Please post your easiest dinner. Please.

[Dana in OR]

I have been at the tire store with 2 littles (and the dog!) for the past 2+ hours. I am exhausted. There is absolutely no take-out in our small town. If there had been, this would have been the night for it.

[Perry]

Black bean soup (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Salsa-Soup/Detail.aspx) and grilled cheese.

I always have these ingredients on hand for emergency dinners.

[nmoira]

Sausage (pre-cooked, like bratwurst) on rice. Cook rice 1/2 way (white) or 3/4 (brown) and put sliced sausage on top to heat. Continue cooking. We do this in a rice cooker, but I'm sure it would work in a pot.

[CalicoKat]

I have been at the tire store with 2 littles (and the dog!) for the past 2+ hours. I am exhausted. There is absolutely no take-out in our small town. If there had been, this would have been the night for it.
oatmeal. rice with butter. dry cereal. pb&j sandwich. scrambled eggs.

[beansprouts]

Breakfast for supper: eggs, sausage or bacon, pancakes - my kids love this!

Nachoes: corn chips with shredded chedder cheese melted in the oven - takes about 10 minutes to prepare

Burritoes: Can of refried beans & shredded cheddar cheese on ww tortilla wraps, lettuce and tomato - almost as easy as nachoes

[Dana in OR]

My potty-training 3yo just peed on her potty, the bathroom rug, and my foot. How? I don't know. I am just looking at getting these kids fed, and to bed.

[Tammy]

I put the peppers on the GF grill with olive oil and garlic.....let them brown a little....then put some cheese and those same peppers on a sandwich and throw it back on Mr. GF......it is great!

That is one way I get my kids to eat peppers, LOL!

Tammy

[Ohio12]

flour tortilla heated and stuffed with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and salsa (or not salsa for the kids.)

[beansprouts]

flour tortilla heated and stuffed with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and salsa (or not salsa for the kids.)

Breakfast burritoes - those are SO good!!

How about grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

[Dana in OR]

I have a couple of cucumbers so I am making a salad too. Thanks for all the help. I really need to plan some menus and get to the store tomorrow. DH is out of town for a couple of weeks so I've been putting it off.

[Crissy]

Breakfast for supper: eggs, sausage or bacon, pancakes - my kids love this!



My kids love this, too. We do it often when my husband is out of town.

[Antonia]

Omelettes with whatever you have on hand.

[Hausunterricht]

I buy those big packs of Costco burrito size tortillas and wrap up leftovers in them. We eat them cold and they make a great fast dinner when we are overwhelmed.

I really, really like to make Teriyaki Tofu with rice and the frozen mixed veggies that have brocolli, red pepper and other things. I make a side of coleslaw that has cilantro in it. I mix up the first three and put in a tortilla with some coleslaw on top. Wrap it up, wrap in plastic and it's good for a few days. You can do this with burrito stuff, too. The coleslaw keeps better than lettuce and it's good cold!

But, you can pretty much take any leftover and rice and wrap it up.

[CAMom]

Well, tonight couldn't have been any easier.:) I had some carne asada meat (purchased already marinated) that I just cut up into small pieces and browned in a little bit of olive oil. I put that with some grated cheese in some tortillas on my electric skillets and melted them. Yum! Very quick and very easy!

When I make spaghetti, I make a huge batch of sauce and freeze it in Ziploc bags. I always have noodles in the cupboard. On a bad day, I can whip up dinner in just a few minutes.

Ronette

[Karen sn]

A bowl of O's and milk.

[neesek]

My kids love this, too. We do it often when my husband is out of town.

Wow. I am impressed. My general rule is that if Daddy doesn't come home for dinner, we have cereal. The kids think it is an incredible treat!
(Of course, that doesn't apply if it happens several times in a week. I am not that bad.;))

[H0MEFree]

Cereal.

Spaghetti with sauce right out of the can... 14 minutes!

[RoughCollie]

Hey, I can beat that -- except no one but me will eat this:

Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti with meatballs, right out of the can: 5 seconds.

Cereal.

Spaghetti with sauce right out of the can... 14 minutes!

[Amy in Orlando]

Hey, I can beat that -- except no one but me will eat this:

Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti with meatballs, right out of the can: 5 seconds.

:lol: I LOVE this for dinner. Must be a childhood memory thing. My kids just watch in horror.

ETA: Dana, how did your night end up?? What did you end up eating?

[nestof3]

chili

sandwiches with baby carrots and fruit

lefotver soup (carton of organic chicken broth, any leftovers from the refrigerator or freezer, an onion diced, salt, pepper, diced garlic from a jar). I make this soup weekly. This week's soup was leftover spiral pasta, extra stew meat which I froze, a can of pinto beans from the pantry, some partial bags of frozen veggies, some celery from the drawer, and leftover veggies. When I make a dish which results in leftover veggies, pasta, rice, and meat, I throw the leftovers from that dinner into a storage container. I throw all of this into the weekly leftover soup pot. The juices from cooking meat also come in handy -- instead of throwing them out, save them for your weekly soup. If I don't have enough leftover pasta or rice, I throw some rice, barley, lentils, pasta or cubed potatoes into the pot.

I try to always have on hand: rice, barley, lentils, small pastas good for soup, potatoes, onions, chicken broth, canned petite diced tomatoes, frozen mixed vegetables, diced garlic in a jar, salt, pepper, herbs.

I made a very easy dinner this week. I had bought boneless chicken thighs (organic on clearance, which I stocked up on and froze). I put them in a roasting pan with a carton of organic chicken broth = 4 cups (which I buy 6 cartons at a time from BJs), 2 cups of brown rice, thinly sliced carrots, and a little Paul Newman's Italian Dressing, onion powder, diced garlic from a jar, pepper, salt and parsley. It sounds like a lot of stuff, but you can literally just dump it into a roasting pan. I cooked it in the oven until the carrots were tender, the meat was done and the liquid was absorbed by the rice.

From this meal, I threw the extra rice and carrots into a storage container. They will be used for the next weekly "leftover soup."
I had some leftover cranberry nut bread which I served with it.

[Pencil Pusher]

Chicken
+ 1 can cream of whatever
+ 2 cans mixed veggies, drained
in a pie shell, plus one on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Maybe more, maybe less. It just needs to get hot.

I've actually started mixing my stuff *in* the pie shell so that I don't have a bowl to wash.

Downside: you do have to have cooked chicken. :glare:

[Lizzie in Ma]

I make it up and throw in a bag of frozen spinach and a bag of mixed veggies and serve it with either Ken's Italian or Olive oil and salt and pepper.
The great thing is that you can throw anything into this stuff that you have on hand. Pickled beets, chick peas, red beans, anything you have handy.

[JFS in IL]

Pasta and a jar of Ragu.* My crew demands pasta several times a week (they would eat it nightly but I refuse to make it every stinkin' day!!!) Leftover pasta is reheated and eaten, too, by these 1/8th Italian kids and their 1/4 Italian dad.
I can't stand the stuff anymore!!!!!

*The kids eat Ragu. Hubby likes better quality imported sauces, or pesto, thawed from our large freezer stock (he grows a ton of basil each summer).

We buy up to 40 lbs of pasta at a time. If you have pasta on hand, and jars of sauce, you have instant food.

[Quiver0f10]

Cereal and fruit :D

[mamalotsoftots]

Yum! What a great idea for a thread! Have any of you tried 30 day gourmet cooking? Oh my gosh! It's saved me many a day! Like those breakfast burritos I make up a ton of them (just like McDonald's makes them) wrap them in a paper towel then in foil then I freeze it! DH reaches in the freezer, pulls one out removes foil. & pops it in the microwave they are great for dinner too.!.

[Lorna]

'French' toast - although I am sure they don't really make it in France :D

Take some eggs, whisk them and dip some cheap white bread into the whisked egg mix. Fry on both sides in a little oil. Serve with a little salt and pepper or honey and lemon or maple syrup


Chick pea soup

Blend two cans of chick peas (garbanzo beans), salty water and all, with some sprigs of mint. Heat and serve with good bread.


Salad and cold smoked fish (such as trout, salmon or mackerel)

We have this after swimming. Buy and put on a plate. ;)


Cous cous

For each cup of cous cous add one cup of hot stock. Leave covered for ten minutes. Add sliced olives, pine nut kernels, fresh basil and sun dried tomatoes.

[Claire]

Sorry this is too late for your dinner.

I always try to have on hand cans of Progresso chicken noodle soup, a box of Ritz crackers, a tub of lite or whipped cream cheese, and green olives. Also saltine crackers (which dh prefers to Ritz). Dd skips the olives.

Dh's favorite easy-to-make supper is omelets. (He makes them!)

[lori in tx]

baked potato bar

frito pie (chili and cheese and fritos)

Italian chicken (chix breast or whatever chix parts you want and bottle of Italian dressing-the cheaper the better bake and eat :))

that is it for me!

[oakmom]

Frozen breaded fish and frozen french fries. Heat, following directions and eat with fries (chips) with malt vinegar.

We don't have this very often, but it's a good freezer meal for us to have on hand.

[crazycoffeechic]

Hey, I can beat that -- except no one but me will eat this:

Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti with meatballs, right out of the can: 5 seconds.

Whew...I thought I was the only one that done that:D

[Kay in Cal]

Ramen noodles, tofu and veggies.

Boil water, then cook several packages of ramen noodles (I use "oriental flavor" of Top Ramen) and broth according to package directions (ie, for two-three minutes), drop in a bag of frozen veggies (I use "stir fry" mix), and wait a minute or two for them to thaw. While the noodles are cooking, cut a couple of packages of firm tofu into bite sized cubes, and put into the bottom of large bowls. Spoon noodles/broth/veggies over tofu.

Fast, full of veggies, plenty of protein, super cheap (our family of four eats for less than $5--4 packs of ramen, 2 pounds of tofu, 1 bag of mixed veggies) total time: about 5 minutes, plus however long it takes water to boil on your stove. Plus, only one pot to clean!

[Audrey]

I have been at the tire store with 2 littles (and the dog!) for the past 2+ hours. I am exhausted. There is absolutely no take-out in our small town. If there had been, this would have been the night for it.

Frittata and fruit salad. Use whatever bits of veggies you have on hand, and/or whatever bits of meat (ham, bacon, sausage) you have. Fruit salad can be fresh, frozen, canned or any combination thereof. It's very simple, but tasty and kind of elegant. Takes all of about 15 minutes from start to finish.

[Mrs Mungo]

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup is my standby for such situations.

[Audrey]

Chicken
+ 1 can cream of whatever
+ 2 cans mixed veggies, drained
in a pie shell, plus one on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Maybe more, maybe less. It just needs to get hot.

I've actually started mixing my stuff *in* the pie shell so that I don't have a bowl to wash.

Downside: you do have to have cooked chicken. :glare:


Ah, but if you had canned chicken, you're set to go! That is, if you don't mind canned chicken. When we get our Hutterite chickens, I can most of them -- big ol' birds do well with canning.

[Audrey]

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup is my standby for such situations.

That's my favourite lunch!

[Mrs Mungo]

That's my favourite lunch!

Oh! And I use these--> dino sandwich cutters (http://www.sugarcharms.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=572&zenid=6061296cda4bb12b829b0dc2d30d991c) to cut the sandwiches. That makes it more entertaining. :D

[Jennifer in MI]

I know it's probably too late, but I made Green Spaghetti the other night and the kids ALL begged me to add it to our regular dinner rotation:

1 lb spaghetti, cooked and drained
10 oz fresh or frozen spinach
1/4 c. broth
1/2 c parmesal cheese
1/2 c milk
4 T butter

Steam the spinach until wilted or the frozen until warm. Put spinach and its liquid into blender. Add warm broth and liquefy. Stir cheese and milk into the puree. Toss spaghetti with butter, then with green sauce.

Seriously - my kids loved it even though they HATE cooked spinach!

[KellyBelly]

In a desperate moment I just toss chicken nuggets and tater tots into the toaster oven for the kids. While that's cooking (8 minutes or so) I microwave a big bowl of frozen broccoli.

I eat a bowl of cereal or a sandwich or leftovers of some sort.

[fruitful vine]

Egg sandwiches are always a hit. (on English Muffins are best):D
Plus, brown rice with shredded cheese on top
and a salad.

It's an odd mix, but it works in a pinch!

[Peri]

I always keep a jar of spaghetti sauce in my pantry along with a box of spaghetti. If I have time to quickly drop into the grocery store then I grab a pound of ground beef. It only takes 10 mins tops to throw together. As I wait for the pasta to boil I cook the ground beef and add the sauce to it. Drain the spaghetti and add the sauce to it. Dinner in 10 mins. If I have bagged salad then that's another bonus. But so far that's my easiest dinner to put together at the last min.

[Peek a Boo]

cereal, frozen pizzas, and chicken nuggets are staples here.
my rule is they can't have frozen pizzas two days in a row, and they can't have cereal for more than one meal a day.

6yos and 10yos LOVE the El Cheapo frozen pizzas. I like the Digiorno rising crust ones myself.

we were on our way home one day and I was barking out marching orders in the car, telling each person their duties for when we got home.

after telling 10yos to stick a pizza in the oven, 13yos groans and says "No!!! Not frozen pizza AGAIN!!!"

6yos has the strangest look on his face, and says but A, frozen pizzas are WONDERFUL!! they taste great!!

He continues listening to oldest wail and gnash teeth over how horrible frozen pizzas are. He just can't figure out why oldest ds would revolt against this frozen nectar of the freezer.

finally, something in his 6yo brain clicks, and he says to oldest --NO, silly!! we're gonna COOK them first!!! duh.

[Dana in OR]

cereal, frozen pizzas, and chicken nuggets are staples here.
my rule is they can't have frozen pizzas two days in a row, and they can't have cereal for more than one meal a day.


You gotta have standards.:lol: