Do You Have Favorite Weekday/weekend Meals?

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner. French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon and two kids chose a banana and one raspberries to go with it. It's quick, easy, and my kids think this is so fun.

I wouldn't say it is a favorite but tonight we are having California Chicken Casserole. We are having it because it is easy and because I went a little nutty and bought 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters. So I cooked a few in the crock pot overnight and now I have chicken for a few casseroles or sandwiches.

We eat a lot of pasta and Mexican. Hubby is happy its almost stew season. We eat tons of lamb stew, and we eat shrimp constantly. Oh yes, roast chicken with mashed potatoes and roast carrots.

Wet Burritos - sounds bad, tastes amazing. It is literally my hubby's fav
Pork Chops - season and serve, super easy
Salmon - honestly, my kids eat this up. Get creative with it - serve w dill cucumber sauce, spicy mustard sauce, etc.
Stuffed Bell Peppers - the stuffing is soooo good even by itself!
Tomato basil pasta - super easy - mozz cheese (fresh ball sliced), fresh basil, chiffonade, and fresh tomatoes cut up into diced pieces. Toss together with a little olive oil and a dash italian dressing, serve COLD with HOT pasta. Serve right away after pouring cold stuff onto the hot pasta. Sprinkle w parmesean.
Italian Sausage (winter) soup - google - flavor is amazing and prep is minimal
Tacos - made with ground turkey, add toppings!
Chili - super easy and good source of protein and fiber!

I am working mom of 3 and I love to cook healthy meals for my family even though I am SO pressed for time. I love to help other moms as well....so PM me if you want some recipes!

When my kid's were growing up, their favorite Sunday dinner was fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, and biscuits. But my go to meal during the week (especially when nights would be hectic) was a bag of california blend veggies, a can of italian-style tomatoes, and a couple of leg quarters into the crock pot in the morning and when we got ready to eat that night it was italian style chicken soup! All I had to do was remove the skin and bones from the chicken and sprinkle a little parm cheese on top and watch them gobble it up

My problem is I like well spiced and prepared food.

If you are looking for good recipes go to allrecipes.com. I have a chili recipe that I have won several cook offs with:

B.'s Smoked Chicken Chili

1 28 ounce of enchilada sauce (I used hot, red sauce)
1 15 oz can of refried beans
4 15 oz cans of chili flavored beans
4 pounds of chicken leg 1/4's (leg 1/4's work better than breasts)
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 heaping teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 lb of fresh jalapenos. (canned won't work as well)

I used a 6 qt crock pot turned on high.
Smoke the chicken leg 1/4's. Place them in a pan, with 1/4" of water, on a BBQ grill with mesquite wood for smoke. Cook them over very low heat, until done. Put the chicken leg 1/4's and the water in a container in the frig over night. I put Canadian Chicken Seasoning on my chicken in the grill.

Put all the ingredients in the crock pot, including the water in the pan the chicken cooked in, except the jalapenos, and stir. 5 hours later, remove the leg 1/4's and place on a plate to cool. After the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the bones and place the meat back in the crock pot, then stir. Stirring breaks up the chunks of meat and makes it go through out the chili.

Cut the tops off the jalapenos. Cut them in half length wise. Use the round end of a spoon to scoop out the seeds and white part that holds the seeds. (The seeds and white membrane makes Jalapenos HOT.) Do the scraping under the water or with a fan blowing the fumes away from you. Dice the pods and add them to the chili 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!! (For thicker chili, remove 2 cups of sauce only from the pot when you remove the chicken to debone it.)

I sipped/drank the sauce I removed to make my chili thicker. It was HOT, but delicious.

Good luck to you and yours.

A big hit here is MY meatballs and pasta, the key in mine is I use 1/3 veal, pork, turkey vs plain ground beef.

Our go to is spaghetti. Our favorite is Gumbo. I love making slow cooker Gumbo!!

I made a chicken broccoli rice casserole....

I cook up 1 1/2 C rice, add 2-3 C cooked chicken, about 1 lb velveeta (diced), 1 can cream of mushroom soup, can of mushrooms, 1/2 c chopped onion, and frozen (thawed and heated) broccoli....

I also add toasted blanched almonds... I love the crunch of it!

Sometimes I top it off with shredded cheddar cheese....

Mix it all together, and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. A favorite in my house, and there is enough for leftovers for the next night, and maybe a lunch or two.

I have a blog where I post my meals and would love for you to check it out and see if you find something you'd like to try.

http://melosculinsaryadventures.blogspot.com/

M.

Hi LPT, I'm a "basic" cook and ask a lot of cooking questions on here. I recently decided to go healthy, but am not perfect at it and still fall back to some old easy habits. lol

However, I'm going to try some 5 ingredient or less recipes I found online that sound good.

Prior to deciding to eat healthier, here is our family favorites and quickest and easiest for me to make: Tostadas: package of premade shells, can of refried beans, shredded cheese and lettuce. Hot sauce for hubs. They all love them. Also, chili mac. Make 2 boxes of mac and cheese, stir in 2 cans of chili, heat and serve with green beans and biscuits.

Another quick and easy is spaghetti noodles, alfredo sauce, chopped cooked chicken and crumbled bacon and peas.

I've decided to try a new meal 2x per week to see what we all will like. Good luck!

Enchiladas (beef with red sauce, chic with green chile sauce and my new faovrite is seafood enchiladas)
chili
lemon chicken
bubble pizza
easy beef stir fry with noodles
Chicken Ceasar salad wraps
hamburgers on the grill
beef or pork roast
pork tenderloin (baked or on the grill)
potato soup with ham
slow baked chicken