Favorite Dinner Meal...

Baked ziti is super duper easy. Here's what I do: take 1 pound Italian sausage out of the casing & break it up in a pan over medium heat. Use the spoon to break it up while it cooks. Drain & set aside. Cook 1 box (16oz) ziti, any brand until just done, usually around 10 minutes in salted boiling water & then drain. In a giant bowl mix together 1 1/2 jars spaghetti sauce, any brand, 2 beaten eggs, 1 Tbsp. parsley, 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. salt, 16oz. ricotta, 1/2 cup parmesean cheese, 1 1/2 cups grated mozzerella, the sausage & pasta. Mix it all up & dump it into the biggest casserole dish you have. Plop the rest of the sauce on top, sprinkle the rest of the mozzerella cheese on top of that & bake it at 375 for 20-30 minutes. Yumm-ola!

It's a lot of ingredients, but it's really dummy-proof & delicious every time. Serve with hot bread & butter & a side salad.

If you have Chicken, then you can make Pan roasted chicken. Brown it in a pan with olive oil, season with any favorite seasonings, (garlic, onion, pepper, and parsley) use some chicken bullion cubes for extra flavoring. Add potatoes and carrots and cover. Cook on stove top until veggies are tender. Then serve with garlic bread, and salad.

broccoli casserole!!!

one package (16 oz) frozen or fresh broccoli florrets
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheese

top with crushed crackers - I use Cheez-its - with 1/4 cup of melted butter and spread evenly over the top...

mix together and bake at 350 for 30 minutes - done!

you can even add chopped chicken - but I usually just make it on the side..I don't think I'm missing anything....if I am - I'll edit!!

L., ive been on this site forever and have cut and pasted recipes from moms on here into a word doc. if you or anyone else wants a copy, just message me your email address and ill be happy to send it to you.

our latest favorites are tostadas and chinese chicken salad, not at the same time! but its hot here and i refuse to cook in summer. these are no cook, fast and everyone loves them.

Chicken Pot Pie that's amazing and simple:

1 - double pie shell, room temp.
1 - can VegAll, mixed vegetables (drain 1/2 juice)
1 - can Cream of Potato soup
1 - Rotisserie Chicken, diced
*You can also add any leftover veggies in the frig like corn, peas, asparagus

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients and put in the bottom pie shell. Gently place other pie shell on top and press edges together. Carve an X in the center.

Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for one hour.

***If you like spicy, you can add some hot sauce to the mix. It's yummy. You can also add more can soup and veggies to taste.

Shoyu Chicken: (Asian dish)

1) boneless skinless chicken thighs. Up to you how many. Doesn't matter how many.
I usually use 6-7 pieces.

2) 1/2 cup Shoyu (soy sauce)
3) 1/2 cup Ketchup
4) 1/2 cup sugar. Or you can put 1/4 cup.
5) 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil (optional).

Put chicken in pot on stove.
Mix ingredients in a bowl, then pour on top of chicken and stir all together.
Cook on medium heat.
Stir occasionally while cooking to get sauce evenly over chicken.
Cook chicken until it is good and done and the chicken is soaked with the sauce.

Serve with Basmati Rice or any rice you want.
And veggies. Any veggie will do.

Good.
Easy.
Fast.
Everything cooked in only ONE pot!
And you just need a bowl to mix the ingredients.
Nothing to chop either.
Minimalist recipe.
The whole family likes it.

My favorite dinner is one I don't have to cook.
I like to cook, I'm pretty good at it, but when I get home from work I'm just too tired some nights.
Fortunately, my 16 year old son LOVES to cook and as long as I have the groceries in the house, he'll get things started before I even get home unless he's got activities or something.
I spent years slaving in the kitchen and teaching him everything he needs to know and it's paying off.
He'll never go hungry.
He'll never rely on a woman to do all the cooking.
He'll make an excellent husband someday.

As far as simple, we like grilling because it's less dishes. We even do our potatoes and vegetables on the grill.

If you want super, super simple:
2 boxes of boxed fettucine mix (the kind you just boil the noodles, add some milk and a sauce packet)
1-2 cans drained tuna
small can chopped black olives

Cook the noodles according to package directions.
Add tuna and olives.
Put in baking dish. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top and put in the oven until heated through and cheese is melted.
Serve with bread and a vegetable or salad.

This takes zero time and it's one of those things you can just throw together on a busy night in a pinch.

Best wishes.

This sounds incredible weird, but it is really good. I serve it with rice. My family loves it and it is so easy!

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or thighs-I like thighs better)
1 1/2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix
1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
1 cup French dressing

Directions

Place the chicken breasts in a glass or non-reactive baking dish.
Stir the onion soup mix, cranberry sauce, and French dressing together in a bowl until well blended. Pour over the chicken breasts. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Remove plastic wrap from the baking dish, and cover loosely with aluminum foil.
Bake chicken in preheated oven until top is bubbly and slightly browned, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Tacos are delicious! (but only if you don't mind doing a lot of dishes...)

Just cook up some hamburger (we don't season ours) and bake a batch of store-bought taco shells for 5 minutes (if you don't bake them, they taste stale...if you bake them, they are mouth-watering!)

Then chop up some lettuce, dice up some roma tomatoes, shred some cheddar cheese, buy some all-natural sour cream & salsa and...wah-lah!!

(Okay, so it's not exactly "simple" but it doesn't require a lot of talent.) :) I think that's what we're going to have tonight.

spaguetti with meatballs and salad

chicken in the oven with olive oil persley and garlic with veggies

Tacos are super easy just get some taco seasoning and ground beef/turkey. Spaghetti too.

Adrienne W. - We make that too except I use chopped onion. We call it Cranberry Chicken. I sometimes make it with non jellied cranberries. You can do it in a crockpot too.

Stuffed chicken with feta and olives; baked mahi mahi with tomatoes, wine, garlic, onions; stuffed pasta with spinach, chicken, cheese; chicken breaded with cheez-its, calzones, flatbread pizzas...

All these are super easy! :)

My husbands new favorites:

Fast cook long grain wild rice with diced green peppers and chunks of sausage (takes 10 minutes!!)

Mini pizzas: Get whole wheat 6in flat bread, spread hummus on there, then add pine nuts, artichokes, black loves, roasted red pepper (your fav veggies). Cook at 400 for 10 minutes (or less, you know your oven)

Another mini pizza: same flatbread, ranch dressing, chopped up fajita chicken and steak (pre-cooked, pre-packaged), chopped onion and green pepper and feta... YUM!

Last night I BSed my way through a recipe because I couldn't find orzo, so I made bowtie pasta and stirred in steamed fresh asparagus, olive oil, baby shrimp, and a little garlic :) The pasta was the only thing that took more than 10 minutes!

We will also sometimes take frozen burger patties, make burgers without the bun (add cheese), and serve with cheesey garlic bread and salad. Looks fancy, but it's easy.

All that being said, I'm making frozen pizza tonight. My back hurts!

Happy cooking :)

I, too, am NOT a cook, so I muddle my way thru things.

Last night we had a nameless meal from my childhood (I do it in the crockpot..mom did it in a pan on the stove).

* Chicken (bone or boneless...whatever cut you have handy or like)..OR you can do pork loins or pork chops..its flexible that way!
* A few cans of diced tomatoes
* sliced onions
* Oregano
* Salt and pepper
(toss this all in the crock pot and cook till the meat falls off the bone or if boneless, till it simply starts to fall apart...)

We serve with Yellow saffron rice (yum) from a package and Very Early Sweet Peas from a can (only peas I will touch!)

I also made a copy cat version of Olive Garden Pasta Figioli soup (I know its hot for soup, but its low fat/low cal and can be microwaved along with a salad for these almost-100* days we will have here in MN this weekend)
I did mine on the stovetop (my crock pot was busy!)
http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-pasta-e-fagioli-s...

I also have chicken marinating for a grill night. Shish-Ka-bobs. Just need ot chop my peppers and zuchinni. Hubby will make a 90 second rice bag to go with his (I am TRYING to calorie count and lose a few pounds so I will skip the rice).

I did good so far this week!

One of my husband's favorites. It's a no name...something I threw together.

-Cook about two cups of rice
-Brown some ground turkey
-Add seasoning to the turkey (I like soy sauce and season salt as my husband is a little bland)
-Add rice to ground turkey
-Stir it all together and add a can of cream of mushroom

You can serve with veggies of your choice and/or rolls.

:)

Had to add this one because it's a crockpot recipe from a trusted source that I haven't tried yet. So if you try it you have to let me know. :)

Hen in the crockpot bathing in a beer with some fresh rosemary, garlic, vidalia onion, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, black pepper and sea salt.

I plan to try it minus the beer. :)

My favorite simple recipe is one that I found on www.food.com. It's called Easy Easiest Chicken Dinner Recipe Ever. I've included the recipe below but here's the link as well in case you want to see a picture of it, read the reviews, etc.

http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-easiest-chicken-dinner-ev...

Servings:
4 Servings Size

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tenders, raw
1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10 ounce) can rotel
1 cup white rice, uncooked
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
garlic powder
salt & pepper

Directions:
Prep Time: 5 mins

Total Time: 25 mins
1 Using a large, deep skillet with a cover pour can of chicken broth and can of rotel into skillet.
2 Stir in cup of rice.
3 Lay chicken tenders on top of rice and sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Go easy on the pepper if you don't like it too hot because the Rotel has a little kick to it.
4 Cover and cook over medium high heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is opaque.
5 Remove from heat and sprinkle with the cheese. Stir lightly until cheese melts slightly.

This is so easy (no matter what your cookings skills are =0) )& it really only takes 18-20 minutes at the most!!! You can eat as is or make it into burritos, tacos, etc.

I the heat:

Chopped Salad... takes about 10 minutes to make, no cooking... just chopping & stirring

Whatcha need:
2 big bowls (or 2 big ziplock bags)
1 'normal' sized bowl (cereal, etc.) or 1 big ziplock bag
4 small bowls/dishes
Ingredients below
Cardini's Italian Salad Dressing (or your favorite italian dressing)

- Iceberg lettuce (Chop in half. Slice finger thick slices in one direction, turn slice finger thch slices in the other direction which gives you about 1/2 inch squarish pieces of lettuce... place in large bowl)

- 1/2 lb of dry italian salami (have them slice it 1 centemeter thick, then chop into cubes)
- 1 breast from a rotisserie chicken (chopped in finger thick cubes)
- About a cup of shredded mozzarella

((combine the salami, chicken, and mozzarella in a big ziplock and shake, or cereal bowl and stir))

- 2 or 3 chopped tomatoes, sprinkle over with salt and pepper and place in small bowl
- Half a bunch of basil leaves (pull the leaves off, stack them up with big on the bottom, small on the top, roll like a cigar, and slice up... gives you "shredded"/ chopped basil in no time flat. Place in small bowl)
- 1 can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas (rinsed, and placed in small bowl)
- 1 bunch of green onions, (chopped and placed in small bowl)

Line up all your bowls:
- Lettuce
- Meat & Cheese mix
- Tomato
- Basil
- Chickpeas
- Green Onions

Have everyone make up their own salad in the bowl or dish they'll be using skipping things they dislike, adding more of what they love, etc. Snag it back from them and dump their individual salad in a large bowl. Pour over salad dressing, stir it all together (that's why you want the big bowl, so it's super easy to stir and not be losing parts of it). Replate it, and send them to the table.

I often spray a pie plate with PAM and then do a single layer of chicken breasts covered with Italian dressing or covered with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake it at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (until fully cooked). I serve the Italian chicken with instant mashed potatoes and the chicken covered in spaghetti sauce I serve over cooked pasta. Both super easy and both only dirty one dish!!

Spray baking dish.
Place chicken breasts or tenders in baking dish.
Cover with jar of salsa.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
Bake @ 350 for maybe 20 minutes or so, depending on how thick your chicken is.
Serve with instant brown rice.

I promise these are both simple:

Dice about 8 roma tomatoes (hyrdoponically grown taste best to me)

Fresh basil - chopped into small pieces

1-3 cloves of garlic (minced), depending on how much you like it (you can always use 1, then taste it, and add more....you cannot take away once added)

Fresh mozzarella ball - diced into bite size pieces.

Put in mixing bowl with some olive oil (I just eyeball it - I probably use about 4 tbsp)

Mix the above with whole grain fetuccini noodles (al dente)

And yes, you still want the mixture to be a little cold when added to pasta. It will "warm up" slightly after sitting for a few minutes.

OR....

Bone in pork chops - sprinkle with some dried thyme, garlic salt and pepper
Fry in skillet over oil on medium/high heat until done (if not too thick, should take about 15 minutes)
Serve with steamed veggies (these come in a bag - easy!) and instant mashed potatoes
YUM!

Most people have 6 to 8 meals they cook over and over again.

If you want to learn how to cook, go to allrecipes.com and sign up for their FREE program. No need to spend money on their paid service unless its for just one year. Allrecipes.com had several free videos you can watch and learn by.

For real simple, . . . cook some shell, bow tie, or flat pasta. Follow the directions on the side of the package. Pour the water off. Place some thawed, cooked shrimp (without the shell or tail) in with the pasta. I use about 12 to 16 ounces of shrimp with 8 to 12 ounces of uncooked pasta. I immediately pour in one 16 ounce jar of alfredo sauce and stir. You have shrimp alfredo. Serve warm or hot.

Rice pilaf: One 14-16 oz can of chicken broth in a small pot and bring to a boil. Put in one cup of uncooked rice. Bring pot to a boil again. Dice up a green onion. When the pot boils, add the diced green onion and turn off the burner. In 20 to 30 minutes you have rice pilaf.

Good luck to you and yours.

Lol...Beans. I soak dry pintos over night in water, than dump them in the crock pot with either water or chicken stock, some salt & pepper and 8hours on low I have dinner. And if we dont feel like beans, Dominos delivers!

I was reading this too for some new ideas...I can cook...but you know after years of cooking...you are all up to trying something different. Of course, since we don't eat chicken...it didn't leave me much to chose from. But alot of good suggestions! I know...this wasn't my post.

This is one of my SD's favorite meals (we eat at breakfast or dinner!). I make it for her every time she comes home :)

About 4-6 cups of cooked white rice.
10-12 slices of bacon, chopped into 1/4 inch slivers
6 eggs beaten for scrambling.
2 cloves of garlic chopped.
Black pepper and soy sauce

Fry bacon till almost crisp, drain and put aside.
Cooked scrambled eggs, do not over cook put aside.
Clean out the skillet and add 2 tablespoons of fresh cooking oil.
Microwave rice 2 minutes to get it warmed up, prior to frying.
Add garliic too skillet at med-high heat, add rice saute for a couple of minutes, add bacon saute for another minute.
Add pepper and soysauce to taste. Maybe 2 tablespoons.
Lastly add scrambled eggs saute one last minute.
Then serve.

Taco Salad!! Let me know if you want the recipe!