New Supper Ideas

I have rotating theme nights when it comes to dinner. For example, we do pasta, chicken, sandwich/soup, pork, beef, pizza and leftover nights. I have about 5-6 weeks of meals in each category. I alternate them every week, so that we have a variety of different dishes. I do use the crockpot a lot.

Some of the meals I make that are rather easy include:

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
Chicken Tacos
Beef Stir Fry
Baked Potato Soup, etc.

Last summer I asked my mom when we were home visiting how she kept dinners remotely interesting for 20 years. Her answer was pretty simple. She wrote all of her meal ideas on idex cards and put them in a photo album that she kept in the kitchen. Every time she tried a new recipe, if it was a "keeper", it went into the book. If not, it got tossed. Each week, she would go through the book(s) and pick items and mark the corner with a pencil dot so that she knew when she had worked her way through all of them.

I will admit that I stole the idea and have my own little album growing! I subscribe to Real Simple and LOVE it- they have a weeks' worth of "easy dinners" as a separate section each month. Over the course of the month we work our way through those and either keep or toss the different recipes.

This week's menu all took about 20 minutes of "active prep" each and came from back issues of Real Simple:
Sunday: Chicken breasts stuffed with roasted red peppers and feta with roasted broccoli and new potatoes
Monday: Fritata with veggies
Tuesday: Coffee-braised brisket with root veggies in the crock pot
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes with cole slaw and green beans
Thursday: Meatloaf with egg noodles and veggies (my old stand-by)
Friday: Fish Fry

I use my crock pot a lot and try to plan my meals so that I can do the bulk of the chopping/prepping on Sunday and then portion out the diced onions, garlic etc over the course of the week.

Some of my favorites are: Tacos/Nachos,
Chicken Pot Pie, (1 big can chicken or cooked chicken, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 can veg all--mix and put into 9 inch deep dish pie shell and bake about 45 minutes)
Roast, Carrots, Potatoes in the crock pot,
spaghetti, garlic bread, tossed salad
smoked pork chops with mac and cheese or fried potatoes,
meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans
Taco Pie (brown hamburger, add taco seasoning mix, then stir in one can of refried beans and a jar of salsa. Pour into a 9in deep dish pie shell and bake at 350 til crust is done.)
Baked Fish, baked or steamed veggies
steaks on the grill with salad or grilled vegetables
stir fry beef or chicken with vegetables

What are your tried-and-true meals & we'll avoid them! LOL

Seriously, what I did once was take a little notebook and write O. dinner (with sides) on a page and when I feel like I'm always making the same few things, I dig it out, look at them and say "hey--haven't had that in a long time!" etc.

My staple dinners:
Chicken pockets
Breaded baked chicken tenderloins (FAST!)
Pulled beef or pork in the slow cooker
Pasta & meat balls or meat sauce
Chili
Meatloaf
Tuna salad (with diced apples) on croissants
Pork chops
Tacos
Chicken & stuffing casserole
Chinese (when I just give up!)

You didn't say anything about "healthy" so I am the QUEEN of quick and easy recipes. I actually have a word doc that has tons if you (or anyone else) wants to message me your email address, I will send it to you.

One of the easiest is tostadas. I keep a can of refried beans and premade flat shells in the pantry. I always have lettuce and shredded cheese in the fridge. Its basically no cook (only heat up the beans) and everyone LOVES them. (hubby uses hot sauce but me and the kids use salsa if we have it)

Chili Mac is my other quickie. Make 2 boxes of boxed mac and cheese and add 2 cans of canned chili. Heat and eat!

I use www.bettycrocker.com or www.campbellskitchen.com when I need ideas.

I have the same meals as OneAndDone but will add one I saw today
on cooking show:

Chicken breasts you sear on one side.
Take that same stove-to-oven pan, put in oven til chicken is done inside
Top w/glaze you make on stove (orange concentrate w/honey. boil, brush on chicken before you transfer pan to oven, take out 1/2 thru cooking & baste again w/sauce. return to oven. voila chicken done)

In same oven she roasted red potatoes cut in small dice size pieces topped w/salt & pepper

She added a fennel salad (I would do a regular salad)

So it's easy: chicken, roasted red potatoes, salad

other dinners I make:
taco salad
tacos
steak w/mashed potatoes
rotisserie chicken w/corn

A quick meal that I love is Mediterranean pasta. I don't have the amt of each, I just 'wing' it.

mix together:
black olives
container of feta cheese
red wine vinegar
olive oil
chopped tomatoes
fresh basil
garlic
salt/pepper to taste

Serve over angel hair pasta.

Another favorite:
Buy zucchini, squash, onions, green and red pepper, any veggie you want.
Put Vegges on baking dish, top with garlic and olive oil, salt/pepper and bake 350 until soft.
Serve roasted veggies over bow tie pasta.

Fritoes, cheese and chili. Bake and make it as cheese/gooey as your family likes. Add a green salad--yum and fun!