The holidays are upon us! This year even more than other years, I have felt a bit overwhelmed and “behind”. I haven’t had much down time lately and almost every weekend has been taken up with numerous activities (fun activities, but activities none the less).
While it’s still important to me to get some good quality food on the table, at least for dinner, making new meals hasn’t been top priority. So I wanted to give some examples of quick, easy weeknight meals for when you’re racing around all day and the last thing you want to do is spend an hour cooking dinner.
- Buy a rotisserie chicken
- I usually buy my rotisserie chickens from Whole Foods. They have a pretty amazing deal of two chickens for $15 or you can buy one organic chicken for about $10. I’m going to be honest and say I usually buy the two for $15 deal #notperfect. There are so many things you can do with a fully cooked chicken.
- Make rotisserie chicken salads. Roast up some sweet potatoes then add avocado and other veggies to your salad. This has become a staple meal in our house and one that both my husband and I absolutely LOVE. Making sure you have sweet potatoes in the salad is absolutely key in my mind because without some extra carbs in there, I’m hungry an hour later.
- Make soup! Last week I had about a half of a rotisserie chicken left so I chopped up some carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and sautéed that in butter for a few minutes. Then I added the chicken and chicken stock. I let this simmer for about 30 minutes then at the end I ended up throwing in some rice I had made the day before. And voila, chicken soup that tastes amazing and only involved a few minutes of prep work to chop vegetables.
- Paleoomg’s buffalo chicken casserole. I looooove this recipe. Especially if you have a rotisserie chicken it is super easy and delicious. The pictures never come out that pretty but I guarantee you it’s amazing.
- I usually buy my rotisserie chickens from Whole Foods. They have a pretty amazing deal of two chickens for $15 or you can buy one organic chicken for about $10. I’m going to be honest and say I usually buy the two for $15 deal #notperfect. There are so many things you can do with a fully cooked chicken.
- Breakfast for dinner
- We got home pretty late a few nights this week and didn’t feel like leftovers, but instead of takeout we did breakfast for dinner! I cooked up a couple of Aidell’s chicken apple sausages with some eggs and sweet potatoes for me and Dave’s killer bread for my husband and we were done. Dinner in about 5-10 minutes.
- We got home pretty late a few nights this week and didn’t feel like leftovers, but instead of takeout we did breakfast for dinner! I cooked up a couple of Aidell’s chicken apple sausages with some eggs and sweet potatoes for me and Dave’s killer bread for my husband and we were done. Dinner in about 5-10 minutes.
- Shrimp recipes
- I always seem to forget about shrimp but every time I make it I always commit to making it more often because it cooks in minutes! This week I made a super simple shrimp dish with a garlic butter sauce and brown rice pasta. I added some broccoli and spinach and once again, a meal that was prepared quickly and we even had some leftovers.
- I always seem to forget about shrimp but every time I make it I always commit to making it more often because it cooks in minutes! This week I made a super simple shrimp dish with a garlic butter sauce and brown rice pasta. I added some broccoli and spinach and once again, a meal that was prepared quickly and we even had some leftovers.
- Crockpot meals
- Don’t forget about the crockpot! Your meals don’t have to be super involved and you can just throw in meat, veggies and potatoes into the crockpot and come out with a fabulous tasting meal when you come home later that day. Some of my favorites include:
- Against all grain crockpot orange chicken
- Beef stew- I really like this recipe from Lexi’s clean kitchen
- Crock pot beef short ribs– this is a great one from civilized caveman and short ribs always make me feel like we are eating something super fancy
- Against all grain crockpot orange chicken
- Don’t forget about the crockpot! Your meals don’t have to be super involved and you can just throw in meat, veggies and potatoes into the crockpot and come out with a fabulous tasting meal when you come home later that day. Some of my favorites include:
And there you have it, some simple and quick ideas for dinner. I understand that around the holidays times are even more stressful than usual and the temptation to grab take out is strong. While I think this is fine occasionally (and I am certainly never one to say no to Thai or Indian takeout), I think it is important to know the ingredients you are cooking with and also keep your food costs down by cooking at home the majority of the time.
Hope some of these ideas are helpful! Thank you for reading and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!
