# Gimme some ideas for dinner por favor



## Andres (Mar 3, 2010)

PBers I need your help! I am trying to help out my wife as best I can by preparing some of our meals. She gets off work later than me and has classes two nights a week, so I want to help out with our cooking (No kids yet, btw). My problem is that I am struggling to put together meals that are fairly healthy, affordable, and still taste good. I have a few recipes that I am good at, but they get old quickly, so I need to expand my recipe repertoire. Could you recommend to me a tasty, affordable, and decently healthy dinner that you and your family enjoy? If I could get about 10 people to give me one dinner/recipe idea, it would help me out immensely. One more thing - I would appreciate if the meals were fairly easy too as wifey is definitely the chef in the family. I just follow directions when I cook! Thanks in advance.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Mar 3, 2010)

White Bean Chicken Chili - for lazy cooks

I don't know how healthy this one is, but it sure is good.


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## Andres (Mar 3, 2010)

Southern Presbyterian said:


> White Bean Chicken Chili - for lazy cooks
> 
> I don't know how healthy this one is, but it sure is good.


 
thanks! yeah...healthy's probably last on my priority list, so its all good


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Mar 3, 2010)

The only mod I would make to Josh's post above would be to use Paul Newman's Sockarooni sauce instead of the Ragu. 

AMR


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## coramdeo (Mar 3, 2010)

Grill chicken breast ( we buy frozen package of Mesquite Smoked Brest from Sams) grill till nearly done, then...
Cover cover ea. with a slice of mozzarella cheese. sliced mushrooms, and bacon strips, bake for about 15 min. mmmm good!


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## Kiffin (Mar 3, 2010)

Filipino Adobo!
How to Make Chicken Adobo - Part 1 Video


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## Rich Koster (Mar 3, 2010)

Get 2 lbs 93% lean ground beef. Mix it with 1 egg and a packet of onion soup mix. Mold into a pan and bake @ 350 for about 45 min. Then coat it with a thin mixture of ketchup mixed with a tbsp of brown sugar. Put back in oven and let caramelize for about 15-20 min. Serve over a bed of brown rice & veggie of choice.


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## coramdeo (Mar 3, 2010)

Ok here is another one. Chicken quarters or breast or both. 1 cup of rice,
1 large can of Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup. Place chicken in a casserole pan, pour in rice, cover with soup (add a little water) , bake at 350 till done. Adjust quantities as needed for servings needed.


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Mar 3, 2010)

Two butterfly-cut thick pork chops.
One box of instant potatoes au gratin.
One bunch of broccoli.

Prepare the instant potatoes au gratin and start cooking them per the instructions. These take the longest to cook.

Season pork chops with coarse ground pepper and Pruhomme's _Pork and Veal Magic_. Add a dash of Thyme.

About ten minutes before the au gratin is completed in the oven, cook the chops in 1/4 cup of vegetable or olive oil.

While chops are cooking in the frying pan, prepare the broccoli and place in a double boiler (a pot on top of a pot that has the bottom pot half full of water) and steam them for about five minutes.

Simple, but tasty.

AMR

---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------

Two Marie Callendar's large portion size frozen chicken pot pies.

Cook as directed. Remove from aluminum pans and serve upside down.

Add a side of ice cold apple sauce in small cups or whatever.

All done!

AMR

---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

Buy a large bag of frozen pot stickers. Cook and serve with some Uncle Ben's rice pilaf (this comes in a bag that you microwave for a minute).

Use chopsticks to enhance the fun eating both items.

AMR

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

Fry up some Hebrew National all beef hot dogs.
Toast some hot dog potato buns in the oven.
Serve with macaroni and cheese (comes in a box with all the necessities).
Serve with ice cold Pepsi, of course. 

AMR

---------- Post added at 03:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 PM ----------

One pound lean ground beef. One pound not so lean ground beef.
One packet of onion soup seasoning mix.
One slice of bread broken up into small pieces.
Two eggs.

Dump everything into a large mixing bowl and hand knead it, but do not knead it too much. You want it all barely clinging together.

Drop this into a large flat baking pan and shape it into a nice oblong mound.

Coat the mound with pepper and tomato catsup.

Place the drained contents of a can of small round potatoes around the mound. 

Cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until internal temp is around 165 degrees.

Serve with a green vegetable.

Yes, it's meat loaf. But it is tasty.

AMR


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## Tripel (Mar 3, 2010)

Appetizer: Jalapeno Poppers
Take a dozen small-medium jalapenos, cut them in half longways and remove all veins and seeds. Fill each half with cream cheese, put the halves back together, and wrap with raw bacon. Put a toothpick through to hold it together. Bake the stuffed jalapenos at 350 or place on the grill with indirect heat. Ready in 45-60 minutes. Amazingly good, and not as spicy as people think.

Dinner: Southwestern Omelette
Sautee onions and peppers in a frying pan. After 3-4 minutes, add chopped ham. When onions are translucent, turn off heat and set aside. 
Beat 3 room temp eggs with 2 Tbsp water. Bring a clean omelette pan to medium-low heat. Add 1 Tbsp butter, followed by the beaten eggs. As the base of the eggs cook and firm, lift an edge of the egg with a spatula, tilt the pan and let some of the uncooked egg run beneath. Continue doing this until there is no more uncooked egg sitting on top. Load up one half of the egg with fixins, such as parsley, chives, grated cheese, salt, pepper, diced tomato, and finally, some of your sauteed mixture from before.
Flip the naked half on top of the loaded half. This can be tricky. You can do this in the pan, but I prefer to loosen the egg around all the edges, slide the loaded half out of the pan and onto a plate, and then quickly flip the naked half on top. Set aside in a warm oven while you cook the next one just like it.


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## Scott1 (Mar 3, 2010)

Collard greens (or mustard greens, turnip greens, mix) are delicious and good for you. They are good even without the pork, and very healthy with onions, garlic, pepper, lemon juice.

Here's a video preparation with pork but you can omit it if you like.

[video=youtube;vvfkdnEoxT4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvfkdnEoxT4[/video]


For dessert:

Mary's Apple Crumb Pie - 8 servings
Preparation: 15 min. Cooking: 45 min. Total: 60 min.


* 1 9 inch pie crust
* 1 cup flour, sifted
* 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
* 1/2 cup Happy Farms sweet cream butter, salted, softened
* 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 9 in. pie pan with pastry shell. In a bowl, blend flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter until crumbly. Set aside. In another bowl, coat apple slices with cinnamon and honey. Place into crust. Sprinkle crumb topping over apples. Bake until apples are tender, about 45-50 minutes.


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Mar 3, 2010)

One bag of Santitas tortilla chips (white corn version).

One small packet of Taco Seasoning Mix.

Two pounds ground beef.

One large plastic bottle of Salsa (I like the medium spicy version)

One package of Mexican shredded cheese.

One small can of sliced black olives.

One container of sour cream.

Two quartered tomatoes.

One can of refried beans.

One bag shredded lettuce.

Brown the beef. Add the packet of seasoning and half the bottle of Salsa. Stir and simmer.

Microwave the contents of the refried beans.

Onto TV dinner style rectangular plastic plates drop a portion of refried beans. Then top this with the ground beef mixture, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, a few slices of tomatoes, black olives, and a dose of sour cream.

Place plenty of the chips alongside in the plate and dig in.

Best served with a nice beer.

AMR


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## MLCOPE2 (Mar 3, 2010)

Tostada shells covered with black refried beans, crumbled chihuahua cheese, and a little table cream on top. Easy, cheap, and delicious!


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## Andres (Mar 3, 2010)

thanks fellas. How did it just so happen that all the responses are from guys? I hope the women didn't think they weren't allowed to give input!  Maybe it's better this way so I don't get in over my head with fancy recipes. (by fancy I mean more than 5 steps)


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## Laura (Mar 3, 2010)

I'm all about breakfast for dinner when it needs to be quick and easy. Here's the omelet I'm making tonight. It's actually a well-tested recipe from a certain magazine who doesn't allow their recipes to be posted online, so not sure how that happened, but whatever. I'm filling ours with Parmesan and asparagus, and cooking some bacon (it's healthy...protein...and good exercise for your teeth when it's nice and crunchy....) in the oven along with it (cover rimmed baking sheet with foil, lay out strips side by side, bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes; turn sheet around, bake another 8-10 minutes or longer if it's thick cut).


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## Montanablue (Mar 3, 2010)

Bless you for trying to make things easier on your wife. I'm sure she appreciates it, even if you have some mishaps in the kitchen. This is an easy pasta bolognase that I think is delicious!

2 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped into small pieces
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 lb - 1 lb 90% lean ground beef (depending on how much meat you like in your sauce)
1 can Hunts traditional low fat pasta sauce
1/2 cup- 1 cup parm cheese (depending on how much you like cheese)

Dice the cloves of garlic finely. Put skillet (non stick is best) on medium heat and put in the tsp of olive oil and the garlic. Saute for about 2-3 minutes. Add ground beef and chopped onion. When beef is almost completely browned, add the pepper. When beef is browned, add in the sauce. (Note, this will only work if the skillet is quite large. If its not, transfer everything into a larger saucepan). Cook covered until sauce is hot, about 5 minutes. Add parm cheese in right before serving. 

Put this over any type of pasta.

For an easy vegetable, try these carrots:

Braised Baby Carrots

1 bag of baby carrots
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 teaspoons of thyme

Put olive oil and thyme into a skillet. Add in baby carrots and turn heat to high. Shake skillet to make sure that carrots are coated in oil and thyme. Cook about 5 minutes, shaking the skillet constantly until the carrots are braised. (They may have black mark on them - don't worry, they're fine!)


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## 21st Century Calvinist (Mar 3, 2010)

Here's some:
*Chicken in Sauce*
Sprinkle some chicken breasts/tenderloins with your favorite chicken seasoning and brown in olive oil. Transfer to baking pan. Take one large can of Condensed Chicken soup and mix with 1/2 can of milk. Pour, spread over the chicken. Take some store bought breadcrumbs and moisten with a little olive oil. Sprinkle over the chicken. Into oven @ 350F for approx 40 mins.
Serve with brown rice and roasted root vegetables.

*Brown rice*
1 cup rice
2 cups boiling water (or stock)
Small onion
Little vegetable oil

Finely chop the onion, brown in oil til just turning color. Add rice, stir quickly, add stock, turn down heat until just bubbling. Cover and cook according to package directions.

*Roasted Root Vegetables*
3-4 Carrots
1/2 med Rutabaga
2 Parsnips
1 Onion
Herbs: oregano, basil, marjoram- whatever combination you like
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

Peel and roughly chop veg- you want them large bite size. Pop them in a Ziplock bag, add enough oil to coat. Add the herbs, salt and pepper. Close the bag and turn around several times to cover everything. Empty out into roasting pan and into oven for approx 40 mins.

*Roasted Veg Soup*
Use the leftover vegetables. Place in a pan and generously cover with chicken or vegetable stock- so it looks soupy. Heat through, then blend til smooth. Serve with crusty bread and salad.

Chianti will serve nicely with all of this, but then again it serves nicely with anything!


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## Galatians220 (Mar 3, 2010)

This is real easy; I came up with it myself a few years ago.

Dice up a small, yellow or white onion and saute it in a tablespoon or so of butter or oil in either an electric fry pan or regular one until it's transparent. Then take a can of Campbell's Tomato Bisque Soup, a can or so of water or milk or chicken broth and a cup of instant brown rice and toss them in with the onion. Then throw in a cup or so of frozen or canned green beans, peppers (optional), medium, sliced yellow squash and/or zucchini, some cooked sliced or cubed chicken, a little garlic (optional) and whatever other vegetables or meat (like sausage) you might have around into the pan. Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes on low to medium heat. A simple tossed salad with vinaigrette, or just oil and vinegar, and rolls or any kind of bread and butter are nice with it. I've found that doubling or quadrupling this recipe doesn't hurt it a bit, as long as you also increase the veggies, rice and meat to taste, and keep it from burning in the pan by adding water if that seems necessary.

Margaret


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## JBaldwin (Mar 3, 2010)

Chicken Stir Fry (can be with shrimp or beef)
One of my favorite throw together healthy meals is stir fry (my way). My family loves it. 

1/2 medium onion cut into slices 
1/2 medium bell or sweet red pepper sliced or chopped
1-2 cups of frozen green beens (preferably whole)
1 clove crushed garlic (or sprinkling of garlic powder)
2 uncooked chicken breasts chopped into bite-sized pices

2 servings of rice (cook according to directions)

Since rice takes about an hour, start by preparing the rice

About 25 minutes before rice is done, pre-heat a large non-stick frying pan or a wok. Add about 1 Tablespoon of cooking oil (I prefer sunflower oil). 

Cook in this order:
Onion slices- once they are beginning to cook push them to the ouside edges of the pan or wok
Add peppers - once they have begun cooking push to outside edges of pan or wok with the onions
Add green beans- cook for a few minutes and push to outside edges
Add chicken and garlic- stir occasionally to make sure chicken is cooked on all sides
Cover and let simmer 5-7 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked
Salt (and pepper) to taste. 

Serve over rice or mix the finished rice in with the stirfry veggies and chicken. 

This receipe can also be prepared with fresh shrimp or beef


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## Curt (Mar 3, 2010)

What, no "rat brains," Josh?


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## lynnie (Mar 3, 2010)

My family loves a pot of corned beef and cabbage and it is so easy. If you need to minimize salt though, don't go with this.

Buy a chunk of corned beef at the store. It is wrapped in plastic and is in brine and keeps a long time in the fridge. Get potatoes, a head of cabbage, and if you want, a pack of carrots already peeled and ready, and onions. 

Put the meat in the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for several hours. I put all the vegies in right away too, it is easier, and the kids love the cabbage that has steeped in the broth for hours. 


Another super easy meal is to buy salad in a bag at the store, cut up lunchmeat and cheese on top, add croutons and anything else you like ( tomatoes, etc) and just have a big chef salad.


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## Dewi Sant (Mar 3, 2010)

Rich Koster said:


> Get 2 lbs 93% lean ground beef. Mix it with 1 egg and a packet of onion soup mix. Mold into a pan and bake @ 350 for about 45 min. Then coat it with a thin mixture of ketchup mixed with a tbsp of brown sugar. Put back in oven and let caramelize for about 15-20 min. Serve over a bed of brown rice & veggie of choice.


 
Now, as you can see from this man's avatar, this recipe can have less than desireable after-effects. for instance, a sickly, purple haze...


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Mar 3, 2010)

lynnie said:


> My family loves a pot of corned beef and cabbage and it is so easy. If you need to minimize salt though, don't go with this.
> 
> Buy a chunk of corned beef at the store. It is wrapped in plastic and is in brine and keeps a long time in the fridge. Get potatoes, a head of cabbage, and if you want, a pack of carrots already peeled and ready, and onions.
> 
> ...


Another favorite of mine and so easy to cook.

I use a meat scissor to cut up the corned beef into about three inch strips. Add the included seasoning that comes in the package along with peppercorns and bay leaves. Simmer on 7 O'clock (for those that have temp dials for the stove eye) for about three to four hours, replacing boiled off water as needed. Just before serving I add cabbage for about 2 minutes (my family like the cabbage crunchy) and serve. You can enhance the flavor by using old jars of pickle juice in place of water, too.

Leftovers? I dice the cooked corned beef and cabbage and serve it mixed with my three Shih Tzus favorite dog food. Yup, they think they are in heaven afterwards. 

AMR


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## Mindaboo (Mar 4, 2010)

Kielbasa with green peppers and onions over rice. It takes maybe 20 minutes to cook. I chop it all up throw it in a pan and cook it while the rice is cooking, my kids and husband love it. It is pretty cheap. 

Also, for spaghetti, try baked spaghetti. This would be easy with some leftovers. Put the spaghetti in a casserole dish, sprinkle some cheese on it and bake it at 425 for about 45 mintues or until the cheese gets brown. You can also add any toppings you would put on pizza. It isn't the healthiest meal you can make, but it is rather cheap to make. 

Baked potato soup is also yummy. I will see if I can dig out that recipe and send it to you. 

Make the crock pot do the work. A roast with lipton onion soup mix with some potatoes and carrots and let it cook while you are at work.


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## Jimmy the Greek (Mar 4, 2010)

Quick Beef Stew:

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef, up to 1.5 lbs.
1 can of Minestrone soup
1 can of Ranch style beans
1 can of diced tomatoes (with green chiles)
1 can of cut green beans
2 tsp. of Cavender's Greek Seasoning, up to 3 tsp.

Directions
1. Brown ground meat in a dutch oven, drain grease. 
2. Add all canned ingredients 
3. Add Cavender's Seasoning 
4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or so. 

If you drain the ranch style beans and green beans, you may want to add a half can of water. Sometime I substitue a can of whole kernal corn instead of the green beans. Great with sweet cornbread muffins.


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## Mrs. Bailey (Mar 4, 2010)

*The Crock Pot is your Friend*

Hi Andres!

I commend you on your fearless jump into the food prep waters! You are indeed thoughtful towards your wife. (I'm spoiled in this way, too, by my husband from time to time.)

If you don't have one, I suggest purchasing a crock pot or a slow cooker. Usually you can find one for under $30. Even for just two eating, it is a time saver. (And you can freeze extra servings for later....) If I am expecting a really busy day, I throw all the ingredients in the crock and put it in the fridge the night before. When morning comes, I pull the crock out, turn it on low and later come home to some great smells....

Pork shoulder (sometimes called Butt) is usually a really economical option. Around here is goes on sale for .99 a pound every couple of months. I buy a 4-5 pound roast, season it with salt and pepper, sit it in my crockpot on low with a 1/2 cup of apple juice. At the end of 8 or so hours you have several pounds of pork ready to shred for BBQ sandwiches or tacos, on salads, on baked potatoes. Yum. Little cash for lots of meals.

A healthy one that is super tasty can be made on a weekend to freeze or reheat later:

Green Chicken Soup

1 rotiserie chicken, deboned and shredded (could sub. shredded pork here)
2 C green tomatillo salsa, purchased or home-made
4 C chicken broth 
1 tsp cumin
2 cans white beans (or 3 C)

Put all ingredients in crockpot and simmer on low for 4 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper and hot sauce. Serve with sliced green onions, sour cream and tortilla chips.


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## Vonnie Dee (Mar 4, 2010)

I have to agree with Mrs. Bailey. Getting used to using a Crock Pot is a habit I wish I developed early in my married life. On to the recipe.

Catalina Chicken
1 bag of chicken parts (I like boneless, skinless thighs)
1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1 bottle of Catalina salad dressing

Dump all of those ingredients into your Crockpot and cook on low in the morning. When you return from work make a green salad and some rice to serve with the chicken and enjoy. This will be enough for you to put away for future meals.


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