What do you regularly make for dinner for your family? Hopefully we can get some new ideas from sharing. In winter we usually eat more vegetables, but find that in summer we try to do any thing quick and easy although not to healthy. Here is my list of regulars: *Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread sometimes we switch it to shapped pasta and have sausage with it, we call spiral pasta Whirly Twirly and penne we call Pipe Pasta the little kids like just butter. *Steak, Baked Potato and salad *Fried chicken, pinto beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread and veggie *chili dogs, french fries, baked beans or cole slaw *roast beef, mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots *chicken noodle soup (home made) with bow tie pasta *Hamburgers-grilled, fries (chicken nuggets for little kids) potato salad in the summer *Terriaki pork tenderloin, augratin potatoes, green beans *meat loaf mashed potatoes, corn (because thats how they do it on t.v. dinners and my hubby grew up with them)--and the secret ingredient is onion soup mix once I put real onions and the kids hated it, but the soup mix they love it! *Pizza From Pizza hut or home made *chineese form take out or home made *sub sandwiches or meatball subs *bbq pork, mushed taters (boiled with paprika), lima beans--yes most of the kids like them *Ham slices with mac n' cheese, green beans we base our menu around sale items, Sometimes it feels like we get in a rut. The funny thing is we go grocery shopping and spend a ton of money on groceries then we call for Pizza.:roll:
These are some of our regulars: Homemade Chicken pot pie w/ gravy Stew w/cornbread Goolosh(hamburger meat, corn, pork and beans, tomatoes,onions) w/crackers homemade pizza(everyone makes their own in pie pans after I make dough) hamburger macaroni with a veg we eat a lot of baked chicken with mashed pot., veggies, salad I made a new recipe last week that was diced chicken with gravy and veg-all and baked in the oven with canned biscuits on top - they all loved it We eat mexican food a lot - I make meat with my own spices(I am allergic to MSG in spice packs) and lots of garlic, Fat free refried beans, tomatoes, sour cream... I let them make their own with that - tacos, burritos or nachos or just eat with chips We eat a lot of salads(even get the younger ones to eat one occasionally) This was a great idea - I hope to carry away some new meals from this thread! We get soooooo bored with the same thing -sometimes I just don't know what to make. We have a very limited budget for food and we do a food fast sometimes and only can use what we have already. Helps to use up some things that have been there a while. Sabrina
Easy Chicken Pot Pie: Take a can of chicken (or deboned chicken, if you have leftovers, etc.), mix with a jar of chicken gravy and a bag of mixed veggies, put in a pie pan, add a pre-made pie crust and bake. Ham/potatoes/green beans Spaghetti Oven-Baked Chicken Creamed chicken and biscuits Chicken pot pie Beef pot pie (made with leftover roast) Roast (in crock pot) Baked Potato and Salad Chili Barleyburger Stew Chicken breast (grilled or fried in butter) BLTs Homemade Soups: Chicken Noodle Chicken Rice "Hearty" Vegetable Soup Homemade Pizza Marzetti Sloppy Joes Tacos/Nachos London Broil Swiss Steak w/mashed potatoes baked on top We cook out a lot in the summer, and also eat lots more fresh veggies and fruit then.
Trish, I just buy the pork tenderloins and we put them in a big zip lock bag and put terriaki sauce. Or you can use the kikoman teriaki basting sauce, and grill. we use more basting sauce to dip our slices of pork in.
Taco-in-a-pan Chicken Fettechini Alfredo (with fresh garlic and wheat corkscrew noodles and seared chicken in butter and garlic) Poor Man Speghetti (with wheat noodles) Calzones (homemade...VERY EASY!) BBQ Meatballs Chicken Stuffing Meatballs Sloppy Joes (Manwich) Beef Stroganoff (homemade with wheat noodles) Butterfly Shrimp (I get it from Sams's. It the Member Mark brand and it's so good deep fried) Cheddarwurst (totally bad for you but worth the 20 fat grams!) Catalina Chicken Chicken Tortilla Bake (usually have this with Chi Chi's Corn Cake...you can buy the mix in the store...yum!) Chili Cheeseburger Skillet This is my main meal index for the next two weeks. We eat a lot of salad with our meals and always a veggie to go with it. We also eat rice with a lot of our meals and a bread product like rolls or breadsticks. I order chinese about once a month...we have the BEST chinese restaurant in our town that was voted one of America's Top 50 chinese restaurants in the US.
Here's some foods that we eat. Mind you, we eat vegetarian, so if it says chicken, then it's a veggie chilcken from a can (one we use is called Frichick): Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (I often add tofu) Homemade Potato Soup (sometimes I add cheese and/or tofu) Mashed potatoes, salad, and a "meat" of some kind (my kids all love salad! Yay!) grilled cheese sandwiches Indian, Chinese or Thai food---either homemade or out to eat burritos (my 14-yo makes a mean burrito, it's his specialty!) pizza (Schwan's has a great mushroom spinach pizza that all of us but our 12-yo really like) "Haystacks"--not the cookie! We've had this since I was tiny and always called it haystacks. It's kind of Mexicanish: Tortillas on the plate, then beans and "meat", then cheese, onions tomatoes and lettuce. Spiral mac & cheese (it's a phase right now--they only want the spiral!) Top Ramen noodles with my own seasonings (since I also cannot use MSG) Fruit biscuits---I bake either my own biscuits or the canned biscuits. Meanwhile I put cans of fruit cocktail (in light syrup) in a kettle and start heating it. I add some applesauce and the secret ingredient--some vanilla---helps it have a much better taste. I put some tapioca in a bowl and pour hot water over it and let it soak up the water. When the fruit mixture gets hot, I pour the softened tapioca in and bring it to a low boil for a little while. We cut the biscuits in half and butter the halves, then pour some hot fruit over them and eat them like that. It's really good, my kids love it! My parents made it when I was growing up, but used toast, so we called it fruit toast. But we like the biscuits better, so that's what we use. spaghetti, green beans and garlic bread tater tot casserole--That's yummy too! If anyone would like the recipe I can do it in a separate message Hot dogs (we use things called Linketts or ones called Big Franks that are veggie) & buns, baked beans, potato or lettuce salad Hot Dog Blankets--for this you use packages of crescent rolls. Lay the crescent roll flat, put the hot dog on the wide end, then a couple of small pieces of cheese or a little shredded cheese right next to the hot dog, then roll it up. Make sure all the cheese is covered with the dough. When done rolling as many as you want, bake in the oven the same time as it says on the package to bake the rolls. I'm sure there's more, that's all I can think of right now....
Jen, We use wheat noodles for our spaghetti also! We just got some wheat macaroni, but haven't tried it yet. We have a Chinese Rest. chain around here called Panda Inn. They do NOT use MSG!!! I try to go there as much as possible (which isn't really all that often), but I let them know I appreciate that they don't use the MSG!
I way prefer wheat noodles over any others. They are much better for you and the taste is so much better...less starchy! I love the ones I get from the organic section of the supermarket and the Healthy Harvest brand. Our local chinese res. doesn't use msg either, but ours is called Golden Gate. They are a cantonese chinese restaurant and make the best fried rice. I don't like how japanese or non-cantonese restaurants make their fried rice. I love it dark the way they make it.
Yep, Jen, that's why we switched to wheat noodles! We've used the Healthy Harvest brand also. Our Safeway has 3 or 4 different wheat brands, so we get whichever one is on sale! I love that fried rice also! This restaurant doesn't have it, But I love it when I can find it! Anybody else eat Indian food? We love it! Their bread, called pan (pon), is great too! My dh's family introduced me to it, and I'm hooked!
Deena, do you have a hard time converting recipes? When I was making that recipe book I am still looking for, I wasn't sure if just using a veggie bullion cube instead of a chicken buillion cube could make too much of a difference. Also I use so much chicken broth to flavor things, I'm not sure how you flavor things in place of it. Do you eat eggs?
We do eat eggs. Well, I don't actually like eggs all that much, but the kids like'em. We also use cheese, though it's not really very healthy when used as much as most of us use it! I"m trying to cut down our usage of some of this stuff, since it's much healthier, but I'm having a hard time with the eggs and cheese...... I actually don't use the bullion cubes. I use McKay's Chicken (or Beef) Style Seasoning---Without MSG. Then I just guess at the amount. It almost always turns out fine, so I haven't gone back to the cubes. The broth is made in the water when I put the seasoning in, so I don't need the canned-type broth. I really don't have a problem with converting recipes. I may need a couple or three times to try it different ways before I find what works best, but I'm used to it now. I mostly throw things in when I cook, though, so that may make it easier for me. My dh and his mom are strict "by the book" recipe followers. But dh's dad and I just put some of this and some of that in, which drives my dh and mil crazy, but it usually turns out very well, so they put up with us! :lol: Oh, I guess there is one thing I don't know how to convert: Ham bone. I've never eaten pork products, so I don't know what would work instead. Anyone else know? Yeah Jen, I should say I'm a wimpy Indian food eater! I love the flavor, but I don't like the curry too hot, or it overwhelms the good flavor to me!
JenPooh made Taco in the pan tonight for the gang and they loved it alot. So, did I thanks alot for the recipe it was wonderful.
Monosodium Glutamate. It's a heavy preservative. Kris, glad to hear they liked it! The hubby LOVES it too, and so does the boy...they are the pickiest eaters too!
