Quick weeknight dinners go here (shortcuts and prepared food tips welcomed)

[seattlegirl]

Since so many of us have limited time on weeknights, let's share our tips and recipes here so we can expand our go-tos.

I'll start:
Slice a turkey kielbasa (Jennie-O) into bite-sized pieces. Saute in a bit of olive oil in a large frying pan. When browned, throw in a bag of prewashed sugar snap peas and stir-fry until they are just barely tender.
There.  Food.  Eat it. 

[BonitaApplebum]

Our easiest go to involves frozen meatballs from BJs, pasta, and jarred sauce (we like Rao’s). It’s not sexy, but everyone eats it and it’s ready in like ten minutes. Bagged salad on the side rounds it out.

[minpinz]

One of my quickie meals is Black Bean Soup

1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
Saute in tablespoon of butter until soft
3 cans undrained black beans
2 cans of Rotel
1/2 cup sherry (optional)
Bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes
*I also add sliced kielbasa or smoked sausage and saute that with the veggies.   

[roadstrailstris]

A couple of easy go-tos for me are turkey chili and turkey soup. For the chili I buy a spice pack. Sautee the turkey, add spice pack, two cans of crushed tomatoes, a few different types of beans, some salt and pepper, maybe add in beer for flavoring- obviously, the alcohol cooks off. I'll do that in the morning and leave it on low heat all day.

Turkey soup: Cut up rotissere turkey breast, or just use frozen strips of turkey, conatiner of chicken broth, cut up potatoes, green beans, onion, some grape tomatoes, and put it in the slow cooker all day. Serve with a loaf of bread. Done.

[Lintu]

Something that's generally really helpful is keeping frozen diced onions in the freezer.  Faster than chopping up onions or worrying about whether you have any.

This is one of my fave fast meals.  I serve it with broccoli (usually steam bag during the week, but I may roast it on weekends): https://bellyfull.net/2015/02/23/skillet-beans-and-rice-with-kielbasa/

[seattlegirl]

Mmmm, I love beans.

[Natasha]

Love this thread! Here are my quickies.

Guacamole toast: Toast bread, mash up some guacamole and season with lemon or lime juice and salt. Spread the mashed avocado on toast and top with a sprinkle of Bagel Everything (optional).

 Quesadilla thing with cheese and scrambled egg. The video is only a minute long. I have to spice it up. http://twitter.com/i/status/1176277860459237378

[TwistedFlax]

We spend $2 more for the pre-sliced peppers at the grocery store.  Sauté with some frozen cooked chicken and a little lime juice. Boom, fajitas.



Two turkey tenderloins in the crock pot with a 1/4 cup water and a packet of Italian seasoning. Shred after work, serve on buns with provolone, tomatoes, and baby spinach from a bag.

[Natasha]

There's a kielbasa theme going on here.

[seattlegirl]

Quesadillas is a good one!

Eggs scrambled with leftover veggies, side of toast.

[diablita]

We spend $2 more for the pre-sliced peppers at the grocery store.  Sauté with some frozen cooked chicken and a little lime juice. Boom, fajitas.

One of my favorite easy meals is one sheet pan shrimp fajitas.  Sliced peppers (pre-sliced if I'm in a rush) and onions, shrimp (I always spring for peeled and deveined shrimp; cleaning shrimp grosses me out), lime juice and a sprinkle of seasoning (e.g., chili powder, cumin, cayenne) plus salt and pepper baked at 400 for 10 minutes.  Done.  Tortillas or rice on the side.

[Natasha]

Grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's tomato soup.

[bookworm1]

Stuff I regularly keep in my pantry- Tinned diced tomatoes which when mixed with dried garlic, basil, oregano, onion powder, salt and pepper can make a quick pasta sauce that is much tastier than jarred sauce. Throw in some kalamata olives and noodles and you have dinner. Veggie chili with lentils, beans, tinned tomatoes and seasoning. Lentil tacos in the instant pot. Soup with whatever leftovers and veg are lying around.

I try to keep a good supply of better than bouillon stock, canned tomatoes and beans in the cabinet along with some dried pasta and barley, all of which can be made up really quickly into something palatable when we run out of ideas.

[Lintu]

There's a kielbasa theme going on here.

If it was healthy to eat kielbasa every day, I would

[Natasha]

Here's another quick video from Kenji Lopez-Alt's feed. He calls it Late Night Tortilla Jian Bing. I haven't tried it yet but probably will once I pick up some cilantro and scallions.

http://youtu.be/sqevRnFcEE0

[nadra24]

So occasionally when I'm really organized, I cook a roast or a bunch of chicken breasts on Sunday afternoon and shred the meat. I also cook a couple of different veggies, like carrots, broccoli, and onions/peppers. Some of that is Sunday dinner, but I make enough for a few more meals.  Then for the next few days, each family member can dress up their meat/veggies how they like them. Meat and onions/peppers on a tortilla with salsa--fajitas. Meat and whichever veggies you prefer with teriyaki sauce--stir fry. BBQ sauce or Trader Joe's balsamic glaze on the meat with veggies on the side. Toss with pasta and marinara for Italian. I have all of these sauces in my fridge or pantry. When I make rice or mashed potatoes I make big portions and freeze in 1-2 serving portions, so we can use that for the starch if we're not doing bread or tortillas.

It does require organization on my part, but it's really not that much more work than just making dinner on Sunday other than steaming or stir frying some extra veggies. And it's nice because we can each make our meals the way we like them.

[radial]

Cook up some ground beef in the Instant Pot.  15 minutes on high pressure.  While that's cooking, sautee fresh vegetables and/or pull some pre-roasted ones out of the fridge.  Onion, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower, squash, cabbage, radishes, bok choy, etc.  When the meat is done, add the veggies plus a can of Rotel and season with salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste.  Eat it right out of a bowl or ladle it over a bed of leftover rice.  It's got everything you need, it only takes 20 minutes to make, and it tastes pretty good. 

[rocketgirl]

My regular things (besides sandwiches) are:

Breakfast for dinner (eggs, heat pre-cooked bacon, toast)

Grilled salmon (I use a grill pan so when it flakes, I don't lose any) with bag o salad or grilled veggies.  I marinate briefly in white wine and season with whatever (salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, paprika, cayenne) or marinate briefly in bourbon with whatever seasoning appeals to me (like bbq seasoning or burger seasoning).

For grilled veggies, asparagus is easy with olive oil, butter, salt, garlic powder in a grill pan thing.  So is sliced yellow squash which can go directly on the grill if you slice longways.)

Grilled steak (although you have to set it out for a bit first).  Usually just salt, pepper, powdered garlic.  I might spray cooking spray on it.  Steak is less work than salmon because I can put it directly on the grill - one less grill pan to scrub.

Puttanesca is easy and mostly self-stable ingredients, but you've got to let it simmer a while.  Heat olive oil, then add canned anchovies or a splash of fish sauce (or not), garlic (I use the stuff in a jar in the fridge for this), then capers, canned diced tomatoes, and seasoning (salt, lots of basil, red pepper flakes).  You can throw in leftover peppers or onions or kalamata olives.  Simmer a while.  You can add spinach toward the end.  You can serve over pasta or grilled chicken.  (I have a counter-top grill, so grilling boneless chicken tenders is fast and easy - about 7 minutes.)  Unfortunately, puttanesca is not "fast" from a cooking standpoint- I like to cook it around 40 minutes.  But prep is nothing.

Adding my favorite chicken marinade (also good on pork chops) - white wine, salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary.  I don't ever just eat chicken, but chicken seasoned this way is good with the puttanesca above, any pasta really, and good in salads.  (Seriously.  Goes well in the bag o caesar salad, or the pear & walnut salad, or a spinach salad, or a Greek salad.) 

My counter-top grill is seriously my favorite thing along with my outside gas grill.  I use the counter top grill for the boneless chicken tenders, kielbasa, grilled sandwiches/panini, reheating pizza (with parchment paper around it to keep cheese from sticking), and even toast (because I don't have a toaster and why would I add another thing to my counter when I have this).

[BonitaApplebum]

Here's another quick video from Kenji Lopez-Alt's feed. He calls it Late Night Tortilla Jian Bing. I haven't tried it yet but probably will once I pick up some cilantro and scallions.

http://youtu.be/sqevRnFcEE0

I feel like anything from Kenji is probably good.

[Lintu]

I feel like anything from Kenji is probably good.

I ended up watching a bunch of those videos.  I can't get into the one posted because ick, cilantro, but I'll totally make an egg quesadilla sometime when I need something cheesy and carby.