Or even just the name of 7 of your favorites or often cooked meals...whatever, just post 'em please!

t is so hot here that I did hardly *any* cooking this week. I made lasagne tonight, but did it in the crock pot because I just refuse to turn the oven on.

Here is the list of the only things I can remember this late at night:

* Chinese take out (which I really didn't want to do, but I also didn't want to cook)

* cereal and toast

* lasagne

What *did* my family eat for dinner all week?

Anyway, please give me some new ideas. I am tired of the same old menus and so is my family. Also, if these new ideas do not require the oven then that is a major BONUS!

So, please help me with this if you can. I will post our favorites and other meals we cook often tomorrow morning when I get up. It is almost midnight here, so I need to use my sleep balm and go to bed! ;)

Mongolian pit barbeque stir fry - I love this, we go to a mongolian pit barbeque place and I love the food, it's so expensive so we make it a home a lot. I make angel hair pasta or regular ol spaghetti. Then I slice up a semi frozen steak in the food processor, very thinly sliced - though I was out of it the other day and used plain ol' ground hamburger (came out really good in the mix). Slice up lots of veggies - squash, zucchini, onions, broccoli, carrots, cabbage. Then I make little cups of liquids - sugar water, salt water, lemon juice, chopped garlic in water, and heavily watered down soy sauce. I heat up the wok and coat it with a little bit of canola oil. Then I throw everything in, add several spoonfuls of each liquid, extra of the soy sauce mixture and garlic because I love garlic. And cook til the meat is done and veggies are tender. You can do it without the meat too. It tastes so GOOD!!

Ugh! We had a bad week here too with the heat!

Mon - Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Had beans and potatoe salad with it.

Tues - Macaroni and Cheese (a natural one that a fellow amity mama brought over, not Kraft-crap) with peas.

Wed. - Chicken tacos... just chicken breasts (3 of them) chopped in cubes and made with one of those taco dinner boxes that include shells, sauce and taco powder... they were buy-one-get-one-free.

Thur - Kielbasi (spelling???) and Saurkraut in the slow cooker. Had no egg noodles to serve with it so we made ziti noodles. LOL!

Fri - We were out all day! Tired! Hungry! Plus - father-in-law slipped us $20 when we stopped by to see him so we went out for pizza!

Let's see, I am only listing entree, we usually have salad, greenbeans, broccoli, or other veggie (no potatoes) along with, Connor will usually have applesauce or yogart because we cannot get him to touch veggies! ARGH! BTW, our family is on a low carb diet.

~Black Bean Soup.

~BBQ Ribs (made with sugar-free BBQ sauce.

~Puffy Chicken (baked chicken with a mayo/parm cheese topping that "puffs" when baked).

~Pork Diane (classic dijon pork dish).

~Cheeseburgers (made on good 'ol George Foreman).

~Honey Mustard Chicken (Tyson's in a bag from Sam's).

We went out tonight for Mexican, I just opened my burrito put the salad and topping directly on the meat (I asked for it on the side) and ate the insides liek a giant salad. I also ate the beans (not the rice) and we took along special low carb chips and dipped them in salsa! Yum!

Monday-Shrimp Stir Fry for dh I had omelette w/ tomato, broccoli and cheese. The omelette was made with egg substitute though.

Tuesday-really can't remember

Wednesday - Chicken Lo-Mein

Thursday- cereal, toast--it was late, dd was crying all night and sick, no time for anything.

Friday- Bean and Cheese Burritos and Salad- leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes, carrots, cucs, and Raspberry Pecan dressing..mmmh!
Dessert on Friday- Peanut Butter and Fudge cookies...my oh my I done bad!


Toni :)

1) Spaghetti

2) Egg sandwiches

3) Pasta salad

4) Au Gratin potato soup

5) Hot & sour soup

6) French Dip sandwiches

7) Subway (had freebie cards :D )

Sides were whatever veggies/salads we happened to throw in that night. Definitely a no oven week here!!

Looking forward to reading all the replies to get more ideas myself!

diane

-anasazi beans in spiced tomato sauce with tortillas
-spinach lasagne (leftovers the folowing night) and garlic bread
-veggie "chicken" soup (egg noodles in veggie broth that tastes like chicken with peas and finely chopped onions) and french bread
-cheddar potato soup and salad
-veggie burritos
-black bean quesadillas with mexican corn and spiced rice

Honestly, the only one of these meals that took any appreciable work was the lasagne.

I try to integrate the veggies into the meal itself do I know DH will eat enough of them. if I tell him to eat some peas, he will eat a tiny bit and fill up on the main dish. If the peas are in soup, they disappear along with the rest!

HTH

-Melissa

meatloaf (hubby's recipe... it's sooo good)
beef/bean chimichanga
ham & scalloped potatoes

go to www.allrecipes.com-- whenever I need any cooking ideas/inspiration I ALWAYS find something there!! It's definitely one of my *favorite* sites! :thumbsup:

Good Luck!

btw... that's supposed to be www.allrecipes.com no dashes after! sorry! :rolleyes:

NOTHING! I am still babymooning and I have 3 months worth of dinners in the upright freezer :D so everything just needs to be reheated, well a few things like lasagne needs to actually cook, but it's all prepared.

We had Cheesy crockpot chicken (http://www.andersonsplace.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=134) although I sub. cream of chicken soup for the mushroom (dh hates mushrooms :rolleyes: )

Sloppy Joes

Chicken best (none of us really like this but I made 3 meals so we are eating it!)

Went for ds's b-day

Friday dh mans the grill always!


A tip: Cook in batches, if you have to be in the kitchen why not make extra?? I've also found I can stretch things allot farther that way too. Those 3 months worth of meals were done by just making extra every time I cooked, when I made lasagne I made 4, 3 went in the freezer, I made 5 gals of sloppy joes etc.

Sunday
Had a bbq at a friends house--on the menu was--chicken, corn on the cob, fruit salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, cheese burgers, cupcakes.

Monday
BLT's with spinach/garden salad

Tuesday
went out to eat at my fav restaurant--woohoo!!

Wednesday
Nachos--smothered in cheeze, veggies, salsa and guacamole

Thursday
Steak Sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad

Friday
Grilled Chicken with leftover salads (see thurs.)


Great idea Kristin!
:thumbsup:

It's really hot here too, so we grill outside a lot, and use the crockpot and microwave whenever possible. Here's some of what we had this week:

Ginger-soy salmon made on the grill, stir-fry veggies with lo-mein (OK, it was leftover spaghetti!)

Turkey burgers made on the grill, corn, salad, lots of tomatoes from our garden!

broccolli-cheese pie for dh and I, omelets for the kids, with bagels, toast and fruit salad

Kosher hot dogs on buns, canned vegetarian baked beans, sliced tomatoes (again!)

Homemade pizza (with chopped tomatoes, LOL!) (I make the crust in the bread machine, but I do have to use the oven for this one. I know there is a way to make pizza on the grill, anyone know how?)

Tonight, roast chicken and carrots in the crock-pot, boiled red potatoes, those great French green beans from Trader Joes, challah (egg bread)

One night we ate out at Souper Salad for $7 for a family of 5. Last time we were there, the ice cream machine was broken (big deal!) so the manager gave us two free passes. :)

Thanks for the link to the recipe site.
I HATE cooking with a passion!
Can you say TAKE OUT? LOL:)

Hmmm...let's see if I can remember!:)

Monday: Was supposed to be chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and salad, but at the last minute I realized we had no butter for the potatoes and the lettuce was wilty, so we had chicken finger sandwiches instead.

Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken (cut up chicken, onion, jalapeno, with a beer poured on top and cooked on low all day long) over rice

Wednesday: Dinner at Church every wednesday (this week was chicken fingers, rice, roll, green beans and banana pudding)...I forgot we were having CF's when I chose to cook them Monday!

Thursday: DH took me out for our anniversary (yummy!) and I had crab cakes over linquini, twice baked potato, tossed salad and coconut creme pie.

Friday: Homemade chicken salad (chicken, toasted pecans, cut-up apple, crumbled bacon, celery, mayo and sour cream) on croissants.

Have no clue what I'm fixing tonight...

honey ginger glazed salmon
Taconni con ricotta - pasta tossed w/ ricotta and sauteed spinach
eggplant parmesan
flank steak
Halibut curry over jasmine rice

It's over the grill or something that takes less than 15 minutes to make. Tonight it's smoked turkey and stuffing. Butterflied so it cooks in half the time. Out on the grill so the guys can watch it :)

Pam

FINALLY!

~Sat: Breaded pork chops, mashed potatoes and some sort of yet to be determined veggie.

~Sun: Cranberry Sauce Chicken, rice and stir fry veggies

~ Mon: Baked Raviloi and salad *cheesy I know..LoL*

~ Tues: Broccoli Chicken Cheese soup and bread

~ Wed: *Cuban Night* [Well as cuban as this midwestern gal' can get from allrecipies.com :D ROFL] Cuban Pork Roast, black beans and rice and fried plantains (not sure if those are actually "cuban" or not, but there were a few reccomendations at the web-site...tee hee hee

~ Thurs: Hamburgers, Macaroni Salad, Baked beans...maybe cherry pie for dessert if the cherries stay fresh that long, if not we'll be eating that on Monday or so

~ Fri: Yet to be determinded as I normally grocery shop on Fridays

Whew! I hate making a menu, but I like making new stuff. I've been doing "ethnic" food at least once a week too which is fun. Latin American and Italian are really easy to come by, so now I have to start looking for middle eastern and european type foods. One week at a time I guess..

~Ash~

Bahahaha, okay done laughing. Your family eats like mine some weeks.

This week we did

Black Beans and rice on a tortilla
Lentils with rice (which we ate for 2 days)
Chinese Fried rice
and last night I am not sure we ever made it to dinner. We had take out Chiptoles for lunch and had extra for dinner?

Grilled marinated sirloin steak and veggies on Monday

Marinated grilled chicken and baked potatoes on Tuesday

grilled cheese on whole grain bread with tomatos

Brown rice chicken primavera on Thursday

last night was a potluck but we had taco salad, brown rice and brocoli casserole, and BBQ turkey sandwiches with ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Hmmmmm what to make tonight? Prolly sketti!

Reading through all of these posts reminded me what to make tonight. I cooked two extra chicken breasts on Thursday when I made the brown rice chicken primavera--so now I can use that to make a yummy pasta chicken salad for dinner tonight--but I'll still need to make something for the boys, probably leave some pasta and chicken plain. Now to plan next week's menus.

Pam

Woohoo! Mamas thank you so much! I am going to print this out and tape it to the inside of one of my cupboard doors for some new ideas! Thanks so much!

This morning we had my 'famous' pancakes that my 10 y-o DS made and then for lunch we had grilled cheese - also courtesy of my 10 y-o DS who is known as "Chef Francois" around here.

Okay, here is what I cook most often:

Meatless Lasagne - in the crock pot
Shepherd's Pie - sometimes I use a meat subst. with mushrooms
Rice and Bean burritos (baked) - my family loves these
Burgers with salad (sometimes veggie burgers - sometimes beef)
Black Bean Chili - this is made with vegetable juice and is yummy!
Tuna or Chicken Casserole
Macaroni salad
Beef Barley Soup (in winter)

I just can't think of any other dinners. Isnt' that awful? I haven't been cooking much these last couple of weeks because of the sweltering heat and the humidity.

Thanks again for all the wonderful ideas.

So I have the whole month planned out and cooked. It is in my tiny freezer, in Ziplock freezer bags. All of these dinners are homecooked and easy! This week:

(this is GREAT for summertime-- no need to heat up the kitchen every night!)

Sun**chicken enchiladas
Mon**Stringy Meat (aka pot roast)
Tues**Half and Half Pizza (half chicken ranch half all meat so dh and I can both have what we want!)
Wed.**grandma's spaghetti
Thurs** Tacos
Friday**Meatloaf
Saturday** Lemon Chicken
Sunday**Baked Ziti
Another great thing about this is that we have the leftovers for lunch the next day!

I serve everything with a big helping of salad--italian style (salad served last)

Megan

Originally posted by Kristin's Cloth
Meatless Lasagne - in the crock pot



Kristin, can you explain how you make lasagne in the crock pot? I am still learning how to use mine. Thanks!

I'm a shoot from the hip kinda gal, so this week we had . . .


- Homemade chicken noodle soup (make with leftover meat from KFC from the previous weekend and those awesome frozen egg noodles.)
- dinosaur soup (from a can, lol) and grilled cheese sandwiches
- Shrimp Scampi on pasta with corn
- Spaghetti & meatballs
- breakfast for dinner - scrambled eggs, pancakes, fruit
- Chicken nuggets, green beans and homemade creamed corn
- cheese/broccoli stuffed chicken breasts with scalloped potatoes

And tomorrow night, I am making stuffed shells marinara with broccoli.

Sometime this week I intend to make crockpot beef stew and Chili Colorado (for the grownups)

Hmmm, this week-

Lasagna
Lasagna leftovers
Lasagna leftovers
Portobella mushroom burgers
Portobella mushroom burgers
Frozen burritos

Monday-Jerk Tempeh with brown rice and veggies.
Tuesday-Pasta.
Wednesday-Pasta leftovers(just too hot to cook).
Thursday-Grilled Tofu and fried rice with veggies.
Friday-Veggie Burgers with grilled onions and peppers.