I Need Recepies for a Fast Meal!!!

I'm a big cheater, but I do slowcooker meals (usually a meat, a pasta and a veggie) or a meal thrown together from Trader Joes. Cheap easy delicious and nutritious.

If you have access to Food Network, there are some meals that are super easy, like 5 Ingredients or Less (I think that's the name). Rachael Ray also does 30 minute meals that are pretty easy.
Another thing you can do is "home make" prepared meals. Here are a couple examples:
1. get breaded (or grilled) chicken, bake it, add marinara (a good canned spaghetti sauce) and melted white cheese (motz, etc.). Pair it with spaghetti (with the marinara or with butter, garlic salt and italian seasoning.

2. Costco sells really great Atlantic Salmon (frozen in the box, 6 for $13). It's pre-seasoned so you can use a grill, fry pan, oven. Pair it with instant rice (or boxed wild rice), and steam broccoli in the microwave (i use the crowns, small butter slices on top of the broccoli, and a little salt, and micro for about 2 minutes). You can make this entire meal in about 15-20 minutes.

Good luck!

Find the magazine or website for Taste of Home. It's aimed at ordinary people feeding a family. The recipes are easy to follow and use ordinary language, and ask for readily available, easily recognizable food. It's foolproof cooking.

I also really love the recipes I get from Campbell's Soup. Some of my cooking with soup recipes are my family's favorites, and the ones the grown kids still make in their own homes.

www.tasteofhome.com
www.campbellskitchen.com

Do you have a crockpot? If not, go get one TODAY! It will save you!!!!
#1 - Crockpot Salsa Chicken: Put 4-6 chicken boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot. Sprinkle with a packet of taco seasoning. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup. Add a cup of canned/jarred salsa. Optional - add a can of drained black beans. Cook on low for 8 hours. That's it. High in protein and fiber, low in fat! Stuff it into taco shells or tortillas with cheese and anything else you like - guac, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Or serve over a bed of rice.
#2 - Barbecue anything - Put 4-6 boneless chicken breasts OR a pork loin in the crockpot. Cover with about a cup of your favorite bbq sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. That's it. Stuff into sandwich rolls or eat alone!
#3 - Old Fashioned Roast - Put a pork or beef roast or a whole chicken into the crockpot. You can buy a bag of mixed frozen stew vegetables or you can add fresh - chunks of potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, garlic. Sprinkle an envelope of lipton onion soup mix. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup. That's it. Enjoy a nice old fashioned roast with veggies for dinner!
Good luck and have fun!

-for a 10 minute side dish, take any vegetable and toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and any favorite seasonings (like garlic/herb mix, cajun, emeril's essence, curry). place on baking sheet lined with foil and broil until almost soft and browned

-20 minute dinner: cook up some cuscous or quinoa (basically takes same amount of time as rice). mix cubes of chicken in a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, onion. Saute chicken chunks in a pan with 1 inch chunks of asparagus spears. toss chicken/asparagus in a bowl with quinoa or cuscous add a cup or two of baby spinach (it will wilt from warmth) and a bunch of feta cheese.

-15 minute dinner: Buy the rotisserie chickens from the grocery store that are already cooked and warmed. Just make sides to go with it.

-15 minute dinner: Buy frozen talapia filets. Season with salt and pepper. Put on baking sheet sprayed with oil. drizzle with lime juice, add favorite seasons (cajun is good choice), spray with butter flavored oil. broil for less than 10 minutes. baby spinach salad on the side with cherry tomatoes, feta.

Hi K.---I have seen some good recipes on allrecipes.com but I discovered www.eatingwell.com before I saw that website. Eating Well has a great magazine but the website has a wealth of information, from kid friendly recipes to quick meals to ethnic, etc. If you can read and follow directions, you can cook. It will just take you some time to learn techniques so start with easy ones first. You might have to take some time to stock your kitchen as well. Just google 'how to stock a kitchen pantry' and you will find ideas of staples that you will need to start with. Then go to those quick and easy recipes on eatingwell.com and HAVE FUN !!! Just be patient, realize that some meals likely will not turn out, that you may not like others, but that it will be an adventure and again, enjoy the adventure. You can do it.

We love to cook at our house. Feel free to contact me to pick my brain. It would be my honor to help. D.

I've put some easy, fast and yummy recipes and menu plans on my blog here: http://www.yourlifevents.com/category/food-and-drink/reci...
When learning or starting out cooking, I've found that it helps for me to do a couple of things. Imagine and ask yourself, if I could eat anything right now, what would it be? Then do a recipe search online for it. If the instructions sound too complicated, ask yourself if there's a way to "cheat cook". By this I mean for example, say you want Chicken Tortilla Soup, but you don't want or know how to deal with the whole chicken - you could buy just the pre-cut chicken, or better yet, buy the pre-cooked and seasoned chickens in the grocery store and utilize it for a few different recipes - chicken tortilla soup, chicken enchiladas, etc. these recipes consist mostly of opening cans, mixing and heating, so it makes it a bit easier for you.

If you take it one step at a time, you'll be cooking up your own recipe ideas in no time!

Good luck,
S.

Get steak for stir fry. Its already cut up. One onion, one pepper (red or green which ever is your choice) and some olive oil. Cut up onions and peppers. Take frying pan put some olive oil on the bottom. MOre of a coat on the bottom. High heat, first sear the steak and burn off part of the juices so its cooked on all sides of the meet. Add onion and peppers continue stir frying on high heat until the onions and the peppers have soaked most of the juices up and the meat is cooked through. You can get minute rice that is microwaveable and serve it. We also serve it with a vegetable from those steam bags.

Burritos

4lbs. chuck roast
1 onion chopped
2 tsp. salt and pepper
2 tsp. cumin seed (powdered cumin is fine as well)
2 - 4.5oz. can diced green chilies (Ortega is good)
1 - 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes

Place all ingredients in slow cooker or crock pot.
Cook on high for 5 hours
Take meat out, shred then place back in cooker (The meat is so tender and tasty) Serve in tortillas with sliced avocado or guacamole, shredded cheese and sour cream if desired. Optional: Add a can of black beans to the crock pot. Enjoy!

Hello, I raised four kids and I did licensed daycare full-time for a while, then worked at an elementary school for 6 hours a day and did daycare before and after school. I also took our kids as well as some of our daycare kids to after school activities. Some days I needed something which could be put together quickly. I insisted that we have our protein (meats, etc.), vegetable and potatoes, rice or noodles everyday. We rarely got to eat takeout. I usually cooked a big meal. However, I found some things are just as tasty as big cooked meals. My kids and husband loved it when I would just make some Minute Rice and heat up some vegetable beef soup (minus the added water). I would then pour the soup over the rice. It was filling and tasty to all of them. It was also inexpensive.
My family also loved Shepard's Pie. I made mashed potatoes (you can also buy the prepared ones, either frozen or Country Crock), cooked baby carrots, and for the meat I would buy canned roast beef (drain most of the gravy off), then get some cream of mushroom soup (large can), and some grated cheese. I would put the baby carrots in the bottom of a baking dish, put the drained meat over that, cover with the mashed potatoes, top that with the cream of mushroom soup and top it all with some grated cheese. Bake it at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. You have everything you need for a balanced meal.
Good luck with your new recipes. I'm sure you will get a lot of tasty ideas. You will do great. Nobody is born knowing how to cook. It took me a while to know that.
K. K.

Smoky Cheesy Corn and Potato Chowder... super easy!:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2011/01/smoky-corn-and...

♥ Ingredients ♥
-1 1/2 c milk
-1 can Del Monte Cream Style Golden Sweet Corn
-1 can Del Monte Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, drained
-1 c smoked sausage, halved and thinly sliced (or cubed cooked ham)
-1/2 small onion, chopped (about the size of a corn kernel)
-7 peeled, coarsely chopped potatoes, boiled until tender and drained
(or 1 can Del Monte Whole New Potatoes)
-salt and pepper to taste (white pepper if you want to avoid black flakes)
-1 1/2 c shredded smoked cheddar (or swiss or gouda cheese)
-chopped chives or green onion slivers for garnish

♥ Directions ♥

1. lightly sear sausage in large, sprayed saucepan
2. stir in milk, and cream corn
3. add whole kernel corn, onion and potatoes
4. heat through, stirring occasionally, add salt and pepper.
5. stir in cheese until melted
6. garnish with green onion slivers or chives and serve (I didn't have these, so used Mrs. Dash or something)
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Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup:
6 peeled/chopped carrots
4 chopped celery
1 chopped small onion
garlic powder or 2 crushed garlic cloves
1 small box of chicken broth
2 c water
6 cut up chicken breasts (or get a premade rotisserie chic and tear it up)

Combine all in crockpot, cook on high about 4 hours. Last 10 mins, add in salt and pepper and egg noodles. So easy, so good.
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Roast is easy!
Cut up garlic slivers and poke holes ina roast, stick the garlic in the holes. Rub roast with salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil. Put in roasting pan. Chop up onion, celery, carrot and potatoes and place around roast, sprinkle with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake about 350 for about 45 mins or until veggies are tender.
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a few of my personal recipes:

herb crusted pork chops, roasted potatoes and garlic bread:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/03/herb-crusted-p...

red pepper tortolleni:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/02/nutty-pepper-c...

veggies and pork chops bake:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/04/vegetable-pork...

herbed salmon and asparagus (we eat asparagus all the time):
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/03/herb-crusted-s...

salsa, chipotle chicken and freezing herbs:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/02/soul-salsa.html

easy tomato soup and grilled cheese:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2010/08/easy-tomato-so...

Seriously, just go and get a simple cookbook and you will learn tons. The small ones they sell by the check out line at the store are always good.

Also, allrecipes.com and cooks.com have tons of easy and simple recipes.

We eat a lot of stuff with rice. Shrimp or chicken, just put it in a pan and coat with a sauce. Serve over rice and eat with veggies or salad and fresh pineapple.

Pastas are easy. Get premade sauces and bulk them up with sausage, meatballs, mushrooms, bell pepper, fresh cut tomatoes.

Slow cooker meals and casseroles are easy too.

I love allrecipes.com there is a tab for 'ingredients' and you can put in what you have already and it will show recipes accordingly.

Mix: Cream of Mushroom, Golden Mushroom, Cream of Celery, Lipton onion soup mix, Sour Cream, Beef For Stew in a crock pot, set it on low and cook for 6-8 hrs Pour over cooked noodles of your choice
Also you can buy McCormick seasoning packets to marinate all kinds of meat then add side dishes. Since I buy meat from the butcher I usually mix the marinades and add them to my meat before I freeze them. When you buy boneless chicken breast and boneless pork chops they usually cook in 30-45 min in the oven or 4-6 hrs on low in the crock pot. I add a starch and veggie and tada I have dinner!

I can offer some variety from the meat-based dishes if you want to add vegetable-based foods to the diet. I'm a big fan of soups and stews. You can make lots at one time and keep it in the fridge for several days or freeze it in 1-quart containers (yougurt containers, for example) for those days when you need a quick meal. It can be served on rice or with bread/sandwiches and makes a nutritious satisfying meal. You do need some basic supplies (veggies such as carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, canned diced tomatoes; dried beans such as lentils; and seasonings such as garlic, dried herbs like bay leaf, basil, thyme, etc), however most of these will keep for weeks or months. It's really nice to walk into a house with the smell of fresh-cooked soup or stews. For recipes, try searching online for 'lentil soup recipe' or whatever beans you want to use. You'll get some good options. I'll also be happy to give you my easy stand-by recipes if you send me an individual email.

Onions slice them thinly and place them in a pan with olive oil (cooking quality not the one for salads). When they have a glassy translucent look the onions are done. Now add sliced up mushrooms and saute fast. They don't take but a two minutes to be ready.
This is the basis for a well cooked meal. You can pour tomato sauce from a can, add a cup of water and cook for 20 minutes. Add oregano and rosemary so that the sauce is personalized. In the meantime make pasta. There you have pasta and a good sauce for dinner.
Same basic recipe for onions and mushrooms you can add sliced peppers if you want. Scramble eggs, add some milk or rice milk. Pour the eggs over the sauted vegetables. Watch carefully once the top is nearly done you can add some cheese you have shred. Fold half the eggs over the other half. Wait a minute and turn on other side so the part that was on the bottom of the pan is on the top.
Now you have an omelette and if you have baked potatos in the meantime you have a complete meal.

You can google quick and easy recipes online and find thousands of recipes that are easy to follow. I go for the ones that have been rated with the most number of stars. The more you cook and try making new things the better you will get at cooking! Have fun!

You should try a dinner assembly place. I go to one called Dream Dinners and in an hour I come home with 6- 6 serving main dishes for under $200. You just add sides like rice, bread or a salad and you have a complete meal! You pick your meals from a menu, they have the recipe and all the ingredients ready so all you do is assemble your meal. It is very easy and recipes are kid friendly. Most of these places have a free introduction session and they usually give you a free meal to try.

Here is a great recipe for turkey breast (get the one with a bone in it like Honeysuckle or even fresh turkey):

Take the turkey breast, wash it, put it in the crock pot. Add about a 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth to the bottom. Put the dry onion soup mix on top of breast. If the lid doesn't fit on the crock pot, take aluminum foil and create a dome over the crock pot as a make shift lid. Make sure the foil is secure around the top of the crock pot so it doesn't slip off. Cook turkey breast for 8-10 hours....it is awesome and falls right off the bone. To add more awesomeness to this meal, get some Bob Evans mashed potatoes and a vegetable as sides. This is the only thing that I can actually cook in the crock and it turns out great:)

Another great recipe that is easy: Go to the foodnetwork website and type in Aunt Peggy's Meatloaf (it's under Paula Deen). This is the best meatloaf and it doesn't call for too many ingredients.

Easy Chicken Soup (tastes like you've spent hours making it)

2-split chicken breasts
1 large container of chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 onion
6 cups of water
2 cups of cut up carrots
1 cup of cut up celery (if you like)
1-1/2 cups of kluski noodles
Add salt and pepper (1/2 teaspoon each depending on your taste)

Put all in the pot and let it boil for about 45 minutes to make sure that breasts are cooked. Once they are cooked, remove them from the broth and cut off all the chicken. Take the onion and bay leaf too (they just add flavor). Throw out the bones and add the chicken back to the pot along with carrots and celery. Cook carrots and celery in the broth for about 10 minutes before adding the dry noodles. Cook for another 15-20 minutes until the noodles soften.

I'm not alwasy a big one for actual recipes, but here are some "guidelines"
Baked chicken - sheet pan covered with foil, drizzle chicken with EVOO and flip around in pan to coat all sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper (and any other spice you want) Bake @ 375
legs, thighs = 1hr
leg quarters = 1hr 15 min
split chicken breast (the ones on the bone with skin) = 1.5hrs
Pork Roast, Pork Loin, Beef Roast - cook in crock pot with 3-4 cups of liquid - can be broth, water with bouillion etc, add stuff to taste ex. onions, garlic, parsley, etc. Start on high to get going, then cook on low 7hrs approx.
You can use this meat in a variety of dishes:
Beef and noodles, pulled pork sandwiches etc.
Lots of times, I just serve meat, steamed veggie and carb (noodles, rice, potatoes) instead of a "recipe" meal. If you don't have one already, buy a steamer basket insert for your pot. Super cheap very useful item. Steam veggies just till tender crisp. We eat them plain, but you could always add a little butter and/or salt, pepper. My kids have always like food separate vs. everything in the crock pot slop. Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you. Fanny Farmer is the best cookbook I have ever seen - it's real world stuff from how to carve a turkey, to uses for leftovers, everything you need to know! A good slow cooker book is useful too - at least for ideas.

you know what i do, honestly? if i have, say, chicken in the house, and don't have any good ideas what to do with it, i go to google and type in "easy chicken recipes". it almost ALWAYS comes up with something, and like someone said, allrecipes.com is very often one of the results. great site! i would start with some ingredients you already have on hand, and google that. i am a big "once i am home, i am home and i'm not going back to the store" type - of course i also work outside the home. so the last thing i want is to come home after working all day, find i am missing one ingredient for a recipe i wanted to make, and have to go to the store. the internet is awesome!

here are some that i've found that i loved:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Twice-Baked-Potatoes-I/Detai...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheese-Potato-Puff/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/beer-batter/Detail.aspx

i guess this is all i had in my folder. hmm! thought i had more. the potatoes are self explanatory - the beer batter, you then can dip WHATEVER in, and fry. yum! these are just examples of easy recipes i found. good luck! sounds like you have your work cut out for you!

Buy a whole chicken and toss it in the crock pot for 8-10 hours…the slower the juicier. Season with salt & pepper, with your favorite seasoning or BBQ sauce. Put enough water in the crock pot to cover the bottom half of the chicken. Set it and forget it as they say ;) Cook a side like potatoes, broccoli or rice. You can do the same with a turkey breast or a meat like Eye of the Round or a pork loin. Just make sure to have water in the bottom or it will be a dry as can be (may need to add more water as the hrs go by...I add more because I work all day and cannot add to it if it gets low)! Also, they make Crock Pot bags now. Clear bags to line your crock pot with. Makes clean up sooooooo simple!

What about spaghetti? Boil noodles and dump a jar of sauce in. You can gussy up the sauce by adding things like pepper and oregano to it. Cook up some ground turkey and add it to the sauce for a meat sauce.

Turkey Taco Salad
Ground Turkey (cooked) or use beef
Taco Seasoning added to the meat
Cut up lettuce, tomatoes and onion
Break up tortilla chips and mix all together.

Serve with Salsa or Ranch dressing on the side. This is a good summer thing to eat when it's hot out and you don't want something too heavy.

If you send me a private email I will send you my 4 weeks of menus. Most items include the recipe. It is on an excel spreadsheet so you can add or delete whatever you want.

____@____.com

B.

One of my husband's favorites that I make is pan roasted chicken, really easy to make and yummy.

You will need:

2- Chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
Carrots
Potatoes
3- Chicken flavored builion cubes
Olive Oil
Seasoning of your choice (garlic, parsley flakes, chopped onion flakes)

1. Put olive oil in the pan, and brown the chicken
2. Take your half cup of water, put it in a bowl, add your 3 chicken bouilion cubes and heat up in the microwave until it is hot and stir until chicken flavor is mixed up.
3. Add to chicken
4. Peel and cut up potatoes into chunks
5. Add carrots and potatoes in with the chicken
6. Cover and cook on medium heat until the veggies are tender.

Pretty simple and a big hit in my house.

I think when it comes to cooking you really just need to get in there and get creative and dirty - trial and error. I HATE to bake because it is such a science and you have to follow the recipe to a T otherwise the whole thing ends up an inedible mess but with cooking you get to a point where if you have the basic ingredients you can do the pinch of this and a splash of that.
I have tons of recipes but I think the best advice I can give you if you are a beginner and a bit hesitant to jump right in is to hit up the Kraft website. It can be a lifesaver when you are at a standstill as to what to make. They have a section on there where you can type in what meal (Ex. Lunch, Dinner) you are looking to make and you just type in 2 or 3 main ingredients and it spits out tins of meal ideas. And I find their recipes usually only have a handful of ingredients, most of which are staples that you probably have.
Good Luck and dont be afraid to jump right in - Im sure your hubby will apreciate the effort regardless (and always remember that if it doesnt work out pizza is always a phonecall away)