What's your favorite, easy weeknight dinner for you and the kids?

[Anonymous]

And yes, I'm looking for inspiration.

[Anonymous]

DC's favorite is cheese omelet with bacon and fruit on the side.

Others:
flank steak on the grill
ravioli with shrimp and broccoli
crock pot BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches

[Anonymous]

When DH isn't around (he is weird and doesn't like breakfast foods) we like to do breakfast for dinner. Pancakes/waffles, eggs, and ham or other breakfast meat.

[Anonymous]

I like this beef, mushroom and blue cheese tart from better homes and gardens: (It's easy!!)

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef/beef-mushroom-and-onion-tart/

[Anonymous]

My go-to dishes:

1) chickpeas in Indian simmer sauce, basmati rice, naan, samosas (the last three you can buy frozen from Whole Foods)
2) pasta with fried egg, parm, asparagus
3) sloppy joes wit carrot sticks and potato chips
4) black bean and cheese quesadillas with guac and salsa
5) frozen pizza (TJs has great ones) with salad
6) marinated flank steak with potatoes and a green
7) steak fajitas
8) spinach omlettes
9) fish tacos (using fish sticks)

[Anonymous]

lately i've been doing lots of easy peasy quesadillas.

place tortilla on frying pan
liberally sprinkle shredded mozarella
add some chopped up frozen chicken nuggets (after they've been thawed in the microwave) and whatever other vegetables i have on hand, like mushrooms and scallions. if they're veggies that need time to cook, i just throw them in the microwave with the nuggets.
sprinkle some more mozarella
put other tortilla on top

let all the cheese melt and then flip it.

takes all of 5 minutes and i feel like i'm hitting all the food groups.

[Anonymous]

We eat mostly vegetarian/pescatarian at home, so here are some meatless options:

- eggs, toast, fruit (sometimes pancakes or french toast)
- quesadillas w/ leftover chicken, black beans, fruit like peaches, cheese, whatever you can throw in there.
- pasta with sauce and veggies thrown in
- mac & cheese w/ peas, tuna and applesauce (sounds weird, but DELISH)
- salmon sliders from TJ's w/ whatever vedge on side
- pierogies w/ veggies
- Love the recipes in Cooking Light. TONS of quick and easy recipes that are kid-friendly.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Maybe not my favorite, but fun once in a while: Fiesta Turkey Pasta (prep/cook time in about 30 minutes)
1. Brown one package of ground turkey (1 pound to 1.3 pounds)
2. Optional: add 1 cup chopped onion and 1 cup chopped red or green pepper and cook for 5 more minutes (I chop this up while the turkey is cooking)
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
4. Mix in 2 cups chunky salsa and 2 cups frozen (thawed) corn until heated through. Costco salsa works really well.
5. Optional: Add 4 oz shredded cheddar cheese and mix in. For extra spice, add red pepper flakes to taste.
6. While cooking the meat, cook 2 cups mini-pasta (eg penne, farfalle) according to package. Serve turkey over pasta.

[Anonymous]

When everything else fails, we do

au gratin potatoes (yes, from the box) - it takes 20 min
any meat - mostly chicken
canned green beans in the winter, in the summer, any veggies or salad.

[Anonymous]

The easiest quickest thing I've discovered is The Laughing Peach homemade meals. Really reasonable and my kids love the chicken tetrazinni and the vegetable lasagne. They deliver directly to your house. I get their newsletter but I think it is laughingpeach.com Not sure. Tastey food and all really healthy. They make a do die for couscous salad.

[Anonymous]

Spaghetti/tagliatelle/linguine carbonara with a side of whatever veg I have in the fridge.

[Anonymous]

Broiled chicken breast with spinach puree.

[Anonymous]

Whole wheat pita pizza. Regular cheese and tomato sauce for my kids. Often garlicky white pizza for me. Sometimes I roast some veggies and add those (again for me).

Served with steamed broccoli. That's as fast and easy as it gets.


Others:

Baked tilapia with a garlic herb and wine Grill Mates brand marinade and either peas or sweet potato fries.

Or grilled chicken again with a Chipotle Grill Mates marinade. Add a baby spinach, mandarin orange, blue cheese crumbles, and walnut salad.

Curried chicken salad (made the night before), either on bread or plain. Served with apple slices.

[Anonymous]

-To me, Trader Joe's preprepared/frozen sections are the best thing that ever happened. My goal is something that resembles a square meal, <15 minutes, <15 dollars, somewhat healthy. 4x/week. Have been on bedrest for last month so very limited cooking going on. And you can go there and stock up every 10 days or so even with limited kitchen/freezer space. Oh how I wish we had a TJs in Chinatown!!!

-Additionally, I thoroughly believe in 2 microwaves (for those of us in spaces too small for 2 ovens, really cuts the time down/allows you to sync the entree and vegs. And I got something from amazon called "fasta pasta" which is BPA free and makes pasta in 13 minutes in the micro, including high fiber kind)

The current rotation in our house:

TJs pre-prepared Chicken breast + near east couscous + frozen organic safeway peas
TJs organic beef roast or brisket + roasted redskin potatoes + froz spinach/broccoli
TJs or other froz chicken enchiladas + goya black beans in red can (BPA I know but super delish) + rice + green side
TJs froz chicken breast (# choices here) + pasta/sauce or rice/beans+ bagged salad
or
TJs froz turkey meatballs + safeway organic sauce (doctored up)/pasta + bag salad
Chicken Voila, TJs frozen pasta meal or Similar frozen meal from the Safeway
Costco turkey/spinach lasagna (fantabulous!) or Chicken Tikka Masala

Best of luck to you all and looking forward to rest of this thread

[Anonymous]

baked salmon, rice/quinoa, steamed veggie. Mexican night (bean quesadilla/burrito/tacos). tofu and veggie stirfry.