Easy Dinner Recipes

When it come to easy dinner recipes, it doesn't get much easier than this chicken strip recipe. It came from Better Homes and Gardens and touts a 10 minute prep time with a 10 minute cooking time. Perfect for those nights when drive through sounds so perfect!

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray

2 1/2 cups crushed bite-size cheddar fish-shaped crackers or pretzels

2/3 cup bottled buttermilk ranch salad dressing or honey Dijon mustard

1 pound chicken breast tenderloins

Bottled buttermilk ranch salad dressing or honey Dijon mustard (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil; lightly coat foil with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a shallow dish place the crushed crackers or pretzels. In another shallow dish place the ranch dressing or mustard. Dip chicken tenderloins into the dressing or mustard, allowing excess to drip off; dip into cracker crumbs or crushed pretzels to coat. Arrange chicken in prepared pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degree F). Serve with additional ranch dressing or mustard. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Quicker Version: Use a 10-ounce package of cooked refrigerated chicken breast strips instead of the chicken breast tenderloins. Prepare as above but bake only 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through.

This easy dinner recipe for White Bean Soup comes from Cooking Light. We personally like to add a little ham to the mix (we usually have some for lunches), but as the weather gets chillier this is a good standby for quick and nutritious.

2 cups chopped white onion
2 cups chopped seeded Poblano Chile
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium vegetable broth
2 (15-ounce) cans navy beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 1/2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream

1. Heat a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion, chile, red bell pepper, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes.
3. Add broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Add the beans, juice, and cumin. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.
5. Ladle about 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 5 bowls, and top each serving with about 3 tablespoons cheese and 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream.

Easy dinner recipes for leftovers are my favorite. This is one we use for mashed potatoes, fried rice, bits of steak or chicken or taco meat. Really the possibilities are endless and the best part is that it's a great way to hide veggies for the kids. Literally grab anything in the fridge and mix it together for a filling.

Use spring roll wrappers from the grocery store cut-in-half and place about a teaspoon of your left overs. Fold it up to form a tiny parcel. Seal the edges with water. Set aside on a platter covered with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. Repeat for remaining strips.

HEAT oil in a non-stick frying pan and shallow-fry parcels a few at a time so as not to crowd the pan. Remove parcels when they turn crisp and golden on both sides. Drain excess oil by placing parcels on paper towels. Serve warm with ketchup or chutney of choice.

Simple eh? Do recipes get mush easier? Serve with a salad and you're good to go.

To make easy dinner recipes I have a gadget that I use almost daily: my Rice Cookers. This gadget is a necessity in my household and we don't just use it for rice. I know that cooking rice isn't all that difficult on the stove top, but forget it. Make your life easy and pop it in the rice cooker. If you're really crafty, you can make the rice before you leave in the morning and it keeps it warm all day, ready to go when you are.

We also make about the best oatmeal in it as well as some full one pot meals. I will post a few of our easy recipes here using our handy rice cooker.

Our rice cooker is the Zojirushi NH-VBC18 10-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer with Induction Heating System. We have used this brand since I was a little girl and we have always been happy with the results the cookers provide. Warning though - always use plastic spoons, not metal because of the non-stick surfaces of the pots. I can't tell you how many cookers we've had to replace because of scrapes.

Following our easy dinner recipes made in our rice cookers, here's one for glazed yams that makes your sides look like you spent hours making food for your family.

GLAZED YAMS

8 lbs. yams, peeled
4 oz. ginger, peeled and smashed
4 oz. brown sugar
8 oz whole butter
2 Tbls. Honey
s & p to taste
2 Tbls. Maple syrup
1 ½ qts. chicken stock
3 eggs
2 bay leaves
½ jr. orange marmalade

Peel yams, cut in half combine in the rice cooker with all the other ingredients.

Cook until fork tender.

Spanish Rice with Chicken is an easy dinner recipe when you make it right in the rice cooker.

Put 1 cup of rice, chopped roasted red peppers, chicken legs, olives (can be chopped black or green), a can of chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce and a pinch of saffron in the Rice Cookers and let it go.

Can it really get easier than that?