Back to school easy dinner edition

[campermom]

Got any ideas?

I’m spending Monday prepping marinated chicken for tacos
Tues: veggie soup w ground beef and pasta w cheesy breadsticks
Wed….
Thurs…
Friday I’m probably going out

[erbear]

I’m making easy stuff this week. Burrito bowls, hummus wraps, stir fry. I’m always fall asleep exhausted the first week of school.

[sdlaura]

Lately I’ve become obsessed with panzanella salad. Cucumbers, tomatoes, toasted baguette pieces. I need to add some grilled chicken too for some protein. Then the dressing it’s tossed in is ranch, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, and mayo. It was a blue apron recipe and I keep making it.

[librarychica]

My daughter makes beef tacos pretty much every week. So that’s one night covered for us.

I am trying this air fryer salmon bites recipe, looks fast. www.runningtothekitchen.com/air-fryer-salmon-bites/

Tilapia with adobo seasoning (or dried garlic + salt and peppers), plus smoked paprika, sautéed and served with black beans and rice is a very frequent weeknight meal for us. One thing I like about a quick sautéed fish is I can add spice to H and mine and lessen or leave it off for the girls.

This Thai beef is easy, if you keep these kind of sauces on hand, tastesbetterfromscratch.com/thai-basil-beef-pad-gra-prow/

If you don’t, a quick stir fry with a store bought sauce is always yummy and a good way to slip in extra veggies

There’s no shame in breakfast for dinner. My favorite is eggs on toast, sometimes with bacon. My oldest hates eggs so subs in avocado. Add some fruit. Done.

Oh and baked potato night! Whatever toppings you like, if you have leftover chili sometime sticking chili on a potato is surprisingly good. Add salad, or if I can’t face all the chopping, canned pears. It’s a meal.

When I feel my meals aren’t up to scratch I remember that my mother literally served us chunky Campbell’s veg beef soup over rice weekly, and we were perfectly fine with this, we grew to be healthy adults, no harm done. Feel free to borrow that mantra.

[waverly]

We don’t tend to be very creative with food and are always in a rut.

We pretty much have pizza, spaghetti, and tacos weekly. That just leaves the other 4 days where we have to make a decision. DH likes stuffed enchilada shells but they aren’t easy because the stuffing and baking takes awhile.

[mae0111]

If I have some time on a weekend, I try to do some prep to have things available when I’m racing during the week.

I prep and freeze turkey meatballs. Then we have options for spaghetti (squash) and meatballs or meatballs subs. I throw them in the toaster oven to thaw and then heat them through in sauce.

I buy premade pizza dough and make individual calzones with meatballs and provolone cheese. I don’t add sauce, then I bake, cool, and freeze so they’re ready to heat up whenever. Sauce on the side for dipping. About 400 cals each.

Rotisserie chicken - I make a bunch with this. Chicken and rice casserole with broccoli freezes well, and I make calzones with chicken and broccoli and mozzarella cheese.

Sheet pan chicken fajitas are easy if you can prep the veggies beforehand. Or just use frozen fajita mix with chicken or steak.

I also try to prep a few pasta bakes. Ground turkey/beef/chicken seasoned, pasta sauce, whatever pasta, veggies (carrots, zucchini, broccoli, etc), ricotta. Mix it all up and put in foil pans, cover and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw if you have time, or just throw in oven, warm through and top with mozzarella cheese for the last few mins.

I looove skinnytaste chicken taco chili in the instant pot. It comes together really quickly and it also freezes really well.

[dglvrk2]

I made spinach stuffed chicken breasts for the first time tonight. They were easy and good.

Tomorrow we will do leftovers.

Wednesday - lentil and kielbasa soup
Thursday - chicken tacos
Friday - pizza

I also make polenta lasagna, chicken sausage & Brussels sprouts and chicken soup every couple of weeks.

[mommyatty]

As soon as school starts back up, my crockpot becomes my best buddy. We have chicken and noodles, roast beef with carrots and potatoes, a couple of different soups, pulled pork, and salsa chicken.

Unfortunately I’m traveling pretty much all of September, so my family is going to be eating out a lot. DH doesn’t cook. And when he’s solo parenting, I kind of don’t blame him.

[rere]

We did some meal prep yesterday. We grilled extra burgers and chicken breast.

Today - burgers with the last of my garden tomatoes and asparagus.

Wednesday- grilled chicken sweet potatoes and onions, asparagus

Thursday-out appliance shopping

[186momx]

This is challenging for us with DD needing to be dairy and wheat free 4 nights a week due to allergy and practice schedules.

Today-salsa chicken tacos (DD is doing taco salad with corn tortilla chips)
Wed- leftovers from the BBQ fundraiser that didn't go well (teriyaki chicken and Yaka Shobi noodles) (DD doesn't have gym)
Thurs-? not sure
Fri-salmon, rice, broccoli

For lunches which is when I'm trying to get DD more calories in this week is yam or baked potato, steak bites, and roasted carrots and onions. The school is making sure she has access to a microwave as she won't be able to eat any school lunches due to allergies which is very helpful.

We made allergy friendly breakfast cookies for her to eat as a mid gym snack (oats, banana, peanut butter, and strawberries).

My quick meals which I can't do anymore were: spaghetti, chicken nuggets and boxed pasta, boxed scalloped potatoes and chicken all in the oven, and I used the crock pot a lot. We've been trying to figure out some new crockpot meals that don't include cream soups, or packages as they all contain wheat or dairy.

[supertrooper1]

My latest 5 minute meal is frozen rotisserie chicken (my favorite is from Costco) with instant mashed potatoes and a bag salad.

We also do tacos at least once a week.

Tonight will be caprese chicken. www.skinnytaste.com/caprese-chicken-skillet/

[campermom]

erbear I used your burrito bowl idea rather than my chicken tacos and I had made my own marinade, made lime cilantro rice. Had tomatoes, sautéed peppers and onion, corn and spring garden mix, cheese and sour cream and it was SO good. My teenager ate after he got home from work and actually texted me to say “this is good as hell” partly bc he knew how much time I put into it but he also thought it was the best. Definitely doing this regularly. The marinade was easy it was oil, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, garlic, lime juice and cilantro. I think S&P too. Ooh I even bought those little crispy tortilla strips!

[sandandsea]

I’ve been buying the premade things at Costco that you only need to heat up like their brisket, rotisserie chicken, pan of chicken Alfredo, brisket Mac and cheese, and tikka masala. Add a bag of frozen veggies or fruit and dinner is pretty easy.

[mae0111]

Tonight’s dinner will be burrata over mixed greens and arugula with blistered grape tomatoes and slices of baguette that will probably not be toasted.

Brought to you by the first day of school and 2.25 hours of soccer for DD2.