Sharing and Caring Week: Go-To Dinners

Today let's share go-to dinners. By that I mean something that never fails, that you and your kids and anyone else in your house will always eat, and that isn't a major production to make.

You can list things that you cook or buy or take out, or all three.

Please give recipes or somewhat detailed instructions for things you make, and be sure to explain anything that may be a regionalism or local name. (Remember that Ask Moxie readers live all over the world.)

I'll start:

The current go-to in our house is actually made by my children, and is chicken tenders, bistro fries, and a vegetable. Both my kids can make the chicken tenders: boneless skinless chicken (I'll cut it for my little one, but my big one can cut it into strips himself), one egg beaten with a little salt in a bowl, and a plate with Ritz crackers the kids crush into crumbs. Dip a chicken strip in the egg wash, then roll in the crumbs, and bake. The bistro fries are just washed potatoes cut into chunks and rolled in oil and salt and baked. My older son is learning knife skills and likes to make the bistro fries all by himself. I choose the vegetable and make it. (Start to finish: about 30 minutes if the potatoes are cut very chunky.)

Our old go-to take-out was bean burritos from Paquito's, the burrito place in my old neighborhood. I miss those burritos. Our new go-to is the brick oven pizza from the place below my building.

When it gets colder we may go back to one of our standbys, bi bim bap. NOTE: This is not an authentic Korean bi bim bap--it's just the recipe my kids have settled on. Cook white rice. While it's cooking, marinate chicken chunks (my kids like chicken better than beef) in soy sauce and sugar and garlic and toasted sesame oil. Beat together two eggs and fry in some oil into a thin pancake, then take out of the pan and roll on a cutting board and slice into strips. Julienne some carrots. Get some washed baby spinach out of a bag. Get out some mung bean sprouts from a bag. Fry the chicken until cooked. Put it all together: rice in each bowl, then chicken, egg, carrot, bean sprouts, and spinach. Everyone mixes it up together. My kids put more soy sauce on top. I put more sesame oil and plenty of hot Korean red bean paste. (Start to finish: about 22 minutes.)

Now you tell what works in your house, please!

Comments

[Pamela]

Salsa Chicken:
Chicken breast, cut into chunks and cooked on a skillet
Sauce:
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1 T lime juice
1/4 t allspice
1 T brown sugar

Cook that on the stovetop until it boils, pour the sauce over chicken and rice. It takes maybe 20 minutes and our kids love it.

[Nikki]

We love Tuna Tomato Pasta, which is mostly taken from my favourite cookbook, "Clueless In The Kitchen" by Evelyn Raab, which has recently been retitled "Basic Cooking." This cookbook was written as an intro to cooking for teens and students going away from home for the first time (which is when I got my copy, now dog-eared and worn.) It has all the "basics" and focuses on cheap, nutritious, QUICK recipes. I've made almost every recipe in there, many of them dozens of times, and they're all tasty.

Anyways, here's the gist of Tuna Tomato Pasta, particularly great because it's easy to keep all the components in the cupboard.

Throw a few Tbsps of olive oil in a skillet.
Saute a couple of cloves of garlic.
Add a can of diced tomatoes (we like the Italian Seasoned kind, but if you're trying to go inexpensive, buy the plain ones and toss in some Italian-ish spices.) Then throw in a can of tuna (I like flake tuna packed in water because it comes apart easily in the sauce.) Simmer over medium-low while you cook a box of pasta - we like rotini.

Toss it all together and sprinkle with parmesan cheese if you like.

Voila! Dinner in 15 minutes. I take the leftovers for lunch the next day.

[janisfan]

We like the frozen buffalo burgers at Trader Joes. Fish is also quick - i put the filets in parchment or aluminum foil with some spices and lemon and a couple tbsp of water seal it up and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I make the carb -nuke potatoes or pasta, etc and nuke some veggies.

[Margot]

For those looking for a quick way to have brown rice, Trader Joe's sells boxes of frozen "Organic Brown Rice" (3 packages per box) that you throw in the microwave for 3 minutes. Super fast, and I think it even tastes better than when I make "real" brown rice in the rice cooker. My local TJ's is often sold-out, so when I see it in stock, I buy as many boxes as my freezer will hold! A great side to any meal, plus any leftovers can be thrown into a cheese-n-bean quesadilla for our 2-year old. Caution: I have also tried TJ's shelf-stable bag of pre-cooked brown rice and was not impressed. YMMV.

[LCA]

Throw the following together in roasting pan while oven is preheating to 400F:
A few pints of grape tomatoes
A few cloves of garlic, crushed/minced
One eggplant, cubed (peeled if you like)
One onion roughly chopped
Any other assorted veggies (bell pepper, zucchini, etc) roughly chopped
Generous amount of dried or fresh rosemary
Generous amount of dried oregano and/or basil
Add olive oil, salt & pepper to taste, hot pepper flakes if you like, red or white wine if you like, olives if you like
Mix all together with your hands
Throw in oven and roast till you it smells really good and looks really mushy - good idea to mix at some point too
While veggies are roasting, cook pasta
Throw veggies together with pasta, add cheese of choice if desired.
For texture-phobes: process roasted veggies in food processor or blender till smooth before combining w/ pasta

[allison]

Our family of 3 (including a 4yo daughter) eats vegetarian most nights. These dinners make everyone happy.

Our fastest go-to meal: Trader Joes frozen cheese pizza served with raw veggies (usually carrot, red pepper, cucumber) & apple slices on the side.

The others take 20-30 minutes to get on the table:
Soba noodle salad - put thinly sliced carrot, finely chopped broccoli, thinly sliced red cabbage, green onion, and diced tofu in a colander. Cook buckwheat soba noodles and drain in the colander on top of all the veggies & tofu. Mix sauce (equal parts lime juice, sesame oil, and sugar with two parts soy sauce, a dash of powdered garlic and two dashes of powdered ginger) in a large bowl, add noodles & toss to mix. Top with peanuts & cilantro. This is a very colorful dish, which is part of the appeal for our daughter.

"Bowls" - cooked rice in a bowl topped with black beans, grated cheddar, canned corn, cooked broccoli, avocado, cherry tomatoes, green onion, cilantro, & sour cream (mixed with chipotle pepper for the adults).

Pretend pad thai - boil rice noodles in a pot with veggies & tofu, drain off all but about 1/3 cup water. Turn heat down and add a big spoonful of peanut butter, a splash of soy sauce, a squirt of sriracha, a squirt of honey, and the juice of half a lime. Mix til the sauce is smooth and add raw spinach and/or bean sprouts at the last minute.

"Euro pasta" - cooked & drained pasta, tossed while hot with olive oil, chopped kalamata olives, walnuts or pinenuts, feta or chevre, and raw spinach or arugula.

[Alexicographer]

@Sheila, for "the kind in a spice jar, not actual onion that I take the time to cut up," I love you. My garlic lives in a jar (the one it came in) in my fridge, diced (by the seller) and ready to go.

Our real go-to meals basically have to involve stuff that can be stored until it's needed and then cooked, fast. For me this includes ground meats (basically beef and/or turkey as a cheap and less fatty substitute for same), boneless chicken (can be sliced while frozen), and, of all things, shrimp. All those can go straight from freezer to pan on medium heat (or boiling water in the case of the shrimp) and once cooked, I can't tell the difference between not-frozen and frozen.

So -- for the meat/main course, spaghetti made from store bought noodles, ground beef or turkey, store bought sauce, and ready-ground parm. cheese. No greens, but oh well. Or the frozen raviolis someone mentioned plus the above but not (usually) the meat. Or shrimp, boiled (peel at the table, but our LO will only eat a few at most at age 2, so not a big deal -- this may change when he's older if there's a stage where he wants lots but can't peel them yet).

Then, as sides, 2 frozen veggies thawed and warmed in the microwave (e.g. broccoli spears, spinach + balsamic vinegar for the grownups, cauliflower, corn).

Julia's recently reminded me of the joys of couscous as a quick starch; faster and harder to mess up than rice, and stores well.

Ground meat can be frozen, as can spaghetti sauce, so I'll make a double batch of meat, freeze half the sauce with it in a quart bag, and next time we eat spaghetti all I have to do is cook noodles + thaw sauce.

Or we have breakfast (e.g. bacon, eggs, oatmeal) for dinner.

[sfsaf]

* Joe's Special (anyone from SF?): 1 lb. ground beef browned with a little chopped onion...add in a thawed & drained package of chopped frozen spinach and a little dash of nutmeg and then pour over top about 8 eggs beaten and let it all firm up. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes enough for my husband, myself, my toddler (who always has two helpings) and leftovers for lunch the next day.

*Whole wheat rotini boiled. Add one jar of organic tomato sauce, one can of chopped organic tomatoes and lefotver or freshly steamed zuchinni and carrots chopped up finely into the sauce. Again...really filling, healthy and leftover friendly.

Those are our top two easy peasy go-to, one pot/pan meal.

[Kyra]

If we have a loaf of decent bread, Fake Cheese Fondue. Make a big pot of white sauce (saute equal amounts of butter and flour together, add milk, cook until it thickens and dump in lots of shredded cheese. Actually, I don't shred the cheese, I just cut it up. Put the pot on the table with bread, whatever crunchy veg I've got around, and ham and roasted peppers if we've got them.

Black bean tacos. I do big batches in the crockpot and then freeze them. Tortillas, salsa, cheese, and lettuce if I've got any.

Haven't done this for a bit, but Eggs Poached on Top of Veg (stolen from Laurie Colwin). Cut up some vegetables (we tend to have zuchinni and potatoes), and saute them gently in butter until they're soft and have given up some juice. Crack some eggs on top, and cover the pan so they sort of steam. Serve with toast.

Pasta with Tomatoes. Start boiling the water for pasta. In another pan, fry some chopped garlic in olive oil. Add cut up fresh tomatoes, and a couple cans of diced tomatoes. Drain pasta and top with simple sauce. Put lots of parmesan on top- also strangely good with lots of cheddar melted into the tomatoes.

We just moved from a place with a Vietnamese place three blocks away, and a Korean place two blocks in the other direction. I am still working on local takeout around here.

[stacy]

Three of my favorite quick meals:

The quickest
Baked Potato with Chili and Cheese
Bake potatoes (microwave or make extra the night before to use for this meal)
Cut them open in a pyrex dish.
Pour a few cans of chili over them, sprinkle with cheese and bake (or microwave) until heated.

Crockpot (Hubby's favorite)
3-4 Chicken breasts
1 large jar of Salsa Verde
2 Cans of black beans

Put chicken in bottom of crockpot, pour jar of salsa over and cook on low 8 hrs (6 is probably plenty too)
Shred chicken.
Drain and rinse beans and pour in crockpot. Add lid and let warm for 30 min or so.
Serve on tortillas with shredded lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, cheese, etc

This makes 2 meals for our family of 3

My favorite
Spicy Tilapia

Sprinkle some taco seasoning on fillets of tilapia
Pan fry.
Spoon some Peach Mango salsa (Trader Joe's is great as is Costco's) on top and serve with some couscous and avocado slices.

[body detox]

By that I mean something that never fails, that you and your kids and anyone else in your house will always eat, and that isnt a major production to make.You can list things that you cook or buy or take out, or all three.Please give recipes or somewhat detail

[tinnitus cure]

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[True Religion Jeans]

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[Brett Rodgers]

Thanks for the foodie blog it was really interesting and I got a few ideas from it and learned some new things. I got some Ideas that I would like to try at home.

[retail shops]

That looks amazing, think I may have to give it a try this weekend…starting to get a bit more confident
with the cooking after following so many recipes online You should add them to fishmongers.