Washington Babies

What's your favorite lazy dinner?

I'm looking for ideas for dinner to cook (or "cook") when I'm exhausted to help us avoid the temptation of takeout. We like the Costco breaded frozen chicken breasts or frozen lasagna, but I'm feeling the need to branch out. How about you? Any favorite super easy dinners?

Re: What's your favorite lazy dinner?

  • english muffin pizzas

    sandwiches/ soup

    pasta w/ jar sauce and frozen veg ( can cook the pasta and frozen veg together, then just add sauce and done!). 

    Using the crockpot has really helped me with this!  

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  • Also quesadillas with random stuff in them- cheddar with beans, tomatoes, avocado, or even cheddar and turkey. 
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  • Spanish rice (the Knorr instant kind - salty, I know) + one can rinsed, drained black beans, a diced tomato or can of diced tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese, top with sour cream and diced avocado.  Wrap it in a tortilla or eat it plain (or scoop it with tortilla chips if you are my calorie-unconscious husband).
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  • I always keep jarred pasta sauce and pesto sauce on hand for lazy nights. I also buy or make burger patties and toss them in freezer, they actually cook up really fast even when frozen.  I will do beef or turkey.  For the turkey burgers I just mix chipotle sauce and some mayo and slice up avocado and serve with or without buns.  Not fancy but easy.

    My other go to are the Zatarain's mixes.  If I have any leftover taco meat or ground beef I brown that or reheat it and mix it in with dirty rice or jambalaya mix. 

    Taco salads are fast.  I usually cook up a batch of lean taco meat on Sundays and use that all week for easy lunches and meals [I work swings so I eat dinner at work - need things that pack fast in morning]. 

    Another super fast is to buy precooked chicken patties, breaded or not - throw some marinara and mozzarella on them and call it fast chicken parmesan.  I serve with microwave steamed veggies.   

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  • Breakfast for dinner (omelets, pancakes, or oven-baked German pancake). Quesadillas, pasta, grilled cheese or tuna melts, parmesan chikn patty sandwiches, or chikn patties and fries with hummus on tortillas and hot sauce. I often do omelets with leftover quesadilla filling. Leftovers are also quick. We added some leftover curry to some potato leek soup the other night and enjoyed a mulligatawny-like soup that was still super spicy, but more exciting than the soup had been.
  • We love the Chicken Flautas from Costco (They are in the refrigerated section) with rice.  I use minute Rice, cook it like it says and then add salsa, taco seasoning, lime and cilantro. 

    I also love the crock pot, the prep time for some of the recipes is a big longer but at least you can be lazy at dinner time.  

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  • I'm another one for breakfast for dinner, but more typical for our house would be a big package of soba noodles stir-fried witha  package of broccoli slaw. My other go-to lazy meal is baked potatoes, salad and a can of veggie chili. We're not vegetarians, but most of our favorite meals are veggie.
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  • I belong to a group that cooks and shares frozen meals in advanced - a modified "cooking once a month" so I've always got a freezer meal (or 3) in the fridge ready to go...very lazy!
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  • Baked potatoes with chili/cheese/sour cream on top - ultimate easy food.

    TJs Chili Lime CHicken Burgers or Veggie Burgers

  • Wraps using any sort of new or leftover chicken, pork, sausage, taco meat, etc. Add various veggies, condiments, and cheese. We often cook 4 or 6 chicken breasts and use them during the week in different dishes.
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  • our go to super fast, easy, everyone  likes dish is swedish meatballs.  We always have noodles and a Costco bag of frozen meatballs and the sauce is flour, milk and beef boullion.  Easy peasy. 

     When I'm traveling, DH will cook a box of Rice -a Roni, throw in some peas and some type of kilbasa (sp?) and calls it poor mans Paella.  The kids also love it.

     

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  • Trader Joes Orange Chicken

    It's better than any chinese restaurant. We usually have it with edemame and rice. In fact, that was dinner tonight. Smile

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  • Costco rotisserie chicken can be used a thousand ways. Thats what we had last night w/ roasted veggies. Any veggies that you have, laid on a cookie sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper roasted in the oven.  It's easy and has great roasted flavor.  Also, I LOVE my panini maker to dress up sandwiches and soup.  Before I got my panini maker, I just used a pan and placed a plate on the sandwich with something heavy on the plate to weigh it down.
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  • Wow, I love all the creative replies! Thanks everyone! We've also enjoyed the Costco rotisserie chicken and now I have many new ideas to try. 

    Just to add a few other ideas in here: Costco tamales are great too, as are frozen pot stickers (usually served with rice and microwaved veggies). We've also gotten frozen pot stickers from asian markets and they're usually cheaper than Costco's. Sometimes we do frozen ravioli or tortellini with pesto or tomato sauce (or even sundried tomatoes on occasion). And sometimes ramen noodles and a frozen hamburger patty make a filling last ditch dinner =).

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