1 box pasta in a twirly shape
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 bag frozen veggies of any kind
shredded mozzarella cheese
13 by 9 baking dish
pour in pasta and veggies. pour in sauce. fill jar with water and add. stir. bake on 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours covered. uncover, sprinkle with mozz and put back in for a few minutes until the cheese melts. eat hot or cool, portion and freeze.
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. While I don't have any specific recipes off the top of my head, I highly recommend "Fix, Freeze, Feast" - here is a sample recipe: http://www.fixfreezefeast.com/media/Basil-BalsamicChops.pdf
Anyway, the portions are usually to feed 4-6 people and make several entrees at once. What I usually do is split the recipe further to serve 2-3 people so that my husband and I have enough for us and our preschooler. For your dad he could do the same and then have leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.
Their technique is really easy and the meals - especially the meat ones - are pretty simple - 3 or 4 ingredients. They use zip lock freezer bags for most so all you have to do is combine the ingredients and put the bag in the freezer. Then the night before you put it in the fridge and then cook according to directions. Many are grill or broil - I typically take a day during the weekend and make a couple of these meals to have on hand for when life gets hectic (and when isn't it with a baby and a preschooler?).
My husband often helps me assemble and is a big fan of these meals and I recommend them to anyone looking for freeze-ahead meals.
I'm sorry about your mother's passing. Here is a very easy recipe for your dad. This takes 5 minutes to throw into your crockpot in the morning and is great to come home to. My kids and husband love it. I use frozen chicken breast and they just come apart in shreds.
Black Bean Chicken
An easy slow cooker recipe that the family will enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
2 cans black beans
16 oz jar salsa
1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked)
1 lb chicken breast
DIRECTIONS
Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.
Pour beans, rice and salsa over chicken.
Cook low 8-10 hours and serve.
Sorry to hear about your loss and it is wonderful to hear that you care so much about your family.
As for recipes Food.com is amazing. You can search by number of ingredients or even time to make. You can even search our recipes and save them for him to access on his computer or just print for him.
Here is a couple of simple recipes that my family uses.
Lemon Chicken
1/2 cup melted butter
1tsp thyme
1 tbsp lemon pepper
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Mix everything together in a baking dish with two chicken breasts and cook at 350 degrees for an hour or until cooked all the way through.
Serve with rice
Asparagus (or any veggie) Soup
1lb of Asparagus (or Broccoli, cauliflower....)
2 cups milk
2-3 chicken bollion
1/2 thyme
Cook on low heat until asparagus is soft and puree in a blender.
Then melt 3 tbsp butter and stir in 3 tbsp flour. Cook while stirring until light golden. Add asparagus and simmer 1 minute.
Serve with croutons.
Spence Mess (family recipe)
1 Can Crm Mushroom soup
2 cans water
1 can rice
1/2 bag of frozen veggies
Mix all together and cook until the rice is done. You can vary the quanties of anything to adjust the taste or we sometimes add some sour cream to make it creamier.
Gravy on toast
1 can Crm of Mushroom or Crm of Chicken
2 cans milk
salt & pepper
Heat, stir and serve over toast or rice. Very good with tomatos. We have also mixed in a little mozzerella cheese too.
I live a couple hours away from my dad, so the recipes would need to things he could cook for himself.
He has very very basic spices (garlic, salt, pepper).
He doesn’t have a crockpot, although I could get him one. They are simple enough to be “up his alley”.