Archive for the ‘Effortless Main Meals’ Category
Chicken, Bean and Corn Tacos
July 28th, 2009 | 
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I love tacos. I could eat tacos once a week and be a happy camper. When I don’t feel like making beef tacos, I make these chicken, corn and black bean tacos. I can whip up a batch of these in about 15 minutes, which is a major plus.
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Soy Sauce Chicken
This is a dish I throw together. And when I say “throw together”, I mean it’s one of those “I don’t really measure it” type deals. So I’ll do my best to estimate amounts but take your own liberties with ingredients. I like this chicken because it’s easy, I usually have everything on hand, and it’s nice and light. The flavor is similar to Filipino “adobo” due to the vinegar and soy sauce combo.
Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce
Spaghetti is an easy throw together meal and making your own homemade sauce is actually easy peasy. The secret ingredient in my sauce is a splash of Sherry or Port wine, which gives this sauce some extra sweetness. I often make a big batch and freeze leftovers for lasagna or quick defrost dinner, as needed.
Chicken Fried Rice
Fried Rice is a super easy, fast and cheap go-to meal. I would say this can go from fridge to table in 20 minutes or less. This is a good thing to make when you have leftover rice. Or if you’ve got a hankerin’ for fried rice, just plan to make something with rice a couple nights before and double the rice batch. You really need to have cold rice for this recipe to work so plan ahead a little. Also, you could use pork or ham instead of chicken if you like.
Meatloaf
While Meatloaf isn’t a fast meal due to its long cooking time, it’s a really easy meal to prep. This meatloaf uses Mumsie’s Meatball sauce on top, which is one of my favorite things. The only way I see fit to eat meatloaf is with a side of mashed potatoes and broccoli. Total comfort food.
Chicken and Feta Tacos
Tara taught us how to make these delicious, light chicken feta tacos. I don’t usually like arugula but I like it in this dish. The feta and grape tomatoes add a nice, fresh touch. And they’re easy and quick!
Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas
I usually make these enchiladas with leftover chicken from a whole roasted or stewed chicken that I have frozen. Using cooked chicken saves some prep time and makes this an easy weeknight meal.
Parmesan Cheese Chicken
My mom used to make a version of this buttery, parmesan-encrusted chicken when we were growing up. It’s really easy to make and can usually be made with what I have on hand.
Crockpot Stewed Chicken
Whole chickens are one of the easiest, tastiest things to make. One chicken makes several meals (plus broth!). I like to put a chicken in the crockpot on a Sunday morning. Then we have a delicious Sunday dinner without too much effort. This chicken is great served with mashed potatoes and roasted garlic butter zucchini.
After you’re done eating dinner, consider dicing and freezing leftover meat for something else, like chicken enchiladas or chicken pot pie. Also save your unwanted meat, skin, and bones for making chicken stock. Either throw the bones and skin right back in the crockpot and make stock overnight or put the bones in the freezer for later stock-making.
Turkey Chili
Chili is a great crockpot meal. Toss in the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning before work and come home to ready made dinner! Make a double batch and freeze leftovers for nights when you’re too tired to cook or pull out frozen chili to use as an easy, filling topping on baked potato night (a favorite night in my house)!
