Anyone know of any SUPER simple meals?

**jennielynn1970** · 07-20-2008, 12:45 PM

How about Scalloped Potatoes

You can add ham and peas to it, and it's a meal, and it's all in one dish and baked.

3-4 cups sliced potatoes.
1 onion, diced
1 1/4 cup hot milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350
Great a 1 1/2 qt. baking dish
Arrange potatoes in layers.
Sprinkle each layer with minced onions, ham, peas, salt and pepper, dot with butter.
Add 1 1/4 cup hot milk.
Bake uncovered about 1 1/4 hours.
Remove from oven, and let set for about 15 minutes.

**Emeraldgreen** · 07-20-2008, 01:23 PM

QUICHE AND SALAD

This is a great summer meal and doesn't have to be complicated. You can buy the pie crusts already made. Take a large bowl, crack open 6 eggs, add about 3 or 4 cups of milk and mix it well with a fork. Toss in shredded deli ham and some shredded cheese with some salt and pepper and pour the mixture into the two pie shells and put in the oven for about half an hour or until the top is golden brown and the edges of the crusts too. You can freeze the other quiche for another night!
You can also dice up some green pepper, mushrooms and onions and pour a bit of olive oil on top with seasoning and microwave them for a couple of minutes or until they're soft and add that to the egg mixture.

p.s. when I take the pie shells out of the freezer, I take them out of the box and put them on the counter while I'm creating the mixture. I take a fork and make a bunch of holes in the bottom of both crusts. I pop the shells in the oven for a few minutes until they kind of start bubbling up and the bottom actually starts rising up. Then I take them out and put them on the counter until I'm ready to pour the mixture in. The reason I do this it because sometimes the bottom of the crust is a little underdone even though the rest of the quiche is totally done. I give the bottom a head start by heating it first.

**Emeraldgreen** · 07-20-2008, 01:30 PM

COQUILLE ST. JACQUES (might be spelled wrong! LOL)

This one is soooooooooooo easy and very yummy!
Buy 2 cans of clam chowder soup.
Make some mashed potatoes or you could buy those fake ones but I can't eat those.
Heat up the soup.
Take a spoon and line two wide soup bowls with the mashed potatoes so the whole inside of the bowl has about a 1/4 inch or more of mashed potatoes.
Now pour in the clam chowder and then top with shredded cheese and serve with buns or crusty bread to dip in it.

You can substitute the clam chowder with any kind of creamy soup that you like but clam chowder is very filling so it makes a good 'meal'.

**Emeraldgreen** · 07-20-2008, 01:40 PM

SIMPLE LASAGNA

These days you can buy lasagna noodles that don't need to be boiled first. They are called 'ready bake' lasagna noodles.

Buy your favourite jar of spagetti sauce, fry up some ground beef.

Take a rectangular (deep) baking dish and put a layer of ground beef with a bit of 'cold' sauce poured over that.

Layer with dry lasagna noodles.

Smear some ricotta cheese (you'll find this near the sour cream in your grocery store) and cover with a bit of sauce and some shredded mozza cheese (which you can buy already shredded).

Add some beef and continue layering until you're at the top. Cover with some more sauce and cheese and pop in the oven for about 45 minutes at about 375 degrees or until golden brown on top.

You can also buy frozen chopped spinach and let it thaw and squeeze out excess water and add some of this between the layers. No need to precook anything (except the beef of course!) as you add it to the dish and then bake it altogether.

**Pam** · 07-20-2008, 01:43 PM

Great thread and I think we are all benefitting!

I actually subscribe to Allrecipes.com and have printed and used many of them. They are usually very simple, easy dishes and have ratings attached to them too. Other people leave comments and suggest ways that they have altered the recipes a little bit more to their liking.

My very favorite dinner happens the night after we have had chicken (breasts) on the grill and there are leftovers. I simply make a nice salad (ingredients of your own choosing) and then cup up the chicken into bite-size pieces and add it to the salad. It is a great meal and there is next to no fat depending on the dressing you choose.

**CathyBogart** · 07-20-2008, 02:00 PM

You don't HAVE to cook! If you hate it, why feel like you have to every night?

Anywho...here's one of my favorites...

Tortilla soup.

Into a pot, in whatever quantity you want:

Chicken broth
chopped up leftover cooked chicken
canned beans (pinto, black, garbanzo, whatever you like)
Hominy (If you can find it)
Salsa Verde
canned corn
a little salt and pepper

Heat it until it's hot, and add whatever toppings you have around when you serve it, including:

Chopped avocado
chopped green onion
sour cream
cilantro
tortilla chips
shredded cheese

**Rachel** · 07-20-2008, 02:46 PM

EmeraldGreen's quiche recipe reminded me of the *breakfast for dinner* deal that I think is fairly common. A nice mess of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and maybe sliced tomatoes and fried potatoes. The easiest way to make fried potatoes is to have them cooked and refrigerated first, but in a pinch you can fry them from raw, it just takes longer.

**kuhio98** · 07-20-2008, 02:55 PM

I had another thought. I don't know your family situation, so forgive me if this doesn't apply to you...... But, when we got to be Jr. High/Middle School age, my parents put us kids in charge of dinner 1 night a week. We had to make something -- not order in or fast food. My parents got plenty sick of Hamburger Helper, but............. If you have kids, I really urge you to start this -- especially if you have sons. Your future daughter-in-laws with be forever grateful!

**Emeraldgreen** · 07-20-2008, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by Rachel

EmeraldGreen's quiche recipe reminded me of the *breakfast for dinner* deal that I think is fairly common. A nice mess of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and maybe sliced tomatoes and fried potatoes. The easiest way to make fried potatoes is to have them cooked and refrigerated first, but in a pinch you can fry them from raw, it just takes longer.

I agree! Breakfast for dinner is so much fun. We sometimes have pancakes and bacon and eggs for dinner and it is the best. Or a nice omellete. We are working on lowering our cholesterol right now so we've had to give up some of this stuff though.

I had another thought. I don't know your family situation, so forgive me if this doesn't apply to you...... But, when we got to be Jr. High/Middle School age, my parents put us kids in charge of dinner 1 night a week. We had to make something -- not order in or fast food. My parents got plenty sick of Hamburger Helper, but............. If you have kids, I really urge you to start this -- especially if you have sons. Your future daughter-in-laws with be forever grateful!

This reminded me of something we do at our house. I make dinner 3 nights a week and my hubby makes it 3 nights a week and for 1 night a week, we have 'MAKE YOUR OWN NIGHT'. This is a great night because you can make whatever you want for yourself while your hubby makes whatever he wants. I usually have a bean burrito and salad or something and he usually has mac and cheese or soup and sandwich.