Is your friend's husband on a restricted/special diet? If so, that would help us determine what recipes to recommend.
Meanwhile, I'll look through my cookbooks and see what I find. Chicken piccata comes to mind immediately, and I'm sure that others will have even more delicious suggestions.

Oh, lots of things freeze really well. Soups, muffins, bread (either yeast or quick bread), biscuits, chili, meatloaf. Also roast chicken or duck or turkey, swiss or salisbury steak, twice baked potatoes, stuffed pork chops, cabbage rolls, filling for fajitas, pulled pork, ham.

Let's see, what else? Calzones, pizza crusts, breakfast sandwiches or burritos, pancakes, french toast, pies (either baked or not).

So, the real trick is to figure out the likes and dislikes, and any dietary restrictions and go from there!

So, is there low salt? Low fat? Any allergies? If not, go crazy, LOL, and start with that chicken piccata, it sounds delicious. Good luck to your friend, may he return to health quickly!

Annie

I asked if he was restricted....he's not. And they aren't vegetarian. He had surgery today, so rice and bland chicken for dinner tonight, but what about the next few weeks?

I used to work in a restaurant, and did prep meals in advance, so I was thinking I could make frozen packets-with instructions printed. That way, my friend could thaw the packet in the morning with the marinade all included...

and I do have one of those food saver machines. So freezing marinated meat would be relatively easy, but I'm just drawing a blank as to the menu.

OK, so you could do chicken breasts marinated in Nancy's (wizardnm) asian marinade, with rice and broccoli as sides. Here's the marinade, and it's good:

ASIAN MARINADE

Enough for 5lbs. of chicken breasts.

1 C vegetable oil
¼ C sesame oil
¾ C soy sauce
1/3 C minced garlic
¼ C minced fresh ginger
2/3 C minced cilantro
6 green onions, sliced thin
1 tsp black pepper

Combine and add chicken. Marinate for 2 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Or you could use this marinade, also delicious and one of my favorites, still keep the rice on the side and maybe asparagus or pureed butternut squash:

Jessica's recipe for -

Lime-Chipotle Sauce - Sunset Magazine

Food processor:

1/2 cup honey 2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chilies in adobado sauce (WAAAY too much for me, the heat wus) 3 tablespoons brown mustard 1/2 cup lime juice 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro Season with salt and pepper

Serve sauce as a marinade grilled meats, poultry, and fish if your guests don't get to it first with tortilla chips. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Lasagna would be good, with garlic bread and a bag of salad.

Ann T's salisbury steak, with twice baked potatoes and any vegetable of your choice.

Linda's chicken cordon bleu freezes well:

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Source: Marilyn (Danain)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 tablespoons butter
4 thin sliced smoked ham
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 egg; beaten
salt, pepper & garlic powder

Pound chicken breast to 1/4-inch thickness. Sprinkle each piece on both sides with salt and pepper. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on each breast. Roll up each breast using toothpicks to secure if necessary. Dredge each in flour, shake off excess, then in egg and finally in bread crumbs. Place seam side down in baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Place 1 tablespoon butter on each piece of chicken. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, reduce broth by half over medium heat; add cream and simmer over low heat until thickened; season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pour over chicken.

I am not sure I would freeze the sauce...Good without the sauce, tho...

there was another thread about freezing dinners, and someone said that fajitas froze well, just cook the onions and peppers and the meat, package it up and reheat it to serve with tortillas.

Don't forget homemade bread and some desserts. Gingerbread is one of my favorites and freezes really well. Of course, so does ice cream!

Annie

I think you are so nice to help out with meals, nibblin. This meatloaf has great flavor & the recipe makes a lot. You could divide it into 2 or 3 smaller pans. It freezes well.

Swiss Loaf
2 lb hamburger
1 1/2 c. diced Swiss cheese
2 beaten eggs
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/ tsp pepper
1 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp paprika
2 1/2 c. milk
1 c. dry bread crumbs

Mix ingredients together in the approximate order listed. Press into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees about 1 1/2 hr. (I put it on a cookie sheet - the juices have a tendency to run over). Even better the next day. Freezes well.

I put lots of soups and pasta sauces in the freezer, you could make up a batch of marinara that could be used in a lot of different recipes or just served with pasta for a quick weeknight dinner.

Or you could take a page from one of those "suppers to go" kind of places and put precut/premeasured ingredients in ziplocs for a simplified prep and cooking experience. It's not completely done, but a lot of the work is done which makes it a lot easier. When a coworker lost his wife last year we set him up with a dozen of these prefab meals and he loved it! No shopping, very little prep, usually just a few minutes of hands on time to get dinner going.

All the best to your friend and her husband!