What's for Dinner Tonight?

We had eggplant parmesean with mozerella and marinara. We had salad on the side. Trader Joe's carries frozen prebattered eggplant and I like use their marinara as well. It takes about 30 minutes to cook completely.

Fish or shrimp taco's are fast and healthy. A roasted chicken from Costco. Pot roast.
We get the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine and love it. It is full of ideas for the week, with shopping lists too. Easy, fast meals to make with minimal ingredients.
Good luck, we all seem to get stuck now and again!
L.

Hi J.!

I LOVE "The Biggest Loser Cookbook" by Devin Alexander: http://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Loser-Cookbook-Healthy-Deli...

Even if you don't need to lose weight, the food is good for you, is specifically geared toward fewer portions (I hate leftovers and we are also a family of 3), is quick to make and TASTES REALLY GOOD! There is a super quick pork tenderloin recipe in there that is delicious, plus other great stuff. (Lots of side dishes, breakfast ideas, etc.)

Hope this helps!

Sounds a little odd, but the other night when I just couldn't think of what to cook, I took a whole bunch of fresh vegetables (almost all from our garden) and cut them up, mixed them with some salt, pepper, and olive oil and spread them on 2 cookie sheets. One had green beans and peas in pod, the other had potatoes, beets, kohlrabi, turnip, and carrots. Heat the oven to about 450 degrees and cook for 30 to 40 min for the root veggies and about 20 min. for the green veggies. My kids went crazy over them! They were begging for more green beans and beets! Yummy and super-healthy!

Hi J.,

My suggestion would be to invest in a George Foreman type grill if you don't already have one. We grill chicken breasts, salmon, halibut, burgers, even salmon patties on it. Because the grill is two-sided it cooks so much faster. I always brush a little olive oil on the grill so that the meat doesn't get too dry. We also use a steamer quite a bit to do vegetables. I mention this because you said you like to eat healthy. In our house, we use these two kitchen appliances more than anything else!

Pork roast or beef roast. Smaller cuts (which would be perfect for two adults and a toddler) will be done in an hour at 350. The prep time is almost nothing. Toss the meat into a pan, season however you like, add cut potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. Cover. Cook at 350 for one hour. Tada. An entire dinner (protein, veggies and starch) and only one pan to clean!

Another dish I like is a great way to clean out the fridge! I saute whatever veggies I have in the fridge in some olive oil and minced garlic. (Last time it was cabbage, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, onions, and squash.) I boil up some whole wheat pasta. And then take whatever leftover meat I might have or I saute up some shrimp. Then I mix everything together. YUM!

We do a lot of taco and burrito bars. We just put out seasoned ground turkey, kidney or refried beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. and let the kids make their own. Even the little tiny ones love to choose what goes in their shell. It's messy, healthy and fun.

Fish tacos are great, healthy and easy, too. Just season white, boneless fish with cumin, salt and chili powder. Bake until tender. Serve in soft corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, avocado and cheese. Sourcream or aoli is really good on these - they tend to be a little bland otherwise.

My kids will eat anything on a stick. Kabobs and satays are popular at our house. Serve with big bowl of boiled edamame still in the shell. (also a good TV snack) and some rice. Good use of leftovers. :-)

"Cold Plate Night" is my kids' favorite. I get out our fancy, tiny plates (the kind one uses at Thanksgiving) and fill each with something cold. Sliced tomatoes, olives, pickles, lettuce leaves, sliced cheese, deli turkey, nuts, sliced hard boiled eggs, fruit cubes, cucumber slices, crackers, berries...just let them graze. They love it and eat a ton of healthy stuff.

Lastly, a recipe by my 7 yo son. I think it is gross, but he and his friends LOVE it. They make it at their sleepovers. Cook brown rice in a rice cooker. Add salt, garlic powder, butter and a can of tuna and some frozen peas. Put the lid of the rice cooker back on so peas and meat get hot. Stir and serve. Watch adults gag (warm tuna?) and kids scarf down three plates of this silly thing.

I like to make a big pot of my Grandma Finney's Goulash and there is usually enough to freeze several portions for future dinners. You can substitue or add vegetables. It's a great recipe for cleaning out the pantry. You can serve it plain or over rice or over pasta.

Grandma Finney’s Goulash
1 or 2 lbs ground beef or turkey
1 onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
Brown above together. Drain fat.
Add some salt, pepper, cumin, and thyme.
Then add:
1 can green beans drained
1 can whole kernel corn drained
1 can lima beans drained
2 cans or 1 large can red kidney beans use juice
1 large can chopped tomatoes use juice
1 Tbsp chilli powder or to tase
Simmer about an hour

For the slow cooker here is a website with lots of interesting recipes.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Hey this question can be thought of as a compliment! They are looking forward to dinner cos you are a great cook!
Last winter I felt stuck in a rut with meals. I couldn't remember what we had eaten all winter the previous year. (Milk brain...and 2 little ones a year apart) I do alot of spontaneous made up meals and whenever anything turns out to be easy and popular, I have a notepad where I write down what I did/used. I have found this helpful.
I also emailed 10 friends my 2 simplest and delicious recipes and invited them to share theirs. If everyone sent back 1-2 recipes, we would each have 10-20 new ideas. That worked really well too...
I will send you my 2 faves when I get a chance!

www.e-mealz.com
They provide simple meal menus (with the shopping list) based on what's on sale. You can choose from several stores/chains and several meal types. I use the Kroger family meal plan. Kroger owns Fred Meyer, so the sales are comparable.

There are lots of yahoo recipe groups that can help you. I love frozenassets.com and ourworld recipes.
D.

My kids think it's great when I make breakfast for dinner. Granola Pancakes, scrambled eggs, etc.
But mostly, we eat Dream Dinners and I don't have to think about it anymore. I love going to the grocery store and only having to buy toiletries, dairy, cereal, & fresh vegies & fruit. I'm in & out of the store in 15 minutes. Once a month at Dream Dinners and I don't have to plan meals, grocery shop for stuff I'll never use again, or waste my $$ on! 3 Dream Dinners in the refrigerator defrosting for the week and I always have leftovers. Usually 1 month of meals lasts us a month & a half.
They also have side dishes now. They don't use msg, corn syrup & last month, there was only 1 recipe with salt in it. The rest were seasoned with herbs.
Dream Dinners has the best nutritional low-fat recipes (compared to the copycat businesses). Check out their "Nutritional" page online and compare the fats. They are portion controlled so you don't over eat. We had DD Tuscan Steaks last night. 7 minutes on the grill while I whipped up instant mashed potatoes (in the Pampered Chef microcooker), gravy, DD garlic bread, & mixed veggies.
Last week we had Chicken Yakitori stir fried in a skillet. I made the Jasmine rice in P.C. rice cooker in the microwave. Dinner in 15 minutes. We have not found a recipe that we haven't loved. We even took the Emeril's Fish Dinner to the beach and made it on the fire pit at the campground. The hot dog campers were so jealous!
www.dreamdinners.com Bon Appetit!
ps. I've been able to maintain my Weight Watcher goal weight for 8 years now using Dream Dinners. Every month when I weigh in, I weigh the same. Love it!

You can come and cook for me anytime as your meals sound wonderful. I received a wonderful gift from a friend and it is the rachael ray cook book of 30 minute meals. There are some great recipes in there. I also love www.recipezaar.com
for ideas and love the fact that people rate them.

We love the pretzle chicken. Pound 4 chicken breast to about 1/4 of an inch In one bowl prepare 2 eggs and splash of water . Prepare coarse ground pretzels and 1 T fresh chopped Thyme and pepper in a seperate dish. Dredge chicken in pretzels then egg then pretzels. Cook in large fry pan( I use EVOO) for about 3 or 4 minutes on each side(juices run clear)

While chicken is cooking in med pan melt 2T butter add 2 T flour. cook 1 minute.wisk in 2 cups milk till bubbles stir in 3 cups cheddar cheese, 2 heaping T spicey mustard and stir with wooden spoon. season with a little salt and remove from the heat. Transfer chicken to serving plate and drizzle with cheese sauce. I serve extra sauce in a bowl so my family can add more if they want to.

We also make the chicken without the sauce and I add a little spicey mustard to the egg. Serve with salad and vegie or bread and you are set.

We also love the dried chow mein noodles. We boil then put in fry pan with fresh veggies,garlic,herbs and choice of meat( I use left over meat).Stir fry veggies,garlic,herbs and meat while noodles boil. Serve with salad bread and a little parmessan cheese. Very quick but good

Hope that this helps

Here is my "always a hit" standby:
Spinach Pie- Frozen pie crust, 2 boxes chopped spinach(thawed & squeezed of excess moisture) 1 package feta cheese(Crumbled), 1 egg, dill, garlic, lemon juice. Mix it together, put it in the crust with a top crust, 375 for 45 minutes or so. Serve it with soup, sausage, or by itself. You can,of course,use a homemade crust and fresh steamed spinach, depends on how much time you have. It's easy, nutritious,and delicious! Also, poke some vent holes in the top crust before baking. Enjoy!

My friend told me about allrecipes.com It is a great web-site! I turn their often for great meal ideas. The site allows you to search for recipes, whether it be "healthy" "fast" or "chicken". This was my solution to the "what's for dinner?" question and to keep my from making the same thing every week!

Hope that helps!

lol, how about spaghetti? :)

A great quick dinner is quesadillas---you can make them as fancy or as plain as you want and you can get all the basic food groups in there. I buy the tortillas from Costco because they have some awesome uncooked ones (that you just 'cook' or basically heat up on your griddle or pan). I then use different cheeses based on taste (again Costco has a shredded mexican cheese blend that works great) and will often buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco too. I also use some or all of the following too: olives, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, salsa, refried beans, etc..... you can have the kids help easily too! I serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa and for a great kick; the Litehouse Jalapeno Ranch dressing and a side salad. I have other easy recipes if you want more, just email me. Thanks! T.

I just recently found out about www.savingdinner.com I have such a hard time comeing up with menus for the week or coming up with differant ideas. This really has made a big differance at dinner time because I already know exactly what I'm going to make. And I know that I have everything to make it. If you want to try it out they have free menus to try. For me and my family it is well worth the small expence. Sorry for being a walking bill board but I have just really enjoyed it.

J.,
Recently our boys have been eating turkey sandwiches for dinner and breakfast with fruit. Sometimes my husband makes breakfast foods for dinner.

Good luck.

I love, love, love www.flylady.net for helping me to organize my home and my life! There is a link to "the Dinner Diva" on her site that helps with meal planning. Thanks to FLYlady, I now address that question early in the day, which is extremely helpful. (By the way, when my teenagers ask me that question, they know my rule is that, in order to get an answer to that question, they are required to help with the dinner preparations!) LOL! :) God bless you and yours, Mama!

Try www.allrecipes.com. You can *advance* search by cooking method or by certain ingredients. You can even put in a ingredient that you don't want in it.
You can save favorite recipes, print out shopping lists and see reviews of recipes before you try them.

Other than that though, I'm afraid "What's for dinner?" will always be a unpleasant question. I like to shop and plan ahead for 2 weeks, so I don't have to think about it too often. :)

www.foodfit.com is a really good site, with all healthy meals. www.bhg.com/recipes is also a pretty good one, and it has some excellent slow cooker recipes. If you like food from other cultures, www.allrecipes.com is a really good site. It offers authentic recipes for just about any type of food you can think of, and there is a healthy recipes section.

I love all these suggestions.
I too love allrecipes.com, especially when i can plug in certain ingredients I want to use and it gives me recipe suggestions. :)

The Once a Month cooking is great for small families, but i didn't find it feasible as my family grew. The amount of preparation and size of dishes just didn't work as well. But I loved it for under five in a family. (It uses a lot of cheese dishes)
And you can always do one of the recipes or two just to have on hand w/o planning a whole month.
Or plan a couple for next week by preparing twice as much for a meal today and tomorrow and pulling out the 'extra' sfor next weeks busy days.

Another suggestion I've used and suggested to my old cooking club was to make your own binder w/plastic sheets to protect your recipes. Break it down to catagories and put in YOUR favorites.
After those are there, at the back of each section you can put in ideas for things you want to try. (they don't get used as often as the others)
At the front of your binder, make a list of meals that you prepare broken into catagories, ie. chicken, beef, soups,sandwiches, crockpot, dessert, etc. .... This gives you a list of ideas with ingredients you will normally have on hand.

Subscribe to Simple and Delicious!!! ... They have pictures for most or all of their recipes and it makes you want to try them all! :) Sit with it the day you are making your grocery list and pencil in the page number on your grocery list by the new ingredients you need so you will remember where it is and try that recipe when you get home.

If you have cable, watch the cooking shows... they are always inspiring. :)
Think Healthy... Blessings

When my oldest were small, I too, hated the dreaded question. What's for dinner? I started finding recipes from friends, magazines, and now find them on the internet and making menus for two weeks at a time. As my children grew, I started including them and my husband in the planning. They were all in sports and scouts, etc. so I would encourage them to look at their schedules and pick a night to plan, fix, serve and clean-up dinner once a week. Once a child turned six, they looked forward to being able to fill in their spot on the dinner menu. At first it took a lot of help with their meals, but as they grew it became easier to keep my fingers out of the meals. I could concentrate on other things while they became excellent planners and very good cooks. What a priviledge for them and the pride I could show in their accomplishments. When menus are made, shopping becomes and breeze and they enjoyed helping pick out supplies for 'their meals'. Clean-up is fairly easy in our house since each person cleans up their own place and is required to put one other item away off the table.

I do foster care now and each child that comes to my house learns some great skills for returning home or going out on their own while here in my home. I.

Check out Rachael Ray's cookbooks ( she even has one for kid friendly meals ) or her website www.rachaelray.com or www.foodnetwork.com. I love her creative ideas and all her meals are fairly easy and under 30 minutes. Some of our favorite healthy meals came from her. If you get cable I find it inspiring to watch her show on food network, as well as any of the other cooking shows. Sometimes all you need is a little encouragement from watching other cooks to come up with ideas of your own.

I subscribe to the cooking light magazine. They have a section of quick and easy meals. When I cook chicken or flank steak, I make extra to use for another meal like enchiladas or wraps. I also make a lazy lasagna that is super fast and I make one for that night and one for in the freezer. Shrimp is fast and easy to cook too.

For this specific reason we bought a crock pot. I can make anything from an eight hour beef stew, to a simple chicken dish with veggies in one pot. And it takes less than 15 minutes for me to put it all in there.
I am also a fan of pizza night. You can buy the dough/crust and the fun part is everyone can have their own special toppings without you being stuck in the kitchen for hours.

What we do to avoid dinner blah, is setup a menu the week before. We agree on at least 8 dinners, then shop for them, and throughout the week pick one on the list. It helps to cut back on extra spending, and even more is such a lifesaver for me not having to rack my brain for something to eat.

Hi J.
The next time your husband asks WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT just say I do not know honey what are you going to fix... If it is bugging you that much than it just might be time for you to have a break and have some one els come up with some thing. How about sitting down with your loved ones and talking about a menu for the week or month? That way that question need not be asked and it will help stream line your shopping and save some money. Having a menu and a shopping list is kind of an old fashend ida but it worked for a lot of people for a long time.

Some of my quick meals- tacos or quesadillas with either chicken or beef
Simple chicken pot pie- cut chicken, potatoes, carrots and other favorite veggies, 1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup, season, Use the bisquick biscuit recipe and drop on top. Bake 45-60 minutes until biscuits golden

I LOVE my crockpot!! and ofcourse allrecipes.com

Linguine w/white sauce and spinach, tomato & zucchini for a primavera (or with shrimp).

Also, Trader Joe's Clam Sauce with any pasta (add salt, pepper and grated parmesan). It's a big hit in our house and with corn my son loves it!

Try throwing together a red sauce, some ground turkey, veggies, lots of tomatoes and garlic, toss it over noodles with some grated parmesan. You can throw a salad and garlic bread in, and the total time to make this shouldn't exceed 30-40 minutes. If the sauce is pre-made, you're talking minutes.

I'm not a mother, but, I am in a hurry alot of the time because of work. My husband and I practically live out of our crockpot. If you have time in the mornings or early afternoons, you can do one of my favorites. Crock-Chops. You take the porkchops salt and pepper to taste, line the crockpot with them, add cream of mushroom soup (enough to cover the chops completely DO NOT add water)and let them cook in the crockpot for about 4 to 6 hours or untill done. The sauce in the pot makes a great gravy for mashed potatoes and veggies go well with it as well. Hope this helps.

try: allrecipes.com
if you send them your email they will send you dinner suggestions daily or weekly. you can even go on line just to see what they have. good luck!

I don't know if anyone has posted www.campbells.com but it has saved me! Fast totally delicious recipes that all three of my toddlers adore. You just click the kitchen tab and you can start a recipe box. They have literally thousands of recipes for any kind of campells soup, meat choice, veggie choice, ingredients on hand. I sold Pampered Chef and have always been into healthy, fast cooking. The other night I made the most savory creamy ranch pork chops in under 30 minutes.

Every few months we stock up on Dinner's Ready meals. I mix them in when I just cant figure out what to make or when I am in a big rush. Sometimes they give me ideas of what to make later too.

Yes, this question often drives me crazy too! You've gotten lots of ideas here, although I have to say, it's a lot about personal taste because one family's favorite might be something another family wouldn't touch.

One thing I've done over the past few years that helps me is to put together a big binder with recipes that I find in magazines or online, or even ones from my mom or friends. I pull them out and throw them away if we try them and don't like them, and others we come back to again and again. (I get Cooking Light magazine and find many ideas and inspiration in there.) In each section divided by category I have full size sheet protectors, a pocket section (for random things or recipes I haven't had time to slip into sheets yet), and a few pages that fit index card sized recipes. In the very front of the binder I have a sheet of paper that I update periodically that simply lists every meal I could think of that we all enjoy. Everything from simple french dip sandwiches or spaghetti to a favorite raspberry balsamic glazed chicken. I try (and I'm SO not perfect at this, but it helps immensely when I do it) to spend 20 minutes as I make my grocery list at the beginning of the week planning 4-5 meals for the week (it seems there's always a leftover night and then a night for eating out, or going to friend's, or just being spontaneous). I pull my binder out when I do it to remind me of meals we haven't eaten for a while, or get ideas to maybe try something new from a recipe I'd pulled a while back. My week always goes so much better when I have done this, and I don't have to ask myself that question at 4 pm and pulling my hair out with my crazy kids!

I keep on hand lots of "easy meals" from Trader Joes too, for the weeks I don't plan, or the days I forget to defrost the meat, or have a really crazy day or whatever. Simmer sauces, jarred spaghetti sauce and frozen meatballs, their bagged stirfrys, the pouches of Indian curries and frozen naan, packages of marinated meat... you get the idea. TJs is wonderful for saving us from the eternal question "what's for dinner?!"

And one last tip, I'm queen of making a new dinner out of an old one. This is something to get good at, it will save your sanity many times over and really saves a lot of time, not to mention waste! For instance, leftover rotisserie chicken can become chicken quesadillas, chicken soup, chicken enchiladas or go into pasta, etc. Leftover grilled beef (depending on the spice blend used) gets chopped or sliced for beef stroganoff, steak sandwiches or mixed with rice, beans, peppers and onions for a burrito filling. Leftover pot roast can be chopped (along with any vegetables and gravy left from your roast dinner) and made into a beef barley soup, or shredded and mixed with bbq sauce for sandwiches. I often find ways to work side dishes in too, like mashed potatoes can be mixed into many soups for thickening texture and great flavor, likewise with rice. Leftover grilled or steamed veggies can be chopped or pureed into soups or layered into sandwiches. You get the idea...

Hope my ideas help you out, have fun making dinner!

J.,

I like to check out foodnetwork.com when I am stumped for something healthy and quick to make for dinner.(Found it back when I "weight Watched" before I got pregnant with my little guy) The Elie Krieger recipes (you can search for her show "Healthy Appetite") are very heathly, and specific (which is important to me). She also puts interesting things together, but everything I have tried has turned out great. My favorite is the Nicoise Salad, which works great as leftovers in pita bread. I also did Rachel Ray's pork chops with golden apple sauce this week and it worked out well, even though I halved the recipe and left out some of the fancier ingredients, like fresh ginger root. Quick, too.

I'm a SAHD (yep, a dad) I use the Weight Watchers cookbooks. Awesome food, easy to make, and quick to prepare. I have 3 or 4 weight watchers cookbooks and the meals are so delicious. My 6 year old son loves the meals I make. Some are prepared with pasta, others with vegetable, and others with a Mexican ring to them. Yum!!

Wow I love some of the responses, especially the one from Ila who teaches her children to cook. I'm going to start that tradition at my house.

I love to cook and agree that meals must be easy to prepare during the week. I have 2 kids--one 3 and the other 1 so it's a must to get in and out of the kitchen. My best tool is planning our meals out for the week. I wrote up a menu of all my meals and then I pick what's for dinner on the weekend and shop for everything I need. Also, I made copies of all the recipes and put them in a separate binder with plastic covers. This is a huge time saver instead of remembering where the recipe is.

You should ask your family and friends for one favorite recipe. I enjoy the recipes at Martha Stewart's website! I'm comfortable knowing the meal will be delicious. I try a couple of new recipes a month and add the ones we like to the "Everyday Meal" binder.

I started to make some meals like pasta sauce or lasagna and freeze. You could cook them on the weekend and have them once a week for 3-4 weeks. We make turkey burgers with onion/mushroom soup mix and blue cheese in the middle. We eat a lot of seafood. Shrimp is always great and there are easy marinades to do. We also like grilled paninis with salad and fruit. Pork tenderlions are wonderful marinaded in a sauce for 30 min then grilled.

Good luck.

M.

Check out www.savingdinner.com! You won't be sorry, she has great healthy meals available for every budget, and they are all 40 mins or less! She even has the nutrition facts about the meal portions!
I also LOVE www.allrecipes.com. They seriously have every recipe known to man on there, and you can search recipes according to the ingredients you have, PLUS you can see reviews! I won't even look at a recipe unless it has at least a 4 star rating! That way, I KNOW it is a tried and true recipe!

What about tacos made with any leftover meat sauted with vegies and spices like cumin, little chili (unless that's too much for your children). If you have a zuke plant zuke flowers are good in the sauted mix. Then cut up and put on a plate to add to it: avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, grated cheese and whatever else you have.

LOL I know what you mean. I work full time so I dont have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen making dinner. I like to use my crock pop when I can. I also look on line at Kraft Interactive Kitchen. They give you recipies there and I change what I dont like, but most of them are good and not that long to make.

One of my families favs is:

Chicken and Rice - 2 chicken breast cut up and cooked, then I mix in one can of cream of chicken and 1 can of milk. Then sever over rice with a veggie.

My husband loves rice so I do the same thing only with suasage and BBQ sauce over rice.

Or you can brown hamburger mix with gravy and serve over potatoes.

Good luck!

J.,

I use the cookbook: Six Ingredients or Less by Carlean Johnson. You may be able to find this used through Amazon.com

The book has everything from appetizers to a Kids Corner section. The recipes are easy, and good. You can adjust to make in your own flavors for your family if needed for some variations.

Last night I made pizza dough (recipe in book for bread machine), pizza sauce (recipe in book), and used leftovers to make a chicken pizza with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes for my family and had neighbors over!! We finished off 2 pizzas between 4 adults and 3 toddlers. And the best part is that the dough only had 4 grams fat in the entire recipe!!...I will say that most recipes do not give the nutrition information, but it isn't a concern with us since I am aware of what we eat in most cases anyway.

Good luck,
T.

girl friend!
They have books for that! And even special ones for health meals in 30 minutes. All the menus you mention sound yummy. Have you tried any fish dishes? Fish cooks fast and it can be very yummy, fresh vegies and a potato or rice dish or maybe a salad and your set.
If your a busy mom like so many, find a few meals that are easy and fast that are well liked by your bunch and rotate them. Maybe you can have a day/evening when it would be hubbies turn to be responsible for dinner.
Any way you work it, good luck to you, and enjoy your meals.
Mandy
PS: write up a menu for the week and post it on the fridge. Then it's easy to do the dinner thing, just stick to the menu. It also makes shopping easyer.

One of my favorite meals is Chicken Alfredo Potatoes. You bake potatoes (or microwave them), cook some chicken cut up into strips (or buy the precooked chicken in the deli section) then mix up a packaged/or jarred alfredo sauce, then cook or steam some broccoli, shred some cheddar cheese and chop a few green onions. You layer it all on the baked potato. So yummy.

Another one of my favorites is Tortellini Chicken and Spinach Meal. Here is the recipe for that:
Melt 1/4 cup of butter into an 9x13 dish, then add 1 onion chopped finely, 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. season salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Mix together, then put 6-8 boneless/skinless chicken breasts on top of butter mixture. Bake at 375 oven for 45 min. Make sure to turn chicken over after cooking for 20 min. While chicken is cooking, you will thaw and drain a 10 oz frozen package of spinach and cook 8 oz dry tortellini noodles. miz noodles with spinach and set aside until chicken is cooked. Once chicken is cooked, put the chicken aside on a plate and mix the noodle mixture in with the butter mixture in bottom of pan, then put chicken on top of the noodle mixture and sprinkle all of it with parmesan cheese and bake another 5-10 min. Enjoy!

Hi -
There is a book called "Eating on the Run" with recipes to make fast. I found it somewhat helpful.
K.

There are lots of quick healthy meal cookbooks out there. You might also pick up Eating Well magazine for ideas. The Petite Appetite and First Meals are two child-friendly cookbooks with meals parents can enjoy, too.

It is a never ending question. My husband and I with our first baby due in 6 weeks often have a handful of staple dinners that we eat every week with one or two different meals we create depending on what's in the house/garden.

Here are the usual suspects:
Veggie Stir Fry with tofu over brown rice or rice noodles
Pesto pasta with italian sausage, green olive and fresh tomato
Burritos- canned refried beans with onion, bell pepper, meat or tofu topped with salsa, avocado, tomatoes etc. veggie on side
grilled meat(usually pork chops or chicken) with a steamed vegetable of choice - sometimes we add roasted yellow/red potaotes or brown rice.

When I need a new twist I check out www.epicurious.com for recipes.

Bon Appetitie!

Wow, I think I need to come to your house for dinner J.!! I'm 20 weeks pregnant with an almost three and half year old boy to chase after so lately I have not been up for cooking at all. One thing that is easy for me is to soak beans in the morning and cook them in the afternoon for a yummy, nutritious meal later. My favorite is pinto beans and we can then either have buritos or a bowl of beans with fresh guacamole, cheese, and pico de gallo that I usually make myself. It's also a great way to use our fresh tomatoes....chop tomatoes, mince a little onion, rough chop some cilantro, add a little salt and garlic granules or fresh garlic and your good to go. It's one of my favorite meals and my husband and son love it! You can skip the tortilla or get some good veggie chips to go along with....

Good luck!

Bunless burgers:
ground beef and season it with Worchestershire sauce, Sage, garlic, and Johnny's Seasoning salts. Pat into patties and grill. Top with cheese, grilled onions, and BBQ suace with Mayo.

Sides: any potato dish with a salad or other green veggie.

Good luck!

D.

Have you tried allrecipes.com? I love it. Anyone can post their recipes and anyone can rate them so you know what others thought was good. Also you can type in how many servings you want to make and it will configure the amount of all the ingredients for you. I have made several recipes from here and my family has loved them.

I struggle with the same thing. Dinner makes me crazy, but I do have a few recipes that are family favs that keep us going. One of the things that has helped me is the Rachael Ray web site. Her recipes are mostly quick and pretty easy to do. We absolutely love the "Stuffed Green Pepper Stoup" We make a big pot of it and love the left overs too. Our 13 mo. old son loves it too, I just strain some out so there isn't alot of juice and put it on his tray and he goes to town. We also love "New Brunswick Stew". They are both easy and full of healthy, yummy ingredients. If you are interested in these and can't find them on the web site, please write me back, I would love to share them with you plus a few more I have up my sleeve if you want.

Happy Cooking!

The crock pot can become your friend! I usually use it only during the cooler months (that is coming up though :)) because it heats the house up. I use it to cook roasts, chicken, meat for tacos, potatos. You can look up crock pot recipes on line. You can cook almost anything in a crock pot......and it is practically effort free. You just put the ingredients into the pot and wait for the cooking time to be over. The house smells really good too!!!!

I also do make a menu out for the month and my grocery list. I try to only shop (except for fresh fruit and dairy) once a month. This really does save time and money and you have your menu so you know what is for dinner. I have a book on reserve at the library called "Once a Month Cooking" and I am looking forward to reading it as well. The title sounds interesting :)

Cooking Light magazine is one of my favorite places to get new, healthy ideas for cooking. The "Dinner Tonight" section is 3-5 streamlined recipes that give time saving tips, and other menu items to go with the dinner. Serves 4 usually so you could have it for lunch the next day. I love the whole magazine but this came to mind when I saw your question.
Happy Cooking!

Hummus platter-- veggies, rustic bread, a little deli turkey. Everyone has the option of dipping or making a sandwich!!

and I am all for breakfast for dinner!!

Check out this website www.simplifysupper.com they have great ideas for quick healthy meals that don't take a lot of ingredients.

Though I don't have a direct answer, let me pass on this advice.
1.)Make a menue for the week (and a grocery list)
2.)Keep menues in a notebook (so you can look back at it)
3.)Borrow cook books from the library (scan the receipes)
4.)Try something new every other week (not too much pressure)