looking for recipes

[missminimouse]

I have a family of 5.......soon to be 6.   Me and the kids eat pretty much anything,  not picky at all........but considering I have 3 kids,   I'm looking for quick,    simple,   and very inexpensive meal ideas.   My husband will not touch veggies,    won't eat meat that's been cooked in the same pot as veggies,   so as you can imagine,   dinner ideas are pretty difficult.    I have a slow cooker and thus far have been buying those frozen meals to cook in the slow cooker,   but they are about $7 a package and just barely feed the 5 of us.   I figure it would be cheaper to make my own meals and have plenty of left overs to freeze or have for lunch next day.   I've looked up some recipes online and not finding many my whole family will eat.   I'd be grateful if you all had some ideas.  Thanks

[bubblegum]

okay if this website doesn't show up here pm and I'll tell you.  go to www.cooks.com You can type in any ingredients like cream cheese in the search part and it'll come up with some recipes with that in there.  Or you can just plain search by category.  They often have several recipes of the same thing-the one you use depends on how much it costs to get the ingredients or how much work you want to put into it.  I say their recipes are pretty much low cost considering money tight around my house to. I use that site quite a bit.  Hope this helps.  You can switch out the ingredients for store brands or use dried parsley instead of fresh with any of the recipes on this site without affecting the taste and quality of the food.

[Shady Lady]

Was just answering another post when this one came to me. The "veggies" are put on when served. So your picky eater can just leave them off.
This is an old family recipe that has been change to met modern conveniences (like green beans in a can) I do most of my cooking without measuring or cookbooks so there are no exact measurements. I have 4 boys ages 23 - 15 plus my husband and I that this feeds.
Shi-dea (sorry about the spelling pronounced Shy-D-A)
Ingredients:
BASIC DISH
Chicken cut or torn into small bite size pieces -Use Leftover chicken or boil some and remove from the bone. I use about 4 or 5 large bone-in breasts
Rice- I use about 3 cups for my large family
Angel Hair pasta or Thin Spaghetti-1 16 oz box
Garbanzo Beans- 1 can
Chicken broth or bullion- I start with 6 cups
Salt to taste.

TO PUT ON TOP TO TASTE:
green beans- 1 can
canned whole peeled tomatoes - 1 large can
salt and pepper to taste


Turn on oven to 400
Break Pasta into small pieces - as small as possible. I usually get mine about an 1/4 of an inch long.
Place broken pasta on baking sheet and place in oven. Don't walk away. Watch closely. When it starts to get some color,  mix it up so that it browns more evenly. When lightly brown, Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large pot place chicken, 6 cups of broth, salt, garbanzo beans, rice, and the pasta. Stir. Now for the homecooking part - get a large serving spoon (biggest one you have) stand it straight up in the middle of the pot.  If you can't get it to stand up - add more rice until you can. If it sticks like your putting it in cement - add more broth.

Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on Medium-Low for 25 minutes or until rice is done.

Tomatoes & Green Beans: Put tomatoes in blender. Hit on high for just a second. Place in a saucepan with green beans. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat.

The tomatoes & Green Beans go onto of the Shi-dea when served.

[PunkInDrublic]

The cool thing about this Chicken and Rice Casserole is that you can leave out the things you don't like and it still tastes really good. I usually make it without waterchestnuts and the pimentos (my picky eater won't eat anything red). Got it from Paula Dean's show on food network. She made pineapple upside down biscuits with it - they were great too  :)

2 (14 1/2-ounce) can green beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 medium onion diced and sauteed
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (4-ounce) can pimentos
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
(6-ounce) box long-grain and wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly.


Pineapple Upside-Down Biscuits

1 (10-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
10 maraschino cherries
1 (12-ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 count) *use the small ones - big ones are too big

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease 10 cups of a muffin tin. Strain the can of crushed pineapple, save juice for later. Combine the pineapple, sugar, and butter, and mix well. Divide the pineapple mixture among the muffin cups. Place a cherry in the center of each muffin cup, making sure cherry hits bottom of cup. Place 1 biscuit in each cup on top of sugar and pineapple mixture. Spoon 1 teaspoon reserved pineapple juice over each biscuit. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool for 2 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate to release the biscuits. Serve warm.

[pogohatesme]

The cool thing about this Chicken and Rice Casserole is that you can leave out the things you don't like and it still tastes really good. I usually make it without waterchestnuts and the pimentos (my picky eater won't eat anything red). Got it from Paula Dean's show on food network. She made pineapple upside down biscuits with it - they were great too  :)

2 (14 1/2-ounce) can green beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 medium onion diced and sauteed
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (4-ounce) can pimentos
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
(6-ounce) box long-grain and wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly.


Pineapple Upside-Down Biscuits

1 (10-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
10 maraschino cherries
1 (12-ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 count) *use the small ones - big ones are too big

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease 10 cups of a muffin tin. Strain the can of crushed pineapple, save juice for later. Combine the pineapple, sugar, and butter, and mix well. Divide the pineapple mixture among the muffin cups. Place a cherry in the center of each muffin cup, making sure cherry hits bottom of cup. Place 1 biscuit in each cup on top of sugar and pineapple mixture. Spoon 1 teaspoon reserved pineapple juice over each biscuit. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool for 2 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate to release the biscuits. Serve warm.

A note on the Pinapple Upside-down Biscuits...from someone who makes em all the time since I saw that episode lolol.....put some foil down in your over because SOMETIMES they will cook over and it's hard to get that gunk cleaned outta your oven

[bubblegum]

oh how to "hide" veggies in your dishes.  When you make meatloaf, pizza or spaghetti sauce or whatever, get a really really good food processor and puree the veggies-about 1-3 cups depending on how much sauce or meatloaf your making and then put the veggies in the sauce.  Not to much to give away the taste though.  Make sure the picky eater doesn't see you do this though or they will get po'd.

[missminimouse]

Thanks for all the great ideas,   I hope to be using some of them this upcoming week.

[crankycook]

try this link, maybe it will help, www.mycrock.com  i haven't really looked at it yet. but it might help

[bubblegum]

thanks for suggesting that site, gave me some great ideas

[Kelly]

http://allrecipes.com