Letter to Liz
My dear friend Liz just had a baby. She's a cutie pie, but having 2 kiddos makes it hard to make dinner every night and not go nuts. Liz emailed me and asked for some quick meal ideas and I thought I'd share my answer just in case anybody else wants to know.
"Hey. I'm up at 2 am with cramps and thought I'd go ahead and answer your email. So, here goes.
My life revolves around the 20 minute dinner. I don't make anything that that takes longer. Okay, maybe sometimes. Like 3 hour fondue. Once. You get the point.
I'll give you seven ideas; that's a whole week's worth of dinners, not including leftovers.
Sunday: Crock-pot chicken (Have I given you this recipe before?)
Throw 5-6 frozen chicken breasts in the crock-pot with a family sized can of cream of chicken soup, an 8 oz block of cream cheese, and 2 packets of Italian dressing mix or one packet of Ranch dressing mix or one packet of taco seasoning (Toby used taco seasoning when you guys all came to dinner) or 2 itty bitty cans of green chilies (Okay see, this is really 4 recipes in one!). Put the crock-pot on low for 8 hours. Shred the chicken if you want (but really? Why bother?) before serving over rice (Please tell me that you have a rice cooker) or potatoes (I'm talking about instant potatos, friend. Use half and half in them instead of milk and they will taste so much better. Or you can just add a big dollop of sour cream after you've made them with milk. Oh yeah, I also add some garlic salt to pep them up a bit.). I usually serve this with canned green beans or frozen peas or a bag of salad, with a tomato sliced up and thrown in.
Monday: Costco Sausage
Costco has a variety of sausages that are fully cooked. We LOVE the chicken one with spinach and cheese. It is too die for good. I slice it up with my kitchen scissors and throw it in a pan and saute them until they're heated through. I serve the sliced sausage with rice or mashed potatoes or I toss it with pasta and olive oil (or a bottle of alfredo sauce, YUM) depending on what we have on hand. And bagged salad, with whatever I want to chop up in two seconds to throw in. They have some really great bag salads that are already kits with stuff to mix in as I'm sure you are aware. They are more expensive by about $1-2 dollars, but think about your opportunity cost here, Liz...WORTH EVERY PENNY.
Tuesday: Teriyaki bowls
Costco (and every other grocery store) has bags of frozen stir-fry veggies. Make some veggies according to the directions on the bag (usually you just have to heat them up in a pan straight from the freezer, which is a piece of cake). At the same time, saute some chicken (diced up with kitchen scissors) in a pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When they are done, mix them together in whichever pan is bigger and toss in a bottle of Teriyaki sauce (You can get it in the Asian food isle). Serve over rice.
Wednesday: Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches
I love to try all the different kinds of canned soups. Oh man are there some truly yummy ones. I love them all, basically. But the Campbells Select Harvest ones are probably my favorite (their lowfat 'healthy' ones are great). Clark really likes the country chicken one with egg noodles and veggies. Just experiment and figure out what your family likes. Two cans feed our little family when we make grilled cheese to go with it. Experiment with different cheeses and breads, YUMMY! But whatever you do, add ham or turkey! I'm just talking about lunch meat here. I buy the kind that is supposed to be the healthy kind, Natural something or other. Easiest, yummiest meal on the planet.
Thursday: Tacos
You know how to make tacos. If you don't I'm not telling you. Just kidding. If you need help on this one let me know.
Friday: Date night! Get a babysitter and go out for dinner! The babysitter knows how to make and serve mac and cheese, trust me. Doing this will save your life and marriage. Trust me, I should know. And you know what, I'm going to do some pontificating on this point. Go out for dinner and then go to the dollar movies or to the real movies if you can afford them. But don't go home after dinner. Let the babysitter put Emma to bed. The babysitter is capable of that, and if not, teach him or her how it is done. For example, we have to explain to our sitters (boys and girls--don't rule out boys, some of them are AWESOME babysitters. Ask around in your ward to find out who the best babysitters are; you don't have to try them all to find that out. There are plenty of people who, like me, love to share their opinions about stuff like this.) that Clark will never CHOOSE to go to bed and will always protest but it is not up to him to decide whether or not he has to go to bed. He just simply must be in bed by the time I get home! Let him cry it out, I say, and I don't even care because I'M NOT HOME! Yea!
Saturday: Grilled Shish-kebabs
Your local grocery store will have shish kebabs that are already put together and all you have to do is grill them. Yes, they are like quadruple the cost of putting them together yourself. Opportunity cost, Liz, opportunity cost. Your life will be easy and your husband will love you for getting shish kebabs that he doesn't have to make himself. Trust me. Go ahead and ask him; he will tell you that I am right. I serve them with a side of Lipton rice. Lipton rice is WONDERFUL. It comes in a packet and they have a million flavors and some even have veggies mixed in and they are DELISH! And, they only take 7 minutes to make and all you have to do is throw the stuff in the water and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 7, count 'em, 7 minutes. So, you fire up the grill, change a diaper or two, throw your kebabs on, make your rice and TA-DA! Dinner is done! Now, if you are really good about planning ahead, marinate your kebabs overnight in your favorite BBQ sauce, but if not, just brush some on before they go on the grill and don't worry a thing about it.
The Seventh Meal (because I promised you seven meals, but you must go out to eat at least once a week or you will go crazy): Cilantro Lime Tilapia
I love this meal, but Jose isn't really wild about fish, but he's a good sport and eats it anyway because I make him because it's healthy. Preheat oven to 425. In a bowl, wisk together the juice of 2 limes, 2 tablespoons oil or butter, some salt and pepper and a handful or two of chopped cilantro. Okay, I put 2 long strips of foil in an 8x8 glass pan (any old pan will do) going opposite directions, so foil is coming out of all four sides of the pan and draping on the counter, do you get me? Place the tilapia filets (or any other kind of fish filet you want, really) into the pan on top of the foil. Pour the cilantro lime mixture on top of the fish and then bring up the sides of the foil and press and fold together, making a tent. Bake in the oven for 6-10 minutes. The fish should be opaque when it comes out, otherwise it's not done yet, but don't overbake! I serve this with Lipton rice too. If you want to get super fancy, you can do baked potatoes instead of rice, but they take a year to bake in the oven, so you can just pop 'em in the microwave for 5 minutes, flip over and do 5 more minutes. And steamed broccoli. It's lovely.
There you go. Seven 20 minute meals. Wow. I'm impressed with myself.
love,
kim"
"Hey. I'm up at 2 am with cramps and thought I'd go ahead and answer your email. So, here goes.
My life revolves around the 20 minute dinner. I don't make anything that that takes longer. Okay, maybe sometimes. Like 3 hour fondue. Once. You get the point.
I'll give you seven ideas; that's a whole week's worth of dinners, not including leftovers.
Sunday: Crock-pot chicken (Have I given you this recipe before?)
Throw 5-6 frozen chicken breasts in the crock-pot with a family sized can of cream of chicken soup, an 8 oz block of cream cheese, and 2 packets of Italian dressing mix or one packet of Ranch dressing mix or one packet of taco seasoning (Toby used taco seasoning when you guys all came to dinner) or 2 itty bitty cans of green chilies (Okay see, this is really 4 recipes in one!). Put the crock-pot on low for 8 hours. Shred the chicken if you want (but really? Why bother?) before serving over rice (Please tell me that you have a rice cooker) or potatoes (I'm talking about instant potatos, friend. Use half and half in them instead of milk and they will taste so much better. Or you can just add a big dollop of sour cream after you've made them with milk. Oh yeah, I also add some garlic salt to pep them up a bit.). I usually serve this with canned green beans or frozen peas or a bag of salad, with a tomato sliced up and thrown in.
Monday: Costco Sausage
Costco has a variety of sausages that are fully cooked. We LOVE the chicken one with spinach and cheese. It is too die for good. I slice it up with my kitchen scissors and throw it in a pan and saute them until they're heated through. I serve the sliced sausage with rice or mashed potatoes or I toss it with pasta and olive oil (or a bottle of alfredo sauce, YUM) depending on what we have on hand. And bagged salad, with whatever I want to chop up in two seconds to throw in. They have some really great bag salads that are already kits with stuff to mix in as I'm sure you are aware. They are more expensive by about $1-2 dollars, but think about your opportunity cost here, Liz...WORTH EVERY PENNY.
Tuesday: Teriyaki bowls
Costco (and every other grocery store) has bags of frozen stir-fry veggies. Make some veggies according to the directions on the bag (usually you just have to heat them up in a pan straight from the freezer, which is a piece of cake). At the same time, saute some chicken (diced up with kitchen scissors) in a pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When they are done, mix them together in whichever pan is bigger and toss in a bottle of Teriyaki sauce (You can get it in the Asian food isle). Serve over rice.
Wednesday: Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches
I love to try all the different kinds of canned soups. Oh man are there some truly yummy ones. I love them all, basically. But the Campbells Select Harvest ones are probably my favorite (their lowfat 'healthy' ones are great). Clark really likes the country chicken one with egg noodles and veggies. Just experiment and figure out what your family likes. Two cans feed our little family when we make grilled cheese to go with it. Experiment with different cheeses and breads, YUMMY! But whatever you do, add ham or turkey! I'm just talking about lunch meat here. I buy the kind that is supposed to be the healthy kind, Natural something or other. Easiest, yummiest meal on the planet.
Thursday: Tacos
You know how to make tacos. If you don't I'm not telling you. Just kidding. If you need help on this one let me know.
Friday: Date night! Get a babysitter and go out for dinner! The babysitter knows how to make and serve mac and cheese, trust me. Doing this will save your life and marriage. Trust me, I should know. And you know what, I'm going to do some pontificating on this point. Go out for dinner and then go to the dollar movies or to the real movies if you can afford them. But don't go home after dinner. Let the babysitter put Emma to bed. The babysitter is capable of that, and if not, teach him or her how it is done. For example, we have to explain to our sitters (boys and girls--don't rule out boys, some of them are AWESOME babysitters. Ask around in your ward to find out who the best babysitters are; you don't have to try them all to find that out. There are plenty of people who, like me, love to share their opinions about stuff like this.) that Clark will never CHOOSE to go to bed and will always protest but it is not up to him to decide whether or not he has to go to bed. He just simply must be in bed by the time I get home! Let him cry it out, I say, and I don't even care because I'M NOT HOME! Yea!
Saturday: Grilled Shish-kebabs
Your local grocery store will have shish kebabs that are already put together and all you have to do is grill them. Yes, they are like quadruple the cost of putting them together yourself. Opportunity cost, Liz, opportunity cost. Your life will be easy and your husband will love you for getting shish kebabs that he doesn't have to make himself. Trust me. Go ahead and ask him; he will tell you that I am right. I serve them with a side of Lipton rice. Lipton rice is WONDERFUL. It comes in a packet and they have a million flavors and some even have veggies mixed in and they are DELISH! And, they only take 7 minutes to make and all you have to do is throw the stuff in the water and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 7, count 'em, 7 minutes. So, you fire up the grill, change a diaper or two, throw your kebabs on, make your rice and TA-DA! Dinner is done! Now, if you are really good about planning ahead, marinate your kebabs overnight in your favorite BBQ sauce, but if not, just brush some on before they go on the grill and don't worry a thing about it.
The Seventh Meal (because I promised you seven meals, but you must go out to eat at least once a week or you will go crazy): Cilantro Lime Tilapia
I love this meal, but Jose isn't really wild about fish, but he's a good sport and eats it anyway because I make him because it's healthy. Preheat oven to 425. In a bowl, wisk together the juice of 2 limes, 2 tablespoons oil or butter, some salt and pepper and a handful or two of chopped cilantro. Okay, I put 2 long strips of foil in an 8x8 glass pan (any old pan will do) going opposite directions, so foil is coming out of all four sides of the pan and draping on the counter, do you get me? Place the tilapia filets (or any other kind of fish filet you want, really) into the pan on top of the foil. Pour the cilantro lime mixture on top of the fish and then bring up the sides of the foil and press and fold together, making a tent. Bake in the oven for 6-10 minutes. The fish should be opaque when it comes out, otherwise it's not done yet, but don't overbake! I serve this with Lipton rice too. If you want to get super fancy, you can do baked potatoes instead of rice, but they take a year to bake in the oven, so you can just pop 'em in the microwave for 5 minutes, flip over and do 5 more minutes. And steamed broccoli. It's lovely.
There you go. Seven 20 minute meals. Wow. I'm impressed with myself.
love,
kim"
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