One of the budget busters for me is food. Not necessarily my daily food but eating out and 'convenience' foods bought because I'm tired, hungry and my cranky pants are just too darn tight. I have the eating out issue under control for the most part but still need ideas for quick homemade meals.
It would be great if they were also healthy but even if they're not I can probably play with the ingredients enough to make it healthy.
One of my favorites is what I had this afternoon before I headed to work: pan fried tilapia with mukimame. It takes less than 15 minutes to make and is so much tastier than a hamburger, not to mention a lot healthier, too!
So, what are some of your favorite quick homemade meals?
WANTED: Your favorite quick homemade meals
January 5th, 2012 at 04:51 am
January 5th, 2012 at 05:12 am 1325740370
boil pot of water; cook pasta al dente - rotini or penne seem to work best. As pasta is cooking, put frozen peas in the bottom of the colander. Drain pasta over the peas in the colander. Toss pasta and peas with olive oil and a container of pesto.
Another one if you like it hot: saute 2 tbsp red chili garlic sauce in a bit of peanut oil. (If you are ambitious, grate a finger of ginger and put the ginger in). Add thawed large shrimp or a couple of tilapia filets and cook until done.
January 5th, 2012 at 11:54 am 1325764492
Another is beef stew only I don't use potatoes and carrots sometimes I use ranch style beans, corn and peas...yum!
One more...a grilled chicken breast over garlic buttered egg noodles...cook the noodles as desired, add butter and garlic powder to taste.
January 5th, 2012 at 01:41 pm 1325770874
CCraw, the beef and cabbage stew sounds good. Heck, they all sound good. It's almost 8 am and I haven't eaten. lol Right now the chicken over noodles sounds spectacular!
That's it - I'm going to thaw some chicken! Will post a picture and recipe of what I end up doing with later.
January 5th, 2012 at 01:58 pm 1325771883
January 5th, 2012 at 02:42 pm 1325774545
January 5th, 2012 at 04:07 pm 1325779648
But I will give you our favorite family recipe of sloppy joes (not healthy maybe, but delish!): Brown one pound ground hamburger. Add 1 cup ketchup, 2 Tbsp mayo (I prefer miracle whip) and 1 Tbsp mustard. Stir, simmer and serve on buns (or not). I think my mom usually simmers it a while, but I don't have the patience for that - tastes good either way.
January 5th, 2012 at 04:17 pm 1325780266
http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/2011/06/18/smoky-chicken-enchilada-skillet_70253/
& I found it!
http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/2007/02/05/delight-your-taste-buds-with-these-recip_21857/
On the chicken, we just buy frozen chicken breasts, know what I mean? We don't do the "whole chicken" thing.
The meatloaf recipe with the chicken one is pretty simple, too. I actually use that recipe to make hamburgers anymore (throwing in the spices, onions and horseradish to spice up plain hamburger beef - YUM! The horseradish is pretty subtle - don't worry about how much it calls for.
January 5th, 2012 at 04:21 pm 1325780460
My go to FAST recipe is spaghetti or pasta. Cook pasta. Buy sauce (Safeway has the most awesome pasta sauce!). Heat sauce. Serve. Can add ground hamburger for some protein and garlic bread to round it out. Can take just 10 minutes to whip up. Of course, whipping up a spaghetti sauce can be pretty easy, too. Tomato sauce, garlic, pepper, veggies if you like, not much too it.
January 5th, 2012 at 04:44 pm 1325781883
January 5th, 2012 at 10:14 pm 1325801653
January 5th, 2012 at 11:15 pm 1325805344
Oil inside of slow cooker dish. Place whole or parts of chicken in and cover with about 1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce. Turn on low for 8 hours. Time: 5 minutes! Start it before work, arrive home to tasty chicken sandwiches! Or serve with steamed veges, or salad.
#2-Slow Cooker Soup
Add stale unused veges to the crock pot, such as celery stalks (use the leafy part too!), carrots, chopped onion, broccoli, cauliflower, diced potato.
Cover with water and add one boullion cube for flavor. (Or make stock next time from your chicken or turkey bones and freeze in pints).
Hearty Options: Add a cup of lentils or a cup of rice (brown, wild, or white). Measure the necessary water according to the dried ingredient package and make sure there is plenty for them to absorb in addition to the vegetable water.
Meaty version: add cut, lightly cooked pieces of sandwich meat such as ham or salami (saute in olive oil for a few minutes).
January 5th, 2012 at 11:57 pm 1325807832
PCJ, I love slow cooker recipes so thanks for those! I looove my cookers.
January 6th, 2012 at 02:02 am 1325815335
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
It's awesome for slow cooker recipes - we have found quite a few here.
January 6th, 2012 at 02:35 am 1325817334
January 6th, 2012 at 02:53 am 1325818401
Another recipe (also done in the rice cooker) again starts with oil, then toss in sliced onions & peppers and cook until the onions are translucent, then 2/3 c brown rice and water to cover, one can of tomatoes, two (drained) cans of black beans, some frozen corn, and southwest spices and cumin and cook until the rice is done.
Then there's african kale-pineapple stew. Saute a chopped onion, toss in a pound of kale and a large can of drained pineapple with its juice. When the kale has cooked down, add half a cup of peanut butter and some tabasco sauce and stir.
Just a few vegan options to add to the mix!
January 6th, 2012 at 03:32 am 1325820758
January 6th, 2012 at 04:24 pm 1325867077
Usually when I'm pining for something to "poof" appear on my dinner table, it means I'm in ultra-lazy mode, so about the only thing I can be enticed to make at that point is some version of grilled cheese. Depending on what I find in my fridge and freezer, I've done turkey/cheese with honey mustard, tomato/cheese with dijon mustard or just plain old grilled cheese.
If I have the forethought of time, my all time favorite, easy, go-to slow cooker recipe is frozen, boneless, chicken pieces, (I generally use white meat) a can of diced tomatoes, a chopped onion if I have it, and a packet of taco seasoning. Place chicken in slow cooker, mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken, then cook on low for 5 - 7 hours, shred chicken with a fork, and you have a base for tacos, over brown rice, over pasta, or anything else you can think of, along with whatever toppers appeal, like sour cream, cheese, green onions, olives, etc.
January 7th, 2012 at 02:00 am 1325901657
ERJoy, the chicken/taco seasoning idea is a good one. Thanks! I'm putting all these ideas in a file on my computer and will save them for when I need them. You guys are all awesome.
January 7th, 2012 at 02:04 am 1325901877
January 7th, 2012 at 02:21 am 1325902875
January 14th, 2012 at 12:46 pm 1326545208
Lay out chicken parts in a baking dish. Mix together 1 C ketchup, 1 pkg. [Lipton] dehydrated onion soup mix, 2 T brown sugar, 1/2 C water. Coat each piece of chicken with the ketchup based sauce. Bake 1 hr. baste if you like.
Serve over baked, mashed, or hash brown potatoes, even instant will do.
January 14th, 2012 at 02:33 pm 1326551618
January 15th, 2012 at 01:13 am 1326590014
Very easy.
Grate about a cup of cheddar cheese.
Mix together equal parts mayo, ketchup and mustard, then mix that with the shredded cheddar.
Slather this mixture on a good crusty bread and bake as an open-faced sandwich in the oven til cheese is melted.
It's very tasty! Has anyone ever eaten this? We used to often have it when I was growing up.
January 17th, 2012 at 01:02 am 1326762164
January 19th, 2012 at 10:59 pm 1327013959
January 21st, 2012 at 02:26 pm 1327155963
January 22nd, 2012 at 04:01 am 1327204889
January 25th, 2012 at 05:30 am 1327469439
1 jar BBQ sauce - your fav brand will do
1 can pineapple chunks
1 lg. sack (what the heck, how do I know what size bag?) whatever rather largish bag of frozen chicken breasts (I usually buy deboned.
Dump in crockpot. TURN ON CROCKPOT (ask me how I know this is important!
Good over minute rice or noodles.