Favorite QUICK and EASY meals?

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Crock Pot Sante Fe Chicken - BOOM - I win :-)

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/crock-pot-santa-fe-chicken-425-pts.html

This is the #1 downloaded recipe of 2012. 190 calories per cup. 2 cups does it for me.

EDIT - forgot to say the whole family and the whole office loves this...

You can do this in a pot and hurry it up. The longest is cooking the chicken so you can shred it - probably done in 30 minutes.

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savings these awesome ideas for later!

salsa on top of chicken cooked in the crockpot or oven is good when I am in a hurry, I eat it plain or on a salad

Monday I was in a hurry and baked some tilapia with Rotel with lime and cilantro it turned out great

I made this soup in like 30 min. last time. Thought I'd share another recipe.

Not everyone likes coconut and Thai inspired food, so just be aware that it might be a little exotic (pronounced strange) to some palettes.

Spiced Coconut Soup:

1 Can Coconut Milk
1 Can Low Sodium Chicken Broth (Sub with Veggie stock if Vegetarian)
1 heaping tablespoon of curry paste (Thai or Indian curry paste is fine)
Zucchini
Bean Sprouts (The Asian ones, look like this: http://static2.thaitable.com/images/ingredient/5bean-sprouts.jpg)
Baby carrots (Any kind of cut carrot is good, frozen is fine)
Water Chestnuts (Drained and rinsed)
Baby corn (Drained and rinsed, or frozen niblet corn)
Broccoli cuts (Frozen is fine)
Cooked chicken breast, cut into chunks (optional, omit if Veg.)
Sweet onion
Garlic clove
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Assorted herbs/spices: Black pepper, curry powder, ginger, coriander, cilantro, chive; all to taste

Now that's a big list of ingredients.

So you put some Olive oil in your pot along with your diced onion and garlic. You cook those until just barely translucent, then you throw the stock in and stir. Add carrots, water chestnuts, baby corn, chicken, and broccoli. Add a tblsp coconut oil and 1-2 tblsp curry paste reduce heat to medium. Stir some more. Add bean sprouts and coconut milk. Bring to simmer. We don't want the mixture to get to a rolling boil, because that's when the coconut products burn. If it boils a little, that's fine, but simmer is ideal. Once it's well combined and hot throughout, add spices to taste.

Now the fun part. First time I made this, I sat there for ten minutes playing with spices, because I have fun doing so. But if you don't wanna do that, just give the broth a taste, and add spices accordingly. If you want it to be very spicy, add curry powder and cayenne, along with ginger, cilantro, and coriander.

If you don't want it spicy, omit cayenne, add barely a tsp of curry powder, be more generous with ginger and garlic, and be very touchy with cilantro and coriander. Add more onion powder for more onion if you didn't cook enough earlier.

Because of the saltyness of the soup in general, I do NOT recommend adding garlic or onion SALTS as they will drastically make the soup saltier.

For one hefty 2c serving:
326 Calories
9g Fat
31g Protein
483 mg Sodium
14g Sugars

Pics, because it happened:
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/720x332q90/42/s6hq.jpg

Note: In my pic, I added mushrooms instead of broccoli. While it tasted fine, I prefer broccoli.

These recipes sound great. Will have to post some of my own recipes soon.

Mmmmmm sounds great

Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles

Chopped Peppers ( I use red, yellow and orange)

Little bit of frozen spinach

Eggs (mixed to scramble)

Start by thawing the spinach in your pan then add sausage. It's pre-cooked so your really just warming it up. Then I add the peppers and cook a few minutes more before I add the eggs.

I usually make this for one person with 2 eggs but you could just toss in what you need for 2 people. 1/4 cup of the sausage crumbles is one serving. You can also change or add veggies.

bake at what temperature?

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Cook chicken breast in a non-stick pan. Add 2 C of mixed veggies (you can sub whatever veggies you like here). Add 1 can of Healthy Request cream of chicken soup & 1/4 C milk. Simmer until warm.

Pour chicken filling into a pie plate, sprinkle with 1/2 shredded cheese. To with a ready to bake pie crust (cut a couple of air vents). Bake at 375° for 20 minutes.


Easy Chicken Divan

Cook chicken breast in a non-stick pan. Thaw 2 C of brocolli (you can sub whatever veggies you like here). Put chicken & brocolli in a 2 Qt baking dish. Stir together 1 can of Healthy Request cream of chicken soup & 1/4 C milk. Pour over chicken/brocolli. Sprinkle with 1 C shredded cheese. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes, top with chow mein noodles, crushed crackers or chopped croutons. Bake 5 minutes more.

Omelet with some fresh, frozen or leftover veggies and some leftover meat is a really easy meal.

My go to when I'm lazy is grits with veggies (and meat).
1/4 c grits (the quick-5 minute kind)
1 c water (more or less depending on taste)
1 c frozen veggie of your choice (I really like chopped spinach or green beans)
2 tsp parmesan
1 serving chicken/meat of choice (optional)

Put water in small saucepan with frozen veggies. Boil. Add 1/4 c grits and reduce heat to low and cover for 5 minutes. Stir in parmesan and meat. Eat and enjoy! Without meat, it's about 250-300 calories. This is really easy to double (or triple) for whomever. Also, it's done in 10 minutes or less.

A tip that could benefit both of you is to prepare some things beforehand, say on Sunday, and put it in tupperware for the rest of the week. Freeze it if you hate leftovers, but I usually put mine in the fridge and it's fine for lunch/dinner during the week.

Some of my favorites:
- Frozen seafood (tilapia, shrimp, salmon) and veggies. Very easy to toss some fish and olive oil with some seasonings into a pan! You can buy fresh or frozen veggies and cook them up easily as well.

- Chicken tenders (my boyfriend LOVES these): Buy chicken tenderloins (or boneless skinless breasts and cut them into strips). Coat in egg whites, roll in breadcrumbs (panko or regular), and bake in the oven @ 350 for 30-40 minutes. If you are only cooking a few, you can cook them in a frying pan.

- Salsa Chicken: Cut up chicken breasts into chunks. Cook on the stovetop and drain (if there's liquid coming off), dump in a can of fresh salsa. Serve over rice or pasta, or in a tortilla.

- Tuna Noodle Casserole: Mix tuna, chopped celery, onion, fat free Greek yogurt, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, in a bowl.. Add to cooked elbow or shell whole wheat noodles.

I also love simple things like ground turkey in tomato sauce, sauteed veggies over rice, etc. I'll add more ideas when I think of them!