need inspiration: whats your favorite quick go-to weeknight supper?
 

Ugh. I never know what to fix and I get tired of the same stuff over and over. We both work and we just want something quick we can put together at 6 pm and have to eat. We often eat frozen ravioli, or spaghetti, or make a Boboli pizza.

What do you throw together for a quick meal?

Know how you feel! Once a month or so I do up a batch of stuff to pop in for a quick dinner. Our fav are mini meatloafs, baked potato and steamed veggies or salad. I make a big batch of meatloaf and freeze them in mini loaf pans. Even bought the loaf style pan for this purpose. We have a vacume sealer so I bag them by 2 and its perfect for my "don't have the energy to do anything supper".

Burritos or rather Kind-of-burritos. Start with tortillas (flour or cornmeal) Use any left over cooked meat you have (or seafood), add raw or quickly sauted veges, left over rice or cubed cooked potatoes or canned beans, some sort of sauce you have in the fridge (like hot sauce, or a little creamy salad dressing or even some left over gravy). Roll the items up and put in a Pam sprayed baking dish then cover with a can of cream of mushroom or chicken soup, sprinkle whatever cheese you have on hand. Cover and bake in the oven for 20-ish minutes at about 350. Fast, easy, uses up bits and pieces from the fridge. Don't think of a burrito as just a Mexican food item, relegated to only traditional Mexican food items - think of it as a vehicle to a fast and fun meal. Perfect with a fresh green salad

I made green enchiladas tonight. Very easy to make and if you use canned chicken breast it's faster. I buy a frozen green chiles, corn tortillas, green chili sauce, shredded cheese and what ever chicken you prefer. I put the sauce in a shallow bowl I dip the corn tortillas in the sauce saturating them. I then take them and and line the bottom (ex: I use 6 on each layer for a 9x13in pan or 4 in a 8x8in pan). Mix cooked or canned chicken shredded in a bowl with green chiles. Top the layer of tortillas with chicken mixture then a layer of cheese. repeat 2 more times and bake at 350 till cheese is melted thru. All takes 1 hour or less. serve with veggies, salad

I like to make omelets. I'll scour my kitchen for leftovers and toss "whatever" into the omelet.

Oh ... to make ahead of time and freeze, then pop in the oven.

"Western Burgers"
Brown ground beef and drain fat. Add 1 small can of sliced black olives for every 1 lb of beef. For ever two lbs of ground beef cube 1 large "loaf" of Velveta cheese and stir cheese cubes and olives into the beef. Cook on low until the cheese is melted. Spoon beef mixture onto buns and wrap in foil. Freeze.

To re-heat, heat for 40 minutes at 250. Pair with a fresh veggie or salad and you have a meal!

Back when I used to work, husband and I barbequed chicken, ribs, etc., and froze them. Then when we got home we threw a potato in the micro open a can of something green , salad and viola, a good meal; I still make a big pot of vegetable soup or chili on week-end and put a lot in freezer. I made an angel food cake with caramel icing yesterday. always good. But we office in our home and 2 sons and a grandson work with us so I cook big meal every day at noon, so we always have left-overs.

this time of year we often stick something in the crock pot in the morning before heading out- when we come home the house smells so good and dinner is ready! we cook roasts, soups, chili, stew, today we did a pork roast in the crock pot while i sewed- they come out so very good!
we very seldom eat any frozen meals, or processed foods-
some of my favorite (1/2 an hour) meals--- lemon caper salmon with wild rice & fresh asparagus
parmesan chicken with spaghetti
shrimp or crab chef salads with french bread or garlic toast
tacos / burritos/ enchiladas/ jambalya

there are so many- we work long hours so are pretty good about getting home & putting together something that is easy clean up & fairly fast (1/2 hour to 45 minutes) we have a cupboard full of cook books- and browse them---finding new things to try- (friends call me an 'extreme cook') because i put together some pretty elaborate meals---but they are not difficult - too time consuming- or make too big of a mess- sit & look through some cook books- or browse the on line ones- you can put together some amazingly wonderful meals in 1/2 an hour that are good for you and really good :)

soup. 2carrots,3celery,1onion,any kind of meat(optional)6 bouillion cubes,chick peas 1 can,cover with water plus 2 inches salt and pepper, fresh basil or dried to taste, 1 can tomato paste and 1 can diced tomatoes. Cook 1/2 hr on medium heat.
You can top with grated or shredded cheese. It is good just by itself.

The crock pot suggestion above is great. We do one where we do a package of boneless/skinless thighs and/or breasts . Chop an onion and put it on the bottom of the crock pot, add the chicken pieces, cover with a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a light dash of dried dill (or fresh if available). Cook all day on low. That night shred the chicken right in the crock pot and serve either on kaiser type rolls or over rice. It will make a lot so depending on the size of your family you should get easily two meals out of it. The second night we generally mix the left overs with canned chicken broth and fresh veges for soup.