I think I'm a pretty good cook, but I'm also getting a little burned out. Need some week night ideas for something fast, easy, and pseudo healthy. It is mostly just myself and the Department of War, sometimes our son is around and he ain't picky. For the really quick....

We do BLTs, chalupas, baked potato with fixins, different soups that are easy enough to prep in advance, salads, a good grilled cheese sammich. What other options? I've looked at some stuff on the googletron but nothing really took me. D of W does not like eggs, so scratch that option.

• Chicken Marsala
• Hamburger steaks
• Stir fry + protein
• Individual meatloafs
• Steak
• Stuffed bell peppers

bag salad
rice
grilled pork tenderloin

Homemade chipotle bowls - beans, rice, chicken/steak/cheese/salsa/guac/whatever

Google serious eats dinner in 20. Lots of great ideas there.

Rice cooker makes having rice pretty close to foolproof. That makes the stir fry plus protein option suggested above very easy. When I'm extra lazy, having the protein precooked makes the prep even easier...don't have to worry about raw meat during prep. So sometimes when I cook a steak sous vide, I make enough to have some to slice for stir fry later in the week. This also works well for pork cooked as the Cantonese BBQ called Char Siu. You can also use Chinese sausage.

I think the easiest dish in my repertoire might be linguini with white clam sauce using canned clams. Carbonara and puttanesca are also pretty quick.

Haven't tried this, but a few days ago Serious Eats just posted 3 ingredient 10 minute Mac and Cheese not from a box.

Cacio e Pepe is about as good as it gets for a really quick meal.

Awesome. Thanks for some ideas.

here's some of my go-to easy meals:
quesadillas
tuna melts
chicken chinese salad
french bread pizza
chicken pockets
peel n eat shrimp
chicken wraps
foil packets (toss in whatever meat/veggies/seasonings you want)

Tend to like things on the grill since it means almost no cleanup:
Grilled chicken Caesar salad
Grilled BBQ chicken salad
Hotdogs
Hamburgers
Sausage cut up for sandwiches (or sammiches if you just have to call them that )
Grilled porkchops (or stuffed porkchops)


They have lots of prestuffed chicken and pork at the HEB butcher counter and some other stores. Wrap in foil and throw on grill or in oven.

Variations with ground beef with taco seasoning:
Tacos
Soft tacos
Taco salad
Nachos with grated cheese heated in microwave

Lots of good prestuffed pasta either frozen or in refrigerated section at the store. Pick your sauce or just use olive oil and salt/pepper. We like to make a caprese salad to go with this.

Steamed green beans are the go to at our house for a side with any of the above. To make it "healthy".

schmendeler said:

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bag salad
rice
grilled pork tenderloin

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We've been doing a pork loin that's a cakewalk. It's set and forget and turns out great every time.
Season however you want. In a roasting pan, 500F in the oven for 5.5 minutes per pound. Turn the oven off (don't open it) and set a timer for an hour. Timer goes off, pork loin is done. You can also throw in sliced veggies that take longer to cook like potatoes, carrots, etc.

sounds good!

Another + for stir fry. We did this last night.

1. Start rice.
2. Cut chicken/beef/shrimp
3. Cook protein, less than 5 minutes
4. Add bagged (if you want super fast) stir fry greens. That cooks for 5 minutes.

Set to warm after cooking and serve when rice isndone. 10 minutes, 1 wok and a few bowls to clean.

It isn't fancy whatsoever, but every now and then, we just get stuff to make a salad and some meat.

Make new salads every day. Pretty quick and easy.

Cut up meat (usually chicken or pork chops), season it whichever way you desire, and cook in a little olive oil.

Just a simple, tasty meal that is a break from the norm.

No high starch carbs either, so that is good.

HEB has pre-seasoned fajitas in the meat department.
They're great for our family. I toss them on a searing hot grill, let them rest for a few minutes then slice.
Super tender, the kids eat 'em up, and I usually do enough for leftovers the next day.

Chicken or pork pounded / sliced thin then dredged in panko crumbs and baked in the oven. Same for fish. Pair it with an easy side like fries or noodles. We use the pre-spiralized zucchini noodles from HEB for this a lot. A few minutes in a pan then sauce added, topped with parmesan.

I got a spiralizer a while back, need to bust it out some more, got out of the habit. You don't feel as bad if you go back in for seconds.

Very true.
My next one to try is spaghetti squash. I've had it recently at Longhorn Steakhouse. They do theirs with a bit of maple sea salt butter and white cheddar. Seriously yummy.

I have been using the home shipped meal things for the last couple years. Hello Fresh, Plated, and Blue Apron are all pretty good. Meals take around 40 minutes or so usually, are relatively healthy, and these services give you a chance to pick your meals from a bunch of options. They aren't super cheap, but it's a good option during the week if you suck at meal planning like me. I've learned a few things and made a things I wouldn't have normally made . . . So all in all I'm a fan.

I've done spaghetti squash the baked way with a fork, I wonder if it is going to be too hard to spiral without cooking? I'm gonna pick up one tomorrow and give it a whirl.

Why would you need to put spaghetti squash through a spiralizer? Just pop it in the microwave, slice it open and nature's already done the work for you. I don't own a spiralizer so maybe I'm missing something.

Quinn said:

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Homemade chipotle bowls - beans, rice, chicken/steak/cheese/salsa/guac/whatever

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I do this all the time. Comes out great and i always end of asking my self why i dont do it more often