working moms - dinner

I like to do a big meal on sunday with plenty of leftovers like a pork roast in the oven with tons of veggies or throw some stuff together in the crockpot in the morning like ground turkey, veggies, and bean--and voila--chili!

I like to do a big meal on sunday with plenty of leftovers like a pork roast in the oven with tons of veggies or throw some stuff together in the crockpot in the morning like ground turkey, veggies, and bean--and voila--chili!

this is also a great idea!!!

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Thursday evening I go through my 4,345,746,999 Pinterest food recipes. I pick out 5 meals based mostly on what I have on hand at home. I email them to myself so I can look at them on my phone. I make a grocery list of things I don't have that I'll handle sometime Thursday, or any day thereafter. On Sunday, I spend about 2-3 hours chopping, slicing, grating, mincing, measuring, thawing, marinating, meatball forming, putting into containers, making sauces and rice ahead of time, and sticking it back into the fridge to be made that week.

I make the recipe for the items that would taste better right away. So fresh seafood is Monday - Tuesday, and the marinated things are last because they're tastier. I have one really simple throw-together pasta type dish for whatever day I need to be even easier than usual.

Hi, I work evening shifts, but I find a slow cooker is damn handy for stews, etc. Sadly I dont know how chuffed your four year old will be as my six year old wont eat stew, but loves Spagetti Bol, zizzed in a zizzer, as she hates the texture of mince.

I like to do a big meal on sunday with plenty of leftovers like a pork roast in the oven with tons of veggies or throw some stuff together in the crockpot in the morning like ground turkey, veggies, and bean--and voila--chili!

I love making a couple of meals on Sunday! It gets us through Tuesday or maybe Wed. if I am lucky! It is so nice to not have to think about cooking every single night when I come home!

When I do cook my kids love Mommie's Special Spagett! All I do is take a half a bag of mixed veggies, steam them a little and then use a food processor and mush it down and throw it in any jar of spaghetti sauce! My kids will eat baked chicken so we will do that a lot and tonight is going to be burger night I think!

one word. Well.. maybe it's two words. Frankly I'm not really ever sure. Anyway: CROCKPOT

The crockpot was one of the best inventions for working moms. Here are a few of my recipes. I have never added up the calories but I think they are fairly healthy. Just don't add too many toppings!

Crockpot chicken tacos
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can rotel
1 can corn drained
1 package of taco seasoning
Cook on low 8 to 10 hours (mine cooks on low for 8 and then the crockpot automatically goes to keep warm)
Shred with fork when you get home. Serve in taco shells with your fixings or make nachos out of it (i'm guessing the nachos are far worse though with the chips)

Crockpot BBQ Chicken Wraps
3 frozen chicken breasts
3/4 bottle bbq sauce (I just cover the chicken breasts fairly well)
Diced onion (omit if you dislike)
a little brown sugar
Cook on low 8 hours or so.
Shred with fork
Serve on tortillas with a slice of cheese

Crockpot chicken enchiladas
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can enchilada sauce
Diced onion (omit if you want)
1 can cream of chicken soup (can be omitted so its a healthier meal)
Cook on low 8 hours or so
Shred with fork
Wrap in tortillas and place in greased baking dish
You can add jalapenos and olives inside tortillas if you like them.
Cover with the leftover sauce from crockpot or get another can of enchilada sauce
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Sprinkle with some cheese (omit for healthier option)

I have a ton more, but wanted to shout out a few. I plan to make lots of wraps for the summer. Will use pinterest for more crockpot recipes for those. I'm going to buy bags of fajita style chicken breast meat to make those. I need quick and easy meals for when soccer season begins!

My super quick crock pot is 2 chicken breasts and a can of cream of chicken soup. Throw the chicken breasts in, dump the soup over, I usually add garlic/pepper, etc, and then cover with water. The chicken is done when I get home, I make some 5 minute brown rice, open a can of black beans and some other veggie, nuke those, then throw them all together for rice bowls. then we are back out the door for Judo, baseball, whatever.

This feeds my hubby, my 9 year old son, and me with usually leftovers.

I just tried it this week with cheddar cheese soup and steamed broccoli. Yummy, super easy and fits easily into my calories.

My quick go to is Chicken Ranch tacos in the crock pot - chicken breast, chicken broth, 1 pkg. taco seasoning, 1 pkg. ranch dressing mix. Cook all day. I make a salad for myself and then tacos for the kiddo. Is high in sodium, but overall not too bad.

I work also and have my husband and a teenage football player aka bottomless pit to feed. By the time I get home from work, it is already 6pm. I try to make everything from scratch as much as possible and I totally relate to running out of ideas. One of my new years resolutions is to cook a new recipe every week. I, too, would be lost with out my crock pot but I am finding it easier to come up with meals just because I love to cook and am constantly on pinterest or allrecipes.com looking for recipes. As long as our schedule permits, I generally try to make a BIG meal on Sunday so that the leftovers will last a couple of days. Two weeks ago on Sunday I made a turkey with stuffing and veggies that lasted us a few days. With leftovers like that, it is easy to use the 'same thing' to make different meals. Turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey on salad, etc etc etc. Think meals that can evolve over a few days Good luck!

On weekends, I make giant vats of salad for snacks and the veggie component of dinner. Sometimes mediterranian cucumber salad, or broccoli salad, or spinach salad. Sometimes more than one type. Fruit salad is very popular with my 3 year old.

Then I just put whatever thawed meat I'm having into the toaster oven for half an hour or so, with our without it's accompanying starch and done. (Rice goes in the rice cooker. Pasta goes on the stove. Oven roasted potatoes get laid out around meat in the toaster oven.)

I love my toaster oven because it turns itself off at the end of bake time, so I don't have to worry about being distracted and burning something. Same for the rice cooker.

Whether I'm working overtime (tax season), a regular 40 hour week, part-time or not working outside the home at all the ONLY way I get dinner on the table is by having a plan!

I menu plan based on what is around the house and then make my grocery list based on what is needed to complete the plan.

I look at our calendar to figure out crazy busy days/evenings and also who will be home. I plan my meals around this as we all have our own likes/dislikes.

Crockpot, slicing/chopping veggies for several days at one time and then storing in the fridge, making a full crockpot of something (chili, white chicken burrito filling, soups, BBQ chicken, etc) eating one meal and freezing 1 or 2 meals of leftovers that can be brought out in a couple of weeks and the family doesn't think of them as leftovers! are all things I incorporate to get dinner on the table.


Believe me, there are weeks where the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stu***!) is of dire importance. During tax season, those weeks can turn to months! LOL As long as I plan and know to keep looking at my plan, I'm good. The weeks that I don't plan is a lot of cereal for the family! LOL

Remember, the plan doesn't have to be time consuming or complex, just nutrionally balanced and sound! (Most of the time...not always!)

Try to plan your menu out for the week & make something that will be two meals. I like to pick up a rotisserie chicken - one meal of the chicken breasts and the rest of the meat comes off and becomes chicken soup. Crock pot meals are the best - throw the food in and forget it until dinner time. I'm going to try some of the great recipes that have been posted. I buy the fajita chicken strips and cut my peppers & onions into strips - as soon as they are cooked dinner is ready. When my kids were little they loved when we had "breakfast for dinner" - omlettes would be a quick easy meal. I found the best thing is to make a menu so you don't have to come home exhausted and tear your hair out trying to decide what to make.

also: my mom uses this.

supercook.com. just enter in the ingredients you have in your pantry/fridge and it'll give you a recipe based on those things!