I tend to cheat to make my dinners quick. But we are always on a tight budget too, so nothing I make is really expensive. All these recipes easily feed 3 adults and 2 kids with leftovers for hubby's lunch the next day.
Some of our fave dinners are:
Chicken and rice:
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
rice
2 can cream of mushroom soup
frozen broccoli
1 Cut up the chicken in to small cubes.
2 Cook broccoli in the microwave while cutting chicken.
3 Cook chicken in a pot until done (not pink)...
4 toss in broccoli and mix in both cans of soup and about 1 and a half cans of water.
5 Let simmer about 5-10 minutes until the soup is warm and serve over rice.
Chicken and Pasta
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 boxes of Pasta Roni (I buy when on sale)
Frozen broccoli
Steps 1,2, 3 are the same as above.
4 Prepare Pasta roni according to directions on boxes in the same pot with chicken and broccoli.
Cheater Stew (Mom's homemade stew is one of my fave dinners... I can't seem to make it like hers so I don't even try. So this is my "cheating" version of making stew.
1 lb ground beef or venison
1 onion
Dale's seasoning (or any other type of liquid steak seasoning)
1 large can of stew (can use Dinty More... I use cheaper store brand)
1 can of sliced potatoes (drained)
1 can of veggies- your choice- (drained) (I usually use corn because the kids like that best, but I've used mixed veggies, peas, carrots, and green beans before)
1 In a large pot, cook ground meat and sliced or chunked onions until the meat is cooked and the onions are starting to soften.
2 Drain grease.
3 Add a splash of the steak seasoning (and salt and pepper if desired).
4 Add all the canned ingredients and cook until hot (takes about 5 minutes)
This recipe can be expanded simply by adding more veggies or ground meat to feed more people, no matter how much you add, you won't need any more canned stew.
This meal takes less than 30 min to make and it's inexpensive but really tasty.
peel and cut into bite size cubes sweet potatoes then toss them in olive oil and cayenne pepper. place on cookie sheet 1 layer only and bake @ 375 until toasty brown outside (aprox 20 min) they are hot and sweet, roasted on the outside and puffed and creamy on the inside.
Brown frozen chicken tenderloins on a skillet then remove
saute what ever mushrooms are on sale and 1 clove of garlic then remove
add to your pan 1 cup heavy cream 3 Tbs sour cream and 1/2 cup parmesan sp.. cheese.. mix until thick and creamy
boil angel hair paste and chop chicken into bite size chunks
add chicken mushrooms garlic and pasta to the cream mixture and toss
I like to bake a ham and have scalloped spuds and veggie then the next night I use the left over ham and make navy beans n ham, and cornbread.
Another fav is large pork roast.
Then day 2 I cut the roast and simmer it in a pot of water for a bit. Put the meat and broth over chinese egg noodles with some chopped green onion.
Day three I warm the meat/ broth mix. Drain the juice and that goes over doggie dinner. Then I take the meat ant add a little sweet baby Rays BBQ sauce. Put the mixture over buns and ya got a BBQ pork sand.
My cheap and easy meal of the day is beef casserole
1 large can of beef stew
bisquick mix (mixed for biscuits) or canned biscuits
Put stew in the bottom of a casserole, top with canned biscuits/bisquick mix, bake at temp directed for biscuits, remove when topping is brown and not gummy. I add a bit of water to the stew part, so the biscuits have something to suck up in addition to the juice. Quick and easy, and cheap!!
Obviously you can add anything you want to it, other veggies, whatever.
I also make a similar dish with turkey, mixed veggies, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth.
I get pre-cooked turkey loaf 'ends' from Save-a-lot for $4 for a 2-3 pound package.