Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Help! Dinner Ideas Needed!
Hi Momaroo Readers!
We received an anonymous post from a fellow mom asking for our readers' favorite easy-to-make meals for their families...I know all you moms have been in this situation before, so hopefully you can help. I've run out of ideas for meals for my family of four. I feel like I always make the same boring dishes and would love to try something new. If you could suggest any of your favorite (fairly easy to make) dishes I'd be so grateful!So, what's on tonight's menu at your home? All suggestions and recipes are welcome!
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Comments (17)
I saw Rachel Ray make a mac and cheese with that butternut squash mixed in so the kids didn't know it was healthy. Recipee is called "harvest moon mac and cheese" or something like that. It should be on the net
Our fav is chicken kebabs! Not sure how they would be for kids, but we always scoot everything off the stick onto a plate anyway. Cut up chicken breast or tenderloin, red & yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, squash - whatever you like - put teriyaki sauce on it, and put everything on skewers. Grill them or bake in the oven at about 400 for 15-20 minutes. Sooo good!!
Here's a few of our favorites:
Broccoli Cheese SOup
2 qts water
6 chicken boullion cubes
1 lg bag frozen broccoli
3/4 c flour
1 1/2 cubes butter
8 oz cheddar cheese sauce
Boil water and boullion, add broccoli. In another pan melt butter and add flour. Stir with whisk til smooth. When broccoli is almost tender stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Add cheese and stir til smooth.
We buy the big gallon can of cheddar cheese sauce at sam's and use it for this. The recipe calls for Cheese whiz
Another option is to use the Cali Mix of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots instead of just plain broccoli.
Oh yes, and serve with fresh french bread!
Easy Crock Pot Lasagna
28 oz spaghetti sauce
8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 lb ground beef
1/3 c water
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 c mozzarella cheese
1 tsp italian seasoning
Break noodles in half. Place half of noodles in bottom of greased slow cooker
Brown ground beef in saucepan. Drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. Spread half over noodles
Layer half of sauce and water, half of ricotta and mozzarella cheeses
Repeat layers
Cover and cook on low for 5 hrs
Taco Soup
2 lbs ground beef
1 lg onion
2 cans Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can Great Northern beans
1 can whole corn
1 pkg taco mix
1 pkg dry Ranch salad dressing mix
1 can water
5 drops Tobasco sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese for top
Brown hamburger and onion together. Add remaining ingredients. Heat. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and chips.
Poppy Seed Chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c sour cream
4 chicken breasts
1 roll Ritz crackers
3/4 cube butter
1 1/3 T poppy seeds
Boil chicken breasts for about 25 minutes.
Mix together soup and sour cream. Spread 1/3 in bottom of 9 x13 pan. Arrange chicken in pan. Spread remaining sauce on top.
Melt butter. Crush crackers. Mix butter, crackers, and poppy seeds. Sprinkle on top of chicken and sauce
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Serve with rice
@JewelrybyBrea@xanga - You are making me hungry. The Taco Soup in particular.
i just went to a greens cooking class at a
friend's house and came back with the BEST and EASIEST, HEALTHIEST
RECIPE ever! KALE CHIPS!! preheat oven to 425 degrees. buy some kale
and rip the leaves up in bite sized pieces. put it on a baking sheet
and drizzle olive oil over it. bake in oven for 5 minutes, stir them
up a bit and bake for 2 more minutes and you're done! they seriously
taste like POTATO CHIPS, no joke. I am soo addicted and I'm going to
make some tonight!! im going to experiment with other spices like
garlic, cheese, salt, pepper, etc.!
i just go to allrecipes.com.
there's a lot of good ones on there.
There's a recipe on there for mini meatloaf.
soooo good, and really easy.
What's your definition of easy? lol.
Tonight I had a stew. I just put the meat in the crockpot with a cup of water and lipton's onion soup mix, potatoes cut into 8th's, an onion sliced up, and a few carrots, also sliced. Then I cooked it on high. The directions say on high 3-4 hours but I let it cook all day. When I was done the meat just easily pulled apart, and it was delicious.
As a side I had salty potatoes, which is just boiling potatoes *again cut into 8th's* in salt water until they're soft. (I eyeball the salt, but if you add the salt before the potatoes and stir as you add, it should look a little white.) After the potatoes are soft, drain them, add two Big spoonfulls of butter and salt over the top of them, then stir, and taste. They should be pretty salty.
This second one is NOT the healthiest recipe in the world.
Let me know if you want more. A lot of my recipes, though, aren't the easiest.
i make an apple pork chop bake..
brown pork chops in skillet
put apple pie filling (one or two cans depending on if an 8x8 or 9x13 pan) in pan and place porkchops in as well.
cook for 45 minutes @ 325 covered w/ foil
then add pre-made (i just cook the instant) stuffing to the top and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes.
it's simple... besides browning the porkchops (not cooking... just browning)... everything else just cooks in the oven.
Some butter and vegetables (miced meats if u like) plus rice put into the rice cooker ....ting. Your dinner is served.
One of the easiest things I make that my family just LOVES is when I mix a half a jar of red pasta sauce with half a jar of alfredo sauce. (I use Prego garlic and herb for the red and Classico 4 cheese alfredo for the white). and Seriously, BEST pasta sauce ever. Pour that over pasta and throw on some grilled chicken and dinner is served.
Another crowd pleaser around here is "French" onion soup. Basically, I just carmelize 4-5 medium onions (white or yellow, doesn't matter) and when they're cooked down, I pour in beef stock and bring to a boil. Eyeball the amount you need, there are no measurements here. :) In the oven, I toast chunks of french bread. Top the soup with deli roast beef and shredded parmesan cheese and serve the bread on the side. Yum!
i do 2 recipes that come out really good.
the first is meat and rice with veggies and gravy. i use steamfresh white rice and vegetables, do that in the microwave as directed. take ground beef cook it up. when beef is done mix in rice and i do canned gravy but you could make your own. one pot meal simple and easy
the other one is a finger food. i take ground beef and taco seasoning. make the meat like the package says (i like ol el paso but whatever taco mix you like is good) while thats cooking a take a pan and put tostitos scoops in there. when the meat is done i pour it into the scoops put mexican style cheese over it and bake in a 250 oven for 10 min. can add salsa or tomatoes or lettuce or whatever and the scoops make it so that its a finger food. my 3 yr old loves it!
hope that helps.
Individual pizzas are always a hit. Set up the toppings salad-bar-style; for crusts, use English muffins, pre-made ones, or make your own. The dough is super-easy if you use a bread machine or find a food processor recipe--and it's worth the effort! You can make the dough or crusts ahead of time and freeze them, too.
You might be able to convince your family to eat vegetable bisque, too. Bisque is a creamy soup made by boiling veggies (carrots, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, corn, etc.) in broth, adding milk, and pureeing with a stick blender. You could do two pots of it, one of carrot and one of broccoli, and let the kids mix the two colors together. If your family does soup, there is definitely a combination of veggies that will work for them.
@sexxydramachick@xanga - the finger food sounds SOOO GOOD!!! Yum! i'm gonna try that, and i dont even have kids!
Mostly I look at our main ingredient and then google it to find something that I have all of the ingredients for.
A few quick favorites:
Healing Cabbage Soup
Saute 1/2 an onion (chopped) and 2 cloves of garlic (roughly chopped) in butter or oil. Add 2 qts. of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 a head of cabbage roughly chopped and simmer on medium for 15 minutes. Add 1 can of Italian style tomatoes, salt and pepper (we use a combo. of black and cayenne) and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes more. This is easy to make and reheats super well!
Baked Penne
Cook whole wheat Penne pasta according to package directions.
Saute 1 med. onion (chopped) and 2 cloves of garlic (pressed) in olive oil. Add 1 can of Italian style tomatoes and 1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce (or you can substitute a can of tomato paste with some water to thin it out and some brown sugar to take away some of the bitterness). Sprinkle in some Italian seasonings. (I prefer Pampered Chef or McCormick Grinders) Heat through. Mix with Penne in a baking dish. Cover with shredded mozarella and shredded parmesan cheeses. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
Sauteed Shrimp and Garlic
(This is great because you can keep frozen uncooked shrimp on hand and it is fast and easy to defrost for a quick filling meal!)
Defrost, de-shell and de-vein the shrimp if necessary. Heat 1/3 cup of butter in a saute pan until bubbling. Add 4 cloves of garlic, minced. Saute the garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until pink. Remove from heat and add about 1 - 2 Tbl. lemon juice. Mix thoroughly. Serve over spaghetti or angel hair pasta.
when my mum is not cooking i make simple but filling food:
1) pasta bake - just boil the pasta, get some sauce, chop up veg and any meat (usually minced) and stick them all in the oven for about 20mins at 180 degree. you can do so many combination!
2) meatballs - getting the kids to help is a great way for them to appreciate your meal! buy minced pork/turkey/beef, mix it with some herbs, salt and sugar with a bit of oil and just get them to make them. you can oven bake the meatballs and serve them with salad, baked/roasted/mashed potatoes as well as pasta, cous cous or rice.
3) pie - buy ready to roll pastry from your local supermarket. they have different styles so you can make different pies and you can put anything you like in the pies so it is a great way to mash up your veg without the kids noticing. it is easy to prepare. you just need to cook everything for the filling beforehand, stuff it in a dish or within the pastry and bake it! easy peasy.
4) wraps - buy roasted meat from the supermarket, buy some salad (or u can make ur own), buy some wraps/pitta bread. get home, microwave the wraps/pitta bread and maybe the meat. then grab some sauces like salad cream, place everything on the table. everyone serve themselves and get a wrap they want.
This one is a huge favorite in my house, I make it at least twice a month. http://lotsofinfo.tripod.com/FR5chickentacobake.htm
One of my favorite and easy meals to make, is Chicken Stroganoff. It all goes into the Crock Pot. You just put 4 chicken breasts (cut into pieces) , one package of dry italian-style salad dressing mix and a little butter (1/8 cup), into the slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours. Then, about an hour and a half before you eat, put in 1 package of cream cheese(8oz) and 1 can of cream of chicken soup(10.75 oz), on high and stir. Then just cook the pasta as directed. It's easy, quick and really good. I found it on Allrecipes.com. I usually make it with broccoli on the side, but I'm sure that it would be good with broccoli in it, too.