Need new dinner ideas (easy please!)...?

One of my favorite "easy on the cook" meals is roasting a chicken. It's a great Sunday dinner meal and then you have leftovers for later in the week.

A lot of this depends on the size of your family and how many leftovers you want. I usually buy a 5-6 lb roasting chicken. In my mind, bigger is better because that gives me more for leftovers!

Just rinse out the chicken in cold water and place is a roasting pan. Sprinkle the skin with salt, pepper. We like Thyme and Garlic. Roast at 350F for about 2 hours or until the "popper" pops. Some chickens have the pop up thing in the breast that tells you when it's done, some don't. When the thigh is pierced and all the juices are clear and you take hold of the drumstick and it moves easily, it's done. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving. Resting is important; it allows the juices to go back into the meat so your bird will be nice and juicy.

You can pop baked potatoes in the oven along with the chicken during that last hour of baking. Add a veg and you're gold!

Ideas for left overs: 1. Chicken and biscuits 2. Chicken salad 3. Any number of chicken casseroles calling for cooked chicken 4. Take a jar of alfredo sauce heated, cooked pasta and toss the chicken in.

I then save my chicken carcass in the freezer until I get 3-4 of them and toss them all in a big pot and make my own chicken broth. Add a couple stalks of celery, an onion, peeled and cut in 1/4, a bay leaf, salt, pepper, a garlic clove, peeled and let simmer for an hour or so. Let cool, refridgerate overnight and the fat will come to the top and solidify. You can then skim all that fat off. Warm the broth, pull out the bones, strain and put into freezer containers and freeze. Next time you make chicken soup or anything calling for chicken broth, you have your own!

We also like "breakfast for supper" some nights. Dinners like pancakes and sausage, ham, eggs and toast are quick to fix and good. Add some fruit or fruit juice.

I also cook a beef roast in the slow cooker with beef broth, onions, a bay leaf, salt, pepper and some red wine if I have some. Be generous with the salt and pepper. Leftover ideas are hot roast beef sandwiches, shepards pie, beef soup (veg, noodle) or beef stew. Since your meat is already cooked and you have the cooking liquid, you can toss together a pot of soup in a little bit of time. Even if I make gravy for the first meal, I don't use all the cooking liquid; I save some out. Or if I'm planning on hot roast beef sandwiches, I make it all into gravy then all I have to do is reheat, slice the beef, make the sandwiches and put the gravy on.

Never miss an opportunity to cook once and eat twice. Just plan ahead a little for using up the leftovers later in the week. I bought a good sized ham on sale this week. Cut 2 nice ham steaks off and we had ham, eggs and toast the other night for supper. I put the rest in the slow cooker with a little water in the bottom and we had baked ham, sweet potatoes and salad. Now I've boned the ham, skimmed all the fat off the broth and we're having ham, string beans and potatoes. It's a kind of soup/stew that has it's roots in PA Dutch cooking. But that's a good example of how buying larger and cooking it several different ways can give you easy to get and different meals in a hurry.

I make meatballs in a large batch and freeze. I also make large batches of spagetti sauce and freeze that. If I get in a pinch for a quick meal, I know I can pull these out, defrost in the nuker, heat them up, cook some pasta and dinner is served.

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Shepherds Pie

(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 cups chicken broth

2 tbl. tomato paste

2 cups frozen peas and carrots

salt and pepper, to taste

instant potato flakes

1 cup mashed potatoes

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method:

Put ground beef in a large frying pan on medium high heat.

Break up the meat while cooking. Drain off excess grease.

Add onions and garlic. Cook, while stirring, until onions are soft.

Add basil, oregano, thyme, chicken broth, tomato paste, peas & carrots,

salt, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and add potato flakes, a small amount at a time,

until mixture just starts to bind together.

Place mixture in an ovenproof dish and spread mashed potatoes over the top to cover.

Cover potatoes with grated cheese.

Place dish under broiler until cheese becomes golden brown.

Chicken Marsala

(serves 6)

Ingredients:

2 tbl. olive oil

2 tbl. butter

6 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless

¾ cup sweet marsala wine

1 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade)

salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup sour cream

1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

Method:

Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet until very hot, but not smoking. Lightly brown chicken breasts on both sides. Do not cook chicken through at this point, just lightly golden brown on outside. Set chicken pieces aside. Add marsala wine to pan and scrape up the brown bits. Simmer wine until reduced by half. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and sour cream. Whisk sour cream until smooth. Add mushrooms and simmer until mushrooms are soft and cooked through. Put chicken pieces back into pan and cover. Simmer 10 minutes to finish cooking chicken. Serve.

My spouse and i favor vegetables but like fruits that we use in salad such as tomatoes and avocados.

Chicken

Lasanga

Steak

Tomato Soup

Sandwiches

Salads

Chicken noodle soup

yea....i have this amazing recipe where i make meatloaf from scratch.

you can either use turkey or beef

the thing that makes it sooo good is that i use brown sugar and ketchup....sounds nasty but once its baked...its amazing!!

here is a link to the same recipe

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Meatloaf/...

i dont like onions though so i dont use them

good luck

Get some blood cake. Coagulated pig blood from a butcher. Then cook it with liver. Sauteed.

I understand whole!

try these:

chicken and dumplings

ingredients:

4 c. water

1 large broiler-fryer chicken or 2 lb. of

bnless skinless chicken meat of your choice

2 celery ribs diced

4 carrots (med) diced

1 med. onion diced

14.5 oz. chicken broth(can) or 2 c. worth of broth from bullion

2 tbsp. dried parsley or 4 tbsp. fresh chopped fine

2 tsp. chicken bullion granules

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. pepper

dumplings

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp. salt

1 c. buttermilk

Place chicken in a large pot and add water, broth carrots, onion, cellery, and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat and simmer for 60 to 70 min., or until tender and chickenis done. Remove chicken and allow it to cool enough to handle.

remove veggies from broth and pulse in blender for a few seconds and then return to the pot.

Bone the chicken, discarding all skin, bones and cartilage, and tear meat into bite-sized piece. Set aside. (You an do this part the day before, if you like. Just refrigerate the boned chicken--well covered so it does'nt dry out. [and broth])

/for the dumplings, combine the flour, baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt; cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture is consistency of coarse meal. Add the buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times-- no more.

for drop dumplings, pat the dough down to 1/4 in. thickness and pinch of 1 1/2 inch pieces. Put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

for rolled dumplings, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into strips no larger than about 2x2 inches wide. the dumplings will plump up when cooked. freeze cut dumpling dough for 20 minutes.

If you have prepared the chicken in advance and refrigerated it, return it and your broth to your big pot and bring it to a boil. Then, with a very large slotted spoon or ladle, dip the boned chicken out of the broth, cover it and keep it warm. With the broth at a low rolling boil, drop in the dumplings, one or two at a time reduce heat to medium. Stir from time to time to make sure dumplings do not stick together. Cook t he dumplings for 10 minutes. /the flour in the dumplings will thicken the broth, and it is absolutely not necessary to thicken it further.

Return boned chicken to the mixture and simmer until heated through. /add t he freshly ground black pepper and remove from heat. Makes 4 or 5 servings, depending upon appetite.

I know that this one sounds complicated and busy, but once you make the substitutions, and do the recipe a few times it really gets easier. It breaks down to this:

chicken, veggies, broth in pot boil, then simmer. mix up dumplings; freeze for 20 min. drop in boiling water. done.

makes great left overs. thickens over night in fridge.

salmon supreme

ingredients:

1 c. uncooked wild rice

1 15.5 oz. can of red salmon

1 10.75 oz can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 c. sour cream

5 tbsp. instant minced onions

1/2 tsp. dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 (10 oz.) package of frozen asparagus

1 c. cheddar cheese shredded

Cook wild rice. Drain salmon, reserve liquid-- bone and flake; set aside. Heat soup, salmon liquid, sour cream, onion, dill weed, salt, pepper, and wild rice. Fold in the salmon. Turn into greased shallow 2 qt. baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Cook asparagus, drain, then arrange over salmon dish. Sprinkle with cheese. bake 15 minutes longer.

let rest on cooling rack for a few minutes the eat.

Goolash

1 lb. hamburger meat

2 stalks celery diced

1 lg. onion or 2 sm. onions diced

2 tsp. chili powder

1 can rotel tomatoes

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese

salt to taste

pepper to taste

few dashes of garlic

1 (16 oz.) pkge. elbow macaroni ( or other sturdy pasta)

Instructions:

Brown hamburger meat. add diced onions and celery. cook on medium until onions are almost clear. Add next 7 ingredients not including the cheese. Bring to a boil and simmer wit

try 4 minute steaks they're really juicy and are really cheap

but they only come in one in a pack

Here are some of my favorite easy, delicious meals...

Nacho Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts (or 8-10 chicken thighs)

2 cans nacho cheese soup

¾ cup milk

3 tbsp worchestershire sauce

Place chicken in large baking pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a spicy seasoned salt. Combine soup, milk, and worchestershire sauce in saucepan until just heated through. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Cheesy Pepper Steak

1 ¼ pound sirloin steak, cut in strips

Seasoned salt

1-16oz pkg. frozen bell pepper and onion strips, thawed

1-16oz pkg. cubed Mexican processed cheese

Sprinkle steak with seasoned salt. Coat large skillet with non-stick vegetable spray and cook steak strips for 10 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove steak from skillet and set aside. Stir in vegetables and ½ cup water and simmer for 5 minutes or until all liquid cooks out. Add cheese and turn heat to low. When cheese melts, stir in steak until heated through and serve over hot cooked rice.

Quick Chicken Casserole

3 cups cooked, chopped chicken or turkey

1-16oz. package frozen broccoli florets, thawed

1-10oz. can cream of chicken soup with ¼ cup milk

2/3 cup mayonnaise

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

1 ½ cups crushed cheese crackers

Combine chicken, broccoli, soup, mayo, and cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Pour into buttered casserole dish and spread cheese crackers over top. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes or until bubbly.

Cheesy Pork Bake

4-5 potatoes, peeled, sliced

6 pork chops

1 can nacho cheese soup

½ soup can milk

Place potatoes in greased casserole dish. Place pork chops on top. Combine soup and milk. Heat just enough to pour over chops. Bake covered at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

Lemonade Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (6oz) can frozen lemonade, thawed

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

Place chicken in greased 13x9 casserole dish. Combine next 3 ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover, pour juices over chicken and cook another 10 minutes uncovered. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

Broccoli-Cheese Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 T. butter

1 can broccoli cheese soup

1 pkg. frozen broccoli spears

1/3 cup milk

In skillet, cook chicken in butter 15 minutes or until brown on both sides. Remove from skillet. In same skillet, combine soup, broccoli, and milk with a little pepper. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low and return chicken. Cover and cook another 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and broccoli is tender. Serve over rice or noodles.

Classic Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup lime juice

1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix

½ stick butter, melted

Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in a shallow pan. Combine lime juice, Italian mix, and butter. Pour over chicken. Cover and bake 1 hour in 350 oven. Take off cover last 15 minutes of baking.

Spicy Chicken and Rice

3 cups cooked, cubed chicken

2 cups cooked rice

1 can fiesta nacho cheese soup

1 can tomatoes and chopped green chilis

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Spoon mixture into a greased 3 qt baking dish. Cook, covered in 350 oven for 45 minutes.

These all work well for leftovers, too. Hope you like!