Share Some Favorite Dinner Recipes? That Are "Simple"

My family loves the homemade pizza--like my grandma used to make. And it's healthier than carry out or frozen. Simple & fresh. Add a green salad.

Sauce: Saute green, red & yellow peppers & onions until tender, add basil & oregano, a large can of tomato sauce. Simmer.
Top pizza shells & sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.
YUM!!!!
(OH--and cut into irregular sized slices, squares & triangles b/c that's how grammy did it!)

The list would be too long with recipes attached, but here are just some ideas & 1 or 2 actual recipes:

- Breakfast for dinner is a sorely overlooked item!!! Love love love BforD
- Quiche
- Seared shrimp & greens
- Catfish and hushpuppies
- Broiled salmon & asparagus (about 3 min on the salmon, about 5-10 for the asparagus... i prefer olive oil, soy, and garlic on the asparagus)
- stuffed peppers
- BBQ chicken quesadillas ( bbq sauce, rotisserie chicken, mex blend shredded cheese, cillantro, chopped tomatoes or pico de gallo optional... cheese all over, toppings on half, broil for half a minute until cheese is melty, fold in half cut with pizza wheel).
- crockpot : chili
- crockpot : pork shoulder, rock salt, tablespoonish of liquid smoke. 8 hours later drain, shred, add BBQ sauce for BBQ pulled pork sammies.
- French Dip
- Carne Asada (skirt steak, purple onions, cillantro, olive oil, couple cups of lime juice & Santa Maria seasoning... marinate for an hour or two... broil or grill... chop into strips... serve with tortillas and guacamole and pico de gallo and rice/beans)

Italy's BIBLE : The Silver Spoon http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-Phaidon-Press/dp/07148...

My 3 favorite chefs on FoodNetwork
- Mario Batali
- Tyler Florence
- The Neelys

This is a perfect time of year to get a turkey and roast it up. Have your initial turkey dinner and then use all the left over meat for everything you would use chicken for. Turkey salad sandwiches, turkey soup, etc.... lots of meat is left over on a turkey.
Ham is another meat purchase that goes on forever and you can use ham for breakfast lunch and dinner-- its another meat purchase that pays for itself in how many meals you can use it for all the way down to a pot of delicious and very good for you beans.
We love catfish. I make catfish filets a couple of times a month, along with tilapia filets-- non fishy smelling, very mild fish, very tasty with just saute'ing in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon and garlic salt and pepper.
I make a lot of quinoa or rice or the two combined. Quinoa has a ton of protein in it and is the most awesome grain out there right now when you know how to utilize it correctly.... its really good for breakfast too in place of oatmeal or cream of wheat.
I love allrecipes.com for a good place to find recipes, the reviews there are so awesome. check that site out.

easy one for me is
cut up into bite size chicken sausage (as many as you need for your family), brown on both sides. take out. use same pan, add 2 tbs olive oil and saute some chopped up garlic and onions for about 5 min. then add stripes of red, yellow, and green peppers. saute for a few minutes. then add about half a cup of chicken broth, bring back the browned chicken sausage and simmer on low covered for about 20 min. it should have some liquid. if you want more liquid so you can pour the meal on top of brown rice use more chicken broth. if not, we eat this with crusty french bread.

Well, our stand by "I have 15 minutes to make dinner and have no clue what to make" is pasta with "Alfredo sauce". Any pasta you have, for the pasta, and the Alfredo sauce is SUPER easy. 1 can cream of mushroom soup with 1/2 can milk warmed up and you have sauce. add chicken if you want or go for variations in of cream of condensed soups and it all tastes great. love it!

A quick go-to recipe for me is making a box of stuffing and putting that on the bottom of a 9x13. I then cut up a package of baked chicken breast, and either a bag of frozen mixed veggies or whatever cans I have on hand on top of the stuffing. Then I pour on two cans of the 98% fat free cream of chicken soup, and top with low fat shredded cheese. So easy, quick, and yummy. Plus it stretches my pantry when I'm running low!

I'm with you on easy and delicious dinners. My husband rates my dinners on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the best. He gives all of these between an 8 and a 9.

CROCK POT TEX MEX PULLED PORK

Sauce:
1 can 8 oz Tomato sauce
1 cup bbq sauce
1/2 onion sliced
2 cans 4.5 oz diced green chilies
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

One 2 1/2 lb boneless pork loin roast

1. Mix Sauce ingredients in a 3 quart or larger crock pot. Add Pork, then spoon sauce over pork just to cover.
2. Cover cooker and then cook on low for 8-10 hours, until pork is tender. .
3. Remove Pork and using 2 forks, shred.
4. Serve on tortillas or wheat hamburger buns. We serve with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.

CATALINA CRANBERRY CHICKEN
(Kraft Recipe - super easy and very good)

4 lb bone-in chicken pieces (breast halves and/or thighs) I'm usually not one for chicken on the bone but wow, was it ever juicy and delicious
1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 bottle (8 oz) Catalina Dressing
1 envelope onion soup mix

Heat oven to 350. Place chicken in 13X9 baking dishes. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Bake 50 min or until chicken is done. We served over brown rice (you could probably do pasta too) with green beans on the side. And I halved the recipe.

MINI SLIDERS

2 lbs ground beef
1 package dry onion soup mix
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 TB water
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400
Mix all ingredients together and pat down on a cookie sheet.
Bake 10 minutes.

Serve on Pepperidge Farm Party Rolls or Hawaiin Rolls
Cut the cooked hamburger to the size of the rolls
Top with hamburger dills and/or american or cheddar cheese.
Garnish with ketchup and mustard if you like.

Easy burgers - kid friendly

Good luck with adding variety and simplicity to your dinners!

I don't hate cooking, I'm pretty good at it, but I hate thinking of different things.
There are so many good ideas and recipes shared here!

One bit of advice....teach your kids how to cook. I know they are super little right now, but let them help you as much as possible. My kids learned about fractions from helping me cook. Plus, they loved eating what they helped prepare.
My son is 15 and an amazing cook. He LOVES it!
I know all my time with him in the kitched has paid off because like just last night, I had to work late. By himself, he seasoned and bbq'd chicken breasts, made mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts. Just stuff we had around.....

I love the show Semi Homemade on Food Network. She has some pretty great ideas that are easy and part of the things are "pre-prepared".

All that said, I'll share a recipe that's a favorite for my family and everyone that makes it has liked it. Even children!
Sometimes we have it as a main dish with some cottage cheese and garlic bread, but it goes great with almost anything else.
Super easy!!!!

Spinach Pie

1 box frozen spinach, (10 oz), cooked in micro according to directions
(add a tbsp water, enter time, push start)
4 beaten eggs
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, jack or any combo)
2 tbsp all purpose flour
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook spinach according to directions.
In a large bowl, beat 4 eggs. Add salt and pepper. (Garlic salt or powder too, if you like).
Put grated cheese in a SEPARATE bowl and add flour. Use a fork to gently mix.
Add cooked spinach to the beaten eggs, mix. Then add the cheese/flour. Stir to mix gently.

Spray non stick spray on a glass 8x8 or 9x13 baking dish and pour everything in.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so, depending on pan size.

This recipe can be doubled but the cooking time will take longer. It comes out thinner in a 9x13 if you don't double the recipe.
You can tell when it's done. You just want to make sure the eggs are cooked and the cheese is melted.

It's great for warming up as a left over, but we never have any left.
:)

Deep Dish Pizza

2 tubes of Pillsbury biscuits (comes in a 4-pack)
1 pound hamburger
1 jar pizza sauce
1/2 container sour cream
1 bag shredded cheese

Grease a 9*13 pan. Place biscuits on bottom and flatten. Brown hamburger (season while browning). Add sauce and sour cream. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Dump over biscuits. Top with cheese. Bake for 35 minutes on 350 degrees.

All I can say is this has been a long time loved meal in our family. My mom made it when we were growing up and my brother and I make it for our families. We call it our family recipe chili.
1 lb of lean ground beef, or turkey or even vegetable protein. We've tried it all ways.
1 white onion (optional), diced
1 box of macaroni product, usually elbows
1 32 oz can of spicy chili beans (I prefer Joan of Arc brand)
1 32 oz bottle of ketchup
32 oz +/- of water - we use the empty ketchup bottle
Chili powder to taste
Nutmeg to taste (we don't measure)
Sugar to taste (about 1/2 cup)

Brown the ground beef and onions in the bottom of a large pot. Add the can of chili beans, bottle of ketchup and equal parts water. Stir together. Add chili powder and nutmeg. (What I learned is to sprinkle the chili to almost cover the top of the liquid with chili powder and then about half of that of nutmeg.) Stir. Bring to a slight boil (too thick to be rapid). Add macaroni. Either half the box to the whole thing - depends on how much pasta you want. Lower the heat to medium and let the macaroni cook and the chili thicken. Stir frequently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Taste the chili to determine if you want to add more chili powder and nutmeg. Keep in mind the sugar added at the end will sweeten and to some degree offset the spiciness. Also, depending on how thick you want it, add water to thin out. It will thicken when it cools. Once macaroni is cooked, simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken, if desired. Mix in sugar at end of cooking to desired spicy-sweetness. Serve with shredded mild cheddar or montery jack cheese and crackers.

I like to come up with easier versions of recipes, and if it's kid-friendly, that's even better! My son just turned 3 and will eat a meal better if he helped make it.

You can put a few filets of Tilapia and some cut up potatoes in a baking dish, then have your 2 year old crush up a bag of BBQ potato chips, and sprinkle that over everything. It's very healthy and really yummy.

Another simple one is broccoli mac & cheese. Cook a pound of pasta (my son prefers the mini shells), and add a few cups of chopped broccoli (I use frozen, it's just as healthy). Stir in 2 cups of Monterrey Jack or Cheddar mix cheese. I also sneak in a jar of pureed carrot baby food, it gives the noodles that orange color that makes them look cheesier.

My favorite easy dish is tuna casserole. Just cook a pound of pasta, then add a can of tuna (drained) and a can of creamy soup. My mom used to use cream of celery, but we didn't like the "green things" in our noodles. Cream of chicken or cream of mushroom work just as well.

Good luck!

I think one of my favorite "I don't really feel like cooking meals" Is a "casserole" kinda meal my mom always used to make.
You need:
Elbow macaroni *or any noodle other than straight*
Corn *off the cob*
1 lrg can of Tomato soup
Onion
1-2lbs of Ground beef *depending on the amount you want*
S&P
So...
cook the noodles as you normally would.
Cut up some onion and cook in a pan till tender.
Add Ground beef. Add Salt & Pepper to taste. Cook until browned.
Drain meat.
Add the meat& onion into the pot with the cooked drained noodles.
Add Tomato soup and Corn *as mush as you like*
Let simmer for about 5-10 min.
and TA_DA you're done.

Its easy, yummy, and great for leftovers.

I just made a stir fry last night, it was pretty good. I used the teryaki sauce and marinated the steak over night. I baked the steak for a little while. Then i cut little strips and put it in a pan with broccoli, rice, garlic, onion, a little olive oil and some more teryaki sauce. I dont know if that is too healthy, but it was easy and everyone seemed to like it.

Here is a good one:
BEEF TIPS
2 packages of lean stew beef
one envelope of Lipton Onion/Mushroom soup mix
one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
"dash" of red wine

Brown the beef with some green onion, worstershire sauce, salt and pepper. Put in crock pot and add rest of ingredients- stir. Cook on low heat for eight hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve over egg noodles and enjoy!