Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas.

Are we talking about a family, maybe with some kids (and the oldest is 17)? Are there picky eaters? Doing your own cooking is cheaper, and actually doesn't take a lot more time than stopping for prepared food by the time you add in the driving, waiting, etc.

Everyone can help, first of all. If you are working 40 hours, doing laundry, doing the food shopping and meal planning, something's wrong. Start delegating.

Take 2 hours on the weekend for a family cook-fest. Everyone does something. Even little kids can scrub potatoes and rinse broccoli and green beans, peppers and lettuce, and put them in colanders to drain. Older kids can peel carrots and potatoes, cut things up, beat eggs, grate/chop cheese, and so on.

Select foods you like, and stretch a little with something new once a week. Every food you choose gets eaten twice during the week in different forms. For example, roast a chicken for one night, and strip the rest of the chicken off the bones for use in tacos, enchiladas or chicken soup or chicken salad. Roast potatoes with the chicken, or bake them alongside, but set a few aside for oven-fried potato spears another night. Serve steamed broccoli (cooks in 8 minutes) with the chicken and potatoes, but cut extra florets for use in stir fry or a family salad bar. Carrots, peppers, mushrooms, onions, celery can all go in stir fry or a salad bar. Rice can be a base for stir fry or a side dish for Mexican food, or both, and it freezes well or even keeps about 5 days in the fridge. Canned beans go in enchiladas, tacos or on top of salads. Sliced vegetables can go on a pizza.

If you make a salad bar with everything in different bowls, people can serve themselves. Add chickpeas or hardboiled eggs for protein, or leftover shredded chicken or sliced turkey.

Chicken tenders can be used to make healthy chicken fingers, and sliced up for use in stir fry. For tenders, beat an egg, dip the chicken in it, then roll in bread crumbs of a mix of wheat germ and flax seed, or add some crushed almonds (use the food processor) or some Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes while you set the table or make a side dish of quinoa or couscous, and a big salad or a steamed veggie.

Oven fried veggies - better than fries! Cut a potato in wedges (white and red potatoes don't need to be peeled), or cut a sweet potato (or both), put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, a little salt and pepper, and add an herb you like, such as dill. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. If you want, peel an onion and cut it into 4 wedges, and throw that in. You can separate each wedge into a few chunks if you want, but if you stir during cooking, it will kind of happen anyway. You can add other veggies you like, including broccoli, cauliflower florets, green beans, asparagus, almost anything. Asparagus just takes 5-8 minutes, same with beans. Just throw them in part way through cooking, and stir to coat with oil. The leftovers can be reheated another day.

Make your own hamburgers with half beef, half turkey, and add veggies for flavor and moisture (onions, spinach) plus horseradish or worcestershire sauce for flavor, and flax seed and wheat germ for nutrition and fiber.

Rachael Ray and others have cookbooks and magazines along the lines of "cook for a week in one afternoon". There are also some cute things for kids to do, including making individual tortilla bowls in large muffin tins, adding pureed butternut squash to mac & cheese, and so on - look at Jessica Seinfeld's books especially for younger kids.

Easy enchiladas: open and drain a can of beans (black, kidney, pinto, or some of each) and a can of refried beans (regular or vegetarian). Cut up some green peppers and onions into small dice (cut some larger size strips or wedges for oven-roasted veggies for another night). Take out a handful of frozen pea and frozen corn (no need to defrost). Take some of the shredded chicken or extra hamburger/turkey that you've browned up. Have a pack of shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese, and a supply of whole wheat tortillas. Open a can of tomato puree, season it with pepper, coriander and cumin. Lay 2 tortillas side by side on a platter or large cutting board. Smear a strip of refried beans down the middle third of the tortilla, top with any/all of the above toppings, leaving off an item from one tortilla if someone doesn't eat it. The quantities don't matter. Fold up the two sides of the tortilla and secure with a toothpick. You can mark different people's tortillas with 2 toothpicks, or 1 turned in a different direction. Line the tortillas up next to each other on a lightly oiled baking sheet. You can cover and refrigerate this now and serve tomorrow. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, topped with some of the sauce. You can add extra grated cheese for the last 5 minutes. Serve with rice, either plain or made with a little of the plain tomato sauce/puree instead of some of the water. Any leftover beans or sauce can be frozen for the next time you make this.

Tacos: most of the same ingredients, plus diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce. I don't love the hard taco shells because I think they break too easily, but you can use soft taco tortillas. I've seen pre-baked shells made in muffin tins too.

Stir fry - chicken or steak strips, marinated in a little soy sauce. One bowl of longer cooking veggies such as broccoli florets or carrots, another bowl of green or red pepper strips/chunks, onion strips or wedges, green beans, celery pieces; another bowl of quick cooking veggies such as snow peas and mushrooms, or some canned/drained sliced water chestnuts or bamboo shoots. You don't need all of them, and the quantities don't matter. If you like tofu, buy the firm kind, drain it well, cube it, and marinate it in soy sauce or tamari, drain and save the marinade. Heat oil (canola, or a mix of canola and sesame or peanut), and cook up the meat strips or the tofu until browned. Remove to a platter. Start with the veggies in sequence: 2 minutes for broccoli group, then add the peppers group for another 2 minutes (so you're up to 4 for the broccoli), then 2 minutes for the last batch. Stir gently to keep from sticking. Remove to the platter of with the meat or tofu. While this is all cooking, you take the reserved marinade or some extra soy sauce, a half cup or so of chicken or vegetable stock or water, 2 tablespoons of corn starch, mix so the cornstarch is dissolved and doesn't settle to the bottom of the pitcher or bowl, and dump into the pan. The cornstarch thickens the liquid while the water cooks down so you get a thick sauce. Takes about 2 minutes. Put all of the meat and veggies back in the pan and heat through. Serve over rice (which you either made as soon as you got home before you started the stir fry, or you made earlier in the week with chicken stock before you saved half for the enchiladas!).

Pizza - a variation on stir fry and salad bar, just put the stuff on the pizza with your own tomato sauce or something from a jar, and topped with grated mozzarella. Most supermarkets sell pizza dough (plain or whole wheat) with the prepared foods or near the deli counter - just spread it out on a pizza pan or a baking sheet, pre bake for 5 minutes while getting the toppings out, and then build the pizza. Add chopped spinach (frozen, from the bag) or other veggies, pepperoni, etc. - and everyone can have their own half a pizza if they don't eat the same things.

Crock pot - makes a million things, from soups to stews.

The main thing is, these recipes don't require precise quantities - you can try to relax about that!

Kids can make their own lunches.

Now, kids can cut and chop and sort. They can also put their laundry in the washer and turn it on and add soap. Big kids can fold, little kids can match socks and fold/stack underwear. They can do this while they are watching TV even. Maybe. If not, turn off the TV. Give every kid a hamper or a laundry basket in their closet, and make them responsible for their own stuff. If it's on the floor of their room or under their bed, it doesn't get washed. Period.

Let go of the house a little. Beds don't have to be made every day. Shut the doors if you have to, and have everyone work to pick up the public areas. Kids can set tables and clear dishes, empty trash and take out the recycling. My son was completely in charge of his own laundry by age 15 when he started serious sports - by the time he went to college, he was more than prepared. Start with aspects of it from a much earlier age.

You can also have a basket in the family room for all the junk that's not yours and is contributing to the mess. Anything not put away goes in there. If they want it, they find it. If you want baskets for each person, that's up to you, but in it go the stray shoe, the backpack, the lunch box, the textbook, the iPod, the used bath towel, and everything else. Nobody watches TV or uses a computer if there are wrappers or plates or food residue anywhere. Do not apologize for not doing everything. This is a family, not a bunch of bosses and one indentured servant (you). You are not being mean. You are raising accomplished, independent people who will be ready for adulthood.

Good luck!

plan out a week's worth of dinner ideas over the weekend and pre-chop the veggies for each dish so you can just grab and cook on the weeknights. stir-fry is generally easy if you have a rice cooker. just make the rice before you go to work, throw in a pan with the prechopped veggies, some chicken, soy sauce and sesame oil and voila!

good luck!

I know it's hard but I think the key is to be organized. Have a list of about 20 of your favorite meals that everyone likes. Then have a word doc that has Mon-sun for 2 weeks. Type in what you want to eat on each day. Go shopping for the 2 weeks and make sure you have everything. Then get it ready the night before. Use a crock pot and also search the internet for "20 min meals" and things like that. There are a ton of super fast and easy recipes you can make so you don't have to eat out. I generally cook Mon-Wed and have leftovers on Thursday and Friday is frozen pizza and salad night. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Here is a recipe I have in the oven now:

Swiss Chicken Bake

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
... 1 can cream of chicken soup
8 slices of baby swiss cheese
1 bag Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix (Blue bag, not cubed)
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 x 8 baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Salt and pepper chicken lightly and lay it side by side in the dish so they are touching. Top with slices of baby swiss, overlapping each other. Pour one can of cream of chicken soup all over top (do not add water to soup). Top entire casserole with a thick layer of dried stuffing mix. Pour melted butter all over the top to coat the dried stuffing.

Cover dish with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy with a side dish of mashed potatoes and a vegetable.

Use Google or Pinterest to find crock pot freezer meals. Throw together a salad to have on the side and you'll be set with little to no cooking. The possibilities are endless!

And I'm guessing that if you've been a SAHM mom for that long, then your kids are a bit "older". They can do their own laundry and pitch in around the house...divide and conquer. Give everyone daily/weekly chores and rotate monthly.

If your kids are old enough to cook, give them each one night a week to be responsible for making dinner for all.

Wow - back to work is a huge transition & it'll take some conscious planning to get into a manageable groove. The biggest advice I'd have is map out your week & waking hours, and consciously plan your time. Simplify as much as you can. Give yourself at least 2 chunks of 4 hours per week to be away from work and family to take care of yourself, mentally, physically, organizationally.
You biggest aid is going to be your spouse. Without a stay at home mom taking care of household, the household duties need to be more equitably shared. Dads are certainly old enough to help with laundry, cooking a meal, picking up, or god forbid - cleaning the kitchen, and it sounds like your kids are older too. They can handle a weeknight without you, and a weekend morning for you to regroup & plan the next week.
If your kids are old enough, get them to pitch in with some basic chores around the house.
For healthy meals - On Sunday nights, we grill a huge family pack of chicken (or 2) and a pack of steaks on the BBQ & make a big thing of whole grain pasta or brown rice & also chop lots of veggies. Also, about once a month, I'll brown & freeze ground beef or turkey that can be made into tacos or a great pasta sauce. I always have some fresh herbs, salsa, and a few different kinds of cheeses to mix & match the ingredients that we've prepped on Sunday. The only thing left to do during the week is a eheat & assembly which takes no more than 15 mins. Here are a few ideas:
1) grilled chicken with romaine & parmesan --> caesar salads
2) grilled chicken with green salsa, rice, grilled onion & peppers --> great chicken chile verde for tacos or without the tortillas
3) grilled chicken with chopped peppers, cucumbers, feta cheese --> greek salad with chicken. Add some pita.
4) grilled steak plus rice & veggies plus a little ginger --> great stirfry
5) grilled chicken plus chopped peppers, zucchinis, a little basil, parmesan, some pasta --> pasta primavera
6) pasta, italian turkey sausage, canned tomatoes + romaine, spinach salad on the side
In a pinch, yes, sometimes a frozen pizza happens at our house - maybe once a month. We'll all live through it, I'm sure.
Also, we sometimes do breakfast for dinner. My kids love scrambled eggs, toast & fruit, and that is fine! And there's nothing wrong with having Chicken Noodle Soup & turkey sandwiches for dinner. Keep it simple!
In terms of how I balance it all - I work 50+ hours per week, and have 2 little kids. Balance is not always achievable. But my husband is awesome at making sure I get time away. Saturday mornings until 1pm, I go to the gym, grocery shop & take care of whatever I need to do for me. Wednesday night, I have a sitter for 4 hours, and do a similar routine - gym, grocery shop, or check emails or have coffee with a friend. 2x a week beyond that, I try to walk on my treadmill after the kids go to bed, while I watch TV and decompress!
Laundry I do a wash overnight, and in the morning - every day for 2 days, and my husband & I fold everything pretty quickly in kind of a marathon catch up.
BEst wishes for your return to work, and good luck with re-organizing your family around your transition!

Hi Steph,

I can totally relate! But Diane is right -- your kids are old enough to help out and reduce your burden. I went back to work (10 hr days + 3 hr commute) and my husband graduate school when our son was 14 and our daughter was 10. Going back to school meant moving 400 miles away from the town our children had been born and raised in, so we had absolutely no support system, except for my Mom who was diagnosed with cancer 9 months after our move. In addition to work, I became a primary caregiver for my mom. Time for cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping was, to say the least very limited! Also, as observant Jews, nothing could be done on Saturdays, so Sunday was the day everything had to be done.

It didn't take the kids long to realize that nobody was happy waiting for me to get home at 8PM to start making a meal. Fortunately, both of my kids started helping me in the kitchen when they were very small, so they had decent skills. Between the 3 of us (my DH was consumed with school and homework 18+ hours/day), we divided up the chores. DD took over cooking, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, and mopping. DS also cooked (when his sister would let him!), and took over kitchen clean up, gardening, and vacuuming. Both kids washed and helped fold laundry. The three of us would plan menus and go grocery shopping on Sunday and over to Grandma's to help her out. I tried to make it an outing, and made sure the kids always got to pick out a treat at the grocery store. Since the least expensive store was a Persian market (we were living on a shoe string!), shopping became a bit of an adventure and the kids often picked out something new and exotic to try out (no picky eaters in my house, thank G-d!, but I definitely do NOT recommend mint yogurt soda!). The kids mostly made simple dishes (baked or grilled chicken, fish, hamburger, turkey kabobs, microwaved steamed veges, and rice, pasta, or potatoes), but sometimes they'd experiment with recipes from my cookbooks or the internet; they usually made enough for two meals at a time, so every other day was left overs. DD liked to experiment with some of the unusual foods we found in the Persian market, and later developed a flair for French, and then vegetarian cooking, so fortunately, meals weren't always the same. Fridays I got home early enough to cook the sabbath meal with my DD's help, and set up dinner for Saturday in the crockpot. On Sundays we would either cook together or I gave the kids a break and I cooked. I packed lunches for everyone, mainly because I felt I needed to do *something* for my kids everyday.

When my son got his driver's license, it became his responsibility to drive his little sister to school, which was a lifesaver as by that time my DH was studying abroad for a year. That same year, my mom passed away and we spent 9 months cleaning out her house. Following a very successful garage sale at her house, we raised enough money to buy a scooba (robotic mop) to go with the roomba (robotic vacuum) we bought earlier in the year. Those two devices were worth every penny as far as the kids were concerned -- no more sweeping and mopping! (They pooled their cut of the money from the garage sale to buy the scooba.) Yeah, it was really hard, but we all got through it. The best part is that both of my kids are great cooks, know how to keep house, and do their own laundry -- tools that are essential for adult survival.