Just curious about "simple dinners"

Thanks for the chicken enchilada recipe, Lindsey!  I’m going to have to try that one  🙂

I sat down and made a 12 week meal plan 8 weeks ago. I love it.

Here is our typical day:

Breakfast- oatmeal with butter and brown sugar or peanut butter. Greek yogurt with honey and granola. Or toast with peanut butter and a fruit.

Lunch- I either use tortillas to make ham and cheese and lettuce wraps, or skip the tortilla and have lunch meat, cheese and fruit And carrots and ranch. Fruit is what ever is in season.

Dinner this week is buffalo chicken pizza with carrots and celery and ranch. Ham and cheese Hawaiian roll sliders with roasted brocolli. Baked ziti (we don’t eat a lot of pasta maybe 1-2 times a month) with a huge salad. Breakfast for dinner- eggs and bacon and fruit this week. Fish tacos- this is tilapia and I make a avocado mango salsa to go on top. Probably black beans and rice on the side, grill night- probably a London broil or what ever red meat is on sale this week with sweet potatoes.

Next week:

Chili and cornbread, black beans and rice with sautéed bell peps, chicken salad cucumber boats, Asian salad with steak, diy pizza night, sloppy joes.

Following week:

Pasta wit leg homemade vodka sauce and chicken, egg casserole, enchiladas, grilled BBQ chicken, French onion or chicken noodle soup, roasted bell peps with chicken sausage. (This a go to in my house we love it)

I plan sides based on sales and season. So only the main course is planned. My husband generally brings left overs for lunch.

Sue, it did not take long at all, maybe 90 min. I basically listed like 9-10 categories (grill, pizza, salad, breakfast, taco/Mexican, meatless, soup, crock pot, random…) and then came up with 5-6 meals in each category. I don’t have the grocery list made but I am making them as I go. Also my sides change based on what veggies are in season/ on sale. I am loving it. This way I know what I’m making and I just have to make a list. I have 1 night a week planned to eat out or at my parents, just depends on the week.

It’s terribly late now and I should be sleeping!  I will share tomorrow.  They’re all super easy.  Thanks for the drooling images.  🙂  PLANNING is key to happiness in the kitchen in my mind.  If I didn’t I’d be so freaked out every afternoon.  This way I’m just relaxing in to the motions …

Jennifer, the Snoozer Sandwich came from a cookbook, really a journal, I wish so badly I owned.  I was new to homeschooling and had just moved out to the country (aka feeling lonely) when I found it.  Our little library was my haven.  I copied the recipes on all the scraps of paper I had in my purse – I was too new, too nervous to ask for paper I guess?!  So anyway among my treasures from that time in life survives this Amish recipe.  I think the author of the book was somehow invited in to an Amish family for a while … something along those lines. 

I googled it and what comes up is different.  There is a nice cookbook that comes up but it is not the one I read originally.  Sounds silly but sometimes I wonder if I did read it or … 

Snoozer Sandiwich

1 c. ketchup

1/2 c. water

2 T. apple cider vinegar

1/2 t. yellow mustard

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1-1 1/2 pounds ground meat (cooked)

Rolls or thickly sliced homemade bread.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Combine ingredients in a sauce pan and heat on medium until they are well combined.  Add cooked ground meat; drain well if you used a higher fat ground meat.  Stir to combine well.  Pack mixture in rolls or between bread slices (like a sandwich) and wrap tightly in foil.  Continue until you use up all the meat mixture.  Place in the oven for at least an hour.  I think I’ve done longer but maybe I lowered the temperature of the oven some too.  They are done when the bread has a golden toasty outside.  BE CAREFUL eating them … they are super, duper hot!  Another note … I think sometimes I double the sauce and then save some out (before adding the meat) for dipping when they’re done. 

I love your menu, Claire.  It must be the “planning” component that makes your meals simple, because it looks like a lot of cooking to me.

Though I am trying to change our breakfast to easy things like baked oatmeal or muffins, mostly we have cold cereal and fruit.  Snacks are yogurt, fruit, cheese, crackers, smoothies, peanut butter.  Lunch is leftovers, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, pb & j sandwiches, pizza rounds using english muffins or tortillas as pizza crust, etc and some fruit if they are still hungry.  Sometimes my son says he is still hungry after lunch or supper and he can have fruit, yogurt or cold cereal.

Here is what I have planned this week for supper:

Tues.- Roast Beef in crockpot with potatoes and carrots.  (Save some beef for Thurs.)  Corn on the cob (leftover potatoes/carrots can be added to soup or casserole later.  Freeze for now if you need to.)

Wed. – Eggplant, lentils, fettucini noodles, spaghetti sauce, lettuce salad  (I make enough for 3 meals and eat it for 2 lunches this week.)

Thurs. – Beef and Noodles (using leftover beef from Tues.)  Corn on the cob

Fri. – Tuna sandwiches, lettuce salad, chips or pretzels, fruit

Sat. – Bacon (in oven – save a few strips out for Sun.)  toast, eggs, fruit

Sun. – Baked beans, with bacon.  Corn bread.  lettuce salad.  Use any corn that is left, or green beans.

And here is what I came up with for a rotating 2 week menu, adding in seasonal salad and veg. on sale:

S – Bean/veg. soup or chili

M – egg quiche, using bacon from oven and saving some for sandwiches this week

T – Tuna sandwiches or Tuna Cheddar Bake

W – Lentils, noodles, pasta sauce with any of: eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms

Th – Cheese day (homemade pizza, Cheddar broccoli soup or grilled cheese)

F – Whole chicken in a crockpot (100daysofrealfood.com) with extra legs on top, for kids (save some chicken) Fill crockpot with bones, etc to make broth.

Sat – Chicken noodle soup using leftover chicken and the broth I made. (100daysofrealfood.com)  Or freeze some of the broth and make Easy Chicken Pot Pie or Creamy chicken and noodles with the leftover chicken

S – ??? new recipe?  Or use something out of freezer.

M – eggs, bacon in oven, toast/biscuits/pancakes (save some bacon for Wed.)  (extra hard boiled eggs for lunch)

T – chicken with rice, using more leftover chicken from Fri. night.  Broccoli chicken casserole, cheddar chicken casserole, or Rice in skillet with chicken (If I have enough chicken, I can make an extra casserole at the same time to freeze for later)

W – Baked beans (with bacon from Mon.)  Cornbread, veg.

Th – homemade mac & cheese, salad

F – crockpot meal or hamburgers (cooking extra ground meat)

Sat – tater tot casserole with green beans, meatloaf and potatoes, or sloppy joes (or use Claire’s Snoozer) and homemade potatoe fries (potatoes cut up in oven with coconut oil)