Need Dinner Ideas....

We do breakfas for dinner every couple of weeks. With working full-time who has time to make breakfast, so we have pancakes and sausage or waffles and sausage.....it is a hit with my children!

Good Luck.

How about some Chicken green enchiladas? for the the salsa, boil the whole tomatillos until soft, wail until cold and blend with jalapeno pepper (start with a small piece until you get the desite spiceness), garlic, cilantro and a little bit of water so it mixes well. Don't use to much that its watery.
Dip the corn tortillas in hot oil and stuff them with shredded chicken (rotisserie, boil, grilled or backed). You can also use ground beef. You may need some toothpicks to hold the tortilla together.
Cover the stuffed tortillas with the salsa, table cream and cheese and put in the oven until the cheese melts.
You can have rice or beans or both as side dishes and its delicious.
good luck!

The crock pot can be your friend. You can make spaghetti sauce in there. Take can of tomato puree,tomato paste and add spices like italian seasoning,a teaspoon of sugar and salt and pepper and a few bay leaves. cook it on low all day. Next another one that is good is pork to make shredded pork sandwhiches. Take a pork roast and put it in the crock pot,cover with water,add two chicken bullion cubes and put it in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hrs. you can do this even if you are at work it can cook. I then take it out and get rid of any fat and bones. it should fall apart. mix it with barbeque sauce. put it on hamburger or hoagie rolls. There are also dinners where you just add the meat to it in the frozen section. I made sweet and sour pork yesterday. I added ramen type noodles and extra pineapples to it. It was good and very reasonable to make. good luck

allrecpes.com is the best for this sort of thing. they have a set of recipes that are perfect for weeknight meals, and are grouped for taking 15, 30, or 45 minutes to make. here are two that i've done recently that are definite keepers!!

Grilled Turkey Reubens (this makes 2 sandwiches)
4 slices of rye bread
2 T. olive oil (or butter)
4 tsp. mayo
4 tsp. hot sauce
2 slices swiss cheese
1/2 c. sauerkraut
8 slices turkey deli meat

1. Heat skillet over medium heat
2. Brush the slices of bread with olive oil or butter. Lay 2 down on the skillet, add meat, cheese, sauerkraut. Mix the mayo and hot sauce together; spread on other slice of bread, place on top of other slice.
3. Cook just like grilled cheese and serve.

Crispy Chicken with Asparagus Sauce (makes 4 servings)

1 egg
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. bread crumbs
2 T. oil
1 can Cream of Asparagus Soup
1/3 c. milk
1/3 c. water
Cooked rice

1. Beat the egg, dip the chicken in it, and coat with bread crumbs. *We cut the chicken into smaller pieces, and used 2 eggs, as well as seasoned the bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.*
2. Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat, and cook chicken for abut 15 minutes, or until browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove the chicken from skillet and keep warm.
3. Stir the soup, milk, and water *we didn't use water, just a full can of milk* into the skillet and heat until hot and bubbling. Serve the sauce over the chicken and rice.
*We made fresh aspargus as a side dish, and it was great!*

Enjoy!!

Pad Thai is a favorite in our household (we use the box mix, just add tofu)

Also tofu Parm is fairly easy (we're meat eaters. I just happen to love tofu)
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/tofu-parmigiana/Detail.aspx

Turkey tacos are awesome (sometimes we even make our own tortilias, they have a mix @ walmart right by the flour)

What I did was to take a small notebook (or index cards) and write O. entree and the ingredients on each page/card. Even the simple ones like tacos (taco kit, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese), hamburgers (ground beef, buns), chili (ground beef, kidney beans, green peppers, onions, tomato sauce), etc. Once you start, just do a separate page/card for each thing--you make more than you think--you just don't have all the ingredients to make them each every day! Pick 4 or 5 and take that list with you--super speedy shopping (plus your usual stuff like milk, bread, butter, eggs, etc.) Good luck! It's been working for me. It's eliminating the dreaded 3:00 "what's for dinner..." dilemma.

Here's a chicken recipe that reheats well for leftovers.

Cheesy Mexican Chicken Braid

4 to 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Rotel, drained
2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese
1 can sliced olives, drained
3/4 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup light mayo.
1/2 cup light sour cream
dash of pepper
2 cans of reduced fat crescent rolls

Directions: Boil chicken breasts in salted water; then cut in 1/2 cubes. (I've also used rotisserie chicken.) Mix chicken and the next 7 ingredients together. Line a cookie sheet with foil (not necessary, but makes it simple to wrap up leftovers) and spray with cooking spray. Place crescent dough pieces down the center of the pan with the short sides overlapping and the long points facing out. Spoon the filling down the center of the dough. Stretch the dough points over the filling. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serves 6 to 8.

It's so yummy!!

Enjoy!

My husband loves Sausage Rice & Beans:

Cook 3 cups (after cooked) rice in a pan (white, brown, whatever 1 1/2 cups rice, 3 cups water, some butter, some salt).

Sautee jalepeno, 1/2 an onion in a pan with some olive oil and/or some 'bean juice' (the watery juice from two cans of black beans). Sautee until onion is cooked or almost cooked.
Throw in 1 package sausage, diced bite-size (we like Eckerich Skinless, our toddler can eat it easily and it's easy to cut). Stir the jalepeno, onion, and sausage till sausage is hot. Throw in the two cans of black beans. Stir and simmer till those are hot.
In your dinner bowl, put hot rice, top it with the sausage/beans. Add Tabasco to your bowl if you want. Enjoy.

Our 2 yr old loves it. I sometimes dice his smaller and give him a spoon and some broth to make it watterier. I sometimes cook his separately if I plan to use a lot of jalepeno. Last week I cooked some diced carrot into his pan. I've done peas for him too. This meal is a staple in our house. It makes enough for me, hubby, and 2 yr old, then a lunch for my husband the next day.

Greek Chicken

One of our favorite pasta dishes. We use it as a one plate meal, but you can also serve it with a greek salad.
Sadly, my measurements are approximate - please use more or less of anything to make it to your liking. :)

Feeds 4ish

1/2 box of penne pasta
2-3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 jar kalamata olives (more expensive, but worth it - also it is worth your while to buy the pitted ones)
1 block or container feta cheese
dried or fresh chopped parsley
optional "greek spices" (i happen to have a little spice jar of them & sprinkle on some for taste, but i think they just have powdered garlic, parsley and other random things)

Start the water boiling (cook pasta according to directions when water is ready, but you can prepare below until then)
cut the onions and chicken into bite sized chunks
mince garlic
preheat to medium a large skillet or wok on stove top
swirl a little olive oil in it & start sauteing chicken, onions & garlic until chicken is just cooked through
if needed, dice olives into smaller pieces (i usually use about the size of a quarter of the olive, but doesn't matter)
before draining... when the pasta is finished, put a little of the pasta water in with the chicken mixture (1/2 cup maybe)
drain pasta & add pasta to chicken mixture
add olives
season with some dried parsley, salt & pepper &/or greek spices
let simmer for a little while until it has a chance to meld a little
Add crumbled feta just before serving.

My daughter loves mac and cheese, but we got sick of plain old same old, so we took the traditional cuban sandwich, (ham, mustard, pickles, cheddar) and threw it together for a new zesty mac and cheese with veggies, meat and starch right in the same dish. Enjoy!!!
(You can play around with the recipe too, add green peppers, spicy mustard, sweet pickles, etc., we tried several options but found this one to be the most flavorful.)

Cuban Mac -n- Cheese

1 lb shredded cheddar cheese
1 c milk
1/4 c sifted flour
1 stick butter
1 lb elbow mac.
1lb cubed ham
3 medium sized dill pickles
1/3 c. yellow mustard
1/3 c finely chopped onions
1/2 c seasoned breadcrumbs

Prepare elbow mac according to box. Prepare flour and butter rue, adding milk once the flour has disolved, add mustard. Mix cubed ham, diced onions, diced pickles and elbow mac in a large casserole dish, pour mustard sauce over entire casserole, spread shredded cheddar over the top, sprinkle breadcrumbs, and bake for 35 minutes at 350.

Smoked sausage w/ veggies and rice: Use any veggies you want. I usually use green, yellow, red peppers, onions, asparagus, green beans...whatever is in season. Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a skillet and sautee the vegetables for a few minutes. Cut the sausage into bite size pieces and add to the vegetables. Cook till the veggies are the tenderness you like and the sausage is warmed through. I use minute rice as a side. Sometimes I add the rice to the meat/veggie mix. It's such a simple meal, but it's SO good!

Chicken Spaghetti
Chicken breast (boiled and shredded)
Noodles (I use elbow, but any kind would be fine)
Can of rotel
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Velveeta

Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and return to pot. Add the cream of mushroom soup and rotel. Melt about 4 oz of Velveeta in the microwave with a few tsps of milk. Add melted velveeta and chicken to noodles, soup and rotel. Stir until mixed. So good!

Two recipes given to me when my girls were little that are simple, fast, tasty and inexpensive:
Humble Pie -- 1 lb ground meat, 1 can cream of onion soup, 1 cup frozen peas, 4 servings of instant potatoes -- brown meat, add soup & peas, top with potatoes, bake 30 min. at 350 degrees
Tamale Pie -- 1 lb ground meat, 1 pkg. taco seasoning, 1 cup frozen corn, 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix -- brown meat, add seasoning (1/2 cup water) and corn, top with corn muffin batter, bake 30 min. at 350 degrees

I also made Farmhouse Barbecue Muffins when they were little and as teenagers they continue to ask for it. I found it in a Taste of Home magazine.

Enjoy!!

Since it is summer, we grill a lot. It is such an easy clean up and the house doesn't get hot from the stove/oven being on.

I like to use Lawry's 30 minute marinades (Hawaiian is my favorite for chicken/pork, Steak & Chop is awesome too I use it on all types of meat).

I'll clean potatoes, cut in half length wise (with skins on cause I'm lazy) then cut in thin slices. Put in a bowl and use olive oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning - then I put in the microwave for about 5 mins to par cook. I make a aluminum foil pouch and throw them on the grill and flip every 10 mins or so - usually takes about 30 mins. You can cut that time by microwaving them a little more.

Then I cut up some fresh veggies - what ever I bought. Throw some olive oil and garlic salt and put them on the grill too. I used to put them in an aluminum foil pouch, but I just got this little thing that looks like a bowl with holes in it - it is made for the grill. I love that thing!

I always refer to a favorite cookbook or website. I don't shop with a specific meal in mind, but I do have a well-stocked pantry. I usually buy what is on sale. Try to think of different ethnic or regional foods. For example: Chinese, Greek, Mediterranean, Mexican, Southern, Italian, Indian, Cuban, middle eastern etc. Kraft website also has a place where you put the ingredients you have on hand and they give you recipe ideas. I found that very helpful.

I had a real great meal the other night at Cracker Barrel and fixed it tonight. I was called campfire chicken. It was not the usual grilled chicken, it was more like a chicken pot roast. They cooked t in foil but I used a cooking bag like I do for roasting the turkey at Thanksgiving. I used a whole chiken and put small red potatoes and carrots and corn on the cob in the bag. Of course I seasoned it I had onions and a couple of tomato wedges on top. No juices or water was nescessary.The chicken provided that. You could also do chicken quarters which is what they did. I think it turned out very well and was a one dish meal but had all the veggies. I was totally different to me than the basic grilled chicken. I cooked mine in the oven but you could also do the grill. Cooking slow for about an hour or until the meat thermomitor shows it's done. It did not burn at all.

My recommendation is to buy a cockpot book. Cooking with the crockpot is awesome. I love making RIbs with mine.

i go on racheal ray's website or all recipes.. they all have great recipes.. and allrecipes.com rates the recipes.. you can see what people say about it.. good luck.. i love allrecipes and rachel...