Lazy days?!
Lazy days?
What do you cook on those lazy days when you don't feel inspired or have the right ingredients?
We're having Hamburger Helper tonight.
Answers:
If I don't have the right ingredients, I'll try to whip up something that we're scheduled to have on another day in the week (I use a menu) or we end up eating something like Hamburger Helper also. Tonight we were suppose to have chicken caesar salads, but my husband didn't want that, so I took the chicken and marinated it in a jerk marinade, then threw some seasoning on sliced potatoes and fried them up, and then heat up some creamed corn. Usually I'm only 'lazy' when my husband is out of town at a hurricane conference and the kids and I end up eating cereal for dinner.
Fast food... leave the cooking to some other guy with a lot of grease.
Grilled cheese!
Grilled ham and cheese or Hamburger Helper
Go to the Rachel Ray website and you'll find quick and easy 30-minute meals...some may even take less time. http://www.rachaelraymag.com/30_minute_m...
Hope this helps!
1) If it's just me and the kids we have cheese and crackers and fruit. Too hot to eat more.
2) I also like simple things like refried beans spread on a tortilla and sprinkled with cheese. Lettuce and tomato if there's any around that's already cut up.
3) I also like any soft fruit (canned fruits, berries, bananas, ripe melon chunks) with vanilla yogurt on top, sprinkled with cereal, usually Honey Bunches of Oats or corn flakes.
4) Apple slices with two dips, peanut butter and vanilla yogurt.
5) Soup!!
A box of noodle roni Fettuccine Alfredo cooked according to the directions on the box then dump in a can of drained tuna and a can of drained peas.
Also you can never go wrong with a box of Macaroni and cheese, with sliced hotdogs.
I cook real good food most nights, so a night of just getting their bellies full is okay once in awhile.
Cereal add fruit if you are really energetic or perhaps the old standby Top Ramen or Cup o' Soup.
umm leftovers or whatever is in the fridge. be creative
Those pre-washed, bagged salad greens are a nutritional life-saver on lazy nights! They're well worth the $4 a bag to have on hand.
Slice open a bag of salad, add cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. Top with whatever protein source you have handy - canned tuna, leftover roast or grilled chicken, strips of deli meat, whatever.
I also keep the ingredients for a beef cottage pie in the house. Saute a chopped onion and ground beef with salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. Stir in a packet of instant brown gravy and a small bag of frozen mixed veggies. Add a little more than half the water specified on the gravy packet. While that simmers, make 2-3 cups of instant mashed potatoes. Dump the meat/veggies into a baking dish, top with the potatoes (and some shredded cheese if you have it). Bake until the top is crispy. Serve with ketchup. Takes about 30 minutes for a one-dish meal. =)
We've been having a lot of pasta salads lately, because nobody wants anything hot or heavy. It helps me a *lot* to have a farmers' co-op deliver us vegetables, so I have them all up in my face and have to use them. I don't even have recipes--I just get whatever pasta looks good to me, and some Italian or vinaigrette-type dressing, and chop up whatever vegetables I have.
Mac and Cheese and Chicken Strips
PB&J...with or without milk....
Grill some chicken, steak or ribs that have soaked in marinade all day! The only work involved is to throw the meat in a ziplock bag and dump the marinade in the bag w/ the meat and set in fridge. Dinnertime? Start the grill and place meat on grill, turn every few minutes. Serve up with a container of potato salad or pasta salad and melon. It tastes better than Hamburger Helper too!
I pull out a piece of smoked fish (I always have a couple on hand for when I feel like eating meat) and throw together a simple salad and rice.
A simple sandwhich made on a teflon pan with some french fries.