What are your go-to dinners for busy afternoons?

[JoyfulMama]

Looks like I will have three to four afternoons a week out of the house for the coming months. I am hoping for some 30-min or less to table dinners, without using the crock pot daily.

I'll complicate it even more by saying ours have to be dairy and soy free, and casseroles aren't a favorite here because the kids all like their food separate. (Many casseroles are also not dairy-free friendly.)

Oh, and we don't own a microwave.

 

Those I currently use:

 

Spaghetti and sauce (meat sauce, using pre-cooked and frozen ground beef), with a side green veggie.

 

Ground beef, heated with a bag of frozen Tex-Mex veggies (beans, corn, peppers) and a jar of salsa, served over rice or eaten as tacos or burritos.

 

Shrimp Scampi over rice.

 

Salmon or Tilapia fish, thawed in the fridge, with pasta and a green veggie.

 

Ham steak, with a veggie and pasta.

[WarriorMama]

Looks like I will have three to four afternoons a week out of the house for the coming months. I am hoping for some 30-min or less to table dinners, without using the crock pot daily.

I'll complicate it even more by saying ours have to be dairy and soy free, and casseroles aren't a favorite here because the kids all like their food separate. (Many casseroles are also not dairy-free friendly.)

Oh, and we don't own a microwave.

 

Those I currently use:

 

Spaghetti and sauce (meat sauce, using pre-cooked and frozen ground beef), with a side green veggie.

 

Ground beef, heated with a bag of frozen Tex-Mex veggies (beans, corn, peppers) and a jar of salsa, served over rice or eaten as tacos or burritos.

 

Shrimp Scampi over rice.

 

Salmon or Tilapia fish, thawed in the fridge, with pasta and a green veggie.

 

Ham steak, with a veggie and pasta.

 

I hate cooking and have several evenings out of the house per week right now too. What I usually do is cook a LOT of a big dinner on the nights we don't have to go out and eat leftovers on the other nights. So if I'm home on Sunday I'll make a big roast, lots of mashed potatoes, veggies and salad, and there's enough left for one or two more dinners during the week, etc.

 

I also have a few quick-to-make dinners to fall back on, but they're mostly one-dish type things that your kids won't enjoy if they don't like their food mixed together. ;)

 

I'd add bacon and eggs to your quick list, though. It's so fast and you can just steam veggies really quick to go with or serve it with fruit.

[patchfire]

Black beans & rice: use the quick cook brown rice or frozen pre-cooked rice, mix a cup or two of diced tomatoes with two to four cups of black beans, season, and warm up. We like to have cornbread with ours as well.

 

Sloppy joes are pretty quick... I make my own sauce adapted from a crock-pot recipe, but make it in the skillet more than half the time.

 

Breakfast for dinner-- either the occasional starchy-sugary treat of pancakes/waffles/french toast, or bacon/sausage, eggs, and maybe oven-roasted potatoes.

 

Pan-fried cube steak cooks pretty quick.

[homemomandnild]

I do freezer Cooking in bulk for this very reason!

 

Sloppy Joes

Pancakes and Sausage

[Laura Corin]

Buy smoked mackerel, peppered if you like the extra zing. Poach it in a little water for five minutes. Flake and mix with fresh pasta. Squeeze a little lemon juice on it and serve with steamed veg. Smoked mackerel stays fresh in the fridge for more than a week, if you buy it in pre-packaged form, so it's great for those days when you don't have much time.

 

Laura

[tristangrace]

Kielbasa and sauerkraut.

[Dobela]

nachos or taco salad. I make the chiken and beef ahead of time and have all ingredients prepared. All I have to do is reheat the meat, set the table, and eat.

 

soup and grilled cheese

[KrissiK]

Pulled pork sandwiches - stick a pork butt shoulder in the crock pot in the morning with 2 envelopes of Lipton onion soup mix. By dinner it's ready. For our family, a large piece of meat provides enough to then stick in the freezer for another meal of that. I also made oven fries and fresh fruit. Good easy meal when you have Little League practice for one, immediately followed by a t-ball game for another over the dinner hour.

[EJCMom]

We do stir fry on really busy days. I have a rice cooker, so I can put rice on in the morning and it stays hot all day (or you could do Minute Rice). Then I cube up some chicken or beef and season it, throw it in the wok with whatever kind of chinese food sauce I have on hand and put thow some frozen asian mixed veggies in. It takes less than 10 minutes.

[Brown4girls]

I tend to make a crock pot meal when I know I will be out. My kids love Italian beef on a hoagie roll. I put a rump roast in the crock pot with beef consomme, Italian dry dressing, and a package of au jus seasoning mix. I always make a extra and we will have beef stroganoff the next night! Super easy and really good!

[Amira]

We like to have stir-fried vegetables with either noodles or rice. Usually we eat them without meat, but I have a some shredded chicken in the freezer than I can add. I start the rice or the water boiling for noodles, then chop and cook the vegetables and everything finishes in about 30 minutes or less. Or I stir-fry both the noodles and the vegetables if we're eating Asian-style noodles.

 

We eat 2 or 3 different types of noodles and two or three different types of rice to make things a little more interesting since we have a meal like this about 3 times a week. Vegetables make up half of what I eat when we have this.

[Danestress]

Buy smoked mackerel, peppered if you like the extra zing. Poach it in a little water for five minutes. Flake and mix with fresh pasta. Squeeze a little lemon juice on it and serve with steamed veg. Smoked mackerel stays fresh in the fridge for more than a week, if you buy it in pre-packaged form, so it's great for those days when you don't have much time.

 

Laura

 

If it's already smoked, it's cooked, right? Why do you poach it? Does it help it flake? Or just heat it up?

[LibraryLover]

Ok, it's nearly summer. I have a gas grill and I am not afraid to use it. ;)

 

Grilled fish fillets

Grilled chicken fillets

Grilled dogs (OK, I'll say it... Applegates)

Grilled veggie bugers, meat

Grilled portobella mushrooms

 

Fast cooking grains:

Boxed rices

quiona

millet

 

While it cooks, I put together a salad.

Edited May 3, 2011 by LibraryLover

[missmoe]

Throw a couple cans of garbanzo beans in with curry or korma simmer sauce (available at TJ or Fresh and Easy and I'm sure elsewhere). Eat with some rice and sliced fruit on the side. If you are feeling with it in the morning, you could throw together some yogurt(coconut yogurt is dairy free) riata (yogurt, mint, cumin, shredded veggies, and salt) There you have a healthy, yummy Indian meal.

 

Sometimes I make a pan of enchilidas on the weekend and then just put in the oven on the night it's needed. I do not use any cheese in mine or do half with cheese and half without.

 

Salad with any kind of protien would be great. You could prep the veggies ahead of time and grill some meat when you get home or even use cold left over meat. Or use black beans or garbanzo beans for proteins.

 

I had a friend that used to take a thermos of hot water to the ball park with her and then stick hotdogs in the thermos for 10 minutes. She then had all the fixings to make the hot dogs yummy for her family. Would that work for your family?

[tearose]

When the weather gets warmer, I often make main-course salads and pasta salads, and it's easy to do a lot of the prep in advance. Since your kids don't like their foods mixed, I'd go the composed salad route, like a nicoise salad, where the individual components are separate.

[love2read]

The trick is having thawed meat in the fridge, frozen veggies on hand, some quick carbs (brown minute rice, instant potatoes, pasta) and a few good sauce recipes. All foods are a combination of those things. In our family, the sauce is the answer and you can find quick sauces at allrecipe.

 

Alfredo Sauce, pan fried chicken, over noodles, green beans.

Curry Sauce, pan fried chicken, rice, spinach.

Gravy, pan fried chicken, potatoes (or biscuits from a can), peas

Salsa, pan friend chicken, taco shells, lettuce

Very simple and quick especially if you slice the chicken the night before. Make friends with sauce :) This obviously works the same way with ground beef, ground pork, sliced ham, beans, etc.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I try to use the crock pot on those days....really handy.....doesn't always happen though LOL--if I'm not in a mood to cook I'll tell the guys it's sandwich night......I used to do those frozen entree things and just make a veggie or something but trying to get healthier....

:D

[Laura Corin]

If it's already smoked, it's cooked, right? Why do you poach it? Does it help it flake? Or just heat it up?

 

Otherwise it chills the pasta.

 

Laura

[i.love.lucy]

Having hard boiled eggs on hand is really a life saver. I can make egg salad, tuna salad or chicken salad in a flash and serve with tomato soup, or just sandwiches and fruit. I almost always buy 2 dozen eggs and immediately boil one dozen to keep on hand. Great to grab for breakfast or pop in a lunch box too.

 

We love fish tacos for a quick meal. I buy frozen fish filets and bake them (20 minutes) throw them in a soft tortilla with some sliced tomato, onion and avocado. YUM!

 

I also make lots of pasta and keep it frozen. One of my family's favorite is pesto pasta. You'd have to make your own to make it dairy free, but if you make a big batch fresh it will freeze beautifully. I have made it fresh with lots of basil, spinach, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. Then freeze it in 1/2 cup batches. Just grab your pasta and pesto to thaw, and some pre-cooked chicken and mix it all together. You can bake it to heat it or eat it cold. The veggies are hidden in there as the pesto sauce!

[saraha]

A couple of quick dairy/soy free could be:

*veggie soup from fozen vegetables and add choice of meat (We add ground beef)

*boneless, skinless chicken breasts and instant couscous (or any other side, there are SO many things to do with chicken breasts)

*roll up sandwiches (cold cuts or tuna salad and fixin's rolled up in tortillas)

*grilled pb&j (made like grilled cheese) my kids love this!

*hamburgers either as sanwiches or as "steaks"

*garlic butter/ margarine tossed with spaghetti noodles and served with veggies on side, also could add chicken or fish

*sausage sandwiches (another favorite here) made with breakfast sausage patties- oh, that might have soy, I don't know

*hoagie night- we set out meats, veggies, toppings and do it buffet style

*baked beans and hotdogs- do they make soyfree bbs?

 

I know they don't eat casseroles, but what about a fried rice? Family fun has a good, kid friendly recipe (not too many veggies ;), kindof bland) it calls for soy sauce, but you can leave it out, we have when we didn't have any on hand. It is mostly rice, but we throw in some frozen peas and carrots, and sometimes chicken or pork. Frozen veggies are my friend for quick meals.

[Lady Florida.]

In addition to some of what was already mentioned:

 

-tacos or taco salad

-pasta, tossed with olive oil and garlic, and drizzled with lemon juice. I usually add a fresh vegetable, but you could serve one on the side

-red or black beans and rice -- If I have some left over meat, I add that.

-does shepherd's pie count as a casserole? It's quick and easy.

-breakfast for dinner

 

On busy nights, rather than cook a side dish, I either serve sliced fresh fruit or cut up some fresh vegetables and serve them raw.

[Pretty in Pink]

 

• Stir-fry
  
• Cooked pasta tossed with prepared pesto sauce (found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket) and a can of drained, rinsed garbanzos; salad
  
• Eggs, bread group, fresh fruit
  
• Mini-pizzas on pita bread, toasted in the toaster oven; salad
  
• Red or black beans and rice (using canned beans)
  
• Chef salad or taco salad
  

 

[myfunnybunch]

I often use a little time in the morning to do meal prep. If we're really efficient, I get the kids to set the table before we leave too.

 

Stir-fry veggies and rice. I chop the veg and make the sauce in the morning. When I get home, I heat the pan, start the rice on the quick-cook setting on the steamer, then stir-fry the veg.

 

Tortilla soup. I cook the chicken before hand or use leftover. Then it's just a matter of putting rice on quick-cook when I get home and throwing everything in the pot. You can do this with any chicken soup.

 

Crispy chicken tortillas. I make a chicken salad ahead of time. You can use any chicken salad recipe. Then you wrap chicken salad in a tortilla and toast it on the griddle or in a pan until the tortilla is crispy on both sides. This is good served with rice or beans or both.

 

Quick sides--

Roasted broccoli (Toss in olive oil, roast in 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes)

Roast carrots (Same, only you want to roast for ~20 minutes, stirring after 10)

Swiss chard or spinach (Heat olive oil in pan, add damp chard or spinach and stir until coated with oil and starting to wilt. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring a couple times. Remove lid, add minced garlic--you can also add chopped nuts or pine nuts and raisins or dried cherries here--and cook until tender and liquid has mostly evaporated, another 1-2 minutes.)

Kale chips (Tear in pieces, toss in olive oil, bake for 10-12 minutes until crisp.)

 

Other things we do that help:

 

We've always got salad in the fridge. We serve it with every meal. If I don't have time to prepare a side, we've always got salad.

 

We have roast chicken once a week. That means I've got leftover chicken (usually) to prepare something like chicken salad or to toss into soup or pasta, and I've got fresh chicken broth.

 

Cat

[Lady Florida.]

We have roast chicken once a week. That means I've got leftover chicken (usually) to prepare something like chicken salad or to toss into soup or pasta, and I've got fresh chicken broth.

 

Cat

 

We don't have it every week, but we do have it often. Make the roast chicken on a day you know you have time. The per pound cost of a whole chicken is pretty low, and the leftovers give you quick and easy meals. I make broth with it too.

[nono]

How about an antipasto? Or does it have to be warm?

[FloridaLisa]

Oliolia

 

Not sure that's the spelling, but it's a family favorite after my dad lived with an Italian family during medical school:

 

1 package vermicello, cooked al dente

 

Saute 1/2 to whole sweet onion in olive oil until tender

Add in fresh minced garlic cloves

Add in several tablespoons each of parsley, basil, oregano to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Toss vermicello with a bit of butter and the sauted spices. Add fresh parmesan. (You could always saute other vegies and add, but this was the original very simple recipe. EVERYONE loves it).

 

Serve with tossed salad and fresh bread.

 

Enjoy!

Lisa

[dcjlkplus3]

salad with chicken on top and bread, (or pretty much any kind of left over or quick to cook meat)

 

Hamburgers and hot dogs (the kids favorite) with fires in the oven and fruit or raw veggies.

 

My kids hate left over nights.

 

Scrambled egga and. toast

[Marylou]

Subway(seriously)