Aunt Peggy's Quick Meal Ideas
I wish everyone had an Aunt Peggy! She's my mom's youngest sister. She was always the first one down on the floor with all the kids, a
huge sheet of paper and a bazillion crayons! She's the one who knows the perfect amount of dish soap to make just the right slip n ™ slide in the backyard! But, she's also pretty practical too. When I asked her for
quick meal ideas she had these thoughts to offer. Whether you are working outside the home and need to pull together a meal in the evening, or if you have late afternoon activities that require a meal with minimal prep and cleanup time, these suggestions can save you some sanity!
Chicken Recipe Ideas:
Instead of grilling just enough chicken for one meal, go ahead and grill several pieces of chicken and refrigerate or freeze for later use.
Pull out your tasty grilled chicken and warm it up for:
Fajitas ”All you need to prepare are grated cheese, diced veggies like tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, and cilantro, and then warm up the tortillas. Serve with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. If you need some quick side dishes warm up a can of re-fried beans and make Spanish rice. (My favorite way to make Spanish rice is to just add chili powder, garlic salt and onion powder to the rice and water as it simmers. Start the rice first and it will be finished by the time you have everything else ready!)
Quesadillas ”Place thawed, sliced grilled chicken and cheese between two tortillas and warm in a skillet or on a griddle. Serve with all the same sides from the fajitas above. Using the electric griddle allows you to warm several quesadillas at one time instead of standing over the stove. (
I used to think my big electric griddle was only for pancakes! Now I use it everyday!)
Chicken nachos ”On a large cookie sheet spread out tortilla chips. Then sprinkle diced chicken over the chips. At this point you can add the grated cheese and toss in the oven for very basic nachos. Or, if you want more adventurous fare layer thinly sliced onion, diced tomatoes, jalapenos, and black olives before you sprinkle the cheese on and bake until the cheese is melted. Now you have a one-dish dinner that can easily be topped with salsa, guacamole and sour cream to make a yummy treat your whole family will enjoy!
Enchiladas ”Roll sliced chicken in corn tortillas and place in a greased baking dish. Pour a can of enchilada sauce over all and then top with grated cheese. Bake in the oven and serve with rice and beans. Another option is to make layered enchiladas where you just place layers of corn tortillas, chicken, sauce and cheese in the baking dish instead of rolling the individual enchiladas. You can also make a simple enchilada sauce instead of using a canned one.
Chicken Alfredo ”Boil pasta, add chicken and Alfredo sauce. Serve with a salad. (If you know how to make gravy then you can make a quick, easy Alfredo sauce that has just a few ingredients. I ™m not a measuring kind of cook. If you want measurements then Google Alfredo sauce! Here's how I wing it: Melt some butter in a pan, add onion powder and garlic salt, pour in a cup or so of milk, whisk in 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch, heat until it begins to simmer and thicken. If it's too thick add more milk, if it's too thin add more cornstarch. Remove from heat and stir in grated Parmesan cheese. Taste it to see if you need to add salt. Pour over pasta.)
Warm your grilled chicken with Knorr Rice or noodles
Chicken Parmesan with noodles and red sauce
For Roast Chicken (rotisserie from the store or roasted at home):
Chicken and dressing–chicken on bottom and dressing on top and baked
Chicken and dumplings–chicken stock, chicken and Bisquick dumplings
Chicken noodle soup–chicken stock, chicken pieces, egg noodles, carrots, onions, celery
The real time saver for all these
quick meal ideas is that the chicken is already cooked and ready to just heat and serve. This not only save you having to thaw raw chicken and cook it each evening, but you also just have to clean up the mess one time. This makes weekday dinner cleanup a breeze!
So what
quick chicken meal ideas do you have? Share your ideas in the comments! I’ll be back soon with ideas for beef and freezer meals that make for quick dinners!
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