With Amanda and I on the go from sun up to sun down about 4 days a week, my approach to supper time is often ssttrreeeeeecchheedd to the limit. This odd little devil pops up on my shoulder tempting me to, "order take out of any variety, grab burritos on the way home after all it is 8pm and who wants to cook anything at that hour, or look you could easily have Amanda meet you right at the sushi place down the street--how easy is that!"
Luckily I have an...shall we say...assertive little angel that quickly retorts, "back off take-out devil or this will get ugly all that food is too expensive, not very good for our lady, and there are plenty of options at home in my magical pantry that will be just as quick. Don't make me come over there!"
The little angel is right; we do have somewhat of a magical pantry. Here are some weeknight meals that get us through when I can't manage a "real meal". The important thing is that we usually have all these ingredients just laying around. This is the magic part!
BLT SALAD
This is a BLT but revised to change the ration of bread to lettuce. I start with a big bowl of salad and add tomatos, and red onion. I cut a few strips of bacon into squares and fry. I also chop up some bread (what I've got sitting around) and toast "croutons" in a pan with olive oil and a little salt. I throw the whole thing together in about 15 minutes. Delish!
SAUSAGE IN A PAN....
Yeah so this meal doesn't have a name but the star of the show is this brand of sausages. Seriously, so good. I toss the sliced up sausages in a pan with any veggies that need to be used (usually some broccoli, some black beans, and an onion). I serve over rice. This meal gets made over once week to use chicken or steak or other veggies. It is pretty versatile and hard to ruin.
SMOTHERED CHICKEN
It doesn't get easier: Chicken breast in pan. Cook. Cover with mushrooms, bacon bits, and swiss cheese. Serve with steamed broccoli or asparagus. Takes 15 minutes.
FAJITA SALAD
In a fry pan, sautee onions, bell pepper, black beans, and about 1/2 cup salsa. Add to bed of lettus top with a few crushed up tortilla chips and a smidgen of grated cheese. YUM! Amanda could eat this whole salad by herself!
So you see, the magic pantry is pretty good at beating the take out tempter. Please share you're quick dinners before we get too bored with these!
7 comments:
easy enchiladas:
mix 2 cans chicken with 2 cans green chiles, add salt and pepper and big handful of canned or frozen corn. Put mixture in small corn tortillas, wrap like a burrito and place in bakeware. Repeat until mixture is gone or pan fills up. Pour one can green enchilada sauce over everything and top with fav cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is bubbly. So good.
One of my faves is thin cut pork chops pan fried in a little olive oil and your fave spices. They hardly take any time to fry up, then I heat them in the oven on top of thinly sliced onions and potatoes. Pour a can of "cream of" soup - whatever you have - over the top. Takes about 20-30 from start. Oven can preheat while you're pan frying the chops. It's a little longer than yours, but tastes like you spent WAY longer. Oh, duh - I usually make 6 at a time, so only doing 2 or 4 would take less time.
I recently tried adding curry as one of the seasonings and it was YUMMY.
Pardon my cooking ignorance (although I did make dinner tonight): for smothered chicken, when you say "cook" how exactly do you do that?
Right! Glad you asked... So I salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breast. I preheat a skillet on medium high heat (about 7 if you stove has number). Add some oil (olive oil, vegetable, whatever). Add the chicken. Cook on first side for about 6 minutes or until golden (not dark brown, but it'll have some pan marks on it) then flip. Repeat. When chicken has been on 2nd side about 4 or 5 minutes add all the goodies.
When I first started cooking, I ALWAYS cut my breast open to check if it was done. It took me about 2 years to trust that it was cooked. You want the center to be juicy but not pink.
Does this help? Sorry I wasn't so complete with my directions :)
Thanks Christina and Wendy, can't wait to try both of those recipes!
y'all have a grill?
how about fried rice with stir fry veggies? If you don't know how to make fried rice, let me know. It's delicious homemade.
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