Meal ideas??

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lilyofthefield -> Meal ideas?? (6/25/2008 10:07:49 AM)
I hope it's okay to post this as a new thread here - wasn't sure where else to ask. We have a new baby and it's hard to make dinner during the week since dh often gets home from work pretty late. I'm looking for ideas on anything I can make on the weekend to have during the week (some that can be frozen for later in the week). Does anyone have any suggestions or recipes (like casseroles, soups, stews)?

Georgia-Peach -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/25/2008 10:22:01 AM)
A crockpot is your best fried...at least for me it was. You put the stuff in, turn it on, and then forget about it till dinner time. You can cook so much in those things: spaghetti sauce, chili, roast, beef stew, pulled pork/chicken, meatballs, soups, desserts, etc. I know that lasagna and baked ziti both freeze well. I also make chicken tetrazini which I have never frozen, but I am sure it would do fine. I haven't made it in a while so I will have to find my recipe card and post it in a bit. Another thing that is easy to do is roast a whole chicken eat off it one night, debone and shred whatever meat is left and you already have meat ready for another meal. I use the leftover shredded chicken in chicken tacos or chicken n yellow rice. Yummy!

lilyofthefield -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/25/2008 12:37:49 PM)
Thank you, Chelle - I hadn't thought about the crock pot - I usually just use it in the winter, but I need to pull it out! I like the idea of the roasted chicken too - I can just get one at the store and use it for 2 meals. [:)]

pbaribeault -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/25/2008 4:34:15 PM)
Try this: Buy a 6lb bulk buy of extra lean ground beef (or 10lbs). Get all your frying pans going on your stove and brown it all up. Drain it (with a sieve over a bowl) and spoon it into 6 freezer bags. Visit the recent thread about what to do with ground beef, copy and print out 6 easy recipes that all start with "brown a lb of ground beef". Also think of what things you often do for yourself starting with browning the beef (tacos, casseroles, hamburger helper, shepherd's pie). Instead of staring with browning though, you just dump the (thawed) beef into the pan and continue with whatever else needs to happen. Most of the time this will end up taking less that 10 minutes. Next weekend buy a bulk-buy of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (real ones, not frozen-reconstituted). Cut them apart or slice them on a horizontal diagonal to make 2 smaller portions out big breasts, so that nothing is too thick. Get all you frying pans going, spray with a tiny bit of oil and cook the breasts through. Pack them in freezer bags and jot out what you think you might do with them (stir fry, chicken Caesar salad, BBQ sauce chicken, casseroles, chicken on pasta with various sauces). Next weekend, buy 10 lbs of potatoes and make mashed potatoes out of the whole bag. Pack & freeze. Use sour cream to make them creamier for thawing. Next weekend... Basically, instead of freezing whole meals, which always bother me somehow, just pre-cook the items that take a long time, then use those things to super fast-track your normal meals. Other items might be: ham, pork chops, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, brown rice, turkey portions, ground turkey mixed with mild Italian pork sausage... whatever goes into your usual types of cooking.

3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/25/2008 8:17:11 PM)
When you do have the chance to cook, double or bulk cook! I often double spaghetti and put any leftovers into a casserole dish with parmesan sprinkled on top. Then it's ready to be popped in the oven or microwave to heat up (I prefer the oven, for a crispy top). I also regularly make a pot of black beans and rice and double it--and then over the next week or so eat the leftovers in wraps for lunch. You can also layer beans/rice with cheese, salsa and broken up tortillas to make a casserole to freeze. One pot meals or meals with rice (which freezes decently) are good. A crockpot is really good for one pot meals, things like meat and veggie roasts, etc. My favorite crockpot meal: 2-3 lb chicken pieces 1 can diced tomatoes 1 onion, chopped garlic powder or chopped garlic to taste 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp ginger 1 Tbls curry powder salt and pepper to taste Cook on high 4-5 hours (low, 8-9 hours) Add 1 can tomato sauce with 1 Tbls sugar mixed in. Yummmmmy! :) ETA: it occurs to me that you could make this a "one pot meal" by adding quartered potatoes with the chicken, and then dumping in a bag of frozen peas in the last hour or so). If you don't have a lot of freezer space for whole meals, just having things like chopped onions, cooked rice, browned beef, chopped meat, etc. are a huge help.

Leslie_JnJs_mom -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 12:05:45 AM)
Baked Ziti Buy the Ziti pasta, Take some premade sauce and pour it in a pan. I add a bit of water just to be sure the pasta gets soft. Pour in the pasta. Take some cottage, ricotta or a mixture of both and pour into a bowl. Stir in some parsley and egg then more pasta sauce. Pour that over the pasta in the pan. Add mozzarella on top and bake for at least an hour for the pasta to get soft. It is so easy and you can make extra for lunches and even another dinner.

HisCovenant -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 9:15:40 AM)
I like to make Lasagna ahead. Cook all ingredients and assemble in baking dish, then put in fridge. Pop it into the oven on the night you want to cook. You can freeze it, too, but you need to make a juicier sauce (like add 1/4-1/2 cup extra liquid to the tomato sauce before assembling) if you do that because freezing casseroles dries them out. I also like to make pots of chili and veggie soup to pull out of the freezer. You can use any recipe. I freeze mine in the two serving sized portions. My secret for the veggie soup (which took me years to learn...go figure!!) is 1 can tomatoes/ 4 cups beef broth, garlic, and a large sprig of thyme... you can add any beef and veggies to that and it turns out great. One thing I do that's not cook ahead, but is almost as easy is this: Place chicken or pork chops in italian dressing so it mariniates while you do the rest of this. Heat grill. Cut two veggies in half and clean them (peppers, zucchini, squash are my go-to's.) Place everything on the grill on indirect heat. Come back in the middle of cooking time (depending on how high you cook and how thick the meat is) and turn once. Take off grill at end of cooking time (15 minutes to 30 minutes.) Your effort for this meal takes about 5 minutes and you can almost forget it while it cooks.

lilyofthefield -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 10:13:59 AM)
Wow!! Thank you all so much for the great ideas! I'm actually feeling excited about doing this now instead of intimidated. [:)] Pam, I never thought of pre-cooking the meats that way - great idea! Maggie - thank you for the recipe - I can't wait to try it! LJM and Zippy - lasagna and ziti are definitely going to be in my arsenal! LOL Zippy, I guess I can still do that on an electric indoor grill?? ETA: Pam, I couldn't find the ground beef thread. Could you please give me a link? Thanks![:)]

Georgia-Peach -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 11:03:45 AM)
Sloppy joes are another quicky to make and if you already have the hamburger meat cooked, it would be done in no time. I should precook my hamburger meat, that is a great idea!

HisCovenant -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 11:13:48 AM)
I don't have an electric grill. I imagine you could do it if: 1. your grill had a cover and 2. your grill had two heating elements so you could grill indirectly. If you had to grill directly over the heat w/o a cover, you would have to watch it a little more while it was on the grill.

Boats -> RE: Meal ideas?? (6/26/2008 1:21:20 PM)
quote: A crockpot is your best fried...at least for me it was. Mine too. it plus a timer plug was the bomb. [:D] I can get it all together the night before, set the timer and have a yummy dinner the next night. My Mom swears by the liners they have now. A George Foreman grill is a good friend as well. Boats [sm=pirateparot.gif]

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