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I need some inspiration for easy and quick midweek meals. My regulars are getting a bit old and boring and I have no idea what else to try. It needs to be quick and easy as I'm not a great cook and ds2 is generally hanging off my legs while I'm trying to get dinner sorted. If I can make it ahead during sleep time that's even better! Hit me with ideas!
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Quiche
Beef Strognoff
Lasagna
Rissoto
Stirfry
Do you have a slow cooker?
todays was a super quick meal of tuna mornay with couscous!
Staples in our mid-week menu are:
Spag bol
Lamb and vege fried rice
Chicken and vege stirfry
Schnitzel and salad / veges
Chicken parmy, mash and corn
Fish and salad
Leftover lasagne, chips and salad
Lentil curry
Quickest and unhealthiest option is bacon and egg toasted sandwiches... A usual Thursday or Friday night dish!
Pork chops and salad
Steak and salad
Family pie and vege
Roast and vege
Chicken legs and fried rice
Chicken schnitzel and vege/salad
Salmon pasta
Sausages on bread
Lasagna
Toasted sandwiches
roast chook from deli and oven vege
Pork and prawn wontons
I'm not very adventurous, but these are our usual!
Here's whats been on our menu:
Udon and wonton noodle soup - with lots of asian vege
Crustless quiche and vege
Beef and red wine casserole in the slow cooker
Potato and bacon bit pancakes - sooo yummy
Pizza - homemade or frozen depending on energy levels
Spag bol
Our favourites easy meals are mentioned above also.
They include
Spag bol
Butter chicken
Apricot chicken
Beef strog
Sausages, onion and gravy with vegies
A BBQ from the deli with hot chips and Pasta
A chicken and vegie pie (costs $3) with vegies
DH loves creamy chicken bacon Pasta.
Kids love shepherds pie
Hamburgers (only when hot but)
Roasts are hot in this house also. I can prepare them at around 2-3pm and then nothing needs doing really until serving up time. Love Pork with all the trimmings or a Roast lamb (not cheap but easy)
Occassionally chicken burgers (burger with salad and mayo)
Spare ribs with greek salad and hot chips
Lamb cuttlets (not cheap either) with vegies
Pasta with mince or chicken in it. We get the Pasta sauce in the Jar its another cheap and easy one.
I've recently started to peel the vegies at approx 3pm so there isn't as much cleaning and preparing to do in my busy time of bathing, DH coming home and getting dinner ready.
We are so boring compared to some
We have
Chicken tonight and rice
Tuna bake
Spaghetti
Lasagne
Rissoles and veg
Tacos
Chow mien
Shep pie
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Rice (one of the microwave packs with flavouring) Chicken Skewers and salad
Tacos
Roast
Stirfry (I cut everything up when the kids are quiet)
Spag bol (can make the bolgnaise sauce earlier in the day then put pasta on later)
Chicken curry (in the slow cooker). Sometimes I cut everything up the night before then put it on int he morning
Beef Curry in the oven
Chilli Con Carne (cook the chill up earleir in the day then make some rice to serve)
Lasagne (I make in bulk and freeze a couple before they go in the oven, then just thaw and cook in the oven when having a bad day)
Corned beef in the slow cooker, steamed veg and a microwave pasta packet
Chicken burritos - chicken diced, taco seasoning, jar salsa, tin chick peas and tin kidney beans cook chicken, stir the rest through then put in tortillas and top with cheese, roll and bake in oven for 5 minutes, easy reheat ok - just a bit soggy. Filling can be made in advance but only takes about 5-10 minutes anyway. These are the kids favourites
If Im really tired baked beans and toast or scrambled eggs
These are my lazy cooking ideas
I love that the meal ideas are simple. Some of the over the top ones just are too much hassle mid week.
Here's our mid-week meals list:
Pork Chops with veggies or salad
Chicken soup (easily made ahead of time)
Spaghetti bolognese - any leftover bolognese sauce then turned into lasagne
Grilled haloumi cheese and salad (easy and super quick)
Grilled fish with salad or rice and veggies
Thanks for all the suggestions, they all sound so yummy!
Violet star: yes we do have a slowcooker but i mainly just use it for spag sauce or roast. Id love to use it a bit more.
I tend to like stove top meals over oven meals as with two little people on the move i worry that one of them will touch the oven while im chasing the other. Iv been hassling dh for gates on the kitchen for ages!
We tend to do have:
Chilli Con Carne a fair bit
Spag but im sick of the packet mix that we use so want to learn how to make it from scratch
Burgers
Home made pizza (our pizza maker is the bomb!)
Spinach and feta pie
Meat and veg/salad
maple chicken (donna hay recipe, sooooo yummy if you like sweet things)
tacos
burritos
Today is playgroup day so i have a pot of chilli on the stove all made so when i get home i can just make the rice (snap sararose) as i always have two grumpy hungry children on wed arvo's.
I love to make risotto but need dh at home to keep ds's busy as they tend to mill around while im cooking and risotto is so labour intensive.
Mid week cooking is hard work with two little people around so the easier the better!
donna hay has a couple of nice risotto recipes in her chicken cookbook that you do in the oven - i do the one with chicken & pumpkin quite often & it's easy (although uses the oven that you're trying to avoid!)
i also do:
chicken parmas - pretty easy, just a schnitzel with a tomato sauce (if i'm in a hurry just some tinned or chopped tomatoes with herbs), then some cheese on top & i often just grill at the end
chicken satay with rice
sausages with either baked vegies or salad
steak with salad & oven chips/baked potato - or if i can't be bothered, i make it a steak sandwich
grilled chicken in turkish bread with sweet chilli, cheese & salad
slow cooker curries
meatloaf
Other things I do regularly ...
- smoked chicken "cabonara"
- home made baked beans with fetta and sausages
- souvlaki
- fajitas
- Asian spiced pork belly with rice and Asian greens
- slow cooker curries
- zucchini fritters
- meat pie (I do the filling using beef cubes done in the slow cooker)
- chilli con carne
-
Goodness me I need to expand my meals too! My problem is not knowing to make half the time!
Home made pizza on sougdough flat bread wraps
stirfry
Spinach and ricotta triangles (bit of prep but not many ingredients)
rice bake with anything chucked in and Tahini to make puffy
vegie bake
Loads of salads! with cous cous or quinoa in it, nuts, sun dried toms, olives, fetta/cheese, sprouts, beans etc even fruit like orange or kiwi
Potato salad, rice salad etc
burritos, tacos
nachos (yes we have it often enough lol) with everything to go with it, inc avo, sour cream and a big salad!
lots of curries in winter
polenta bake
roast veg and home made bread
a yummy spag is super easy to make with most things in your cupboard/fridge. I always cook beef mince up in a big pot, add some tomato paste, crushed tomato's, a little red wine & then some mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Then to add more flavour I add a dash of bbq sauce, sometimes a dash of sweet chilli and there's always a bay leaf floating around. Just let it simmer, easy. We always serve with angel hair pasta.....love it. This is the same base for my lasagna.
Others we have that are super easy.....
Zuccini Pie
Tuna Pie
Wraps with salad and either Chick or Beef Strips
Taco's (chicken or beef)
Steak, Salad/Veg
Fried Rice and Chicken skewers
Buritos (get these at our chicken shop...so yummy) with Salad
Chicken Chow Mein with crunchy noodles
Sausages (gourmet one's) with Salad/Veg
Toasted Sandwiches
Fish & Salad
Trail Mix Cous Cous (made on my kitchen rules & is awesome) with marinated meat
Pie with Salad/Veg
Quiche & Salad
My easy homemade spag sauce is-
olive oil
tinned crushed tomatoes
red wine
crushed garlic
grated carrots/zucchini/pumpkin/onions/mushrooms (any veggies you can grate, like and want to add)
tomato paste
beef mince
bacon (if I have it)
dried mixed herbs
salt/pepper
water if necessary
Generally I cook the mince, take it out of the fry pan, then add the oil, grated onion and garlic and cook that for a little while, add the rest of the veggies and cook for a few mins. Then add the wine cook for a while, tomatoes, bacon and herbs and add back in the mince. Simmer gently until you want to eat it! (LOL, re-reading that, sorry there are no quantities or times, I don't take notice of them, I just *know* how much and when...!)
Other easy dinners we have are
omlettes with capsicum/muchrooms/corn niblets/peas (again what you like and want to add!) bacon and grated cheese. Serve with salad.
Cobb Salad
Store-brought BBQ chicken, several different ways. Shredded into fried rice. Chicken noodle soup. Quick chicken curry. Chicken and salad wraps on mountain bread.
Breakfast for dinner- snags, bacon, fried/scrambled eggs, toast (if I'm feeling energetic, I might do some buttered mushrooms, tomato and onion and baked beans too)
Pumpkin soup with fresh crusty rolls
Marinated chicken legs (usually a store brought marinade) with corn cobs and salad/steamed veggies.
Savoury mince and potato and pumpkin mash
Bacon and egg pie
Beef mince rissoles with steamed baby potatoes and veg
wow great thread :)
This is definitely going to come in handy when I finally get back to meal planning :)
thanks everyone!
I usually prep dinner when DS is napping as he's a cling-on - so meals have to be super easy here too. We are having lots of salads lately 'cos it's so hot but DS wasn't really eating much of the usual salad type stuff so we've had to expand our ideas:
Salad ideas - the usual cue, tom, lettuce, avo, spinach leaves plus asparagus or snow peas (m'wave for 30 seconds), beans, broccoli, cauli (M'wave a little too), capsicum, raw carrot, mung beans etc, spinach leaves, raw mushrooms, tinned corn/kidney beans/mixed beans/beetroot, olives, gherkins, sundried toms, cheese, boiled egg, some kind of deli meat (ham, roast beef, turkey etc). I'm sure there's other stuff but I can't think atm!
Honey soy chicken drumsticks (mix a spoonful of honey with a spoonful of soy plus a little chicken stock plus water and garlic, pour over the chicken and bake for 1 hour), served hot with cous cous and veg or cold with salad (can be cooked in the oven when DS is napping, so no danger there OR use an electric frypan)
Smoked salmon 'caesar' salad - the usual stuff plus cue, tom, avo, asparagus or whatever else happens to be in the fridge! Also good with BBQ or smoked chicken, or just the vegetarian version and it can be made all in advance.
Omelette (winner with DS) with whatever's lying around - cheese, tom, mushies, bacon etc
Savoury pancakes (pancake batter with grated cheese, carrot, zucchini, herbs and bacon for the meat eaters) and salad
I know it's an oven recipe but we also love lamb cutlets and baked mushrooms with a mix of breadcrumbs, parmesan, herbs and a little water (plus pine nuts and/or pesto if you're feeling adventurous). Smoosh on top of the cutlets/mushies and bake at 180 degrees for 10 mins. You can prep it all in advance and if you cut up some thin zucchini and pumpkin it'll bake in the oven at the same time too (or serve with....salad!). Meal done!
Pies and quiches - make the pie filling in the slow cooker and freeze it! Sometimes we just have the pie filling with pasta or rice
Fried rice in the rice cooker - love our $9 rice cooker ;)
Frozen fish with veg or salad is my lazy meal and one of DS' faves!
im just bumping this.. DH came home is a bad mood because he has had to cook tea every night this week and I said I would cook something tonight then when I told him what (chicken kiev rice and vegies) he went off about there is no imagination blah blah
I can't cook very well, I am very limited in what I can cook, but am keen on learning more for when I am home all the time. Thats why I thought I would play it safe and cook something I know how to, because there has been times I have cooked his looked at it and thrown it straight in the bin =(
So I came here for ideas, EVERYTHING I have thrown at him he has said yuck too... its his fault he doesnt eat anything with imagination...
so... no lamb, mushrooms or corn, and no imagination. (there are more nos, like no seafood.. but those are the big bad ones)
any more ideas girls?
Some quick and easy weekly meals for us are (mostly with some vegies on the side for me and DS, DH wont eat vegetables - Grrrr)
Tuna patties
Apricot Chicken
Stroganoff
Potato bake and meat (either lamb chops/beef skewers/steak)
Lime and Chilli Stir Fry
Tacos
Spag Bol
Meatballs and spag (DSs fav)
Chicken satays, baked potatoes
Cold Rolls
Butter Chicken (sometimes in the slow cooker from scratch which is awesome and sometimes with a Sharwoods cooking sauce)
Lasagne
ask your DH to suggest something if he is being so fussy! Or get a simple recipie book, there are some great ones around, and get him to put post its on things he likes the look of. Slow cooker meals are also good as it is harder to over/under cook food in it.
Im lucky DH spent the first 20 years of his life eating the burnt offerings of my MIL so he will literally eat anything, which is good because if he threw something I had cooked int he bin more than once he would be a very hungry man!
Here's a few of our recent meals:
Pan fried steak with steamed brocoli and carrot
Chicken and vegetable thai red curry
Lamb steaks panfried and served with greek salad
Chicken marinated in soy, served with wombok salad
Here's some of what we have done this week (DH loves cooking, so I leave it to him, yay!)
* rump steak with gravy, garlic butter asparagus and potato mash
* butter chicken tenders with capsicum & carrot on a bed of rice
* spaghetti with mince meat, crushed tomatoes & veges
* BBQ gourmet sausages with tomato, onions & beetroot in bread rolls
Edit: just read your last post :( aw that isnt very nice of your DH! I definitely agree with the PP that you should ask him what he would like. And also about there being some great books out there for simple meal ideas. You could also go into the "taste" website (www.taste.com.au) as they have soo many awesome recipes and most are reviewed by real people so you know if it's good or not! Good luck hun, that must be awful to feel the way you do!
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DP is not home for dinner one week out of two so I tend to keep those dinners REALLY simple as it's just me and the girls.
I've found it easiest to do meat and two or three veg. So the meat tends to be something like chicken tenders, rissoles (I make some really good chicken and veg ones from scratch but otherwise I buy them from the butcher), snags.
Potatoes I either do mashed or wedges (great for finger food for DD2)
Veggies could be something as simple as frozen peas, microwaved broccoli or beans, cauliflower cheese or stirfried snowpeas or beans/carrots cooked in a little sesame oil and with some roasted flaked almonds.
Other regulars here:
blue cheese pasta sauce
pumpkin soup (recently discovered you can make it more substantial by adding gnocchi)
chicken cacciatore done in the slow cooker
chilli (I add some veggies like zucchini, mushrooms, corn plus sultanas to mine)
bought roast chicken with bought asian noodle salad and tossed together
curries