Three On Thursday

Dipping back into answering some Ask Me Anything questions, today I am responding to Becky R. She asked me to share my top 3 easy dinners. While I’m not sure these are necessarily super easy, they are my fall back dinners when I don’t know what to make.

  1. Chicken and rice. I make this with cooked chicken and cooked rice that I then mix with cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, a bit of mayo, and some onion and celery that I sauté on the stove. I like it because I often batch cook chicken breasts in the Instant Pot and freeze them so they are ready and also because I can make it ahead of time. I sort of follow this recipe but with some of my own tweaks. Be warned, it makes a lot. But it also freezes well so it’s a good investment of time.
  2. American Chop Suey. You may call this goulash unless you are from New England. I’ve written about it before and it’s basically what I make when I don’t know what to make because I always have the ingredients on hand. Hamburger, macaroni, chopped onion, tomato soup and stewed tomatoes. Green pepper is nice if you’ve got it but if you don’t have it, that’s okay, too. Fry up the hamburger and onion, boil the macaroni and the dump it all into a pot with the tomato soup and stewed tomatoes. I think most people actually use tomato sauce but my mom always used tomato soup and so do I.
  3. Pork Chops. I make them in the Instant Pot and they come out tender and delicious and swimming in gravy. Pair them with mashed potatoes and some green beans and it’s a hearty and balanced meal.

Other go-tos for easy dinners around here include hamburgers on the grill, baked fish with a Ritz cracker topping, and (my most favorite of all) cheese and crackers with some other fun little sides. It’s our dinner every Friday night and it doesn’t get easier than that.

What do you make for dinner that’s easy?

Related Posts

Three On Thursday

Dale and I attended a wonderful event last night at Symphony Hall in Boston. I'll…

Comments (9)

  1. Thanks, Carole! These are great ideas for an easy dinner, and they all sound very good. I have been falling back on a “big salad” lately. It can be made with an infinite number of ingredients, depending on what’s in season and what’s on hand. I also like to make italian spinach in big batches that I have available to pair up with a protein and a vegetable. And I also regularly make a stovetop frittata with eggs, vegetables, and cheese. And last, but not least, I love soup!

  2. I have a “go to” Chicken with Rice dish as well… super easy and really yummy! I am lucky to live with a person of Hungarian ancestry who has a “passed down over the generations” recipe of Hungarian Goulash and it is my absolute favorite thing! (and it is the ONLY thing that Steve knows how to cook from scratch! Haha!)

  3. Grilled cheese is a TNT emergency dinner. Tacos and sloppy joes are both fast and i usually have everything.

  4. Those do sound good; you New Englanders have funny names for things! Like Robby, a good grilled cheese is my go to. John doesn’t consider it dinner (he wants meat, vegetable, and a starch) but if I’m by myself I can always eat a crispy, gooey grilled cheese.

  5. Thanks Carole. I can’t believe I’ve never made a chicken and rice dish – will have to try that. My Mom would make goulash sometimes which I never really liked that much. Now I make a similar dish, but use Heinz 57 sauce in it which spices it up a little. I make a lot of soup – especially in the colder months and then freeze containers of it. Another dish I used to make eons ago (30+ years ago) is: put chicken parts in a casserole dish. Add carrots, onions and whatever other veggies you want. Cover with cream of chicken soup and bake for 30-45 minutes till the chicken is cooked and veggies are done. Easy peasy.

  6. My mom had a recipe similar to goulash/American Chop Suey, but she used a can of vegetarian vegetable soup — maybe two, because I don’t remember the extra tomatoes (and I used to be in charge of making it… a lot… haven’t made it in decades!).

  7. It’s neat reading about other people’s go-to dinners. My top two quick and easy dinners are:
    Big Mac bowls https://www.homemadeinterest.com/low-carb-big-mac-bowl/ and
    Molly Yeh’s Dan Dan noodles (use Lao Gan Ma chili crisp from the supermarket instead of making it from scratch) https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dan-dan-noodles-12245144

    Also love Dan Pelosi’s chicken pesto meatballs from NY Times Cooking. I make a triple batch and freeze a bunch for future dinners.

  8. I’d be happy to eat cheese and crackers (plus whatever else is available) any night, but my family likes to do a more formal meal. My go-to is probably pasta — boiling a pot of water has to be the easiest thing!

  9. I also make the American chop suey but I don’t cook the pasta separately. After the meat and onions & peppers are cooked, just add 8 oz of pasta, a can of tomato soup and a can of water. Cover and turn way down. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. I then add cheese and mix it in to let it melt.

    Easy crockpot recipe: Put 4 – 5 boneless chicken breasts in crockpot. Add 1 can rinsed and drained black beans, 1 can drained corn, and 1 jar of salsa. Cook for about 4 – 5 hours. When done, add 1 package of cram cheese on top and let it sit for about 1/2 hour. I usually don’t add the cream cheese but I’m sure that’s good too.

Comments are closed.

Back To Top