What am I going to make for dinner tonight?

[Nechasin]

I don’t know if your aversion is to chicken or just the same ole chicken, but my dw makes what we call Salsa Chicken which is easy to cook and seems to impress people.
Cut the chicken in strips and throw in a pan with a little oil (we use olive oil).
Let the outside of the chicken cook and turn white.
Pour about 3/4 jar of your favorite salsa in the pan.
Cover and let it cook until the chicken is almost done and then oncover to let the water cook out.

Serve with rice (we use the spanish rice that we buy in a package from the store that all you have to do is add water and cook),and any veggies that you want.

You can either serve over the rice, or roll them up in tortillas.

 

[keri6789]

I would love to have a recipe sticky thread! I never have recipes that I like…and I’m to scared to try something if I don’t know of anyone who has made that specific recipe before.

 

[duskyjewel]

How about club salads? You can buy a ton of different salad mixes at the store, from relatively plain iceberg lettuce and carrot shreds to the darker, leafier stuff, so you have stuff the kids will eat and something more interesting for the grownups. (Though my kids eat the dark leafy stuff with us…but they are used to it. We have fun picking out which leaves in the salad look most like the weeds in the back yard! )

On top you add julienned ham and turkey, chopped tomato, chopped hard cooked egg, maybe more shredded carrot and I personally love avocado. The nice thing is if you do this buffet style, then you can put on or leave off anything you like.

Most kids will eat just about anything if you put ranch dressing on it. I am REALLY picky about my ranch, and I buy the Pleasant Valley Buttermilk Recipe mix. You just mix it up with a cup of buttermilk and a cup of mayo at home and chill. It’s SO good. (Buttermilk is available in most dairy cases at the grocery store, and it’s great for homemade pancakes and biscuits too.) We also like Good Seasons Italian dressing (another mix, just add oil and vinegar) and my husband loves Marie’s Blue Cheese dressing.

Another favorite salad dinner at our house is to replace the ham and turkey with warm fried chicken strips, cut in small pieces, on top of the salad. But you said you didn’t want chicken…so maybe save this one for another time.

One more idea, though this has chicken too…you know those boxed pasta salad mixes you can buy at the store? Those are GREAT with some diced cooked chicken and fresh tomato mixed in, we like the Ranch & Bacon flavor the best for this.

Something else the kids might like…homemade burgers? You can get already made patties at the store, buns, lettuce, sliced cheese, tomatoes, pickles, etc…whatever you like. And nothing says you have to serve fries with it, maybe cold potato salad (bought or homemade), fruit salad, carrot sticks, or a fun one my kids like, raw sugar snap peas, nice and cold, and of course with the ever-present ranch to dip. Try to find the ones with the strings taken off already, they usually have those in the produce section where I shop, and it saves you a lot of work.

Really easy…a bag of spaghetti (Barilla is my fave - sticks less) and a jar of chunky garden Prego. I have yet to meet a kid that will not eat that.

 

[Truly_Beloved]

Ooo-- What about Carbonara? Fresh cream, grated cheese and smokey bacon??

My DH makes a mean Carbonara… Oooh, I just may have to make a dinner request now!

Little note about Carbonara, though, it has raw egg in it (my DH’s recipe, does, anyway). You can’t taste it, but if you have really little kiddos, you may want to skip it. Oh, and it doesn’t really reheat well as leftovers, so don’t make too much.

 

[puzzleannie]

something my mom used to serve on hot nights, antipasto tray
prosciutto (expensive and salty) or thin sliced ham, alternating with sliced cantalope (wash rind before you cut it) in a ring around the platter. center of the platter has 3 dishes–marinated artichoke hearts, olives, and marinated chick peas (garbanzos). serve with mozarella salad. Fresh mozarella, in pearls or just diced, grape tomatoes or diced tomatoes, and pesto mixed and chilled.

 

[holly_potter]

Here’s a pizza recipe:
Biscuits in a can, about 2 per person, more if they’re hungry.
Pizza sauce
shredded cheeses
Pepperoni or any other toppings

Smash the bisucits flat (kids like this part), and build like any other pizza, bake in the oven until all the cheese is melted. Easy!

Calzones:
Like above, only fill up half the biscuit, nice and full. Fold over, crimp, and bake until golden brown. You can use pretty much any kind of meat, too, not just pepperoni.

I always make more, because my siblings like eating them for lunch the next day, too.

Experiment with fruits and vegetables and such for sides, so it adds variety to the dinner.

 

[Lovemyfaith]

I guess you figured out what to make by now! Lucky me, with my DH out of town, my oh so sweet best friend invited me and the kids over for dinner (which is my favorite thing for dinner, an invitation!)
In a pinch, I always make pasta salad, steam some broccoli, black olives, sunflower seeds, italian dressing, whatever is left in the veggie drawer basically. Throw some cooked chicken or ham, after your non-meat eating family members (like myself) have filled their plates, and it is very filling. My kids would say their favorite thing for dinner is breakfast, when daddy’s out of town, and we make pancakes or eggs.

 

[SeekerJen]

I think it would be a great idea. I just made some desserts last week from Jello.com and I did the strawberry one with a pretzel crust and cream cheese center layer and it was darn good.

Just a tip.

Oh yum, I love that. One of my aunts usually makes that and brings it to my uncle’s Christmas Day party. I have lots of happy memories associated with it.

 

[Hellisreal]

I promise I will try all the good ideas I got tonight,

eventually!

Tonight I made for the kiddies, Mini pizzas with the small mini pita breads in the toaster oven, with pizza sauce on top and the typical shredded mozzerella on top. I took 2 black olives for each one to make “eyes” and a tomato (just plain old plumb tomato) sliced to make a mouth to put on each one.

They LOVED it!

My back porch has an electrical outlet, so I did it there!!!

I did a Salad Monage, using the veggies raw and sliced, hard boiled eggs, ect, and turkey breast sliced and cooked.

I did the rest of the dinner with a sliced turkey breast in gravy on fancy bakery buns.

We had strawberries dipped in that so called chocolate stuff in a jar from my local store that claims “perfect for dipping”

I promise you all I will try all your ideas, and try to incorporate them into our traditions as a family!

God bless you all abundantly for helping one like me to make a nice evening go well!!!

Hey, I even got unexpected help with a teenager guest who ended up helping me with the whole thing!!!

God is so good!

I love this forum.

Now I get to “play” as My wonderful husband is cleaning up the mess!!!

He NEVER did this before! And my little angel is asleep!!!

 

[Squeakum]

My family likes this and it doesnt take much to fix, layer mashed potatoes, the instant kind, next smoked sausage or turkey, saurkaurt and cheese whiz, i get the salsa kind and then stick in microvave for 5 minutes to get the cheese melted. A salad, or vegetable or just cottage cheese with some fruit. Its like eating hot dogs and saurkraut only in a cassarole.

 

[Margie07]

My family likes hot dogs and sauerkraut, with mashed potatoes. It’s quick and easy. I know it probably sounds awful…lol! But it is really good and filling.

 

[Zooey]

There have been lots of threads for recipes before, I especially liked the one we had for Lent, they dug up last year’s and combined it with this year’s thread, so it had lots and lots of ideas. That thread was in the Spirituality forum. Maybe we could convince one of the mods to make a sticky thread for recipes in the family life forum.

Then maybe they could publish a Catholic Answers Family cookbook, taking recipes from the forum members. I’d probably buy a copy for my bookshelf.

Seems like that might be a good fund raiser.

I would buy it!! There have been great recipe ideas on here, but in various locations…
I always try to sell people on my “all purpose casserole” that I put up on the Lent thread, but when it is hot, I wanted to mention that you can make it in the microwave, or in a toaster oven on the porch. I also picked up a “pizza baker” at a church rummage sale for under a dollar, & it is great for cooking all kinds of things, esp stuff that wouldn’t work well in the microwave. (Keep your eyes open, there are a zillion neat little appliances that folks put in a yard sale the summer after they get it…And presto: No more overheated kitchen!!)