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What are your easy go-to dinner recipes and casseroles?
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I am needing to simplify our menu plan while still preparing healthy homemade meals. I need low cost, kid-friendly meals that I can throw together in 15 minutes. I keep ground beef and chicken in the freezer that I cook in batches so I can just add it in. So far, I have meals like soft tacos, chicken wraps, chilli, veg. bean soup, baked ziti, spaghetti, chicken/egg salad, and lettuce salad.
Easy Casseroles I have:
Cheeseburger casserole with egg noodles by Paula DeenTater Tot casserole by the Duggars (I add green beans and cheese.)
Easy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole with drop biscuits on top
These last two use canned cream of soups, which I generally try to avoid. But I will use them on occasion. I am also interested in easy crockpot recipes. Thanks!
Instead of buying “cream of” soup, I use a recipe I found on a blog a long time ago:
3 T. butter
3 T. flour (I have successfully used a GF all-purpose flour)
1 1/4 c. broth or milk
add-ins: cheese (for cheese soup), onions, celery, etc. (for the cream of onion, cream of celery, etc.)
melt butter in saucepan
add onions or celery if needed and saute
stir in flour. Stir until bubbly.
add in the broth or milk or combination
cook and stir until it starts to thicken.
I’ve used this in place of “cream of” soups for several years now.
Also, FlyLady has several really good crock pot recipes. And another tip — is that instead of buying canned beans, I buy dry beans, cook a pound or two at a time, use what I need and freeze the rest. Generally, I just guesstimate the amount of beans needed for whatever recipe, since recipes that call for beans are usually forgiving.
We love this crockpot pesto chicken thighs” so easy, I’m teaching my ten year old how to make it. I make my own homemade ranch dressing packet to substitute.
http://picky-palate.com/2012/09/20/pesto-ranch-crock-pot-chicken-thighs/
I also do BBQ chicken in the crockpot. I do four boneless skinless chicken breasts and one bottle of organicville brand BBQ sauce, that is sweetened with agave nectar. Use a fork to shred chicken near the end. My ten year old can make this.
We also like to do baked potato bar. Oil, salt and bake potatoes in oven for about an hour. We lay out all kinds of toppings: broccoli, cheese, green onions, bacon, BBQ, sour cream. Everyone can pick what they like. This is so easy and a crowd pleaser at our house.
Baked potatoes in the crock pot (regular or sweet potatoes) then have toppings to go along (including chili in winter). We also toss green beans in a crock pot and top with a sliced ham. Yum!
My new favorite is a 4 ingredient chicken enchilada casserole. It’s extra good with green enchilada sauce! I make a slightly bigger batch…I usually fill up a 9×13.
We also like just about anything in the crockpot with a bit of BBQ sauce. Country style ribs, chicken, or a pork roast. I usually shred up the chicken or pork for sandwiches and serve with additional sauce.
Chili is another favorite…especially with fall coming! We sometimes serve it over spaghetti noodles to stretch it a bit farther.
Ham makes for another quick and easy meal. We have ham and scalloped potatoes (the potatoes take a bit of time). Or for quicker meals we have it with scrambled eggs, with spanish rice, or in potato soup. I often buy a small ham and use it for 2-3 meals during the week.
Another good one is 4 chicken breasts (bone in or boneless), 4 potatoes (in wedges), 1/4 cup Italian dressing, 1/4 cup parm. cheese, 2 stems celery, pinch of parsley. Bake in 9×13 at 400 degrees for 1 hr or until chicken and potatoes are done.
A go to in our house is organic chicken sausage, sliced, and bell peppers cut in 1 inch chunks, coat everything in olive oil or bacon fat and roast for 25-30 min. at 425* for our family of 5 I do 5 sausage and 4 bell peppers. If I want left overs I’ll make rice also.
I ue left over rice to make crock pot fried rice. It is seriously so good. I make it all the time!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A7EsLwAQAJQDw_Ak4dkAAAA/
It is super forgiving, I’ve never made it the same any 2 times. I at least triple the veggies in her recipe. (I use frozen mixed veggies) If I add a good amount of meat we eat this as a meal, not a side.
Braised Balsalmic Chicken, with rice and French Cut Green Beans is a favorite DELICIOUS quick go-to meal! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/braised-balsamic-chicken/
Slow cooker chicken taco soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-taco-soup/
Kayla, for the fried rice recipe, do you ever have problems with it burning in the crockpot? I looked up the recipe and really want to try it, never thought about that in the crockpot! But, there’s not much liquid, I’m thinking on the high setting even for a couple/few hours (like the recipe says to do) my crockpot might scorch it. It may just be my crockpot though… I don’t trust it much.
Another one – toss chicken in the crock pot overnight to cook. In the morning cool and shred. Then you’re set for using it in chicken salad, tacos, or burritos. (Can you guess what is on my counter cooling right now? LOL)
Dd14 and I just did a big freezer prep session of 72 meals. More like 35 or so for us since we’re a family of 6. We’ve eaten two and they were fantastic! I really liked prepping these bc there was zero precooking needed.
https://newleafwellness.biz/2015/08/17/31-freezer-prep-sessions-that-will-change-your-life/
Session 1 – makes 2 meals of each, we doubled and made 4
- balsamic roast with carrots – excellent
- lime shredded pork
- chicken teriyaki
Session 2 – same as above
- sausage, spinach, tomato soup (no pasta) – fantastic
- Chicken soup with Mexican seasonings
- Meatball veggie soup (couldn’t find gf meatballs so I’ll skip these personally but they look yummy)
Session 3 – same as above
- red pepper chicken
- lemon pepper chicken
- orange ginger chicken
I’m bad at meal planning and prep. This way I have over a month’s meals ready to cook fresh. Win for me!
Inosborn- it does brown a little on the bottom but I’ve never had it burn. Honestly it only needs to heat up really. You could cook the egg separate and mix in at the end. I like it because I can wait until lunch/rest time to start it and it will still be ready, cooked on low, by dinner time. It really only needs 4 hours on low
A favorite casserole in this house is Pioneer Woman’s Sour cream noodle bake . Brown the meat , boil the pasta and combine all the ingredients together in a 9×13 pyrex , top with cheese and I pop it in the oven long enough for the cheese to melt and flavors to meld together.
A new recent discovery in our house is Barbacoa sauce , used to make Barbacoa beef bowls. The homeade Barbacoa sauce calls for dried whole peppers that I needed from a specialty store , but I found pre-made sauce at Whole foods. Just throw it in the crock pot with a chuck roast and diced onions and let it simmer all day. Shred the meat and then add whatever toppings your family likes . For us we added brown rice , sliced olives , tomatoes , cilantro , corn , black beans , cheese and salsa. We piled everything into bowls and then topped it with the meat and spooned the sauce over it. Most of that stuff can just be dumped in with minimal prep ( open a can of sliced olives , pre-shredded cheese etc. )
There are a lot of great ideas on this thread – I will need to go back and take notes myself 🙂
Jamie
Thanks for taking the time to share all those links Christie! Mass cooking for a month has never appealed to me but this looks doable and helpful! 🙂
Christie’s links’ recipes really do sound good!
My question is about the meat – we raise our own beef, pork and chicken. So, when we have them processed, a whole pile of meat goes in the freezer. I think that you’re not supposed to re-freeze meat without it being cooked. So I guess that means I’d have to cook all the meat before assembling and freezing the meals?
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