Quick dinners when too tired too cook

[wellyes]

Get a griddle press, you can make dinner super quick:
grilled cheese with tomato
turkey melts or any kind of sandwich - my favorite is tomato-mozzarella-basil
chicken breasts
quesadillas or heat up tortillas for burritos
pancakes, we mix bananas into it, and serve with microwaved sausage

Our "in a pinch" dinner is:
heat up box of pasta
microwave frozen spinach to defrost
quickly saute the spinach
mix cooked pasta, spinach, a little pesto and a heaping serving of feta
Very easy and OMG delicious. When I have them, I'll cut up some yellow or orange peppers to saute with the spinach.

[1mom2dylan]

Ravioli or tortellini with vodka sauce.
Angel hair pasta in butter sauce
Taquitos with salsa

[schrocat]

I'll second the griddle press and frozen food from Trader Joes.

If you have salad vegetables available, that's also easy and quick to prepare.

My go to quick meal is an egg drop soup in an organic chicken stock broth (we always keep a jar of Better Than Boillon handy for this) and organic baby spinach thrown in. I cook some quick Chuba Soba in another pot and the kids love this meal the most.

[TwinFoxes]

Pita, hummus, crackers, cheese, grapes, salami, apples, (and wine because if I am at the point of pulling out the no-cook stuff, I am probably needing some wine to go with it).

I so need a "Like" button for this!

[brittone2]

Look at the Mark BIttman 101 low cook meals. Many are summer/beat the heat themed, but we do a lot of things like that when we need something quick (heat up sausage, serve with hummus to dip in, microwave veggie as a side. That's under 15 mins). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/di...anted=all&_r=0

Hardboil a bunch of eggs for the week (I use the oven method, which works well for me. Several people here said they didn't have success with that method, but I love it. Alton Brown has instructions). Make egg salad or deviled eggs, serve over greens on on bread. Or throw together a quick cobb-ish salad (keep blue cheese or gorgonzola on hand, some avocado, egg, skip the bacon if took much work).

Grill a bunch of chicken breasts when you do have time or Dh has time, then slice and flash freeze. Use that to throw together a quick quesadilla, burrito, salad, whatever during the week. Ditto precooking and freezing ground beef. Things like that you can also do while studying in the kitchen because they don't require a ton of direct attention.

I'm stocking my freezer right now for fall because things are busier for us in the upcoming weeks. This week one morning I roasted a chicken, poached two others on the stove while that was happening, pulled out the chickens and made stock. Tossed together 2 different soups last night in under 30 mins, and then froze those. That's several meals, plus we used some of the chicken in the interim. I also make huge pots of chili this time of the year. It can be a one dish thing if you don't want to add a side. I know you are pressed for time and don't have chunks of time to do those big cooks right now probably, but if you do get a free day or DH can do it, in 2-3 hours you can end up with quite a few meals for the freezer.

eta: I just made a large batch of small meatballs made with gr. turkey, grated ginger, scallions, etc. and baked those in the oven. I flash freeze those and then toss them into thawed chicken stock with some greens (kale, spinach), etc. for a quick soup. Sometimes I freeze them already in it. You could also serve them with some stir fried veggies, etc. Same with Italian style meatballs...buy them (costco) or make them, toss into a soup with greens and some grated parm, put them on a roll, serve with pasta, serve with sauce and something like broccoli. Those variations are all a little different and all are super fast. And if you don't have time to make, just buy them.

[brittone2]

Pita, hummus, crackers, cheese, grapes, salami, apples, (and wine because if I am at the point of pulling out the no-cook stuff, I am probably needing some wine to go with it). This is also something I know my kids will eat.

We do that too. I call it toothpick dinner or toothpick lunch and the kids love it. Win win! Sometimes I let them eat it picnic style in the living room on a blanket and they declare me the best mom ever. Yeah, fine with me kids...if it makes you happy, it makes me very happy

[KLD313]

You should check out Michael Symons new cookbook 5 in 5. It's 5 fresh ingredients added to some pantry staples that you cam cook in 5 mins. Plus, he tells you what to buy and how to stock your pantry. The recipes are good, too.

[SASM]

Alkagift's Thai Chickpea Stew!!


2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 c chopped vidalia onion (1 cup regular)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 19 ounce cans (note the odd size) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 14.5 ounce cans petite diced tomatoes, UNdrained
1 14 oz can coconut milk (light doesn't make a difference, see the fat content below)
1 Tbs good curry powder (mine is just from Whole Foods--very hot curries may need adjustment but for me this is good)
2 Tbs minced *pickled* jalapeno pepper (this is what I cut down--I use about a teaspoon because I'm a spice wimp)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c chopped fresh basil (or cilantro, if you'd rather) **we prefer cilantro**


Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 min or until onion is tender. Place onion mixture, chickpeas, and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a 3 1/2 qt electric slow cooker. Stir well. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in basil or cilantro and serve over rice. Serves six to eight.


With regular coconut milk and including 3/4 c rice, this has 404 calories, 9g protein, 14g fat, 7 g fiber and way too many

Also...Huge fan of the crockpot...here's a recipe thread:
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/sho...+chickpea+stew

[elektra]

We do that too. I call it toothpick dinner or toothpick lunch and the kids love it. Win win! Sometimes I let them eat it picnic style in the living room on a blanket and they declare me the best mom ever. Yeah, fine with me kids...if it makes you happy, it makes me very happy

We totally do this as a picnic in the family room sometimes too. I put it all on a big cutting board and set it either on the ottoman or on a blanket and we all just kneel down and eat off the board. Everyone ends up happy at our house too!

[happymom]

We only eat kosher so there are limited frozen prepared meals that are decent and well-priced enough to buy. So for me, if I have nothing homemade in the freezer and haven't planned a dinner at all, it usually means buying some kind of takeout. But, here are a few things I make if I'm at the grocery store and know I'm going to need to get supper on the table in 15 min when I get home.
- prebreaded flounder (sold by the fish counter), baked potatoes and salad.
- Greek salad and baked potatoes
- steak, salad, and fries (I throw the frozen kind into oven)
-grilled chicken cutlets (sometimes I buy grilled cutlets from takeout counter in grocery store, and sometimes I grill myself). Either make into yummy sandwiches with veggies, or throw into a salad.

I would happily make eggs, pasta, pancakes etc, but DH really doesn't like that kind of stuff.