Anyone know of any SUPER simple meals?

[Emeraldgreen]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

[critters]

Try the "Taste of Home" Cookbooks, and the magazine is SUPER too!! Everything is very doable.

[Ginger's Mom]

the cats ran out of food, and he fed them bologna sandwiches and chicken noodle soup?! I remember you said Puff ate it, lol!!

YES! He made soup and sandwiches I was at work really late, and he did not stop and buy them any

He also gave them leftover tacos one time, and be glad you did not have to clean up the pottys that night

OMG, this made me LOL. I love it!

I am looking at some of these recipes, and I have to tell you they don't look super simple to me.

[Emeraldgreen]

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.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

Thank you all so much! I am going to try many of these recipes! I like how easy they are.. AND they sound great!

Hubby wont cook...PERIOD! He cooked one time for me in the 11 years we have been together. And that was a frozen dinner, of salisbury steak, which I don't eat

I don't have children.. So it is just him and me eating!

I do usually order a pizza on Fridays, so that is a little help.

I don't know what I would do if I came home and he cooked.. Or even made me a sandwich

Again thank you all! I can't wait to try these out. I will update when I try them!

[jenluckenbach]

Something my Nana called DINNER IN THE DISH:

1 pound ground beef
1 can corn
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes (use already flavored ones )

Brown the ground beef and add the other 2 ingredients. Eat after corn/tomatoes are heated.

TA DA! Can't be simpler!

[shais_mom]

Hubby wont cook...PERIOD! He cooked one time for me in the 11 years we have been together. And that was a frozen dinner, of salisbury steak, which I don't eat

then he wouldn't EAT in my house!

[CountryWolf07]

Be sure to bookmark this... I will need to learn how to cook some stuff while I'm back at OSU in September!