Looking for quick, cheap dinner ideas/recipes...

[dnsmith35]

I think pancakes and eggs for my crew tonight; breakfast for dinner. We are really strapped for time..I only have an hour to pick them up and feed them before we have to be at play rehearsal for 2 hours. It sort of limits me.

I have got to start devoting at least an hour at night (late, late at night) to dinner prep for the next day. Or we're going to be eating pancakes a lot.

If you know you will not have time in the evening do a little prep in the morning.

1lb bag chicken parts (I like dark meat)
2 bags of PicSweet Seasoning Blend (Frozen chopped onion/green pepper/celery pre-packed)
1 small can chopped tomato or tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put all ingredients in slow cooker on low in the AM and when you get home from work, viola, Chicken Creole

 

[dnsmith35]

GRANDPA'S FAVORITE SQUIRREL & GRAVY

Read more about it at Cooks.com - Recipe - Grandpa's Favorite Squirrel & Gravy
Content Copyright © 2012 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1 squirrel, clean & cook
4 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Soak squirrel overnight in salt water. Put squirrel in large kettle, cover well with cold water. Add salt and pepper. Cook until tender. (Save about 2 cups of the water (broth) squirrel was cooked in to make the gravy.)

GRAVY:

3 tbsp. flour
2 c. squirrel broth
2 tbsp. grease
3 c. sweet milk

Cooks.com - Recipe - Grandpa's Favorite Squirrel & Gravy

In my family, we just chicken fry them and make gravy from the drippings.

See post 201 and use squirrel instead of chicken. My father cut off the head after skinning, cracked open the skull and plopped out the brain of several squirrels and scrambled them in eggs.

 

[Missourian]

Canned Armour beef stew over instant mashed potatoes...with cheese.

In a pyrex five cup glass measuring cup, I make the mashed potatoes per the directions for 6 servings, but substitute 8 level tbsp. french onion dip for the 1/2 cup milk and tsp salt.

To minimize dirty dishes, measure water first, and transfer to a drinking glass, then measure potato flakes and return water to measuring cup. (Use glass for beverage with dinner.)

Microwave per directions.

Transfer the mashed potatoes to a serving bowl and completely cover with a layer of shredded cheese...I use Italian 5 cheese blend.

Set aside.

Transfer 24 oz can of Armour beef stew into the measuring cup and heat per directions in microwave.

Pour beef stew over cheesy mashed potatoes.

Do not mix. The melted cheese creates a barrier between the potatoes and the stew.

Serves 4-6.

 

[koshergrl]

This is kind of awesome...I've been canning different meats lately; I've got many pints of canned chicken thighs, and I canned some pork roast the other night that turned out really well...this is a good idea for that.

I'm going to can potatoes, too...I think there is definitely way to substitute canned potatoes for the instant ones.

I'm not making menus anymore, that went the way of the dodo...but I have started canning, so I have easy stuff on hand right at my house on nights when I really don't want to mess with food prep/shopping/long cooking times/dishes.

I've just started...but I've canned chicken, and pork, and applesauce..and of course jam.

I'm going to can potatoes, and carrots, and more pork, this week.

That's the chicken, looks gross but it's yummy.

Applesauce.

Orange marmalade...I made a lot of this because oranges are cheap, and the kids' after school programs kept sending oranges home with them. So I made three batches, I think. It is the best stuff!

 

[Sunshine]

This is kind of awesome...I've been canning different meats lately; I've got many pints of canned chicken thighs, and I canned some pork roast the other night that turned out really well...this is a good idea for that.

I'm going to can potatoes, too...I think there is definitely way to substitute canned potatoes for the instant ones.

I'm not making menus anymore, that went the way of the dodo...but I have started canning, so I have easy stuff on hand right at my house on nights when I really don't want to mess with food prep/shopping/long cooking times/dishes.

I've just started...but I've canned chicken, and pork, and applesauce..and of course jam.

I'm going to can potatoes, and carrots, and more pork, this week.

That's the chicken, looks gross but it's yummy.

Applesauce.

Orange marmalade...I made a lot of this because oranges are cheap, and the kids' after school programs kept sending oranges home with them. So I made three batches, I think. It is the best stuff!

KG, have you considered getting a food dehydrator and drying fruit and veggies. I did that a lot when the kids were at home and they loved the dried fruit. I remember my grandmother drying apples in her attic. They had a big apple tree and she would slice the apples and spread them out in the attic to dry. I never did any potatoes, but I don't cook potatoes much. My mother who grew up poor said when she got to be her own boss she would never pick blackberries or eat potatoes. If we ever had potatoes my sister cooked them, so I don't plan them as part of every meal like some folks do.

 

[koshergrl]

A lot of people who can also dehydrate. I haven't so far. My kids have never been fans of dried fruit for snacks and it's so humid here, I wonder about the storage of such items. I have one friend who makes fruit leather, and that might be something they could get behind.

I like potatoes, and like to have them on the table when I'm feeding a group of people as I often am..but I absolutely HATE preparing them. I don't like peeling them, and I don't like the mess they create, and I don't like the time it takes to prepare them. But they are a great staple...and cheap. So I'm going to can them so I have them on hand when I want them. People can even mash canned potatoes...we'll see about that. Probably I'll use them most often fried, with breakfast.

 

[Sunshine]

A lot of people who can also dehydrate. I haven't so far. My kids have never been fans of dried fruit for snacks and it's so humid here, I wonder about the storage of such items. I have one friend who makes fruit leather, and that might be something they could get behind.

I like potatoes, and like to have them on the table when I'm feeding a group of people as I often am..but I absolutely HATE preparing them. I don't like peeling them, and I don't like the mess they create, and I don't like the time it takes to prepare them. But they are a great staple...and cheap. So I'm going to can them so I have them on hand when I want them. People can even mash canned potatoes...we'll see about that. Probably I'll use them most often fried, with breakfast.

Never thought of mashed canned.

 

[koshergrl]

I have no idea how good they will be, but I'm going to give it a go, eventually. If it works, it's as easy as instant mashed potatoes, without the chemicals..you'll actually know what's really in them.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hmmm. The thought of canned mashed potatoes doesn't excite me, but then I've never had any so let me know how it turns out. I love potatoes prepared all sorts of ways too, so we have them at almost every full meal, including breakfast. I do most often prepare them fresh though or we use frozen. We've even been known to grate or mince them and eat them raw in something like tuna salad when I've been out of celery. But I don't mind peeling them. I just tune to something interesting on the kitchen TV,sit at the kitchen table, put my feet up and peel, chop or slice away. It's sort of therapeutic like crochet or needlepoint.

 

[koshergrl]

You don't mash and then can them...you can them (parboil and then hot pack, then pressure can), then later, open, heat up, and mash.

We'll see...I belong to a canning group and there's one on there who says it turns out good so I'm all for trying it.

But frying will probably be the way I usually use them...OR in casseroles.

I've never been all that excited by commercial canned potatoes but the canning group swears by home canned ones, so I'm up for it. If I can make more use of potatoes, which are CHEAP, I will be happy.

 

[Sunshine]

This is all making me hungry for Irish colcannon. But I went to the grocery already and I don't have any cabbage.

The way I do it is to start with very, very thinly sliced cabbage, doesn't take much. I cook that and strain it off. Then make the mashed potatoes. To the mashed taters I add the cooked cabbage, chopped green onion, and chopped bacon that has been fried to a crispy brown. I use cream and usually butter to thin the taters down and flavor them. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up. Yum. Yum.

I don't have many potato recipes per se. Besides the above, and my granny's 'stewed' potatoes, and baked, that's about all I ever do. If I'm baking a chicken, I might throw some red ones in the bottom of the pan. But, I was raised by that mother who said she would never eat potatoes again! And she largely didn't.

 

[Foxfyre]

This is all making me hungry for Irish colcannon. But I went to the grocery already and I don't have any cabbage.

The way I do it is to start with very, very thinly sliced cabbage, doesn't take much. I cook that and strain it off. Then make the mashed potatoes. To the mashed taters I add the cooked cabbage, chopped green onion, and chopped bacon that has been fried to a crispy brown. I use cream and usually butter to thin the taters down and flavor them. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up. Yum. Yum.

I don't have many potato recipes per se. Besides the above, and my granny's 'stewed' potatoes, and baked, that's about all I ever do. If I'm baking a chicken, I might throw some red ones in the bottom of the pan. But, I was raised by that mother who said she would never eat potatoes again! And she largely didn't.

Gonna try your colcannon. I think you said your mom was a depression baby? So was mine but it didn't create a dislike for potatoes or any of the the other cheap depression fare. Just the other day we were talking about hot water cornbread--a real staple of the depression era--and it made my mouth water just thinking about it. So I had to make some that we had for supper night before last. And it was good.

When Hombre and I married, we had kids quick which limited my ability to work so we often had a lot of week left after the paycheck ran out. Most of our friends were in the same boat though. One would buy a pound of hamburger to fry up and drain to add to the pinto beans somebody else cooked, somebody else made cornbread, and somebody else the fried taters and we pooled the bounty and ate well on very little money.

So what are Hombre and I having for dinner tonight? Pinto beans (flavored with the ham hock out of the last ham we bought), corn bread, and fried taters.

And we eat potatoes hash browned, fried, baked, twice baked, boiled, roasted, mashed, au gratin, scalloped, potato salad, etc. etc. etc.

 

[Sunshine]

This is all making me hungry for Irish colcannon. But I went to the grocery already and I don't have any cabbage.

The way I do it is to start with very, very thinly sliced cabbage, doesn't take much. I cook that and strain it off. Then make the mashed potatoes. To the mashed taters I add the cooked cabbage, chopped green onion, and chopped bacon that has been fried to a crispy brown. I use cream and usually butter to thin the taters down and flavor them. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up. Yum. Yum.

I don't have many potato recipes per se. Besides the above, and my granny's 'stewed' potatoes, and baked, that's about all I ever do. If I'm baking a chicken, I might throw some red ones in the bottom of the pan. But, I was raised by that mother who said she would never eat potatoes again! And she largely didn't.

Gonna try your colcannon. I think you said your mom was a depression baby? So was mine but it didn't create a dislike for potatoes or any of the the other cheap depression fare. Just the other day we were talking about hot water cornbread--a real staple of the depression era--and it made my mouth water just thinking about it. So I had to make some that we had for supper night before last. And it was good.

When Hombre and I married, we had kids quick which limited my ability to work so we often had a lot of week left after the paycheck ran out. Most of our friends were in the same boat though. One would buy a pound of hamburger to fry up and drain to add to the pinto beans somebody else cooked, somebody else made cornbread, and somebody else the fried taters and we pooled the bounty and ate well on very little money.

So what are Hombre and I having for dinner tonight? Pinto beans (flavored with the ham hock out of the last ham we bought), corn bread, and fried taters.

It's funny. My mother didn't have any issue with beans. Just potatoes. And if you were dying without one you would NOT get a blackberry cobbler. She refused to pick them due to her days of having to. I went with my grandfather once, but he did all the heavy lifting. I went once on my own and didn't care for the chiggers.


SS

 

[Sunshine]

This is all making me hungry for Irish colcannon. But I went to the grocery already and I don't have any cabbage.

The way I do it is to start with very, very thinly sliced cabbage, doesn't take much. I cook that and strain it off. Then make the mashed potatoes. To the mashed taters I add the cooked cabbage, chopped green onion, and chopped bacon that has been fried to a crispy brown. I use cream and usually butter to thin the taters down and flavor them. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up. Yum. Yum.

I don't have many potato recipes per se. Besides the above, and my granny's 'stewed' potatoes, and baked, that's about all I ever do. If I'm baking a chicken, I might throw some red ones in the bottom of the pan. But, I was raised by that mother who said she would never eat potatoes again! And she largely didn't.

Gonna try your colcannon. I think you said your mom was a depression baby? So was mine but it didn't create a dislike for potatoes or any of the the other cheap depression fare. Just the other day we were talking about hot water cornbread--a real staple of the depression era--and it made my mouth water just thinking about it. So I had to make some that we had for supper night before last. And it was good.

When Hombre and I married, we had kids quick which limited my ability to work so we often had a lot of week left after the paycheck ran out. Most of our friends were in the same boat though. One would buy a pound of hamburger to fry up and drain to add to the pinto beans somebody else cooked, somebody else made cornbread, and somebody else the fried taters and we pooled the bounty and ate well on very little money.

So what are Hombre and I having for dinner tonight? Pinto beans (flavored with the ham hock out of the last ham we bought), corn bread, and fried taters.

And we eat potatoes hash browned, fried, baked, twice baked, boiled, roasted, mashed, au gratin, scalloped, potato salad, etc. etc. etc.

I think the usual meat for it is ham. But I like it better with bacon. That's just me. It won't take much of that cabbage at all.

 

[koshergrl]

I was raised on potatoes with almost every meal. And it was always MY job to fix them, and I hated it.

So I don't serve them much either, anymore. When my big boys were growing up, we lived on them. I used to make a dish with fried potatoes, and cabbage, onion, and bacon, too.


We also had potato soup growing up, and I did love that...but ours had milk in it, and milk isn't usually something people can with much success.

 

[koshergrl]

Yup we always had blackberry cobbler, too. And there was almost always either beans or stew on the stove. I hated beans and fried potatoes for a long time. For one thing, my mom is a really good cook most of the time and her baked goods are to die for...but she always burns stuff she fries. My memories of burned potatoes and beans...blech.

 

[koshergrl]

Or burned salmon patties and fried potatoes...or burned meatloaf patties and fried potatoes and beans..

Not my most favorite meals.

 

[Foxfyre]

Oh yeah the salmon patties. Canned salmon was dirt cheap for some reason way back when--it is ungodly expensive now--and Mom would make what she called salmon croquettes--a little taller and rounder than salmon patties. And I did like those but have never been able to duplicate them. Don't like salmon all that much any other way though. I do like most fish.

And meatloaf. Now that is one depression era staple--made from whatever ground beef and pork scraps were left over and they didn't have the heart to throw away--that I never developed a taste for. And I can eat it but don't really enjoy it yet today. It is certainly something I would never voluntarily seek out.

And fried potatoes instead of mashed ones in that Irish colcannon? I do believe that is the way it is most commonly done around here. now that I think about it. Just never thought to ask what it was called.

 

[koshergrl]

GRANDPA'S FAVORITE SQUIRREL & GRAVY

Read more about it at Cooks.com - Recipe - Grandpa's Favorite Squirrel & Gravy
Content Copyright © 2012 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1 squirrel, clean & cook
4 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Soak squirrel overnight in salt water. Put squirrel in large kettle, cover well with cold water. Add salt and pepper. Cook until tender. (Save about 2 cups of the water (broth) squirrel was cooked in to make the gravy.)

GRAVY:

3 tbsp. flour
2 c. squirrel broth
2 tbsp. grease
3 c. sweet milk

Cooks.com - Recipe - Grandpa's Favorite Squirrel & Gravy

In my family, we just chicken fry them and make gravy from the drippings.

See post 201 and use squirrel instead of chicken. My father cut off the head after skinning, cracked open the skull and plopped out the brain of several squirrels and scrambled them in eggs.

OMG!

That's disgusting, lol!

 

[Sunshine]

Cooks.com - Recipe - Grandpa's Favorite Squirrel & Gravy

In my family, we just chicken fry them and make gravy from the drippings.

See post 201 and use squirrel instead of chicken. My father cut off the head after skinning, cracked open the skull and plopped out the brain of several squirrels and scrambled them in eggs.

OMG!

That's disgusting, lol!

Chicken fry is the way to go with squeeeerel. I don't recall eating the brain, but my mother did that with chicken heads. And I recall having pork brain scrambled with eggs. That was with her cooking it. When I tried I couldn't eat it.