Mastering the kitchen: Simple ideas
Simple breakfast ideas (pick two or three for your one-week menu plan):
Cold cereal and milk
Oatmeal with brown sugar, butter, and milk
Toast and eggs
Toast and fruit
Muffins (make the night before or make a big batch on the weekend and freeze to use throughout the week)
Simple lunches (pick two or three for your one-week menu plan):
Peanut butter and jelly, fruit
Open-faced tuna fish with pickles and a slice of cheese - broil for a few minutes, carrot sticks
Grilled cheese and tomato soup (canned)
Turkey and cheese, sliced cucumbers and peppers
Mixed salad greens topped with shredded cheese and a little shredded meat, fresh bread (made in the bread machine)
Simple suppers:
-Roast beef, potatoes, carrots (Put in the crockpot in the afternoon with some water, salt, pepper, garlic salt and simmer for 5 hours), salad
-Spaghetti (Brown some ground beef with onions, pour in a jar os spaghetti sauce and diced italian tomatoes, simmer, boil spaghetti noodles), salad, bread
-Homemade pizza (Not hard to do and I can whip up this entire dinner in 45 minutes or less - You can even use a pizza dough mix from the store to make it easier. Top with about a fourth cup spaghetti or pizza sauce, pepperoni, chicken, or ground beef, a veggie or two (if you'd like) and cheese. Bake.), salad
-Waffles or pancakes or french toast, eggs, and sausage or bacon
-Southwest Roll-ups (Mix 2 Tbsp. salsa, 1 can refried beans, and 1 cup chicken - cooked and cubed. Spoon mixture onto tortillas, place seam side down in 9 x13 pan, Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes, sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.), salad
-Italian chicken (Saute 2 chicken breasts in 1 tsp. oil with 1 clove garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, with salt and peper, parsley, oregano, basil. Remove chicken and cut up. Add 1 chopped onion to the pan and saute onions. Add chicken and 1 cans diced Italian tomatoes.) served over rice or noodles, salad, can of green beans
-Pasta salad (Cook 8 oz of pasta and drain. Add 1 can black loives, 2 tomatoes diced, 1/2 cup frozen peas, 3/4-1 cup Italian dressing, 2 cups chicken. Toss and refrigerate until serving. You could also add red or yellow peppers, cubed cheese, etc.)
Some tips to speeding up dinner preparation:
-Look at your menu plan in the morning and try to do ahead anything you can. I have a short time allotment in my schedule in the morning that is for dinner preparation. Pull frozen meat out, chop up anything you can, put the ingredients into the bread machine for fresh bread, etc. Waiting until the last minute to prepare dinner always makes it harder. Believe me, I know.
-When you arrive home from the store, do all the food prep you can while putting your groceries away. Wash and chop veggies, cook the chicken breasts, chop, and freeze in 1-2 cup portions, wash all your lettuce and tear it so that you can have fresh lettuce for salads all week long.
-Double up. If you like to have bread with your dinners, don't just make enough for one dinner. Bake bread once or twice a week and plan to use it for multiple dinners.
**Other ideas or input from all you wise women is welcomed!**
posted by Crystal Paine at 9:25 AM
3 Comments:
Just a little note on homemade pizza...I love homemade crusts, but when I need something super-easy I use pitas for personal-sized pizza crusts (For a crispier crust, brush lightly with oil and bake for a couple minutes before adding toppings). They work great, my husband likes them, and they only cost about $1.50 for a package of 6! I always try to keep a package or two in the freezer for quick meals.
Here are just a few more easy meal ideas:
Tacos
Taco Salad
Pasta with olive oil, fresh tomatoes, basil, etc. (many, many variations can be made!)
Soups of all kinds with salad and bread
I agree with the crockpot ideas! They make for very quick and easy cooking.
I love menus. I use them for inspiration. There are so many wonderful food blogs and reading cookbooks can be a great education, too!
My advice ~ Get it down now before the children come and you have less time to think over the details. I so wish that I would have learned organization of my household before the children arrived. I've always loved to cook but keeping a house in order is another story!
For breakfast I found that simple is really good. We stick to cold cereal or oatmeal. You do not have to spend a fortune on cereal, Walmart will have corn flakes for just over a $1 a box and I find if I watch sales I can find other cereal for that price. Otherwise we eat oatmeal, which is cheap and filling. I don't usually eat breakfast, but if I do it is a piece of fruit or tea and toast
For lunch we usually stay again real simple. Sandwiches- either peanut butter and jelly or tuna If we have cheese then cheese and veggie
Salad is good too, lettuce cucumbers and tomatoes
Dinner is the only one with variety, but I try to stay simple and cheap with that too. Usually, it is soup, or a one dish rice dish. Those are very common dinners. Soup serve with bread and rice dishes with salad.
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