HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed
#11
  Re: (...)
I came up with a plan to get back into cooking our evening meals. If I can choose meals that I can make or prep and bag as meal bags on the weekend, I can come home and cook dinner.

For example:
Chicken Salad with a simple salad
Sir fry: Prep everything and put everything in separate bags inside of a large bag labeled. (Got that one from you, Jean!)
Chicken Linguine with Candied Cherry Tomatoes: make the whole recipe, except for the pasta, but keep them separate.
Burgers and a nice cold congealed salad like my mom used to make.
Shrimp Boil with coleslaw: prep the veggies and dressing for the salad and mix while boil cooks

That kind of thing. Actually, that is next week's menu.

And as I noted on Susan's Pecan Crusted Chicken review, if I have an early afternoon home, I could prep the chicken and put on a rack in the fridge to bake off the next day. Do you think I can do that that far ahead? Salad and dressing could be made on the weekend. That kind of dish would be doable also.

Another thought, could the Parmesan Chicken Roulades (sp?) be made on the weekend, freeze, and take out to thaw on a rack the night before I make them? If that would work, the Pecan Crusted Chicken could be done the same way?

Any ideas? HELP! My brain is tired already!
Daphne
Keep your mind wide open.
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#12
  Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Gourmet_Mom (I came up with a pla...)
Daphne, when I worked, sometimes I put together meals in the crockpot liner and stored in the fridge until morning. Right before I walked out the door, I would put the liner into the crockpot.

Another idea that I as thinking of trying came in a newsletter for foil pack meals. There are many of them and most look very simple. You put the ingredients into foil packets that will go on the grill for approximately 20 minutes when you are ready to cook them.
Maryann

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently..."
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#13
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Mare749 (Daphne, when I worke...)
Hope you get an Instant Pot soon, because it is ideal for the kind of meal you want. Don't know if you grill, but CI has a recipe for steaks straight from the freezer to the grill.

In the summer we do a lot of kitchen sink salads and add protein in the way of tuna, chicken or cooked shrimp and cheese. Add some nice bread (if you eat carbs) and you have a whole meal. BTW, you can prep many veggies including chopping onions and garlic and freeze them in portions. Easy to use in a weeknight meal. I also like to cook lots of ground beef, lightly season it and then use it for burritos (with the fresh flour tortillas that take a minute to cook), fake lasagna using elbow, or cavatappi or the like, a can of pizza sauce and shredded cheese, or even fake stroganoff. Ditto for meatballs. All prepped and cooked ahead, even frozen and then added to something fresh for the meal.
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#14
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Cubangirl (Hope you get an Inst...)
Great ideas, you guys! Love the lightly seasoned ground beef idea, especially. Keep them coming!
Daphne
Keep your mind wide open.
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#15
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Gourmet_Mom (Great ideas, you guy...)
Maryann and Alina hit the highlights with their ideas.

- putting together double the recipe, divide up and freeze half.
- browsing thru a little book, "I Have Leftovers...What Do I Do Now?"
- I buy 6 or 7 boxes of Pacific Roasted Bell Pepper & Tomato soup to have on hand and add anything under the sun to it - just dibs and dabs of 2 or 3 night's seasoned dinners (Rice, pasta, beans, meats, even jus from cooking a protein) To finish a soup dinner, when I make pizza dough, I freeze a number of 2.5-3 oz. pieces and make quick flatbread to go with the soup. Thaw in the morning, roll while the soup is heating, brush with oil (love garlic oil) and sprinkle with anything. These little guys bake in 10-12 min. at 475°
[Image: May%2016%20Flatbread%20with%20EVO%20rose...vyk8e8.jpg]

You'll get back in the swing of things before long.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#16
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by cjs (Maryann and Alina hi...)
Several years ago I had started a thread about slow cooker dinners that had a lot of good ideas. I can never get the search function to work for me though or I'd bump it back up.

One of my favorite slow cooker recipes is that chili colorado burritos recipe (uses a chuck roast). Leftovers galore.

There seems to be a trend going on for one pan pasta dishes. I made this one and it was good and came together quick and of course there will be leftovers for another day.

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/creamy-sal...ken-pasta/
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#17
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Trixxee (Several years ago I ...)
"pan pasta dishes."

Oh, this reminds me of a great book for you, Daphne!!

Joie Warner's "no-cook pasta sauces' I have yet to make a dish from this book that we didn't love!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Joie-Warners-No-C...%2C+Joie+Warner

WOW!! and you can get it for $.01 on Amazon - Everyone would love this book!!

P.S. Daphne, I just searched Joie Warner here - I knew I had posted over the years and here are some more ideas for you.
http://www.forums.cuisineathome.com/ubbt...=true#Post45631

http://www.forums.cuisineathome.com/ubbt...=true#Post92343

http://www.forums.cuisineathome.com/ubbt...true#Post159404

Her recipes are all easy or fast or both!!

One thing tho, she does call for a lot of Olive oil, but I've found I can decrease most to almost half and the results are still wonderful.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#18
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by cjs ("pan pasta dishes."[...)
You guys are the best!
Daphne
Keep your mind wide open.
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#19
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by Gourmet_Mom (You guys are the bes...)
Sorry, had to go back and edit! I bake the mini-flatbreads at 475° not 375°
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#20
  Re: Re: HELP!!! Pre Prep Dinner Ideas Needed by cjs (Sorry, had to go bac...)
Another quick and easy meal I have been making on heavy homework nights are chicken soft tacos or chicken tostadas. I just put boneless chicken breasts (or tenderloins) and one of those small cans of Herdez or Embasa salsa along with a little chili powder and cumin in a saute pan, cover and cook until cooked through, shred with a fork and now you have some nicely seasoned chicken. I use one of those tortilla molds to crisp up a flour tortilla and then build a tostada salad.
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