[Bug-n-Bears-Mommy]

I am tired of the same old dinner ideas...please share your ideas. I want something affordable, and easy to make since I work full time. I would love to hear what you got!!

[mrsred]

Chicken and rice:

One cup rice (NOT minute rice)
One can mushroom soup
Bonelss, skinless chicken breast
Paprika

mix rice and soup in 9x12 baking pan
lay chicken on top
sprinkle with paprika
bake for 45 minutes at 350

We have turkey tacos a lot. Brown ground turkey, add black beans and taco seasoning and water and simmer till reduced. Serve on corn or floor tortillas with sour cream, fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes and onions and hot sauce. Two out of our four kids will not eat tacos, so they get cheese quesadillas, which are really easy. Just put a tortilla on the electric griddle, put some cheese on and top it with another tortilla. As the cheese melts and the torilla warms turn the quesdilla over and cooke the other side for a bit.

[qs mom]

I bbq's some ribs in the crockpot the other day. They were awesome, super easy to make.

Tonight was lazy - fried chicken breasts with fries.

But, I'm looking for some thing different too. I was browsing a cookbook today. I may do Swiss Steak. I haven't had that since I was kid. I think I may have all of the ingrediants.

What about casseroles? Dump everything in and bake!

[Nicole Elaine]

We had baked chicken breast strips, macaroni and cheese and corn tonight. It was so simple that I almost felt guilty. lol

Just mix 3 tablespoons of melted butter with 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs ( I used italian). It's easiest if you use your hands or a flat bamboo "spoon" so the butter gets evenly distributed. Then press strips of cut up boneless chicken breasts into the crumbs. Shake the excess crumbs off, bake them on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes or until they're not pink, and you'll love them!

[dragonfly1234]

I am the crock pot queen....lol

What do you want to know?

I make soup, spagettie sauce(sp?) stews and swiss steak....the ultimette!

[sayoko7]

I don't have the websites off-hand, but there are places where you can get easy recipes and the shopping lists that go with them. Anyone know what I am talking about?

[xxsurroundedbyxy]

I do baked spaghetti in the crockpot. We do tacos one night and my husband browns extra hamburger meat. I buy a LARGE jar of Ragu and put in the crockpot. Then I fill the large jar with water and pour it in (will not water down the taste)and add a box of spaghetti. Cook on high for a couple of hours. Once the noodles are about done I add the brown beef and everythings done when it is all warm.

We also buy a whole chicken, wash it, butter and salt and pepper it, and place it in a bag in the fridge overnight. In the am, just slide it into the crockpot (no water) and cook on low all day. Then we do canned veggies, frozen veggies, or mac n cheese with it.

Roast, carrots, and potatoes with water in a crockpot is a super simple meal. We cook on low all day and turn to high when we come in shortly before supper time.

Crockpots.........how did we ever live without them?

[musemoon]

We are vegetarians, but my little one loves this dish....cook rice (in a rice cooker if you've got one, if not minute rice will do) let it set, then sautee lots of fresh garlic cloves (like 5 or 6 or more crushed) in olive oil, then add fresh or frozen vegetables (corn, spinach, carrots-shredded, tomatoes and water chestnuts are favs with my kiddo) and some fresh spices, either, basil, cilantro or thyme or heck all three (be wacky if ya want to) then add the rice (yep it's fried rice, but very fresh tasting) at the last minute add a few eggs on top and let them cook for a while (till they start to get hard) before you start to stir them all in.

I would sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or pine nuts (or heck all three...you know how wacky that will be :-) on the top and voila a kiddo favorite (in our house at least).

[radkat]

I was just looking around for some fresh recipes, too. I'm sooo tired of fixing the same stuff.

I found a few good sites,

Welcome to Menus 4 Moms
Recipes, Menus, Cooking Videos, Dinner Tonight - Easy Meals, Healthy Cooking, Most Popular Recipes - MyRecipes.com
Meals.com - 15,000 recipes

Hope this helps,
Kathy

[mrsred]

This is all making me hungry. especially musemoms fried rice. YUM!

[Howdy]

One dish that is surprisingly good (because neither my daughter nor I are vegetable people) is a half a bag of Birdeye frozen stir fry peppers (it has cut up strips of red, yellow, and green peppers and onion pieces) fried in a little olive oil, and then meanwhile microwave a package (two) of Gorton's frozen garlic fish filets. When the fish is done I put it in the pan with the stir fry vegetable and smush (flake) it up into little pieces all mixed together. It tastes really good and I feel so virtuous about eating veggies.

My mom makes a couple popular (but unhealthy) meals:
1. Chicken enchilada casserole (recipe from memory: layer the pan with corn tortillas, layer on a can of refried beans, a can of enchilada sauce, sprinkle of onion, layer of little pieces of chicken (prepared ahead of time, she makes chicken in the crockpot then cuts it up and freezes it for using in dishes like this), and sprinkle on a whole package of shredded cheese (such as the Mexican 4 Cheese variety). Bake for 45 minutes.
2. Easy Cheesy Potatoes: Spray casserole with Pam, spread a layer of tater tots, sprinkle with shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, sprinkle in a few more tater tots, sprinkle on some chopped up onion, stir up 1 cup milk + 1 cup water + 1/2 cup flour and pour into casserole, sprinkle on a little more of the cheese and then bake for 40 minutes.

[musemoon]

Seriously it all looks yum.....just wish that tofu held up in the crock pot....drat! MsRed....we made Vegi meat tacos tonight based on your recipe tonight (come on, you all LOVE textured vegetable protein,...don't lie....who doesn't love it...ya I thought so!) Ok the cheesy potatoes....make me giggle....I think I would fall over in an extasy comma with that much cheesy potato goodness....yum!

[CaddoRose]

This recipe is a little long, but you can modify it to suit your needs. Nobody will ever know there isn't any meat in it. Every time I make this, there are no left overs!
It does take a little longer to make because you need to cook the lasagna noodles first.


Italian Vegetable pie


1 cup of each sliced:
green bell pepper
onion
mushrooms

2 TB minced garlic
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 package firm tofu- drained and crumbled
1(25.5 oz) bottle of marina sauce
6 cooked lasagna noodles cut cross wise
shredded cheese

1. preheat oven
2. heat oil in large skillet and saute peppers, onions, mushrooms and garlic- about 3 minutes. Stir in sauce and seasonings and tofu. Cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Spray cooking spray inside a pie pan(9 ")Arrange noodles in a spokelike pattern in a pie pan. Spread 3 cups of mixture on the bottom.
4.Fold the noodles over the top and then cover with remaining mixture. Then top with shredded cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes at 375*.

[taramayrn]

We love this one at our house. It was given to me by someone else.

Chicken Triangles

Ingredients:
1. 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
2. 2 tubes crescent rolls
3. 10 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 1/4 packages)
4. 1/2 package Hidden Valley Ranch sald dressing, dry
5. 1 small handful of your favorite grated cheese (the extra thing)
To Make:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil the chicken in a pan for about ten minutes.
2. While chicken is cooking, open crescent rolls and place on baking sheet to make squares.
3. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces.
4. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
5. Place chicken mixture in the middle of the squares, leaving room on the outside edges.
6. Fold square in half to make triangle and bake for twenty minutes. (If that doesn’t make sense, basically it means to put the mixture in the middle of one crescent roll triangle and then fold another triangle over it to make a hidden pocket kind of meal.
7. With about five minutes left to bake, open the oven, sprinkle cheese on top of the crescent rolls. Finish baking.

[taramayrn]

Easy and fast beef and tomato
1/2 - 3/4 lb beef steak, flank or round. Sliced thinly across the grain.
dash of pepper
1tbsp tapioca (corn) starch
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp sugar
2 cloves garlic crushed and skinned
4 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into sections of 6ths
2 stalks of green onion cut into 2 inch lengths
1/2 tsp salt
drops of sesame (or other oil) oil
Serve over egg noodles.



1. Marinate beef with starch, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil.
2. Use a small bowl to prepare starch solution with 1 tbsp starch and 1/4 cup of water.
3. Heat wok or frying pan on high heat. Put in garlic to brown then add beef. Stir fry until beef is no longer pink.
4. Put in tomatoes, sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup of water. Cover with a lid and cook on high heat for a few minutes.
5. When done add green onions and starch solution. Bring to a boil and serve hot.

Probably my all time most favorite meal