A Challenge !!!

[SueInMarne]

I need a BUNCH of recipes that have the following requirements:

Light ( of course)
30 minutes or less in prep time
Can be cooked and refridgerated in ONE pan
Something that makes ALOT so I have left overs, and freezes / reheats well.

I'm going to work outside of the home for the first time in 14 years....I need help with nightly
dinner preparation. I don't want to fall back on Quick, greasy, pre-prepared meals, but I don't
have time for hours of marinating, chopping, browning etc etc. HELP!!!

[laurenc]

I've got one word for you...casserole! There are tons of great casserole recipes on CL and they all freeze really well.

Congratulations on going back to work - that is quite a challange to run a home and work full time. I wish yiou lots of success.

[KristaMB]

How about soups? They're usually real easy to throw together, and quick cooking. I've never tried freezing this one, but when I'm pressed for time, I make Tortellini Soup.

Here's what I do: Saute some onions, add some garlic, two cans of chicken or vegetable broth, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of pinquinto, pinto, or white beans. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, some basil, any veggie you want (squash, spinach..), bring to a boil. Throw in frozen or refrigerated tortellini. Cook until pasta is done, grate parmesan over it, and serve with crusty bread.

[cjm]

One of my favorite cook ahead and freeze recipes is the "Healthy Picadillo" in CL Oct. 2000 (page 91). I substitute the ground round with ground turkey. Sometimes I add a little chrizo (sp) sausage along with the ground turkey just for variety. It is good and also easy to make, and I can usually get 2 - 3 meals for DH & I.

I'll keep thinking of some others...

cjm

[Beth]

Here's one good one that meets all those criteria. Another suggestion would be to try a crock pot or slow cooker.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Not Really King Ranch Chicken

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 pounds cooked chicken -- shredded or diced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
1 can 98% percent fat free condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can black beans -- (15 oz)
1 can whole kernel corn -- drained
1/2 pkg chicken taco seasoning -- (1/2 to 1)
10 corn tortillas -- torn into 1 inch peices
1/2 cup cheese -- grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chicken, tomatoes, soup, beans, corn taco seasoning and tortillas in a deep casserole dish of 13x9 inch pan. Mixture should be thick but still soupy. If too thin, add more tomatoes. Top with grated cheese.

Bake 45 to 60 minutes until hot and bubbly.

You can use about 1 - 2T taco seasoning and 1/2 tsp garlic powder for the chicken taco seasoning.

Microwaving mixed canned goods until hot, then adding chicken, taco seasoning and tortillas before pouring into pan and topping with cheese will cut baking time in half. Freezes well (make 2 8-inch square pans and freeze one).

[Grace]

May I suggest getting a pressure cooker. It is an invaluable tool to me, as I also work full time and come home and have to put something on the table. Soups and stews are done in 20 to 30 minutes, not 1-1/2 to 2 hours. I don't have any specific recipes, but any soup or stew recipe (or lentils or beans, etc.) adapts well to the pressure cooker.

Also, we like wraps for quick dinners. The Ginger Peanut Chicken Wraps are a favorite of ours, as well as the Spicy Ranch Chicken wraps, and the Blue Cheese Pepper Steak wraps (those might not be the exact titles!). Anyhow, they are fast, delicious, and you can make a double batch of them, put them in gladware containers, and I keep tortillas frozen in the freezer at all times. I can pull out one tortilla at a time, warm it up, and throw a wrap together in 3 minutes. And they taste GREAT!! Even my meat and potatoes husband loves these.

Good luck! You'll soon find stuff that works well for you. Do some searches on this BB too - there will be so many good ideas, you won't believe it.

[Lynn B]

SueInMarne,

You are getting LOTS of great ideas! :) I would also suggest that you consider investing in the newest CL "Light & Easy Menus" cookbook. It is wonderful! All the meal plans are designed to be on the table in 30 minutes or less. Also, the "5 Ingredient, 15 Minute" cookbook is excellent... just as the name implies... great food w/ few ingredients, in record time. Lots of those recipes can easily be doubled, then the second batch frozen for another time. You can look for these books at your local bookstore, or keep an eye out on eBay or Half.com.

There was also a magazine size cookbook that CL published late last year (I think?) called "Make it Ahead"... full of great ideas for making delicious light meals ahead, then freezing, etc. It sounds like just what you are looking for. Perhaps you could call CL about that one. When it was on the newsstand, I think it was $5.99.

Lynn

[BlueMoose]

Pillsbury's Fast and Healthy Cookbook is great!

[Kjente2]

Congratulations on your new ADDITIONAL career...You've got a good range of starts here..pressue cookers, crock pots, marinades, and make aheads will become your dear friends...you're right, there is no reason to eat slop. Having been a road warrior for years, I found that these are not only great tools, but also meals that start as one thing and become something else down the line are good..you know, roasted chicken, for example that gets used in some other dish later in the week. CL had an article on these as well as Bon Appetite. You can make some very nice sandwishes with roasted vegetables, with or without meat, and some nice spreads..pesto maynaise for example that doll them up. I'll try a search to see if I can find a few of them for you.

[Chefzhat]

My family loves the Roasted Chicken and Wild Rice Soup that was in the April or May issue. I make it ahead (on a Sunday or something) then reheat when needed. If you need the recipe I'll post it - let me know.

Congrats on going back to work - we live in the same area, where will you be working (if you don't mind my asking??)

Debie

[cjm]

GRACE - where can I find the recipes that you mentioned...
Spicy Ranch Chicken Wrap and Ginger Peanut Chicken Wrap?

SueInMarne - this is a subject that I would imagine interests quite a few of us BBers...thanks for posting!

[Alisa]

CL has oodles of healthy & yummy lasagna recipes that would fit your criteria.

[GayeC]

My best tools for solving this problem are my crock pot and my freezer. It is really wonderful to come home from work and have your entree cooked, hot, and ready to serve from the crock pot! Last night I made Brunswick Stew from a recent crock pot thread and tonight I am making Italian Beef Sandwiches from the same thread. Recently I have been making double quantities of casseroles, soups, etc. so that I can freeze half of it. It is really nice to have several things in the freezer -- you can select your dinner the night before and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. We are even thinking about getting a small chest freezer so that we can do more of this. I am also trying to freeze a supply of things I use a lot (chopped onions and peppers, grated cheese) so I don't have to do those tasks every time I cook dinner.

Good luck with your new job. It is a challenge to balance home and work but some advance planning on dinners really makes your life easier.
Gaye

[Searcher]

Both pressure cookers and crock pots are great tools for those who work outside the home. I think a crock pot for soup or stew and a bread machine can make life so much more pleasant. Coming home from work and having a hot meal and hot bread waiting are great. One of my daughter's doesn't get home until 7pm but can still have a good meal waiting. For those crockpot meals that don't take 12 hours, you can buy a simple timer from Home Depot and set a time for the pot to go on. If you have a crock pot with a removeable crock, you can even put meals together the night before and they'll be safe to let sit for awhile before the timer comes on.

Someone posted a crockpot recipe for a whole chicken (sorry, I can't remember who right now) that can have chicken ready for a quick dish, plus broth for soup the next night. I love doing my chicken like this and sometimes use just bone-in chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken.

[Grace]

cjm -

All the wrap recipes came from the June 2000 issue. Do you have that issue? If not, I know they've been posted on the board several times - if you can't find them let me know and I can either search or post them again for you. But I hope you have the issue, because the whole section on wraps was sooo good. All the recipes were fantastic.

[cjm]

Grace - thanks, AGAIN, I have June 2000...I'm on my way to the bookcase.

[SueInMarne]

:D :D :D
You guys are Awesome!! Excellant Ideas...expecially the pressure cooker...I've only used
it for canning, but tonight I made 3 chickens in it..and have soup, stew, a noodle cassarole,
some breast meat we seasoned up and made fajita's out of and some extra that will
be destined for chicken salad !
The search for a job is starting as of Next week Monday...I'm going to spend this weekend
cooking and freezing up some of your marvelous Recipies! For Tomato Queen: Right now
I'm working at a Golf course here in Marne, but am searching for a "winter" job. Too bad
we don't have a golf season Year "Round !!

Thanks again folks!!