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    Easy recipes?

    The most dreaded part of my day is supper. I am so tired that I don't care about food at that point. Unfortunately, my family likes to eat. My husband can't even make mac and cheese from a box ("I was supposed to drain the noodles"). The kids are too small.

    I thought it would be nice to share ideas/recipes for those time when you don't feel like making supper. Yes, I know there is food delivery and frozen dinner - I am looking for affordable, easy, healthy meal ideas.

    Sometimes I let the family "make" their own mini pizzas with english muffins or small premade pizza crusts. I always have sauce in the cupboard and toppings can get creative.

    #2
    Look for crock-pot meals, katvar. I used the crock-pot A LOT when my daughter was young because in addition to the MS, I had a full-time job, went to school at night, and went to dance classes (both my daughter and myself. She went from the time she was 4 y.o. until she left for college). (Denial was easier then....I was 22 when I was diagnosed... ).

    Here's a good site with yummy pictures!
    http://allrecipes.com//Recipes/main-...oker/Main.aspx

    Enjoy!
    “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway
    Diagnosed 1979

    Comment


      #3
      I use the crock pot quite a bit. I love it when the weather is cooler. Now that the weather is warmer - I am looking for something different.

      One of the favorite summer meals in our house is pastas salad.
      Noodles + Dressing (ranch or italian) + meat (for us its shrimp or crab meat) + a vegetable (usually peas)

      Comment


        #4
        My favorite fail safe 5 minute dinner is:

        microwave baked potatoes
        frozen chicken breasts (we usually fry in olive or canola oil)
        steamed frozen veggies
        canned or thawed frozen fruit

        Another quick easy dinner:

        microwave baked sweet potatoes
        baked marinated fish
        coconut brown rice
        canned fruit to top rice and dust with cinnamon

        For this one, I like teriyaki marinade. For the coconut brown rice (easy peasy and you will have nice leftovers for breakfast, snacks, lunch):

        1 1/2 cups brown rice
        2 cups full fat coconut milk
        2 cups water
        1/2 teaspoon salt
        2 to 3 tablespoons bakers coconut

        Mix all in saucepan with tight fitting lid, bring to a bubbling boil (not rolling), reduce heat to simmer, cover with lid and cook for 60 minutes or until all water absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand with lid on for ten minutes.

        This is not a sweetened rice, so can be served either way - as dessert or as a savory rice side dish. What you serve with it or on top of it determines its use. I love that. And I love the leftovers. It goes well with just about everything.
        I do not have MS. I have Whatchamacallit; and all of the symptoms are mirages.

        Comment


          #5
          Easy one if you like tomatoes

          Crock pot.
          1 or 2 packages Stew beef ( cut to bite size)
          2 cans stewed tomatoes

          Put both in crock pot in am. Dinner time all done.

          Put on top of minute rice

          Add green beens or corn on top for color.
          SgrammieD

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by sgrammied View Post
            Crock pot.
            1 or 2 packages Stew beef ( cut to bite size)
            2 cans stewed tomatoes

            Put both in crock pot in am. Dinner time all done.

            Put on top of minute rice

            Add green beens or corn on top for color.
            Love it, sgrammied! Quick AND easy!!
            “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway
            Diagnosed 1979

            Comment


              #7
              Not a recipe-- but late afternoons is when my fatigue likes to come around! So I always make enough meat to last for a couple meals. It's just hubby and me now, no kids, so I don't fuss too much. I just add a salad, potatoes and veggies to the leftover meat.

              This week I made spagetti and garlic bread- easy

              Tomorrow will be baked pork chops in mushroom gravy

              Also we have boneless, skinless chicken breasts afew times a week. Sometimes I bake them, or use the George Foreman grill. And other times I chop them up for a casserole. All these are good for a couple meals.

              I try to always plan ahead so if I'm low on energy it's not too bad, - during the day I will set the table ahead of time, and make supper time alittle easier. Bad enough that I can't carry the dishes to and from the table anymore, don't want hubby to have to clean up any messes!!!

              Comment


                #8
                Last night I made the meal that I consider to be the "fastest" easiest thing I make...and my husband said he could eat it every night, so maybe I'll just start making it every night .

                First I start a pot of rice (I use rice because I never start far enough ahead to allow the 45 minutes that brown rice takes, but brown rice works just as well.)

                Then this is a fish dish, so you need 2 or 3 fish fillets (living near the water, and having a fishing addict for a spouse..our freezer is always full of fish)...but you can just buy the frozen filets (unbreaded) of whatever fish you like and thaw them.

                Take a fry pan, put in a couple cans of diced tomatoes, throw in whatever suits you, chopped celery, onions, a bag of gumbo vegetables, then when that starts simmering, put the fish filets on top and put the lid on. Within 5-7 minutes the filets are cooked, and you then use a fork to break them into tiny pieces. I add some olive oil, basil, cayenne for flavor, but that's up to the individual. So basically it's a gumbo of sorts that you serve over rice.

                Add a salad and it's done. Once I start the rice and set the timer, I am in the kitchen no longer than 15 minutes and it's all done...that's the kind of meal I like.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Anything in a crock pot is good, as are baked and skillet meals. If you can afford the expense (which sometimes really isn't more than cooking from scratch), the "skillet meals in a bag" are very easy and convenient.

                  Another option is an appliance like a NuWave or FlavorWave or Ron Popeil "set it and forget it" type rotisserie oven. You can put in frozen food and/or all the accompaniments and still get a great meal without standing at a stove and cooking individual dishes.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Here's my recipe for really easy, delicious chili:


                    EASY TACO CHILI (I won a chili cook-off at work with this recipe.)

                    1 lb. of ground beef (browned and drained)
                    2 16 oz. jars of chunky salsa (hot, medium, or mild depending on your taste.)
                    1 pck. taco seasoning
                    1 small onion (diced and sautéed with hamburger)
                    1 large can of chili beans

                    In large crockpot or regular pot, mix all ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add hot sauce and/or jalapeño peppers to make it four-alarm chili. Simmer until well cooked (Crockpot method: 4 to 5 hours on high, 10 to 12 hours on low. Stove method: 1 to 1 1/2 hours on medium heat, covered and stirring frequently.

                    Top with corn chips, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and jalapeño peppers. Enjoy!



                    And here's a recipe I invented for something I call Nacho Mama's Mac and Cheese:


                    NACHO MAMMA’S MAC AND CHEESE

                    1 package Kraft Deluxe Mac and Cheese
                    1 can whole kernel yellow corn
                    1/2 C jalapeños, chopped
                    1 lb. ground browned ground beef
                    1 small onion, sautéed with the beef
                    1 C shredded cheddar cheese

                    Prepare the mac and cheese according to directions. (I actually bought two packs of Mac and Cheese and used the cheese pack out of the second one to add more cheese to the recipe.) While the macaroni is cooking, brown the ground beef and then sautee the onions in the ground beef when the beef is almost done. Add the beef and onion mixture to the prepared mac and cheese in a large casserole dish. Drain the corn and add it, along with the chopped jalapeño peppers. Mix ingredients well, then sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese across the top and bake at 350 degrees until the sprinkled cheese has melted.


                    And this last one is for a really easy "comfort food" type of meal that I serve with green peas and mashed potatoes. It's easy and yummy!


                    HAMBURGER MUSHROOM CONCOCTION
                    2 lbs. ground beef
                    1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
                    1/2 soup can of milk
                    1/2 small onion
                    1 small can of mushrooms
                    salt, pepper, and all purpose seasoning

                    Brown the ground beef. Sauté the onions and mushrooms in with the beef right before the beef is done. Drain excess grease from the beef. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and seasoning. Add soup and milk to the beef mixture and stir until thoroughly mixed. Simmer for a few minutes until hot. Serve over mashed potatoes with green peas.
                    Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
                    Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
                    Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Get a nice fuzzy logic rice cooker. I use mine year-round for all sorts of stuff, not just rice. I've made soups, stews, hot cereals, poached fish and fruit, baked apples.

                      In the summers I like to make a pot of rice (or other grains; millet and quinoa are favorites) and use it as a base for a complete-meal salad. I can put the rice in before I leave for work in the morning and set the timer to have it done when I get home. Then I toss it with some cubed cooked chicken (or whatever leftover protein is around), and some thawed frozen mixed veggies. I usually add some spices, and oil/vinegar depending on who else is joining at the table. It's very quick and inexpensive.

                      One thing I started doing a few years ago to save time but also to prevent wasting food is to wash, cut, and individually bag/box all the produce and protein as soon as I get back from the store. I might be drained that day but then I don't have to do the prep work for the rest of the week. Family also can see exactly what's there so I'm not always finding bags of mystery produce a month after shopping .

                      I make a lot of soups and stews in big batches, enough for multiple meals, and freeze them in individual portions. Some soups are great in the summer (cold gazpacho!).

                      Try asking your husband to learn to cook one meal, something simple like a tossed salad, baked chicken, baked potato. Even if he can just learn the one meal, that's one less that you'd have to worry about. And cooking... if he can read, he can cook. The Betty Crocker cookbook (has the gingham cover) has great pictures of all the standard cooking techniques. If you don't have a copy, buy one or get one from the library for your husband.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        On my hamburger mushroom concoction above, use 2 cans of mushroom soup, not one. (If you just use 1 lb. of hamburger, you can use just one can of soup.)

                        Also on the chili, you only have to cook it on the stove top for about half an hour, not an hour. (I really need to update these recipes!)
                        Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
                        Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
                        Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          #1 -
                          In the crockpot I like to do a pork loin with Sweet Baby Ray's Vidalia Onion BBQ sauce. Cook for at least 4-6 hours, then scrape the fat off the top of the loin. Pull/shred the remaining pork and you have pulled pork sandwiches in no time. It freezes very well for more quick future meals. Can be served on rolls, or quesadilla style between two grilled tortillas with some cheese.

                          Make a quick homemade cole slaw dressing and serve with pre-shredded cole slaw mix as a side.


                          #2 -
                          Cook some boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot with some chicken broth and some minced onion.

                          It can then be used:

                          * cut up for chicken salad

                          * with the broth and some veggies for a soup

                          * put the chicken into some cream of chicken soup with cheddar cheese and some frozen veggies. Bake in the oven and serve over white rice; or layer rice in bottom of pan and chicken mix on top and bake in oven

                          * mix with canned chinese vegetables and soy sauce or brown gravy mix and serve over white rice

                          * cut and put into a caesar salad

                          You can cook the chicken ahead of time and have it in the fridge ready to go for these other recipes. Make extra and stretch it out or freeze it for use in future recipes.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Yum, I'm hungry just hearing about all the ideas!

                            Chef salads. Boil some eggs, dice some ham, or turkey or chicken and cheese cubes (can be done when you feel like it) dump it on pre-bought bag salad and you're good to go. Crutons are good to and to be honest I have been know to go to a salad bar and pick up already cut up veggies like cucumbers, cauliflower etc. to make the salad even better. For that matter you can probably get the meat and cheese from a deli but I generally have something on hand.

                            Buy some hamburger buns or hoagies buns and you can make sandwiches, too.

                            Or, round steak, whatever amount would be right for you family. cut it and put it in a crock pot. Add a can of spaghetti sauce and some halved or quartered potatoe's. A different flavor, one dish to wash and easy. I often then freeze left over sauce and put it in an italian stew.

                            I also cook in larger quantities if it's freezable and pull out a container of whatever when I'm tired. Pasta freezes really well and actually seems better the 2nd time around.
                            What if trials of this life
                            Are Your mercies in disguise?
                            "Blessings; Laura Story"

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                              #15
                              My husband reminded me about my "Magic Pork Chops".
                              Lay pork chops on in a baking pan spread a mixture of mayo and your favorite mustard over them. Cover the pan with foil and bake. Time depends on size of porkchop. We call them magic pork chops because they disappear so fast.

                              I serve them with applesauce and bread.

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