recipes that can be mostly prepared the night before

[Anonymous]

Sadly, I'm beyond "quick and easy." I get home at 5:45, my kids want to see me (and I want to see them), and our kitchen just isn't big enough to have them keep me company while I cook. So even many super-easy, half hour or less recipes aren't practical. I dont mind spending 1/2 hr or 45 mins the night before after the kids go to sleep if it means I can just pop something in the oven or microwave when I get home. All suggestions welcome.

[Anonymous]

You need a slow cooker! I love to make red beans and rice and pinto beans and rice and the beans just simmer away all day in the slow cooker. You could even do Minute Rice when you got home and would have dinner in 5 minutes.

The night before, put your bag of beans (small red beans for red beans and rice, pinto beans for pinto beans of course) in a pot and cover them with water to soak. For red beans and rice, chop up one onion, one green bell pepper, and two stalks of celery. For the pinto beans, an onion and a jalapeno or two and a green pepper.

In the morning, drain the beans and dump them in the slow cooker. Put in about 5 cups of water- you want the beans covered plus an inch or two of water above them. Dump in the chopped vegetables. For red beans and rice, throw in about 4 tbsp of cajun seasoning (I use Tony's) and some salt and pepper. For pinto beans, find a good Mexican seasoning- I have an ancho chile/herb blend or you could just find fajita or taco mix and use about 4 tbsp of that, plus salt and pepper. Let the beans cook on low for 8 or 9 hours- just to whatever time it is that you'll be home that night. When you get home, boil up some Minute Rice or even microwave rice, and put the beans over top. Serve with a salad or some fresh bread. This freezes really well too- just scoop servings into Ziploc bags, lay flat and seal up and lay them in your freezer. You can pull them out in the morning before you go to work and they'll be ready to microwave when you get home, or you can defrost really quickly in a sink of water when you get home and then microwave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need a slow cooker! I love to make red beans and rice and pinto beans and rice and the beans just simmer away all day in the slow cooker. You could even do Minute Rice when you got home and would have dinner in 5 minutes.

The night before, put your bag of beans (small red beans for red beans and rice, pinto beans for pinto beans of course) in a pot and cover them with water to soak. For red beans and rice, chop up one onion, one green bell pepper, and two stalks of celery. For the pinto beans, an onion and a jalapeno or two and a green pepper.

In the morning, drain the beans and dump them in the slow cooker. Put in about 5 cups of water- you want the beans covered plus an inch or two of water above them. Dump in the chopped vegetables. For red beans and rice, throw in about 4 tbsp of cajun seasoning (I use Tony's) and some salt and pepper. For pinto beans, find a good Mexican seasoning- I have an ancho chile/herb blend or you could just find fajita or taco mix and use about 4 tbsp of that, plus salt and pepper. Let the beans cook on low for 8 or 9 hours- just to whatever time it is that you'll be home that night. When you get home, boil up some Minute Rice or even microwave rice, and put the beans over top. Serve with a salad or some fresh bread. This freezes really well too- just scoop servings into Ziploc bags, lay flat and seal up and lay them in your freezer. You can pull them out in the morning before you go to work and they'll be ready to microwave when you get home, or you can defrost really quickly in a sink of water when you get home and then microwave.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share these specific tips for cooking rice and beans! I've been thinking I'd buy a new slow cooker to replace my 25 year old Rival--you've inspired me to do it!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the beans tip. Do black beans cook the same way in a slow cooker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the beans tip. Do black beans cook the same way in a slow cooker?

You know, my family won't eat those so I don't have direct experience, but hey, a bean's a bean, so I'm sure if you soaked them overnight and did them on low for 8 hours they'd come out just fine!

[Anonymous]

Oh, and in case I wasn't clear- make sure you are buying dry bagged beans! If you soak canned beans then cook them for 8 hours you will have literal mush!

[Anonymous]

NP here. I've sometimes spaced on soaking the beans the night before and simply put dry beans in the crockpot with a generous amount of water. Cooked on low the whole day or even on high for half the day they've come out OK.

Two other dump-and-run crockpot favorites are meat + envelope of grill-oriented marinade (currently loving chicken thighs + McCormick Baja Citrus, plus a few Tb of lime juice and some honey, shred and serve w/ tortillas, avocado and canned black beans), and meat + 1/2 c ketchup + 1/4 c cider vinegar + 1/4 c brown sugar for BBQ. (Add a little liquid smoke if you want to get fancy.) Both are cook on low until whenever.

[Anonymous]

I love my crock pot. America's Test Kitchen has a great new slow cooker recipe book. I bought it on Amazon. It uses all fresh ingredients, and everything I've cooked out of it has been excellent.

[Anonymous]

OP, here are some ideas off the top of my head --

in addition to crockpot meals, search for "once a month cooking", "freezer friendly" and "dump recipes". You should find a lot of resources on the internet.

I also buy some of the premade meals from Costco (chicken alfredo is my current favorite), repackage into smaller microwavable containers and freeze.

Rotisserie chicken is your friend. Lots of recipes out there.

Soups, chili and stew -- again a lot can be premade, frozen and defrosted during the day.

Once you figure out what your family will eat just add salad, fruit, veggie, etc. and voila, quick, easy, healthy meals!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks all. Do any of you crock pot devotees have a particular brand or features that I should look for? I've avoided crock pots forever because I always think of the ones from the 70s where everything comes out mushy and tasting the same, but maybe I need to update my thinking. Also, do you use during the summer? I see the appeal of stew or chili in the winter, but now...? Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks all. Do any of you crock pot devotees have a particular brand or features that I should look for? I've avoided crock pots forever because I always think of the ones from the 70s where everything comes out mushy and tasting the same, but maybe I need to update my thinking. Also, do you use during the summer? I see the appeal of stew or chili in the winter, but now...? Thanks again!

I just got the Cuisinart Crock Pot. It has a timer feature so you can set it for for however many hours that you want it to cook, and then it automatically shifts to the "warm" setting for 8 hours before it shuts off completely. So if you are gone for longer than an 8 hour day (usually the max time limit I see on crock pot recipes) then that may be a good option for you. Or, if the recipe does call for some prep work (see the other post on crock pot questions where you need to brown the meat first), you can just start cooking it at 9:00 pm for 8 hours, and then it will be on the warm setting when you wake up, and then you can let it cool for a bit and then transfer it to the fridge before you leave for work and then just reheat it when you get home.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I make this on a Sunday afternoon for dinner on Monday:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Oven-Baked-Ziti-with-Three-Cheeses-2496

Chili works beautifully in the crockpot - serve w/grated cheese and Jiffy cornbread.

Steak/beef tips - marinate the night before (use tips rather than full-blown flank steaks) and sautee in a pan.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Flank-Steak-with-Rosemary-731

Serve w/rice pilaf, or roasted baby potatoes & salad (can do potatoes on a weekend, freeze, heat up in 15 min or less).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I make this on a Sunday afternoon for dinner on Monday:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Oven-Baked-Ziti-with-Three-Cheeses-2496

Chili works beautifully in the crockpot - serve w/grated cheese and Jiffy cornbread.

Steak/beef tips - marinate the night before (use tips rather than full-blown flank steaks) and sautee in a pan.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Flank-Steak-with-Rosemary-731

Serve w/rice pilaf, or roasted baby potatoes & salad (can do potatoes on a weekend, freeze, heat up in 15 min or less).

Op here - that steak is one of my standbys too! I do a lot of meats where i can prep yhe night before, like burgers or turkey burgers, then grill when i get home.

[Anonymous]

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