Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

I am going back to work FT in September and just need ideas for meals now that I have a 3 month old. Cooking is the last thing on my mind but we need to eat! I am sick of making the same things over & over.

Message edited 8/24/2009 6:24:10 PM.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

I still cook the same way now that my daughter is three as I did when she was a newborn because I have just as little time. Also, I do a little prep work on the weekends or right after I go food shopping to make life easier. For example, I make a sauce on a Sunday, or when I buy a big thing of chicken cutlets, I slice them thin, then I freeze them. So anything I make with chicken, I've already sliced the breasts thing.....So...... Here's our typical dinner meals that we'll have during the school year when I'm working:

Chili-I make it in the crock pot on a Sunday, freeze two containers of it and leave one in the fridge for a weeknight. Add quick cooking rice and a salad and dinner is ready in 15 minutes.

Turkey burgers- I buy ground turkey and ground chicken meat, combine it with crumbled feta cheese, spinach and garlic powder. Makes about a dozen burgers that I then freeze in groups of three or four and pull them out and slap em on the grill whenever. Add some frozen veggies and quick rice and there's a meal.

Turkey meatloaf-make ahead and freeze. Pull out in the morning, cook when I get home.

Lemon chicken is quick and freezes well.

Flat bread pizzas. I'll make a huge vat of sauce and freeze it in big containers for pasta nights or in little containers for pizza nights. I toast a flat pita in the oven, add some sauce and cheese, let it melt and add a salad on the side.

Omelets are an old standby here. We do sauteed potato and onion omelets for dinner here.

Pastas- when we're out of sauce, I sautee garlic in some olive oil, add some chicken broth and lemon juice, then boil some frozen broccoli with the pasta the last five minutes and mix it all together for broccoli and pasta. Or, if I'm out of lemon and chicken broth I'll slice an onion really thin and sautee it with some olive oil, then just add that to plan pasta and serve with ricotta cheese. So yummy!


Chicken and cheese- I'll take out chicken cutlets from the freezer that morning, then when I get home, I dip them in fat freeze italian dressing then in bread crumbs and roll up a piece of cheese in the middle. I bake them on 375 for a half hour and it's so good. Ava and JT love this. You can use any kind of cheese, I use weigh watchers cheddar and Ava and JT never know.

Chicken Souvlaki-I make my own tzatziki sauce, but if I can find it in the stores, I'll just buy it. So you cube up some chicken, marinate it in lemon and oregano (I even do this quick in the morning, or the night before I know I want to make it and let it sit, but a half hour is enough marinating time if need be), then I dump it all on a cookie sheet, broil it about 20 minutes and add to a pita with some feta, lettuce and tzatziki. Takes a total of about a half hour to make if you marinate ahead of time.


In general, I try "reuse" ingredients if I can. For example, if I'm having broccoli one night, I make enough so that the next night I can add it to pasta, or if I make grilled chicken, I save some for souvlaki or grilled chicken salads the next night. Leftover pasta sauce becomes flatbread pizzas the next nights, etc. Also, I've gotten used to just keeping tons of frozen veggies in the house and lots of boil in a bag rices. I add beans and have rice and beans, or as a side I'll add fat free sour cream and salsa, or I'll serve lemon chicken over it, or as a side with the souvlaki. Also taco kits are always in the house for those nights where I forget to cook something or take something out of the freezer because I can take out ground turkey and cook it if it's frozen. You get used to it pretty quickly, and if I think of more things I make, I'll certainly post them

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Good question... I posted this on the recipe board and no one responded.

I haven't cooked a meal since DS was born the end of May. My mom made some good dinners and my MIL. When I was on leave I didn't have time to and now he's on a better sched, but I'm back at work. Only thing I've done is easy things like ravioli or something.

Best thing to get is those steamer veggie bags. Buy it in the frozen section and pop it in the over for 5 mins. We actually got them at BJ's so there's a lot and it's good steamed veggies all mixed.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

I also wanted to add I make a great mexican lasagna that I put together and freeze until I'm ready to have it.

You need flour tortillas, ground turkey or chicken or beef, a taco seasoning packet (I usually just make my own), black beans, frozen corn, shredded cheddar and taco sauce (not salsa).
So you brown the meat and add the seasonings like you were making tacos, then add the black beans and corn to the meat, then in a baking dish, you layer like this:

layer of tortillas, layer of taco sauce, layer of meat, layer of cheese and keep repeating until you fill the baking dish.

You can freeze it like that or bake it right then and there at 350 until it's all bubbling and the cheese is melted. It's delicious!

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

great thread....I am always looking for quickie ideas

I guess I an add one.

Chicken parmesan.

Mix 1 cup mayo, 1 cup parm cheese together (lowfat works great too). Spread over chicken, add bread crumbs to the top, bake 30 min. My DH and DS love this.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Rachel gave some great ideas and tips.... I'm also a big fan of prepping meals on the weekends. I found when I plan my meals for the week, I spend less time after work trying to think of what to make. I also feed the kids leftovers from the night before so that they are not waiting an hour for me to finish dinner.

Some of my favorites include:
Chicken fajitas w/refried beans and corn (I usually cut the chicken and veggies on Sundays)

Baked catfish or Tilapia with rice and green beans

Tacos (ground turkey or chicken) with spanish rice

Spaghetti w/meat sauce

Penne w/jarred vodka sauce

Steaks or meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans

Homemade pizza with veggies (I use Boboli crusts)

Red Beans and rice w/smoked sausage

Lasagne or Stuffed Shells (I prep on Sunday and just heat it up when we want to eat it)

Shrimp Linguine with Garlic Butter Sauce

Salisbury Steak with roasted potatoes and carrots

Breakfast Skillet - scrambled eggs over diced red potatoes cooked with green peppers and onions.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Linguini with clam sauce

Perogies with grilled kielbasa, sauteed onions, and sour cream

Chicken fajitas - I have DH grill the chicken while I do the other prep work

Tacos

Meatloaf

Roasted chicken legs with rice

BBQ pork chops with wild rice

Shrimp with broccoli, garlic and olive oil over penne

Baked chicken parm

I'll slow cook boneless spare ribs in the crock pot

London broil with roasted potatoes and veggie

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Mexican Chicken (no please)
Chicken (breast/tenders)
Salsa
Cube chicken, poach (cook in water/stock) or you can pan fry (not a big fan of crispy/brown chicken)

Add Salsa

Variations:
Get a round casserole dish, make a mexican lassagna - soft taco shells, chicken, black beans, salsa, cheese, layer

Pizza - get a pizza crust, smush black beans with chicken stock to make healthy refried beans (or get your own) to use as sauce, layer chicken, top with cheese

Make into wraps with black beans and corn

Can be used as a dip if you cut the chicken really small - get the tostito dip chips.

========================

DS likes my chicken meatballs so I make a batch (bite size b/c if he sees you cut it its free range to shred it w/ his fingers) and freeze them.

I make my basic meatloaf recipe - take 1/2 add chopped chopped spinach and cheddar cheese. Take the other 1/2 - add petite diced tomatoes and shred motz cheese.
=========================

Chicken w/ variety of salad dressings baked.
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Big fan of cambells soup recipes - protein/soup/vege/bake.

========================

Rotissery chicken is a fav of mine.

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Meat sauce - I just pump it up a little, add a few black beans (cheaper then meat, very healthy) and some canned mushrooms to the meat - I use canned sauce so again no please!
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Cook kielbasa w/ mushrooms, onions, peppers, potatoes - good cold weather dish.
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Get a package of sausage meat (that wasn't put into sausages yet), break it up, brown it with a little EVOO. Add 1/2-1 can of diced tomatoes (I like the petite diced), let it hang out for ~3-5 minutes. Add 1 big bag (9oz) of fresh baby spinach until wilted. Serve over whole wheat penne (or your choice).
4 ingredients - done!
Variation - I saw sausage raviolli, bought those, wilted spinach, served w/ regular red pasta sauce
-- you can also use link sausage but I think it takes longer - and you have to wash a cutting board.
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A little tip: When I make sausage and peppers - I like mild, DH likes hot. I cut the mild thinner on an angle, cut the hot in 1/2 or 1/3 straight. This way we can tell what flavor we have without spitting it out
=========================

I think you should change the name to "un-Official Working Moms Dinner Thread" and we can just keep added as we go - maybe it will keep it towards the top and won't get lost.

Message edited 8/24/2009 12:36:33 PM.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

DH and I both work (I don't get home till 645pm). I defrost & marinate meat the night before. Typical dinners for us

(gotta love the George Forman!!)

pasta & sauce

steak, potatos & veggies

meatloaf

chicken & rice

etc. If you prep before hand its not so bad.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

I also like the idea of prepping/cooking on the weekends. If thats not possible, at least knowing exactly what you will make each night is a big help----I shop on the weekends with a list of meals for the week, usually building in one night for leftovers. I keep a dry erase board on the fridge and write our meal 'schedule' for the week, that way there is no, whats for dinner tonight? at 5pm!

Eta meal ideas:
chicken quesidillas
chicken caesar wraps
spag w/meatballs
gnocchi with pesto sauce
meatloaf
anything in the crockpot is so easy: bbq pulled pork, chili, beef stew, etc

Message edited 8/24/2009 12:47:15 PM.

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Pulled Pork in the crockpot is sooo easy - buy a large pork loin, add about 1.5 cups of BBQ Sauce, 1 onion cut in half, and 1/2 a cup of water! Set crockpot to low and cook for 8 hours.

The meat just shreds off so easily! It's so tender and delish!

I make chicken cutlets a lot, with rice and salad as sides. DH likes this and it's simple enough.

We bbq a lot in the summer... not sure what I am going to do in its place in the winter!

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Not really to get off topic but I have a few websites that I like w/ quick ideas:
Cambells
Olive Garden (yea - they list the recipes for their menu items)
Weight Watchers
Lean Cuisine
Kraft (food and family mag is good)
goya

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

Posted by prncsslehcar

I still cook the same way now that my daughter is three as I did when she was a newborn because I have just as little time. Also, I do a little prep work on the weekends or right after I go food shopping to make life easier. For example, I make a sauce on a Sunday, or when I buy a big thing of chicken cutlets, I slice them thin, then I freeze them. So anything I make with chicken, I've already sliced the breasts thing.....So...... Here's our typical dinner meals that we'll have during the school year when I'm working:

Chili-I make it in the crock pot on a Sunday, freeze two containers of it and leave one in the fridge for a weeknight. Add quick cooking rice and a salad and dinner is ready in 15 minutes.

Turkey burgers- I buy ground turkey and ground chicken meat, combine it with crumbled feta cheese, spinach and garlic powder. Makes about a dozen burgers that I then freeze in groups of three or four and pull them out and slap em on the grill whenever. Add some frozen veggies and quick rice and there's a meal.

Turkey meatloaf-make ahead and freeze. Pull out in the morning, cook when I get home.

Lemon chicken is quick and freezes well.

Flat bread pizzas. I'll make a huge vat of sauce and freeze it in big containers for pasta nights or in little containers for pizza nights. I toast a flat pita in the oven, add some sauce and cheese, let it melt and add a salad on the side.

Omelets are an old standby here. We do sauteed potato and onion omelets for dinner here.

Pastas- when we're out of sauce, I sautee garlic in some olive oil, add some chicken broth and lemon juice, then boil some frozen broccoli with the pasta the last five minutes and mix it all together for broccoli and pasta. Or, if I'm out of lemon and chicken broth I'll slice an onion really thin and sautee it with some olive oil, then just add that to plan pasta and serve with ricotta cheese. So yummy!


Chicken and cheese- I'll take out chicken cutlets from the freezer that morning, then when I get home, I dip them in fat freeze italian dressing then in bread crumbs and roll up a piece of cheese in the middle. I bake them on 375 for a half hour and it's so good. Ava and JT love this. You can use any kind of cheese, I use weigh watchers cheddar and Ava and JT never know.

Chicken Souvlaki-I make my own tzatziki sauce, but if I can find it in the stores, I'll just buy it. So you cube up some chicken, marinate it in lemon and oregano (I even do this quick in the morning, or the night before I know I want to make it and let it sit, but a half hour is enough marinating time if need be), then I dump it all on a cookie sheet, broil it about 20 minutes and add to a pita with some feta, lettuce and tzatziki. Takes a total of about a half hour to make if you marinate ahead of time.


In general, I try "reuse" ingredients if I can. For example, if I'm having broccoli one night, I make enough so that the next night I can add it to pasta, or if I make grilled chicken, I save some for souvlaki or grilled chicken salads the next night. Leftover pasta sauce becomes flatbread pizzas the next nights, etc. Also, I've gotten used to just keeping tons of frozen veggies in the house and lots of boil in a bag rices. I add beans and have rice and beans, or as a side I'll add fat free sour cream and salsa, or I'll serve lemon chicken over it, or as a side with the souvlaki. Also taco kits are always in the house for those nights where I forget to cook something or take something out of the freezer because I can take out ground turkey and cook it if it's frozen. You get used to it pretty quickly, and if I think of more things I make, I'll certainly post them

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

We will also do

Sloppy joes

Hamburgers and fries

Gordons fish filets with fries - sometimes we will put them on Martins potato bread with a slice of cheese and tartar sauce - like McDonald's fish filet sandwich - soooo yummy

tuna melts

Re: Working Moms with infants...meal ideas?

This is great...thanks for all the ideas

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

I like to do all my prep work in the morning or the night before. It cuts down cooking time IMMENSELY. For example.. I'll chop the onions and put them in a plastic baggie for that night - same with garlic. If everything is ready (Mise en place) it makes cooking that much quicker.

Stir fry is an easy quick thing - your choice of veggies, your choice of meat or shrimp, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, a little chicken broth and some corn starch.. easy peasy.

Chicken Francaise is a favorite and takes only about a half hour.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

Also, a simple thing I buy that saves me a lot of time is minced garlic in water. It seems so silly, but it's seriously saved me so much time! That, and a convection toaster oven that cooks smaller portions in half the time. I love it for the nights that JT is working and it's just me and Ava.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

New recipe that DH went crazy for:

Whole Chix breast (4) or thighs
1 cup chix broth (I used low sodium)
1 can pineapple chunks in juice
optional - red or green pepper cut into matchsticks

Brown chix on both sides if you want

Put all ingredients in a crock pot, set to low and viola - quick meal. Serve over rice. My crockpot has a timer and automatically switches to keep warm after the alotted cooking time is over, so I set it for 6 hours even though I'll be out of the house for 8 1/2-9 hours.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

What really helps me is to plan out my meals for the week on the weekend and get the shopping done then too.

Something quick and easy is Mac and cheese. I make about a million different kinds. DD loves the one with hot dogs in it. I also make one with broccoli and another with spinach and artichokes.

Stir fries are also really easy. It's a good use up for any veggies you have in the fridge.

I also make a big pot of sauce on the weekend too. That can be a pasta dinner, pizza and if I make meatballs, a meatball sub night.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

I think we're gonna be spending a WHOLE lot of money on take out! I can not imagine being able to take care of my baby and spend the little time I have with him b4 he goes to sleep and cooking a meal at the same time!
If I docook it's going ot be after I put himto bed at 6:30pm We're gonna eb having a lot of "late" dinners that's for sure!

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

i started a thread like this about a year ago and got some more great quick dinner ideas. i'll try and post the link but i am not usually good at that so we'll see if it works!

http://www.lifamilies.com/chat/topic-322881-1.html

Message edited 8/24/2009 9:37:24 PM.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

When it's not hot out I spend a few hours on Sunday prepping meals for the week. One of my basics is one making of sauce, one making of meat sauce and chicken cutlets. The sauce can be used throughout the week to do pasta dishes or make pizza with. The meat sauce I will either do a pasta dish with or I will make garlic bread, put the meat sauce on and melt mozzarella cheese on it. The chicken cutlets I will either make into chicken parm, chicken and rice, or chicken with an alfredo sauce.

I also pick up ground beef to make tacos one night. To me the key of it all is preparing ahead of time. If all you have to do is cook something up or reheat you will be golden. But if you have to start combining and marinating something when you get home from work you're going to be exhausted.

We are also big on picking up a cooked chicken from the store and grabbing rice at the chinese place right near the grocery store. Then I'll pop open a can of veggies and dinner is done. Awesome meal for the kids too.

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

I am obsessed with the quick and easy chicken stir fry that is on the back of the minute rice box.

We eat it ALL the time and it is delicious. You can do it with teraiki sauce instead of soy sauce for a change or steak or shrimp instead of chicken.

SO good.


1 tbsp vegetable oil 15 mL

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced 500 g

1 tsp minced garlic 5 mL

1 ½ cups water 375 mL

1/3 cup sodium-reduced soy sauce 75 mL

1 tbsp granulated sugar 15 mL

2 cups Minute Rice® Instant White Rice 500 mL

1 lb frozen vegetable stir-fry blend 500 g



1. Heat oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic; stir-fry for 5 minutes or until chicken is evenly browned.
2. Add water, soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and vegetables; return to the boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low; simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir well. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

The other thread/re-post reminded me of another favorite. Freezes well

Chicken w/ Cheddar Cheese & Broc.
In a casserole dish:
Cooked chicken (bite size)
top with frozen broc
1 can Cambells Cheddar Cheese Soup mixed w/ 1/2 can of water
Top with real cheddar cheese then breadcrumbs
bake

You can also use cream of chix, cream of broc soup

I make it in alum. tins so its 1 meals worth.
=======================

Another quicky is nachos -
Top nacho chips with: ground beef, smushed black beans w/ stock (or refried), cheese (sauce or shredded) black olives, hot peppers, salsa whatever else you want - then bake a little to let the cheese melt - watch it though - it goes fast.
Serve w/ sour cream
===================

Re: Working Moms Dinner Thread!!!!

Love this thread, got some great ideas. For me cooking when I come home from work was impossible, so I would cook after DS went to bed (8pm). We would eat around 9/ 9:30. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this up,so know I cook for the week on Sunday. It takes a few hous, but I found this works best. During the week, all I need to do is reheat and serve.