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What are some good ideas for a practical and affordable starter home?

What are your best 20-minutes-or-less recipe ideas?

  • I need quick, healthy dinner options for a family of three (some restrictions apply). So, my wonderful wife is the one who usually cooks dinner, since she gets home a few hours before me. But lately she's been unable to cook because in addition to having to wrangle our rambunctious 3-year-old solo until I get home, she's dealing with the two-headed monster of pregnancy and a Crohn's Disease flare-up. So, we go grocery shopping once a week and have meals all planned out, only to get to the evening and my wife is (understandably) way too wiped to handle the cooking duties. This leads to me picking up dinner on the way home, which isn't helpful to the wallet or waistline. That aside, I need quick dinner ideas that can be put together in 20 minutes or less. The restrictions: we've got a seafood allergy in the family, and because of my wife's CD, dinner salads (and large amounts of roughage in general) are a non-starter. Otherwise, we're open to your ideas (our three-year-old is the antithesis of a picky eater). Ideally would like it to be light on the starches as well. We have a Crock Pot. I'm not opposed to making one or two meals on a Sunday afternoon for later in the week if they heat up well, either. Prior to having kids, cooking used to be a passion of mine, so I'm no slouch when it comes to executing against a recipe. I just want to be able to feed my family something healthy and tasty within 20 minutes of my walking in the door. Thanks MeFites.

  • Answer:

    The answer is in what foods you buy, and what you use your crockpot for. I'm a big fan of using the crockpot to make an ingredient that you then use to assemble dinner. Like pork shoulder with green chiles and cumin to make carnitas, or bone-in skin-on chicken breasts with a little water that you can then pull to make pulled chicken, and toss with barbecue sauce for barbecue sandwiches. Also, look into things like pre-made meatballs that you can then heat up in marinara sauce, pre-chopped vegetables that you can just wing into the microwave, etc. Yes, it is more expensive and not as healthy as making from scratch, but it is less expensive and healthier than picking food up on the way home. You are in trying times, it is OK to cut a few corners. That having been said, here are some of my go-tos. Sausages with sweet potatoes and pineapple! I use the chicken sausages from Aidells, there are a lot of different kinds, we like the bacon/mushroom/gruyere in particular. In the morning, wash your sweet potatoes and put them into the crockpot, whole, still wet, and set it to low. When you get home, throw the sausages into a non-stick fry pan with enough water to come about halfway up the sausages and turn it to high. While the water is boiling away, peel, core, and chop a fresh pineapple. After all the water is boiled off, maybe turn the pan down a bit to let the sausages brown up for a couple minutes, then pull them out of the pan and add in the pineapple. Sprinkle it with cinnamon and let it cook until it's just starting to soften, but not fully cooked. The sweet potatoes in the crock pot will magically be perfectly cooked. Lemon chicken with broccoli and rice! Pre-make a marinade of lemon juice and cornstarch, maybe some salt and pepper. When you walk through the door, throw boneless skinless chicken breasts into that marinade, and start rice cooking. Let the chicken marinate for about 15 minutes, then brown it in some butter. While that's going on, either chop broccoli to steam, or throw a thing of pre-chopped brocc in the microwave. Add a little brown sugar (bc of the lemon juice) and the rest of the marinade, plus some water if it needs it, and cook until the sauce thickens. Et voila. Chickpeas with coconut milk! You can pre-mince ginger and garlic, or do what I do and buy a gigantic container of ginger-garlic paste at the Indian grocery. Cook about 3 tbsp of that paste along with a tablespoon of curry powder in some ghee or a little oil, then add 2 cans of chickpeas and a can of coconut milk. Simmer until done, serve over rice. More later if I think of them.

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Nickel Pickle

Ooh! OK, here's another one -- it sounds kind of weird, but bear with me, it's really good. You start by making slow cooker carnitas as described above. Then, in an 11x7 baking dish, you layer: -- Canned black beans -- Carnitas -- Corn tortillas cut into strips -- pureed roasted winter squash (I sometimes cheat and just open a can of "pumpkin" which is usually really butternut squash) mixed with Penzey's Arizona Dreaming spice blend, or whatever southwesty type spices you like --Cheddar cheese, or a blend of cheddar and jack Sometimes I do two layers of each, sometimes one layer. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly. We call this "three sisters casserole" or "southwest lasagna" in my house.

KathrynT

Also, the back of the Barilla No bake Lasagna noodles has an AMAZING lasagna recipe. We add Italian sausage and a little more cheese but it's super easy, and VERY good. Probably takes about 15 to prep and 45 to cook but 3 people could eat on it for a few days. My kids love it! Maybe prep one night and cook the next.... It would be even better... It's seriously one of the easiest, best lasagnas I've ever had.

pearlybob

One really easy meal out of the Crock Pot is this: Beef Brisket, or Stew meat (nothing fancy, a nice, hard piece of meat) A packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix 16oz baby carrots Tomato Puree or small jar of prepared spaghetti sauce You can sear the meat, but it's not imperative. Throw it all in the crock pot and cook on low all day. When you get home, you can boil some noodles (or Dreamfield pasta) and serve.

Ruthless Bunny

One of our favorite go-to dinners is a rotisserie chicken, flour tortillas, chopped pepper, onions, avocado, cheese, etc. and make chicken soft tacos. You can add any topping you like, throw some refried beans on the side and you have a quick, easy meal that is easily adaptable to everyone's preferences. Then you can usually use the rest of the chicken for lunch sandwiches or roll ups the next day.

pearlybob

I don't have to deal with the dietary restrictions but I'm also working out of home and still in charge of getting dinner on the table. It can be done. Here's a few things that have helped. (A huge caveat: 20 minutes is BRUTAL. 30 is about the limit of my abilities. YMMV.)Weekly meal planning is a must. I have a whiteboard that lists the days of the week in two places: one for what meal is going to be served, the other for "what do I need to do in advance to meal X on the table for day Y." For example, if I want to BBQ some chicken from the freezer on Saturday, I have to make sure the chicken is out of the freezer and in the fridge on Thursday.Cook / prep cook as much as you can the night before. Chopping vegetables always takes longer than you think it will. Do that at night.Find good shortcuts! A jar of pre-minced garlic can save 3-5 minutes of chopping. It's no good in fresh foods like guacamole, but unnoticeable in marinades and roasts.Try a make-ahead cookbook. I've had good luck with the recipes in http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1603427260/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/. You buy a ton of meat, make a big marinade, and freeze it all. Thaw it in the freezer a day or two before you need it (back to the meal plan!) and get things on the table.Here's an example recipe from the FFF book has a recipe for Swimming Rama chicken that should work for you guys:6 lbs chicken, cut into bite size pieces3 14oz cans coconut milk1/4 cup fish sauce2 tbsp red curry paste (we used yellow curry last night b/c it's what I had on hand, really it's up to your family's spice tolerance)1 tbsp honey1 1/2 cups ground peanutsOn a calm night after the kid's in bed...Combine coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste and honey in a pot and bring to simmer over medium-low heatAdd chicken and cook 20 minutes or until no longer pinkStir in peanuts, remove from heat, allow to coolDivide into three labeled zip-loc freezer bags, throw 'em in the freezer.Two days before you want to eat, thaw a bag in the fridge. Then put it in a pot and bring back to a simmer. Serve on spinach. Message me if you need more ideas... I've spent most of this year on this stuff and while I can't guarantee dinner is on the table at 6 on the dot at least we're not eating BK every night! :-) (oh man BK sounds so good right now)

rouftop

I just bought a new slow cooker and made http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-texas-pulled-pork/detail.aspx in it and it was a huge hit and super easy, took me 2 minutes to throw in the pot. Yes you can prebrown the meat and whatever but I just threw it all in and it came up amazingly. Made a huge pot and froze the leftovers and had 3 more dinners from it. A rice cooker is a huge help if you are short on time cooking, you can throw everything in the cooker and make up a quick stirfry while the rice cooks unsupervised. Pick up a rotisserie chicken, have that one night and then you have the left overs for a chicken dish the next night. Also some nights we just have breakfast for dinner, bacon eggs, fried tomatoes etc.

wwax

Oh! Pizza Sausage! Get some Italian sausages, slice in half length-wise and roast for a bit. Dab with pre-made spaghetti sause (make yourself or use a jar.) When nearly done, add some pepperonis, toast until they cook. Then add Italian cheeses. Mmmmm. Pizza Sausage. Pork Chops and diced sweet potato. You can buy pre-diced sweet potato in the packaged potato section. Ore-Ida has the Steam n Mash bags, or you can peel and dice the sweet potato yourself. If you do this. Zap in microwave for about 3-4 minutes, think par-boil. Put pork chops on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Season as you like (mojo is good, barbecue rub, whatever you like.) Put potato dices on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spray or toss with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and a bit of cinnamon. Roast until done. Serve with a green veggie and apple sauce. Pork Chops on the stove. Brown pork chops in butter in a large pan. Season them with salt and pepper. Add a can of Italian tomatos. I use cherry tomatoes in tomato puree. Burst the tomatoes, either in your hand before you put them in the pan, or in the pan with your spatula. Wear an apron, this may get messy. Or ask your 3-year old to do it. FUN! Once the pork chops are simmering, add fresh sage. Oregano works well too. Serve over pasta or spaghetti squash.

Ruthless Bunny

It might be closer to 30 minutes, but quiches and frittate are brilliantly easy, require very few "set" ingredients aside from eggs/crust/cheese, and reheat well for virtually all meals. Slice some tomatoes or cucumbers for the side if a full salad isn't an option, though a simple olive oil and lemon squeeze works with most greens and quiche options. Sample suggestions: chunks of roasted potato with sauteed onions and rosemary; sweet potato with roasted red pepper and feta; leftover spinach with cheddar....I don't eat meat that often, but you could easily put in cooked sausages or roasted chicken as well. Roasted peppers with leftover rice, ground beef or lamb, and marinara sauce. Fried egg sandwiches or BLT's; slice tomato, onion, lettuce and let everyone make to their own taste. If done at one time, this would take longer than your time limit, but lasagna doesn't have to take that long to prepare and you can substitute roasted vegetable slices or brown rice pasta in for the traditional sheets. Crepes or savory pancakes! Saute frozen spinach with onion and garlic; slice chicken or sausage; cheese optional. Frozen berries + a bit of fruit juice + vanilla extract. Can make crepes at the same time or make the batter in advance. Also works well on french toast. Pot roast or brisket. Like I said, I'm essentially a vegetarian, but this is such a fond memory of childhood. Also requires very little prep time, can be done on a weekend, or in your crockpot. If you're roasting it in the oven, you can do trays of other roasted vegetables either in the juice or by themselves for later recipes. Poached eggs on salads.

jetlagaddict

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