What’s For Dinner?

Ok, you guys– it’s happened again.

I am bored to tears with my cooking lately, and I need some recipe help all up in here. I’m in a rut and I don’t want to produce ho-hum meals, I want to feel like THIS about dinner:

That’s not too much to ask, is it?

And there’s something else:  It *appears* as if at long last (but no final announcement until it’s all, um, final– I don’t wanna jinx it!) I will soon be verrrrrry busy doing something that rhymes with ‘lacking’ as we prepare to do something that rhymes with ‘groove”… (I KNOW!!!)

So I need some relatively quick, not a lot of prep time-type meal plans. I do not want to be so rushed and distracted that we end up resorting to this:

Or… this:

(Seriously– how creepy is that kid?!)

Or even THIS:

I just know that these upcoming weeks are going to be a little crazed and stressful, so I’m definitely going to be needing some good ideas for some easy dinners– can you help a sistah out?

Leave ‘em in the comments!

10 Responses

  1. jonny

    Concerning your first ‘this’ photo; do they even make those any more ?? I have a book a can give you a heads-up on that has helped a few people in your situation. It was even highly praised by one friend working at a restaurant close to where I live. I’ll share the title, and maybe a link, after I know which one it is –

  2. babygirl

    Cheeseburger Pie

    1 lb. ground beef
    1 Onion, diced
    Minced Garlic
    Salt/Pepper to taste
    1/2 cup of shredded cheese of your choice
    i can crescent rolls

    In saucepan, saute’ diced onion in a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add ground beef and cook thoroughly. Drain well. Add any seasonings you like here. Fold in the cheese. Place mixture in pie plate. Separate the crescent roll dough and place the triangles around the top of the mixture with the points facing the center of the plate. Bake @ 350 degrees until golden brown.

    Hope this helps. I have lots of shortcut meals like this.

  3. jonny

    OK, Jamie Oliver has a 15 and a 30 minute meals cook books out with recipes from around the world; some scrolling is required —

    http://www.jamieoliver.com/books-and-media/

  4. Stephanie Hortman

    If you like sour cream, try poppyseed chicken
    Cook/buy enough chicken to cover bottom of casserole dish when cut into pieces (I bake it myself sometimes and sometimes buy those precoooked strips or rottessorie chicken)
    mix 1 can cream of chicken soup with one 8oz container of sour cream and cover chicken
    Make topping by melting 1 stick of butter and mixing with one sleeve crushed Ritz and poppyseeds to taste
    Put topping on chicken mix and bake 25-30 minutes at 350

  5. blondie

    I’ve been enjoying this blog lately. Maybe you will too…

    http://thestonesoup.com/blog/start-here/#

    “Stonesoup is a blog about helping YOU make simple meals. It’s about meals that taste good, use healthy whole ingredients AND can be made (mostly) in minutes.

    Most recipes here contain 5 ingredients. Don’t let the simplicity fool you into thinking Stonesoup meals aren’t going to taste amazing. If they didn’t make my taste buds sing, I wouldn’t be here.”

  6. tori

    YOU GUYS ARE GOLDEN!! I am taking advantage of every single suggestion! And though Madi Rose and I like to think of ourselves as having the most discriminating palates of the family… you KNOW we will be all over those good ol’ family casserole-type dishes! Russ will love it, and Charlotte will eat dirt if you put enough sour cream and cheese on it.
    small-j– I have cooked some of Jamie Oliver’s food before and loved it, but I haven’t checked out his 15-30 minute recipes. I’m on it!

  7. JanetB

    I wanna know…what happened to the vitamin donuts?

  8. tori

    JanetB: I KNOW– it’s genius! Why didn’t we think of that?!

  9. LindaB

    You’re gonna COOK while you’re moving? I mean “grooving”?? Really?

    Well, I have one idea for ya. I fix this when we are really busy and have no time to cook like I usually do. And it involves cream of mushroom soup, which isn’t exactly gourmet or healthy, but it’s food and it requires just one pan so it’s easy to clean up. In a big skillet brown the appropriate number of chicken breasts(or pork chops, or small steaks), then push to one side and add red potatoes unpeeled and shrubbed, several whole onions, and a large can of green beans(or carrots) or frozen peas. Then mix one can of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken or celery) with a half can of water and pour over all. Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash or Lawry’s Season salt and a couple pats of butter. Then simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. Done! One pan to clean. No fresh veggies to clean and cut. And no oven needed to heat up your house while you’re working yourself into a sweat. ( You can buy a bag of already cut up salad. Heaven forbid! But you don’t have to tell anybody.) We used to make this when we were camping and the kids liked it so much, they still ask for it. (Or maybe they just miss camping.)

  10. Barbara M. Lloyd

    Here’s a dessert that is perfect for summer and/or diabetics…and rather tasty for everyone.

    1 bought (yep) angel food cake, sugar free
    1 carton Cool Whip, sugar free
    1 6 oz. pkg. strawberry jello, sugar free
    1 carton fresh, sweet strawberries, sliced

    Pull into chunks the angelfood cake….then start layering into a springform pan:

    chunks of angel food cake
    Sliced strawberries
    Pour over, Portion of liquid jello
    Smooth over with some of Cool Whip
    …….then repeat, ending with Cool Whip

    After making up the jello, let it cool to the point it won’t simply run right through everything. Cover top with saran wrap (if you have the patience) and put in refrigerator…preferably overnight.

    Talk about easy! If your strawberries turn out to be not very sweet…stir in some Splenda after slicing.

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