Easy GOOD dinners for two

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So my wife and I are in a rut with fixing dinners....neither of us like cooking ( I don't mind it much if its going to be something good, and its easier when the weather is nice and we can grill out)

But, when we go to the grocery store, we are just lost on what to get to fix. We need some help. We need some good dinner ideas that use everyday ordinary ingredients and are really good.

We have exhausted hamburgers, spaghetti, tacos, quesadillas, etc. We have been going out to eat alot here lately and Im tired of it.

So, I need some dinner ideas from you guys.
Crock pot recipes are fine as well.
 
Center cut pork loins, or chicken or fish in a skillet, vegetable steamers in the microwave, uncle bens rice in the microwave. All together it takes 10-15 minutes. Season the meat with what ever you like. I use Montreal Steak seasoning.
 
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If you go on the spice isle McCormic has dinner recipes with all the spices measured out and what and how much you need to make it I cook them pretty often and they are all pretty easy to cook and are good
 
I like to make cube steak in the crock pot. First you brown the meat in a frying pan, then throw it in the crock pot with 1 can of cream of mushroom and a pack of gravy mix. I then make some rice and serve the cube steak over it. cheap and pretty good. Or a roast made with cream of mushroom is good in the crock pot too. it's good and easy but takes a little longer to cook. I am certainly not a chef, and others probably have better ideas but those are a start.
 
easy bake salmon (...pinterest find from the fiancé) - get a pair of filets, 1 lemon, minced garlic, basil, olive oil, salt pepper. I did one of those single serve instant mashed potato bags with it and had a nice 2-person meal for $<10.


also... crock pot lasagna. it's fucking awesome.
 

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One family size Velveeta shells and cheese. 2 pounds of ground beef. Cook each and mix. I add ro-tel or medium salsa some times. I love it.
 
Rigatoni noodles. Boil, chicken breast cut into cubes and season and cook. Add broc and corn to noodles, when cooked drain, stir in chicken and add 1/2 bottle of fav bbq sauce. I like the stubs.
 
2010nctaco said:
I like to make cube steak in the crock pot. First you brown the meat in a frying pan, then throw it in the crock pot with 1 can of cream of mushroom and a pack of gravy mix. I then make some rice and serve the cube steak over it. cheap and pretty good. Or a roast made with cream of mushroom is good in the crock pot too. it's good and easy but takes a little longer to cook. I am certainly not a chef, and others probably have better ideas but those are a start.
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We do a similar take on this and love it. Foil line a baking pan (for easy cleanup), lay in the seasoned cube steak (raw), cover with a mix of lipton beefy onion mix-one can of cream of mushroom-1c water, i like to slice a green pepper and lay on top (optional), cover with foil and bake at 400 for 1 hr. throw on top of some rice and you're done.
 
BTW another neat trick my wife recently discovered - buy baking bags (like the kinds for chickens etc) and use them to line a crock-pot. Throw your chili, chicken, whatever in crock pot for the day, do the cooking... at end, pull the bag out and throw it away. No cleaning a crock pot w/ crud baked onto it :D
 
grape tomatos cut in half (be able to cover the entire bottom of a 12" pan at least)
ditilini noodles (little 1/4" tubes)
basil leaves
mozzarella cheese - cubed
garlic - 1 or 2 cloves

  • Put noodles on to boil - salt the water generously
  • 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of said 12" skillet/pan (I like the nonstick kind) and let heat
  • chop up garlic and toss in pan and let it brown for 30 secs but DON'T BURN IT!
  • throw in tomatos and toss. let this heat for a few to let the juices from the tomato infuse with the garlic & oil (maybe 3 mins, maybe 5)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • once your noods are done, scoop them out (all of them) and put them in the skillet with the maters.
  • chop basil finely and mix it in with the rest of the noodles and tomatos
  • put it in a bowl and put cubed cheese on top
  • BAM.
Easy and tasty. I lika the zing of the tomatos. We usually use the yellow grape tomatos. In the spring/summer they're easy to grow and you can make a meal straight out of the garden.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
So my wife and I are in a rut with fixing dinners....neither of us like cooking...
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welcome to my world. not to mention my wife is picky as hell and would rather starve than eat something that isn't full of flavor. that's why she went to bed hungry last night and I had a frozen pizza. :D

tireburner1975 said:
One family size Velveeta shells and cheese. 2 pounds of ground beef. Cook each and mix. I add ro-tel or medium salsa some times. I love it.
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I just threw up in my mouth...
 
We also do a lot of ground beef as taco filling or chili. Usually I make enough that we can eat it two or three meals, one night as tacos or burritos, one night as chili (I'll add a can of beans and/or tomatoes to make it more soupy).

I also use ground beef for spaghetti sauce, but you can change it up using Italian sausage (I take it out of the casings, usually, so the flavor changes but the texture/consistency of the sauce is the same as w/ ground beef. Sometimes I just cook the sausages in the pan, chop them up and add back to the sauce.

I will roast a pork tenderloin and then we'll eat leftovers sauteed with veggies or I'll pull it apart and add bbq sauce.

I do stir-fry with either chicken, beef, or pork. Sometimes chopped veggies, sometimes the Birds' Eye or similar frozen stuff that is seasoned.

I made this beef stroganoff the other night and the leftovers were even better. http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beef_stroganoff/
 
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RatLabGuy said:
BTW another neat trick my wife recently discovered - buy baking bags (like the kinds for chickens etc) and use them to line a crock-pot. Throw your chili, chicken, whatever in crock pot for the day, do the cooking... at end, pull the bag out and throw it away. No cleaning a crock pot w/ crud baked onto it :D
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way ahead of you...first time I cooked something in my crock pot...when i went to clean it...I said to myself. There has got to be something...and my wife tells me about those bags....bought em and have never looked back....


I don't mind eating frozen pizza....but then that means, I usually have to get something out to eat for lunch the next day.
 
Here's two of my go to meals

Amatriciani
Penne Pasta
2 cans Diced tomatoes. Brand does make a difference on this one, I like Del Monte, but Harris Teeter is pretty good too.
2 pads of butter
1 pack of bacon
1-2 tbsp Diced Garlic
1/2 chopped Onion
Salt and Pepper
Chopped red pepper for spice. amount varies with your taste for spicy food. I leave it out for my kids.

Cut bacon into 1/2" strips across the length of the bacon
Fry up bacon and onion until soft fried. NOT CRISPY. Drain
toss in garlic and red pepper in pan with bacon and onion, cook a minute of two.
Toss in cans of tomato.
salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for 5-10 minute
serve over pasta.


Golden Mushroom Burger with Mashed potatoes
Ground beef
Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
Water to dilute soup
Russet Potatoes
Mayo
Sour cream
Butter
Salt and Pepper

Make burger patties, meatballs or just break it up like you would for spaghetti and cook till brown/done.
Pour in soup and water and let it simmer.

Mashed Potatoes
4-5 large potatoes cut up and boiled until soft enough to mash
Drain and mash taters
Blend with 3/4 cup sour cream, spoon of Mayo and 1/2 cup of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. amount of sour cream varies with how long potatoes cooked and how much water they absorbed. Also how runny or sticky you like them.

Server meat/soup mixture over taters.
Corn is a good side for this.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I don't mind eating frozen pizza....but then that means, I usually have to get something out to eat for lunch the next day.
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I've found this to be the key. We typically try to make meals where there is just about 1 or 2 servings left over, this is lunch the next day.
B/c if I don't eat it the next day... it generally dosn't happen.

An engineer friend of mine once, for shits and giggles, made up schematics for a replacement shelf in your fridge that is a slow conveyer belt w/ a trash can at the end.
Takes 3 days to get from front to back, then right in the trash.
That way you're being honest about what happens to leftovers and the fridge stays clean :D
 
RatLabGuy said:
I've found this to be the key. We typically try to make meals where there is just about 1 or 2 servings left over, this is lunch the next day.
B/c if I don't eat it the next day... it generally dosn't happen.

An engineer friend of mine once, for shits and giggles, made up schematics for a replacement shelf in your fridge that is a slow conveyer belt w/ a trash can at the end.
Takes 3 days to get from front to back, then right in the trash.
That way you're being honest about what happens to leftovers and the fridge stays clean :D
Click to expand...
HAHA!
 
trailhugger said:
I made Pioneer Woman's macaroni and cheese a couple of years ago and never looked back. That's actually a good site to check out, Cory... tons of good recipes and most are easy!
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Im gonna tell you....I made this a couple weeks ago....followed everything to the T...tasted chemically.... wasn't good. Im guessing, I did something wrong, but it was dry and not good.
 
I will admit, except for baking, I take a recipe as a suggestion. It just comes from experience, so practice, practice. ;) What kind of cheese did you use? Bagged shredded cheese doesn't always melt well and there's additives to keep it from clumping together, just an idea.

Only thing I do different than her recipe is I use spicy brown mustard in a bottle, eliminate the seasoned salt (don't keep it on hand), and I add a little garlic powder.
 
trailhugger said:
I will admit, except for baking, I take a recipe as a suggestion. It just comes from experience, so practice, practice. ;) What kind of cheese did you use? Bagged shredded cheese doesn't always melt well and there's additives to keep it from clumping together, just an idea.

Only thing I do different than her recipe is I use spicy brown mustard in a bottle, eliminate the seasoned salt (don't keep it on hand), and I add a little garlic powder.
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I used bagged shredded cheese.... I normally use block cheese, but didn't have any that night. It looked good and smelled good....but that taste though! bleh! I can still taste it as im typing this.
 
Also, instead of the onions in that beef stroganoff recipe, I used half an envelope of Lipton Onion Soup Mix. I also didn't have any tarragon. :lol:
 
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