Comments on: What are your EASIEST dinners? Go!

By: Then I hired a Mother’s Helper

Then I hired a Mother’s Helper — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:00:08 +0000

[...] hour and three young children, I needed help. You, dear readers, gave me a heap of good ideas for shortcut meal prep. But, I could only get so far with lowering my standards. Truthfully, I needed at least three [...]

By: Terrific cookbook: Parents Need to Eat Too

Terrific cookbook: Parents Need to Eat Too — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:39:53 +0000

[...] I sent out my plea for help getting dinner on the table last fall, the author Debbie Koenig got in touch and sent me an almost-complete version of Parents [...]

By: laurs

laurs — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:11:07 +0000

Easy Meal #1: (1) Make ravioli (or any stuffed pasta). (2) Cook a protein…I usually sautee sliced chicken sausage, but any cooked ground meat can work. (3) Put ravioli plus meat plus a jar of sauce in a casserole dish (add a veggie too if you’d like). (4) Top with mozzerella cheese. (5) Bake in oven until cheese is bubbly.

Easy Meal #2: Take about 1/4 of a large jar of salsa and cover the bottom of a baking dish. Put chicken on top (I prefer the tenderloin cut for this, but any boneless chicken cut would work). Cover with remaining salsa. Pop it in the oven until the meat thermometer says it’s at 165. Take it out and serve over rice or with beans.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:43:36 +0000

I try to keep some bottled marinades in the pantry as well as the 60 sec microwave rice pouches (TJ’s has a good one). Then I just have to pour the marinade over chicken or fish, stick the rice in the microwave, and cook some frozen veggies. That covers me for dinner once a week usually with leftovers.

By: Gina

Gina — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:45:23 +0000

With my new work schedule, I’ve had to plan for dinners that we can either completely make in the slow cooker (like Turkey Chili) or come together faster than fast. Our new favorites are:

Mexi Bowls (we bought a rice cooker to make this even easier)
Scrambled eggs
Quesadillas
Sausage in a Blanket
Pasta

By: Marelize

Marelize — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:26:00 +0000

2 of my favorite things to do:

1) Spend one afternoon on the weekend and just chop up veggies of various sorts and put in a couple of ziplock bags. We love broccoli, asparagus, sweet potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, grape or cherry tomatoes. Whenever I need veggies for dinner, throw one of the bags on a cookie sheet, toss with olive oil, salt & pepper and roast for 20 min at 400 degrees. EASY! Or throw in a frying pan and saute.

2) My favorite easy go to meal is to take some of these roasted veggies, pasta and parmesan cheese. Easy and can be done, start to finish in 20 minutes.

* I have also found that soup/stew/chili is a great thing that makes TONS of leftovers for hurried nights.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:13:14 +0000

I didn’t see anyone else write about this, forgive me if someone has, but someone just told me about this wonderful site and I am signing up for it: e-mealz.com. You pay $5 a month for an easy menu each night-they give you the recipes and the shopping list and you can choose what kind of meal plan you want to sign up for: Walmart Family Plan, Kroger Family Plan, Lowfat, Vegetarian, etc. The recipes are quick and easy and make going to the grocery store and getting dinner on the table less of a nightmare. Check out their site–I was impressed!

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:22:35 +0000

Try crock pot lasagna (which i think that I originally found through a link on your site?). No cutting, slicing, oven opening, etc.

ricotta cheese
pesto sauce
parmasan cheese
raw noodles
pasta sauce (I prefer tomato basil)
shredded italian cheese
fresh spinach

Mix ricotta, pesto and parmasan. Set aside. coat the bottom of crock pot with sauce. Layer noodles, spinach, ricotta mixture, shredded chese, sauce. Repeat. Cook on high for 2 hours.

Good Luck!

By: Amelia Vierra

Amelia Vierra — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:10:24 +0000

Oh wow, you sound like you have a lot going! Not to mention you have all that going on, plus this awesome blog that you are constantly taking care of. You are doing a great job!

I know its more ideal to have the “made from scratch version” but I am a huge fan of the skillet pasta dinners that Bertolli makes, the Safeway versions are great too. Pair that with a steam in the bag via microwave veggie and perhaps some garlic toast and that it usually my go-to dinner for when I just don’t have the time or energy to make a full on meal. (These meals also got me through my first trimester when I was too sick to smell the food for too long and had zero energy because they only take about 10 mins or less to cook.)

Good luck!

By: Tina

Tina — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:48:49 +0000

It took me weeks after my son was born to get back to cooking! Here’s what helped me:

ravioli & marinara on desperate nights (add a bag of baby spinach to the sauce for veggies)

I chop up all of my salad and snacking veggies for the week on the weekend when my son is napping and/or fiance can take over childcare duties. I keep each veg in it’s own tupperware so things don’t get soggy, but it only takes clean hands, a bowl and 2 minutes to prepare a large salad (it can be a side or I usually have shredded cheese, hardboiled eggs and poached chicken or canned tuna on hand to make it a meal–this was particularly good in the summer)

Beef stew in the crockpot (with extra carrots and mushrooms for a healthy dose of veggies)

Use baby carrots and pre-prepared veggies. Whole frozen string beans, frozen broccoli crowns and frozen pepper/onion mix are great for sides or recipes because they require little effort and prep. They are also amongst the tastiest of the frozen options.

In 15 minutes, I can toss together a stir fry with frozen stir fry veggie blend and either shrimp or diced chicken, pork or shrimp. It takes longer for the rice cooker to do it’s magic or the pasta water to boil (if we decide we prefer lo mein). Use a jarred asian-style sauce.

Scrambled eggs and toast. Essential protein and carbs.

By: Micki Bare

Micki Bare — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:37:09 +0000

Breakfast for supper! Scrambled eggs and toast; bowls of cereal; pancakes…all quick and easy. I did this once a week when my boys were small.
Leftovers make another quick and easy supper. Create a leftover menu (which can be a dry erase board on the fridge) and play “diner.” Let the older kids help reheat, set the table, take “orders,” serve and clean up. If you use paper products for leftover night, clean up takes only a few minutes.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:21:06 +0000

A crockpot is a staple in my house. 15 minutes of prep in the morning and that’s it for the day. English muffin pizzas and Cesar salad is kid friendly quick meal in my house. Try to buy pre packaged salads and vegetables if you can,
90% of prep work is chopping and cutting. Also, make a meal plan and try to do all the prep work ahead of time. I can literally have dinner made, served, and cleaned up in less than an hour if I need to. But, there is nothing wrong with serving kid food, it’s fast, easy, and they love it.