simple dinners

Figuring out dinner has always been a pain for me, so I have a few go-to recipes that I use pretty regularly that I wanted to share. Only problem is that once I've made a recipe a bunch of times, I tend to just dump the ingredients in. So if you find that you need exact measurements...um... I apologize and use pinches and dashes of stuff! Oh, and no pictures yet, but maybe next time I'll have a few taken!

Chicken Noodle Soup
(either simmer on stove or in crock pot)
ingredients:
1-2 cans of chicken (or leftover chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 can chicken broth
3 cups water
chicken flavored Ramen (2-3 packages) or egg noodles (approximately half of an 8 oz. package)
seasonings (to taste)
dried onions
garlic
salt and pepper
parsley
chives
celery seed/salt


Put all the ingredients (seasonings to taste) on stove (in a pot, of course) to simmer for about 45 minutes. If in crock pot (for the afternoon on low), add the noodles during the last hour of cooking or they will get mushy. I always add carrots and celery, keeping in mind that on the stove they take longer to cook through. In the crock pot, they will cook fine. Other things that you can add in: potato chunks or rice.

I serve this with French bread (because we like to sop up the broth) and saltine crackers. Actually, the saltines get crunched up and put right in the soup as we are serving it because we like it that way!

French Dip Sandwiches
When we first were married, my hubby and I got suckered into paying monthly for a bunch of recipe cards to show up in the mail (Easy Everyday Cooking). After about 6 months or so, we started adding up the total of what we had spent on the cards and realized that we probably could have bought 6 cookbooks with the same amount of money so we cancelled the subscription. This recipe (a little bit tweaked by me) was one from that set of cards. (I will admit that we have found many yummy recipes in this set!)
ingredients:
roast beef (we buy sliced roast beef from the deli, about 1 lb)
french rolls
2 beef bouillon cubes
1.5 C water
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1 small bay leaf

And here's how I do it: I put the bouillon cubes in the water (in a large pot and I also don't measure out the water, I just make sure it's enough to cover the roast beef slices) and bring to a boil to melt the bouillon. Then I add the onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, and bay leaf to the mix. At this point, it's hot enough to put the slices of roast beef in (I do it one slice at a time so none are stuck together in the pot) and let them heat through.

Then we pull the beef out, put them on the rolls, put the juice in little bowls and pray for dinner! We sop up (hmm, guess our family is the sopping-type) the au jus with the rolls and yummy! I love the salty flavors all mixed together and that it is a simple meal to make and the fact that my whole family likes it!

Crock pot Roast Beef or Stew
This recipe is a quicky so that's why I'm sharing it. Quick is good.
ingredients:
2-3 lb roast or stew meat
jar of beef gravy
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
carrots
potatoes

Put roast/stew meat in crock pot in the morning. Cut potatoes into chunks (if I do red potatoes, I don't peel them. If I do baking potatoes, I peel and then chunk). Toss potatoes and a bunch of baby carrots (I do not buy the long ones to peel and cut; I cheat: I buy a bag of baby carrots) into the crock pot. Cover with gravy and the envelope of soup mix. Cover with water and cook on low all day, tempting your neighbors with the smell of delicious roast! I use a slotted spoon to leave the juices behind when I am plating this meal. We don't sop this one... well, I think maybe my husband does when I serve with rolls!


Manicotti with Three Cheeses
Another meal from the over expensive cards - this one is easy to assemble beforehand and cook later in the day (I've even frozen it; just double the cooking time if you are cooking it from frozen and keep an eye on it near the end).

ingredients:
12 manicotti shells
4 C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (3 C and 1 C)
8 oz of soft cream cheese with onions and chives (or mix dried onions and chives into regular cream cheese, to taste, of course!)
3 C marinara sauce
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the manicotti according to the instructions on the box. Drain, rinse, drain again. I place them on paper towels and cut them open for easy "filling."
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the 3 C of mozzarella with the soft cream cheese. Stuff (my version of "stuff": spoon the cheese mixture into the opened manicotti and then fold over to enclose the filling; put the cut sides down in the pan). Spoon marinara sauce over the manicotti. Sprinkle the 1 C of mozzarella over the manicotti. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle on the Parmesan and bake for 10 minutes longer.


These four meals are meals that my kids will eat but that are also enjoyable for me and my husband to eat. (I'll admit, I still like macaroni and cheese from a box, but I just no longer feel as though that qualifies as a complete meal. I am out of college now.) I'll post more meals again, hopefully with a few pictures. If you have any questions, just ask! I have reread this about 3 times, but there is always the chance that I have made a mistake. A slim chance...

KC

(I have found that when I type my posts, then preview my posts, then actually publish my posts, each version looks different than the others! Please bear with me if my font sizes are weird or if my pictures are not where they should be. I'll keep working to figure it out!)