Happy Easter Monday (to those who celebrate)!
After a weekend of cooking/baking/cleaning/dishes/being the bunny, etc... the idea of coming up with something for dinner is beyond me. We had a wonderful but busy few days, so the grocery store simply didn't happen for us like it usually does over the weekend, so my husband will need to go today regardless.
So... looking for suggestions for easy/quick/light meals. Please don't tell me to Google it. I am asking for YOUR "go to" dinner on a night when you don't want to make something with lots of steps, but don't want to do heavy takeout either.
Enjoy your day!
Thanks everyone! My sister hosted dinner last night and did filets so no leftovers, unless you count the bread dip, 1/2 dozen cupcakes and 1/2 of a carrot cake.
Just talked to my husband who suggested hot dogs and corn on the cob in honor of Opening Day! Considering that he will be cooking it, we'll go with it! :)
I'm making fish tacos:) I use tilapia or tuna whatever I get fresh, and grill it. Shred some cabbage and carrots, and make a spicy tartar sauce. For a side dish I'm making Spanish rice
Well, we are having kung pao chicken with stir fry vegetables. We have tons of veggies left over from the relish tray at Easter. It is not the simplest meal since I will still have to make the sauce and chop some veggies, but with a rice cooker it is still pretty simple and only takes about 30 min. I like that it tastes like take out but is actually healthy :)
We have left overs from last nights turkey dinner.
I have a few "go to" meals when I am not up for tons of cooking.
Tacos with a side salad.
Make your own salad. I put out a bunch of random fixings...lettuce, tomato, olives, carrot, and today I'd add boiled eggs and chopped ham since we have some left from yesterday. Everyone creates their own salad with whatever they want on it.
Tortilla soup....canned chicken broth, rotel, canned black beans, corn and some chicken. Add a little taco flavoring, cumin and lime juice. Serve over tortilla chips and top with cheese and/or sour cream.
Sandwiches and fruit.
And if I am not making the sauces from scratch, most pasta dishes are quick and easy...spaghetti, alfredo, etc. Serve with premade garlic bread and a salad.
Happy Easter to you too!!
One of my go to's always includes my homemade marinara sauce. I keep at least 2 jars ready to go in the fridge and I keep a couple of packages frozen as well.
My daughter (18) Loves Pinterest and she is always sending me a recipe to try. On Friday night, I tried Baked ziti. SUPER easy.
I used the rigatoni pasta (about 1/2 to a touch more of the 16 oz box)
3 Hot Italian sausages
about 1/2 chopped onion and abour 3 cloves of chopped garlic.
you also need a little olive oil.
Mozzeralla and parmesan cheese
about 2-2 1/2 cups of marinara
Cook the pasta, drain, set aside and toss with a little olive oil.
Remove casings from sausages (You can opt to slice the sausage in bite sized pieces if you like). Cook until done. Drain, add it to the pasta and stir. Then, saute the onion and garlic and add to the mixture.
Mix well, add sauce and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup of mozz and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (to your taste, we use a lot of cheese) Stir everything together well, pour in a casserole dish, add more cheese to the top and bake on 350 until nice and bubbly.
It was great and we had no leftovers.
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I also make stuffed shells often with ricotta cheese mixture. I keep about a dozen or so in the freezer for a go to. Just put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish, add stuffed shells, put sauce and cheese on top and bake. yummy!
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We also grill a lot... burgers, steaks, chicken, ribs.
I hope one of those might tempt your taste buds!
Well, you don't want take out, but when our house is full of "holiday food" that we're sick of eating, Chinese is perfect!
Otherwise, a hamburger on the grill always works.
We are going to make split pea soup with the ham bone from yesterday.
Our go to.. is anything on the grill.
Chicken, Sausage wraps, pork chops, fish, shrimp, burgers, steaks, pizza (yes, even frozen pizza cooks well on the gas grill.)
With our go to sides.
Brown rice cooked in microwave
Microwaved potatoes
Zucchini with onions sauteed
Steamed broccoli or asparagus.
Tonight we are having some of the ham left overs from yesterday.
I am making Augrauten potatoes & Ham.
Cut up 4-6 potatoes into thin slices Place in glas baking pan With Ham cubbed.
Optional- I have a garlic compound that I use, Sprinkly some on. You can also add onion.
Sauce
I do, 2 tables spoons butter, 1 cup milk, 2 cups shredded cheese ( chedar or some mix you like)
I boil the milk & Butter then add the cheese.
Melt the cheese then I pour it on the potatoes
Bake on 350 for 1 hr
You can add a veggie in there or seperate. and that is how I do my home made Aug. potatoes.
I'm going to use some of the mountains of ham that I have left after no one ate any of it (it was good, expensive smoked ham - but I'm used to cooking for about 20 people for family dinners and yesterday was only 7 and 3 of them were eating chicken...
I ahven't decided but we'll either have hashbrowns for dinner (potatoes, ham, onions & maybe some cheese thrown in) (with salad on the side) or some kind of macaroni, chesse & ham cassarole. I have to check that website that you enter your ingredients and it gives you a recipe.
I've got a roast in the crock pot.
My go to meals are spaghetti and meatballs, soup and sandwich, fish and fries, and hamburgers. Also tacos. I have all of this stuff in my freezer.
I feel the same way . . . not looking forward to cooking.
I'm hoping to find a pre-basted turkey roll at Whole Foods - bake that for 1.5 hours and fix the rice while I wait. That way I can use up the rest of the salad from yesterday.
Rotiserrie chicken (easy pick up from the store).
Oh in your SWH you said hubby is going to cok hot dogs & corn on the cob. How nice. How about adding chili beans, coleslaw & cookies for dessert. All a quick pick up at the store or see if you have chili beans in your cupboard & throw together a quick salad!
Happy opening day! How about some popcorn for a snack?
We laid out ground beef over the weekend and tonight will be making cheeseburgers, mac and cheese and salad. A sure fire way to get the kiddos to eat :) Not sure this would qualify as 'not heavy' lol becaseI do not know if you mean heavy in calories or heavy in food (like gravies, noodles, etc). We use lean ground beef and skim milk (when we have it) in our mac and cheese.
I always have eggs on hand, so omelets are a quick dinner. Or if you have boiled eggs that you dyed, make egg salad sandwiches.
Happy Easter Monday to you too! We're doing spaghetti tonight. Quick, easy, and a family favorite.
Another easy dinner my family loves is a chicken crockpot dish. It's so easy to make and so yummy!
Crockpot Chicken Salsa
boneless, skinless chicken breast ( I use about 3-4)
a jar of chunky salsa (we love Walmart's black bean and corn)
1/2 package of taco seasoning (I use the reduced sodium)
Throw everything in the crockpot and set on low. Cook about 6 hours or until chicken shreds. Shred the chicken and mix back into crockpot. Serve with tortillas, sliced avocados, reduced fat cheese, and light sour cream. I usually make a box of yellow rice to go with it.
Another go to dinner on nights we just don't want to cook is chili cheese dogs. Package of hot dogs, can of hot dog chili sauce, buns, and some cheese. With some chips and a veg- it's super easy and a crowd pleaser.
Or a roasted chicken from the store and a salad is the easiest of all. And the family loves it.
A salad. Quick and easy to make, light, healthy, yet filling. You can add chicken strips, tuna, a fish filet, or just eat it without protein, and get as creative as you like with choice of ingredients.
we're going to have salads loaded up with leftovers! ham, potato salad and green bean casserole.
some heavy damn salads.
:) khairete
S.
