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!
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!
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.
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
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
- 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
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Midweek meals. Expand my menu!
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