Oven fried boneless chicken breast....I keep a bag in the freezer always.
Thaw...in the micro if necessary, rub with dijon mustard and roll in seasoned dry bread crumbs and bake aboput 29 minutes at 375...depending on how thick the meat is.
Linda C

Bake a salmon filet in the toaster oven. Serve it with a sauce made of mayo, a little milk and dill weed. Yum. I usually make some broccoli in the m/w to go with it.

I often make double batches of stuff when I am cooking for those nights when I don't want to or don't have time.

Meatballs, fully cooked and frozen.
Smaller pans or individual servings of lasagne.
Chili
Soups
Pre-cooked chicken breast, just slightly on the under done side.
Shrimp.

I can quickly nuke a baked potatoe, make instant mashed or take out pre-cooked rice or make noodles, or just a slice of bread for a starchy side.

Veggies are either frozen or home canned, or fresh raw, or a green salad.

I can pull togethera decent, balance dinner in less than 15 minutes if I need to.

The cooking extra and cooking ahead really helps!

Deanna

A bowl of popcorn from the hot air popper.

These are ideas for spring/summer:

~ poach a piece of salmon, drain, cool, flake and serve on lettuce leaves with a sliced hard boiled egg, sliced tomato, cucumber slices, and dill cucumber yogurt sauce

~ Shrimp Caesar Salad  romaine, Parmesan, shrimp, croutons, Caesar dressing

~ Taco Salad  tortilla chips, taco meat, salsa, lettuce, onion, cheese, sour cream,ripe olives, jalapeno slices

~ Hummus with pita bread, sliced tomatoes, cucumber & onion salad, carrots or other marinated vegetables or salads

~ chicken thighs seasoned with garlic, oregano, lemon, s&p, baked with quartered Yukon Gold potatoes tossed with olive oil, s&p and rosemary (I can do this in the toaster oven so the oven isn't on heating up the house)

Teresa

This has to be on the menu soon!

{{gwi:1520856}}

My go-to easy dinner is roast chicken and whatever salad is already made in the fridge. If there isn't some kind of mixed mess ready to go I'll make a green salad.

These are my two moat fvourite 15 minute meals.

Lemon Linguine With Scampi (Gina)

Vegetable oil
3/4 lb linguine
3 TBSP unsalted butter
2 1/2 TBSP good olive oil
1 1/2 TBSP minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 lb large shrimp (about 16 shrimp) -- peeled
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon -- zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon -- thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 tsp hot red pepper flakes

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily!

Add the shrimp, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Pasta Puttanesca

1 pound spaghetti, linguine or other
thin pasta
2 Cans best grade Italian plum tomatoes
1/4 cup best quality olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to
-taste)
1/2 cup black olives, Sliced
1/4 cup capers, drained
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 anchovy fillets, chopped
-coarsely (or less)
1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped

Drain the tomatoes and cut in half. Combine the tomatoes and olive oil in a skillet and bring to a boil. Keep the sauce at a boil and add all remaining ingredients except pasta, stirring as you add. Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce has reached a consistency you like.

Meanwhile bring 4 quarts salted water to the boil. Cook pasta until tender but still firm. Drain and toss with sauce. Serve immediately with fresh grated parmesan.

I do "tired chicken" - trim the fat off some chicken thighs and bake them in the oven with s&p. For the last 5 minutes, sprinkle them with persillade (whazzed up garlic and parsley). Served with whatever's on hand.

Boil some fettuccine. Saute some sliced onion & celery until the raw taste is gone, add peeled, raw shrimp or thin slices of chicken breast and stir them around for a minute or two, until almost cooked through. Add a nice, spicy bloody mary...yes, that's right...a bloody mary, vodka and all. Heat through, and you've got dinner. Bloody Mary Fettuccine. You can even cheat and buy pre-made Bloody Mary mix, adjust seasonings to taste, and just add your own vodka. If you aren't crazy about the alcohol, sprinkle it into the pan before adding the bloody mary mix and let it sizzle off some of the alcohol. But the flavor is important.

Pasta is always an easy out. I generally freeze zip lock bags of spaghetti sauce whenever I make a pot of it, ready to take out and defrost for a quick dinner. A quick lemon-caper butter sauce or alfredo sauce combined with chicken breast/veggies is always an option.

Planning is half the battle with quick, easy meals. If I know I'm heading for a crazy work day, I'll rotisserie a chicken or bbq a tri tip roast the day before for dinner, and then the leftover meat will serve quite well on a bed of nice greens as a dinner salad the next day...or in a warm sandwich, with melted cheese, or stir fried with onions, peppers and either Indian or Mexican spices, or simply served sliced on a cold plate, with some potato, bean, or grain salad and some vegetable or other, tossed in a vinaigrette.

In winter, it would be tuna a la king over toast cups or rice. In summer, a poached salmon or cold shrimp platter very similar to Teresa's.

teresa,

I don't feel like cooking tonight. I'll be right over. I know it will be no trouble for you to whip up the meal in your pic. But wait until I find out if chase is making Pasta Puttanesca, in which case I'll take a rain check on the poached salmon. OK?

Jim

Well, Jim, it's almost 10 PM and I'm still cleaning up the kitchen! I made pimento cheese, chicken salad, and tortilla roll-ups when I got home at 6:00. With two loaves of homemade bread and my mom's biscotti, I'll be fixed for my contributions to our long weekend in the mountains with my quilting buddies. We have a set menu whenever we go to Beech Mt. - steaks one night, burgers one night, casserole from home the third night, tuna salad for lunch, lots of snacks and Ben & Jerry show up regularly! Ha! I'm fixing us Bento box dinners for the road tomorrow: little sandwiches of pimento cheese, chicken salad, the roll-ups, grape tomatoes, red grapes, and Fritos.

Hey, that sounds great, teresa! I just decided to dump chase and go with you. The menu sounds similar to the one I and my fishing buddies had for out annual spring fishing trip.

So far as quilting is concerned, I would fit right in. I made a quilt once. Well, actually it was a pot holder, but it was a quilt pot holder.

Jim

No Puttanesca for you you fickle man.

Quilting.... hrrrummph! OK run off with the quilter but before you do, did you know I was a hooker?

No, chase. I didn't know you were a hooker. Did you know a puttana is a hooker? Maybe not the same kind of hooker as you. Rugs?

Jim

Let's just say that my hooking is done best in natural light.

But the dish is fast, easy and a wee bit spicy..... as any good puttana should be.

Simple baggie omelets. Put some water on to boil. Whisk up a couple of eggs, add whatever meat or veggies or cheese that you like. Pour it into individual baggies. Boil for 13 minutes. Simple and yummy!

A quick and easy meal that hubby and I put together is broiled pork chops (it's really the only way we do pork chops now), microwaved baked potatoes (I have one of those potato bags for the micro - they turn out great!), and any fresh vegetable. We often steam broccoli and cauliflower together. It doesn't take much more than 15 minutes from start to finish.

A favorite go-to flavorful and easy thing I make is Vegetable Lo Mein. The combination of sauces I use now are probably so far from the original recipe.. but here goes:

Sauce: (taste as you go)
Chicken stock - about 1/2 cup
6 T Soy - low sodium
2 T Sesame oil
4 T Hoisin
splash of fish stock
couple of shakes of ginger and five spice powder

Bring that to a simmer while cooking some extra thin spagetti - about two servings size worth. Let it cook till almost done then finish in the sauce.

cabbage chopped thin - how ever much you like
carrots cut into matchsticks
Other vegetables you might like, pea pods, broccoli, etc but cabbage and carrots are always available around here.

the vegetables go into the sauce with the spagetti at the very end so that the vegetables stay crisp.