Dinner ideas for a busy family?!

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Have you tried gnocchi? You just tip it into boiling water, it takes 2-3 minutes to cook (it is cooked when it floats to the surface). Then you drain it, tip into an ovenproof dish and stir in a jar of tomato pasta sauce. Stir in some spinach and then blob spoonfuls of mascarpone cheese over the lot. Grate some parmesan over and grill til it's golden on the top and bubbling. Doesn't take long, but it's comforting and filling.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4594/…

A couple of things that have helped make things easier for me is

1. cooking things in large quantities on the weekend and freezing it in portion sizes for future meals. I like to do things like chili recipes, spaghetti sauce with meatballs, stew, soup, meatloaf(it freezes great), etc. you can find find great chili recipes here
http://www.chili-everyway.com/index.html

2. Use the crock pot
http://www.chili-everyway.com/crock-pot-…

3. Have a stash of easy, quick recipes
http://www.chili-everyway.com/easy-chili…

4. Double anything you make for leftovers or to freeze

Good luck!

http://www.chili-everyway.com/index.html

1. Grilled cheese
2. Macaroni and cheese with hotdogs- cut up the hotdogs and fry them till they are brown on both sides, and add them to the finished mac and cheese. Mmmmmmm...
3. fried spagetti- cook spagetti, drain till dry. Put on stove and add veggie oil to coat. Add salt and pepper. when spagetti is hot, add some eggs to coat noodles. Fry until eggs are done. I love it with ketchip and parmesan cheese. Sounds gross but is great. Best with leftover spagetti!
4. Balogna and cheese- put balogna and cheese on a slice of bread, and put the bread in the oven on 375 until the cheese is melted, the bread is toasted, and the balogna is turning up on the edges. Add ketchup and enjoy. its great. give it a shot.
5. Easy stew- take stew meat and season with salt pepper paprika and curry. Fry until brown on all sides. Add brown gravy. Bring to a boil. Add canned carrots. simmer all day! (Or all evening while you are diong everything else and use it for the next day!)

Hope I helped.

I second the crock pot idea, fall is coming and chilis, soups and stews will be wonderful.

Other ideas:
Chicken noodle or tomato soup with grilled cheese
Cheese quesadillas w/ salsa and chips
Grilled chicken salad--buy the precooked chicken strips
Grill up some meat on the weekend and find different ways to serve it during the week. If your meat is already cooked there are tons of things you can do quickly.

Key word: Crockpot! Throw in some lean meat, or make a simple soup with vegetables/meat/legumes. Let it simmer all day...and bam, your dinner is ready when you get home from work. There's a ton of things you can make with a crockpot, cookinglight.com has a lot of good recipes for that.

Stir fry is very fast as well!

You could always try something easy like Spaghetti, or Steak or even a sandwich. Spend your time wisely, you should get the homework done as you have but eating is just as important as homework.
Try to Separate it out.

Hope I helped! (:

Grilled cheese w/ tomato soup
Pasta w/ sauce
Tuna melts
Veggie stir fry
Rice and beans
Bean Chili
Veggie fajitas
Homemade Pizza (buy a premade crust)

Hudat