheese, diced tomatoes, and shredded lettuce with a dollop of sour cream.  For the little ones that didn't like the veggies, I would make them burritos instead.  Just add the refried beans to the shell, add some grated cheese and then roll it up for them.

 

Easy peasy

Edited January 29, 2015 by classylady

[Palerider]

I'm working more, under more general stress, and have less time and energy. Dinnertime comes around and I just want to shove cereal at everyone and call it good. Especially nights like tonight when I also have to go to YW.

 

Anyway. . . what are your go-to quick meals that are tasty and reasonably healthy?

My wife goes to Young Women's every Wednesday as well. I call Wednesday's my cereal night. Sometimes when I make pancakes I always make extra and put those in the freezer. They come in handy on a Wednesday night too. Microwave heaven !!

[The Folk Prophet]

Peel, cook and mash some potatoes. Fry up some hamburger (lean to keep it healthy). Dump a can of Cream of Mushroom soup in with the meat (I recommend the low fat variety). Serve over the mashed potatoes. Microwave up some peas to complete the meal if you're so inclined.

[Vort]

The one useful cooking "skill" I brought home from Italy came in the form of a Neapolitan cookbook, which includes the world's best recipe for fresh spaghetti sauce (written in Italian and Neapolitan, in case you're wondering how to tell the Napoletani how to make it). Despite being a recipe for fresh sauce, the sauce actually cans exceptionally well. So every year or two, we cook up a huge pot of it and can it for the year. Then, if we want (and this ends up happening several times during the year), we can make an immediate and extremely good pasta simply by cooking up some spaghetti -- molto al dente, naturally -- and pouring some heated-up sauce on it.

[Crypto]

You asked for healthy yet the first thing that came to mind was

 

Mac n Cheese, chili dogs, Frito boats, Pizza, Top Ramen

[bytor2112]

1-800-pizza

[Connie]

Connie's Quick Chinese Noodles:  Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan.  Add a bag of Asian chopped salad mix (this consists of a couple kinds of cabbage, grated carrot, celery, green onion and not sure what all else).  Sprinkle in some onion powder, garlic powder, ginger and soy sauce to taste.  Mix in some cooked noodles (i keep telling myself i am going to try this with actual chinese noodles, but we usually just use some thin spaghetti and it's still good).  The bag of salad mix we get has a small bag of wanton strips and slivered almonds that we like to sprinkle on top once it's done.  You can also add in some frozen veggies if desired (peas are really good).  Put them in before the salad mix and cook a minute or two.  Doesn't take very long to make at all as you really don't want to overcook the salad mix (or maybe you do, i don't know. we like to keep things fairly crunchy).  You could also add some cooked or canned chicken if you wanted.

[Iggy]

Cheater Stir Fry. Empty a bag or two of frozen: Stir Fry veggies or Vegetable Mix [ broccoli, cauliflower, carrots. Santa Fe. Or a hand full of every kind of frozen vegetable there is <--- this is what I do] Put into a casserole dish that has a lid and add two handfuls of frozen, cooked, diced chicken per person. A 16 oz bag of frozen veggies will make 3 serving, so you want six Iggy sized hand fulls of chicken - I wear a size 6.5 glove. If you like you can add a 4 oz can of mushrooms stems & pieces drained real well. Add three tablespoons of water, put the lid on and nuke for 6 minutes. Stir really well. Nuke for 6 minutes. Stir really well. Nuke a final time for 3.5 to 5 minutes more. 

 

The frozen, cooked & diced chicken I prefer is Kroger brand. It is $2.00 to $4.00 Depending if it is on sale or not. cheaper per bag than Tyson's AND there is no gristle or fat on it. Also it doesn't smell like it has been soaked in ammonia like Tyson's does. 

 

While the veggies & meat are cooking, put some rice on in the rice cooker. Serve with Soy Vey Stir Fry sauce. Or Kikkoman Sweet & Sour sauce. If you eat rice a lot, it is well worth the money to buy an electric rice cooker. Since 1979 I have bought two cookers. The first one I gave back to my ex-husband when we divorced. It was a 12 cup size and I just didn't need one that large.

 

Note: Mix up your own wild rice blend. Equal parts of: Forbidden Rice, Lunden's Wild Rice Blend, Organics Basmati Brown Rice. I buy all of these when they are on sale so it doesn't cost so much. I have nearly 15 pounds of each in my cupboard. Then I put 1 C of rice and 1.5 cups of water in the rice cooker. Turn it on and sit in the kitchen and watch the stir fry cooking in the microwave. Have to stir it three times, so might as well stay put and be comfortable. 

 

Lemon Balm and Ginger tea [herbal] goes really well with this dinner. Hubby likes it almost hot and I like it iced. 

 

Cheater taco's= ground hamburger cooked till it is barely pink. Drain all the fat from it. Before you put the meat back in the skillet add one envelope mix of taco seasoning per pound of ground beef, then add nearly one envelope of water for each envelope you use. Mix really well and allow to simmer a bit. Then add two cans of refried beans per envelope mix and stir well. Add the meat and let get good and hot. Remove from burner when hot. 

 

I only use Rosarita's refried beans. I also add a can or two of black beans, rinsed and drained. Plus I also add chopped onions and celery when I scramble up the hamburger. 

 

Use bagged salad that you have chopped up more or a bag of shredded lettuce mixed with a bag of shredded cabbage. Serve grape tomatoes, chopped onions, black olives slices, OR Pico De Gallo, shredded cheddar cheese along with sour cream and/or your favorite dressing(s). I greatly dislike crisp taco shells, so I serve this with Santita's Tortilla Chips.

 

I do my plate with: meat bean mixture first, then sour cream, raw onions, shredded lettuce & cabbage, more raw onions, cherry tomatoes, black olives, shredded cheese and then more sour cream. Hubby does the same minus the sour cream and olives and tops it with pico do gallo and hot sauce. 

 

Another quickie I do after church is: Cook up some corkscrew tri-color pasta, when it is el dente drain and rinse with hot tap water. Drain. Put back into sauce pan and add Prego Creamy Cheddar sauce.  Heat till hot. While your pasta is cooking you can cook beef hot dogs, or open a can or two (I would do two) of tuna in water, drain well then add to the pasta-n-cheese mixture. Add a can of cream of celery, or cream of mushroom, or cream of broccoli soup (no liquids added) if you like. Serve with coleslaw or salad. 

 

I no longer buy boxed mac & cheese. It is easier to cook up the desired pasta, then add the jarred cheese sauce. Prego is pretty tasty and doesn't smell nasty. If you are going to serve canned vegetables, drain the liquid into the sauce pan you will be cooking the pasta in. You are going to nuke the veggies anyway, and you certainly don't need all that liquid for that. Add more water to the saucepan so there is at least 4 cups liquid to 2.5 - 3 cups of dry pasta. Don't need milk and butter/margarine to reconstitute the cheese powder either. 

 

Cheater spaghetti: Per jar of spaghetti sauce fry up one pound of ground beef with diced celery & onions. Drain all fat off, add jar of sauce heat through till hot. Serve with spaghetti noodles, egg noodles, corkscrew or farfelle pasta and coleslaw or garden salad. 

[The Folk Prophet]

We do a meal that was an effort to create a healthy version of McD's McGriddles.

 

Turkey bacon

Egg whites (with a yolk or two)

Fat free American cheese slices

Whole Wheat pancakes

Sugar free syrup - we prefer the butter flavored

 

Make the pancakes, scramble the bacon and eggs together, put the cheese on the pancake, eggs/bacon on top of that. Then another pancake on top. Syrup over all.

[PolarVortex]

When my mom is stressed out, she just bakes a frozen apple pie and eats the whole thing for dinner.  For many years I thought she was kidding, but I actually witnessed it on a recent visit to her home.  I asked her to save me a piece and I got a slice that was so pathetically skinny that I could see through it.  When she's really stressed out, she'll eat it even if it's not thoroughly cooked in the center.

 

Some of the recipes above sound good, though.  The probability of my making any of them is zero, but they sound good.  

[Iggy]

During the berry & fruit seasons we would have them for dinner only. Strawberry shortcake [Grandma's version was baking powder biscuits with added sugar] with whipped cream (from scratch) or cream. Blackberry cobbler. Apple cobbler (we had two very prolific trees in our back yard), Raspberry, blueberry cobblers. Pear w/ rhubarb pie. Come to think of it, when Mom canned, jammed and preserved the fruit and berries, that is the night we would have the shortcakes, cobblers or pie. The *Cooks* were too pooped to cook up dinner for all of us. 

 

Mom would fix Daddy something more substantial - like thick slice ham, boiled potatoes and veggies for dinner. But the rest of us (6 kids, Mom and Grandma) we would have dessert. 

[Guest]

I'm a Bento fan. We have scouts, Jiujitsu, and piano/drum lessons... That's 3 days a week that we have no more than an hour for dinner, including prep, before we have to head out again. We used to eat out all 3 days, but my husband has imposed a strict budget so I had to cut out eating out nights.

These are my most favorite things to put on a Bento plate that I can get done in under 5 minutes:

1.) Stock up on raw veggies (baby carrots, broccoli or cauliflower florets, celeries, leafy greens, etc). You can prep these on Saturday (cut up, wash, etc.) and store in the fridge for a week. Add ranch or your favorite dressing and it goes on the vege section of the bento plate.

2.) Stock up on fruit. Berries cherries oranges avocado apples and such that doesn't go bad for a week. You can prep these and put on the fruit section of the Bento plate in luckily-split time.

3.) Stock up on carb sources (we got active kids so we're carb friendly). This can be rolls, frozen steamed buns (microwave for 45 seconds), crackers, rice, spaghetti, pita, etc. Rice and spaghetti you can cook on Saturday and wrap individual servings in Parchment and put in a freezer bag to shove in the freezer. When needed, take out a serving and microwave for 45 seconds). This goes in the carb section of the Bento plate.

4,) Stock up on protein sources. Cheese, boiled eggs (boil on Saturday and put in the fridge - lasts a week), chicken nuggets (microwave straight from the freezer), li'l beef smokies, shrimp cocktails, tuna from can, ready-to-eat hummus, canned pork and beans, etc. If you want to be healthier - you can cook your fave meat/tofu on Saturday, wrap individual servings, and keep in fridge to warm up when needed. this goes in the protein section.

5.). Stick some dark chocolate chunks on the treat section of the bento and you got a feast ready in 5 minutes. And it won't look anywhere close to being a... I-only-have-5-minutes meal.

I'll post pictures of my Bentos when I get to my desktop...

[Bini]

Here's my not so healthy but it'll dish up in a snap ideas...

 

Canned chili

Deli sandwiches

Piggies in a blanket

Mac n cheese

 

I've done these for my husband and daughter when I'm beat.

[Guest]

Pictures as promised:

1.) Cheese (I have a cookie cutter that I used to cut them into shapes.  For some reason, my kids will eat something they don't like if you make it into silly things like Bats).

2.) Pepperoni slices (pre-sliced usually for pizza topper, I put it on their plate without the pizza and they still like it)

3.)  Rambutan with pineapple (straight from the can onto the plate.  It's very difficult to find fresh rambutan in the US, so I buy the canned version from the Asian store).

4.)  Ritz crackers.  (straight from the box)

5.)  Leafy greens with dressing (straight from the plastic package).

6.)  M&Ms (yeah, I have no problem giving my kids chocolates)

[Guest]

1.) ham mini-cubes straight from the package

2.) cheese sticks

3.) orange and black grapes

4.) broccoli florets (put florets in a microwave dish with cover, add a dollop of minced garlic and olive oil and nuke for 2 minutes.. top with parmesan cheese while it's still steaming and serve).

5.) pb&j sandwiches.  I have these sandwich shape cutters called Cute-Z-cute I got from amazon.  I make the shape, spread different colored Stonewall Kitchen jams and peanut butter.  So fun!  I save up the left-over bread cut-outs to make French-toast Muffins for breakfast.

6.)  yes yes, I give kids candy for dinner.

Edited January 30, 2015 by anatess

[Guest]

One more.  This is a fun one:

1.) Boiled egg - I got egg plastic molds from amazon.  So, I would boil an entire carton of eggs, then put them in the plastic molds and put them in the fridge - they can stay there a week.  During the week, I grab a molded egg and top with a little salt.

2.) Peas - straight from the can onto the plate.  We don't need it heated up.

3.) Chicken Nuggets - straight from the freezer, onto the microwaveable plate - nuke per directions - and serve.

4.) Grapes

5.)  Rice - This one is japonica rice (labeled sushi rice at the grocery next to the uncle bens).  I cook the entire plastic container (we eat a lot of rice) in a rice cooker (set it and forget it kind of deal).  When it cools, I wrap a serving of rice in parchment paper and stick them in freezer bags.  Then during dinner, I take the frozen rice, wrap it in damp paper towel and nuke it for a couple minutes.  Then I put it in a panda bear rice mold (amazon) just to be super fun that comes with a Nori puncher to make the face things.  Really super quick and fun!

6.)  Cheese

7.)  Polvoron - yeah yeah, sugar.

[Vort]

A heart egg! That is awesome!

[Guest]

Ohh... I gotta add this one.  This is a 5-minute no cooking at all one:

1.) orange (haha, too lazy to peel the thing even)

2.) babybel cheese (also too lazy to open the thing... stick it in a plate, good to go)

3.) animal crackers (I didn't promise it will be healthy... eek)

4.) banana (it was starting to go bad, so I chopped off the bad part and put cling wrap so it won't brown)

5.) Boar's Head London Broil medium sliced from the grocery deli... spread flat on a plate, then put broccoli slaw in the middle, then roll the deli.  I wrap the thing in flatbread for me.  The kids and hubby don't like it with bread.

6.) M&Ms for dinner is a normal sight to see in my house

[PolarVortex]

What's your toll-free number for ordering one of these?  I'm hungry and I don't feel like eating more Vegetarian Slop tonight (see recipe above).

[Vort]

Babybel is pronounced "bobby-bell". Just FYI.

[Guest]

A heart egg! That is awesome!

 

I know, right?  My Japanese friend gave me the idea!

 

The things I can do with egg... here's a panda one.

Edited January 30, 2015 by anatess

[Guest]

Babybel is pronounced "bobby-bell". Just FYI.

 

Whoa.  I didn't know that.

 

I gotta share this one... it took me FOREVER to make this.  Babybel Angry Bird.  Hah hah.