JFF~ Dinner Ideas...

EASY golden mushroom soup chicken.
(this is so easy my husband makes it & it's one of my same 10!)

Put boneless skinless chicken breasts in baking dish, season with salt & pepper, bake @ 400 deg. about 10 minutes (until fully cooked)

Make some rice (brown or white - NOT long grain & wild)

Take chicken out of the oven and dump 2 to 3 cans of Campbell's golden mushroom soup over the chicken (do NOT add water!)

Put the chicken back in the oven and bake another 5 minutes (just so the soup gets warm)

Serve chicken over cooked rice
We usually have fresh broccoli with this dish.

Here is something that is different and so yummy....I got it out of a magazine and my family loved it. I never heard of using egg roll wrappers as pasta - but let me tell you - it works! and it is good! LOL And this recipe is put together in maybe 10-15 mins of prep time...Easy!

My only suggestion is to use a smoked ham, versus a honey ham.

http://www.classico.com/recipe/ham-and-cheese-cannelloni-...

Salsa Chicken

Take 3 or 4 chicken breast (thawed or frozen) put into a crock-pot
Sprinkle taco seasoning (I used reduced sodium)
Pour a can of cream of mushroom (or cream of chicken since mushrooms make my husband gag)
and finally one cup of salsa

I set it on low if the chicken is thawed or high if it isn't thawed for about 5-6 hours, but this really depends on your slow cooker. It seems the newer ones cook quicker.

You can serve this over rice and I usually add some red or green peppers, corn, black beans, avocado, and sour cream and then its like a burrito bowl.

You can shred the chicken too and use it in quesadillas or for chicken tacos.

This is one of my favorites and works really well for leftovers.

When we first got married, I didn't really know how to cook but maybe 7 things. No good! What I started doing was looking through the weekly circular to find what is on sale and then I'd go to allrecipes.com and type in that meat. (Like, what in the world do I do with cube steak, and what is a roast good for besides pot roast with the veggies?). You type in the meat (or whatever) and search by rating. I found some good things that way, and it helped me find new recipes until I could find my way around the kitchen and develop my own things.
Another thing I do is this: I try to rotate meals by saying 1 day of beef (anything from steaks, any number of versions of burgers from Indian spiced burgers with a cilantro yogurt sauce, taco burgers made with taco seasoning and served with guacamole, I have a couple different meatloafs, chili, taco salad, spaghetti & meatballs, or beef steaks with mushroom gravy, etc), 1 day of chicken (chicken tortilla soup, chicken and rice casserole, king ranch casserole, roasted chicken with veg, etc), 1 day of vegetarian (moussaka and dolmathes, eggplant parmesan, vegetarian lasagna, etc), 1 day of pork or sausage (think sausage and peppers over rice with spaghetti sauce, or red beans and rice with sausage, jambalaya, pork chops with sliced mushrooms and cream of mushroom soup, pork chops with saurkraut and potatoes, pork tenderloin, or served with spiced apples, etc), 1 day of fish (love broiled parmesan tilapia, or tilapia cooked in the skillet with a saffron/wine risotto and mango relish, fried catfish, baked or broiled salmon any number of ways, kenyan fish, fish tacos, shrimp creole, crawfish etouffe, baked shrimp risotto, etc).
That's 5 days for a "schedule" and then we should have leftovers 1 or 2 of those days. If not, we'll do something together like make our own pizzas with whatever we want...or I'll do a sandwich night where we can do egg sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids and grown up grilled cheese for us (slice feta, then red onion and a tomato, then cheddar, then grill as normal) or awesome reuben sandwiches with fried potato slices, chicken, cheese, and mushroom melts, if it's a hot night then something filling but not too heavy: cucumber feta sandwiches (toast the bread, little mayo, slice those up and it's fast and light). Serve with some salad or a soup like tomato basil and it's really easy but still a good dinner.

Here's what we are having for dinner tonight: Pan fried chicken. It's my take on a recipe my mom gave me awhile back.

Take 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs and dredge them in flour with a little salt and pepper. I use rice flour when my wheat-allergic daughter is home from college.

Heat about 1/3 Cup oil in a fry pan on medium, add the chicken thighs and brown. Turn the meat over, adding more oil if the pan looks dry. Barely brown the meat on that side. Throw in a chopped onion, maybe some mushrooms, and about a cup of chicken broth. Cover the pan and simmer til everything is cooked. I cut into one thigh just to make sure it's cooked all the way through. Then I heap 1 pound of fresh spinach on top, put the lid on for a few minutes more (I have a domed lid which makes this possible but you can use frozen spinach instead which is not as poofy) til the spinach is wilted and serve it all with rice. The flour from the chicken thighs thickens the broth to make a gravy.

My mom's recipe uses lemon juice with the chicken broth but it was too sour for my kids' taste. This dish is also good with shitake mushrooms, reconstitute them first, and add a little soy sauce in the gravy.

I have a list of 25 dinners ideas on my fridge. They are all tasted and family aproved. I just look there. When my guys get winie I just make them to make a list with M-F menu for every night, than I would just follow theirs ideas and we have take out or go out on the weekends. Let them pick up the week menu and set some rules like 'no changes', 'need to be healthy', 'include cheap dinners' (teaches kids to budget), 'can't have the same thing every week' and etc. Make sure they will do the menu after dinner when they are not hungry otherwise you will end up with a long list. Hope I was helpful.

I also love allrecipes.com! The feature to search by ingredients is super helpful for me. I keep it simple and list only the first two main ingredients then sift through the pictures and recipes until one catches my eye.
Or sometimes I only search for the meat. Last night I took left over beef roast and made philly cheese steak sandwiches with it. Simple and good.

I have found a lot of fantastic recipes at Tasty Kitchen, from Pioneer Woman. www.tastykitchen.com. Its just worked for me. I love that you can sort by rating and easily see recipes that are really popular.

tonight we had sourbrotten (sp?) its a german dish. i have no clue how to spell it or make it. We got it from my fiance's mom. it was delicious. i'm a simple cooker, so i'm always looking for new idea's and more interesting ways to make things. i'll be happy to read once everyone's posted.

Last week, I made the best baked ziti dish ever. Here's the recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/baked-ziti-with-crunc...

to get out of your normal....grab your slow cooker or pull out the grill (indoor or outdoor) as long as it is raining to bad.

Hello M. :) Here are a couple dinner ideas that my hubby and I like.

Taco Spuds

Boil or bake potato(s) whole. Do NOT peel!

When the potato(s) are done cooking, add chilli/chilli beans, salsa, onion, tomato, cheese, sour cream to the potato and enjoy. Hamburger if you choose to or jalapanios. The options are endless!

Crock Chops

If you have a crock pot this one is great and easy. Take your pork chops (bone in or boneless doesn't matter) salt and pepper to taste put them in your crock pot and cover them with enough Cream of Mushroom soup to cover the whole top of the chops, no need to make sure it gets into the middle that will happen during cooking. Do NOT add any water to the chops. Cook in your crock pot 5 to 7 hours on high. The chops make a gravy that goes great on mashed potatoes. The # of chops doesn't matter, it's the same for 2 or 7 chops.

Hope these help :)

A crock pot should be your best friend. LOL I use mine all the time since DH & I both work FT. Last week we had beans & ham 1 night & pulled pork sandwiches the next.

Rinse & soak a small bag of white beans over night. In the morning, cut up an onion & small ham into large chunks. Put everything in the crock pot w/ pepper, & garlic (cloves, chopped, or minced). You may want to put a little bit of salt but not too much because your ham has plenty. Cook on high for at least 6hrs. Once I came home, I made some drop biscuits & brushed garlic butter over them after they came out of the oven. Everythings ready to go & very minimal time in the kitchen.

Pulled pork is just as easy. Rub a pork roast with garlic salt, pepper, & onion powder. Put it in the crock pot & add enough water (or chicken broth) just to cover the roast. Cook on high for at least 6hrs. Once you come home, drain the broth, shred the roast, & add your favorite BBQ sauce or make your own. Put on onion buns & serve w/baked beans, potato salad, or whatever side you like.

Good luck & let us know if you try any of our suggestions. :)

Get on excel and write down you 10 meals then write down some of the meals people suggested. Your crockpot is your biggest friend. After you have approx 5 weeks of meals, Put it on the fridge and buy your groceries for the meals that week...you will never have to dread the dinner question again. ..I LOVE my list...here is one week of what is on my list (and dont forget to sprinkle in once a week left overs and once a month to treat yourselves to dinning out pizza or chineese..we will sometimes have breakfast for dinner too)..If you are looking to have a meal to your family...check out Allrecipes.com ....they have great ideas

French dip (store bought) with chips and salad
Mac and cheese with Hot dogs
tacos
Turkey CHili
white Rice and Fish
Left overs

Fish tacos...grilled fish (talapia, catfish) in a tortilla w/ cilantro, onions and such.
Pot Roast in the slow cooker. take the pot roast, sear it on all four sides in a pan with a little water, salt and pepper and place in the crock pot...after an hour or so, add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion....good stuff!!!!
Shrimp, grilled, boiled or baked...will go with any steamed veggies...
What did we have tonight? Blackened shrimp on the grill with shrimp slaw...yummy!!!!

Last night we had quesadillas. Flour tortillas with shredded cheddar. Then mix together 1 can drained corn (or frozen) 1 can drained black beans and 1 cup of salsa (I used 1 drained can of fireroasted tomatoes) Mix that together and put in the quesadillas. Put them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 until melted and browned about 10-15 minutes. I thought that was easier than making them one at a time.