Looking for Ideas for Dinner

I get tons of GREAT ideas in groups on cafemom.com. As for meal planning, I like to write out my week's meals at the end of the previous week and shop accordingly. Hope that helps.

Make it a GREAT week!

S.

My newest shortcut to great dinners is using infused oils and pre-made spice blends. I love them so much I started repping for the company! www.wildtree.com

I can make a delicious lemon chicken just by marinating chicken breasts in lemon-infused oil for about 5-10 minutes and then cooking them in a skillet. Sprinkle pepper on at the end & you're done! They're great for crockpot cooking as well. I like to mix lemon & garlic or lemon & pesto on crockpot roasted veggies. (Toss random veggies with oil & cook on high for 3-5 hrs. Voila!) And it's grapeseed oil so it's good for you, too. :)

There are also really yummy & easy spice blends like scampi, alfredo and some very delish ones that can also be used for dips. Roasted red pepper & garlic, for example. I love them and they cost about the same as what you get at the grocery store AND don't have any artificial junk!

Contact me if you want more info! Email to ____@____.com, or at visit my web site: onicaswildtree.mywildtree.com (will be up & running soon)

Hi, lots of great ideas already, I just have one small thing to add in. I have started making my own pesto sauce, mostly to use fresh basil (even if you don't grow it, you can buy it fresh). It's super easy, and only uses like 1/4 cup olive oil so it's healthier than store bought. It is SO easy to make in the food processor, and it freezes beautifully. So I'll make a double or triple batch and freeze some. Then a quick meal is just to boil up some pasta, drain, and throw in the pesto. I don't even need to thaw it out, it just warms up in the hot pasta.

Good luck with your new schedule!

When I don't have a lot of time I buy bartolli skillet meals in the frozen section. You just put them in a pan and cover. They usually take about 10 minutes and they taste great. The chicken a la vodka is great and has asparagus in it.

I also just found a great marinade at Wal-Mart called Olde Cape Cod BBQ & Grilling Sauce, Toasted Sesame soy and ginger. I marinated chicken and steaks in there for a couple of days and made kabobs out of it and it was fantastic. I also marinaded a brisket for a couple of days and then put it in the slow cooker. Again, fantastic!!

I have one picky eater and two reasonably good eaters who just don't like a few things (and it's never the same stuff, right?). So we've started a "foods we all like" list. Whenever we have a meal that everybody really enjoys, we write it on the list. Then, when I want to decide what to plan on for dinners, I can look at that list. I do try to mix it up, not just do those, but it's always nice to have that list for the days I don't want to have to worry about a fall-back food for my picky guy. So as you go through the suggestions here, you might want to keep track of what your kids did or didn't like.

Google "once a month cooking" - tons of recipes and how to cook once a month for the whole month. I second taste of home - I subscribed to their Healthy Cooking magazine and the recipes usually say how long the prep is.

Sarah,

I don't know where you live but my husband and I own Dream Dinners which is a meal preparation service. We do all the prep work for 17 recipes a month. Then all you do is come in once per month, choose which recipes you'd like to make,and assemble them at the store ready for your freezer. Then it's as easy as taking out a meal from the freezer and cooking it. They are all pretty healthy meals (most have 280 calories per serving and less than 10 grams of fat) and we have all the nutritionals for each meal. Most of our guests eat 3 of our frozen meals a week. Some people think it's expensive, but the reality is because we are able to buy our food in bulk, it ends up being cheaper for you than buying it at the grocery store. It really does make life easier! Check out our website at www.dreamdinners.com . Our location is the Kipling & I70 store in Wheatridge. Hope that helps!

C.

walmart has a new brand of fish that i like to make once every week or two. sorry i can't remember the name, but there are 4 flavors (our favorite is the sesame salmon). you don't even have to thaw them. just put them in the oven for 22 minutes. start a pot of rice cooking at the same time, heat up some frozen or canned veggies, and cut some fresh fruit, including lemon to squeeze on the fish, or open a can of fruit.

A great web sight is www.relishrelish.com. It is a Boulder based company that prepares quick menus and the grocery list. You can pick from 20 different items each week, then it will print out the recipes and the grocery list you will need for them. I love it. It is a fee based deal, but not expensive, and it takes the brain work out of deciding what to fix every week. It also helps me not make the same thing every week.

Something I have found helpful and time saving is I have meals that we make double batches of and we put them in five or so smaller tins and freeze all but one and make that one that night, then the other three we use other nights, maybe one a week for about a month and it does not seem like left overs as they are all baked the night we eat them.

I have also found if I buy the hamburger in bulk, I can cut up an onion and brown the hamburger all at once and freeze the ready to use hamburger in single servings in baggies. Then when we want spaghetti or tacos, etc it is less time to make.

If I can do it once and have it ready for later it is a good thing. More time to enjoy the little ones.

S.
Mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.info

www.savingdinner.com

You pay only once for the downloadable recipes that are a week at a time or in bulk, then do freezer meals, or crockpot meals, or at least follow the shopping list and have the food on hand. I LOVE the freezer meals. They are NOT all casseroles (my kids won't eat those) and they have all been simply delicious!

Hello S.,

Going back to work full time & juggling dinners can be tough. You can marinade or season steaks, pork, fish, & chicken the night before after you get the kids to bed. Cut's down prep time right after you get home. Something to keep in mind, that not all meals that are "quicker" still provide the nutritional value you're family needs so be mindful of that in you're search!!

I find grilling or baking any meats is quickest & easiest after the prep! You can also have a lot of fun with Salads, ie like shrimp or chicken salads that are easy, quick, & healthy.

Healthy In A Hurry Cookbook by Eating Well Magazine has lots of great recipes in it!

Recipe:
Sichuan -Style Shrimp

1 lb raw shrimp, peeled & deveined
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 large green bell pepper (cut into 1" dice)
1/4 teaspoon salt (I wouldn't use but a pinch of salt if any)
Sichuan Sauce (can by or make your own.)

Place shrimp in colander & rinse under cold water, drain, and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 14" flat bottomed wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1-2 seconds on contact. Swirl in 1 tablespoon oil, add garlic, & ginger. Stir fry for 10 seconds. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil & shrimp & stir fry until the shrimp begin to turn color, 1 minute. Add bell pepper and salt & stir fry 30 seconds. Swirl in Sichuan Sauce & stir Fry until the shrimp is just cooked about 1-2 minutes. Serve Immediately. Makes 4 servings & takes only 25 minutes

Good Luck finding more meals
C.

check out taste of home, they have several magazines that you can choose from and the subscriptions are about $12 a year. (it says more but you can get a discount almost always...) I subscribe on and off when I am looking for new recipes and ideas. they have a healthy one, a 30 min. meal one and a bunch of others PLUS once you are subscribed you have access to the website which has ALL of the recipes from ALL of the magazines. so even more ideas when you are looking for something.
once I have tried a recipe our family rates them on a scale of 1-10. 6 and under I don't even bother with again. 7-8 I usually adjust the next time I make them to try and get them up to an 8 or a 9. and the 9-10 recipes I type up and print off and put in my recipe binder in protective sleeves so that we have them to make again and again. we've got several family favorites that have come this way. (I use that system for any recipe I try) and when I find ones I want to try I put them in the front of the binder to try later.
it doesn't take long to type them up, I try to do it when part of the meal is baking, but I do it that night so that it can go right in the book. otherwise it will get lost and never happen.

My life saver is the crock pot, it's the best thing ever! Now I know it may bring back thoughts of overly cooked meat and mushy vegetables but there are some really great recipes out there right now that can make your house smell really great while getting ready. That and a website called allrecipes, you can put in a list of ingredients that you have on hand and they will give you a list of recipes that will work for it. And the best part about it is, people rate the recipes, so you can get a heads up on what it really takes to make the item. And of course, there are a ton of slow cooker recipes on there. Enjoy!

I'll keep this short and sweet! I have an amazing cook book called What's for Dinner? You can go to the website---whatsfordinner.com. It's the best!!