Oh, boy, can I relate to you as far as having a teenage son who inhales EVERYTHING! Bless his heart, he even loves all of my health food that I cook, so I can't even look forward to left overs anymore to save me time for the next day or two.
Perfect example- I make myself protein pancakes and spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese. Items that I USED to be able to make extra of so I had them for the rest of the week to reheat and eat on the busy days. I can no longer do that, as my hollowed legged son finishes off the rest of it before I can put it in the fridge.
I look at it this way, though- at least he's eating healthy food and is fit and trim.
With a very busy and hectic baseball/softball season coming up, I find myself scrambling to make quick dinners myself. These are some of my fast food ideas that may help you:
1. Tortilla wraps- ready made Caesar salad mix, Purdue pre-cooked white chicken pieces, croutons. Mix salad and the rest of the ingredients, put in tortilla, wrap up, and serve with fruit and Baked Lays chips.
2. Tacos- kids and hubby love the hard shells, but I prefer the soft shells. Kids love them, and they're decent as a diet food, too! Serve with refried beans on the side. If you have a free day on the weekends, I brown up a few pounds of the hamburger, wash, cut, peel up veggies for snacks except for tomatoes or anything that will get mushy, wash all of my fruits and put them in a bowl for snacks. Having the hamburger cooked and the lettuce chopped up saves time on a busy night. You can freeze the cooked hamburger, too.
Getting back to my soft shells- I love to take one soft shell, add two tablespoons of sour cream, a bit of salsa and spread on the bottom. I load it up with tomatoes, lettuce, beans, and some olives, then add the hamburger on top. Very filling and yummy!
3. Sausages and biscuits with a side of fruit salad. A HUGE favorite dinner in our house, and very filling and satisfying. I take a Jimmy Dean sausage, fry it up (I chop it into bits), drain and rinse in hot water to get excess fat off, drain again, put it in the fridge or freezer for one night this week. I make a sauce with four cups of skim milk, four tablespoons of flour, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground red cayenne pepper, 1 tsp. idosized salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper, 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance margaine, and serve it over biscuits.
We have a fruit salad on the side- you can also prepare the base for it ahead of time, and it will last four days: Mix one part apple juice to one part white grape juice (I use the low sugar/calorie versions). Add in red and green apples, cut up into bite size pieces (these will last up to four or five days in the juice!), red and green grapes, and oranges. When meal time comes, I add in banana slices and other fruits like strawberries and blueberries. The kids love this meal!
4. Sloppy Joes. Again, pre-cooked hamburger is your friend.
Serve on hamburger buns, with a couple of raw veggies and Baked Lays on the side.
5. Boboli pizzas- another family favorite. My kids even love the wheat crust. So much you can add to this to change up the taste and keep it to low cal. I add lots of mushrooms and red peppers to mine.
6. The night before this next meal, I do the following: cut up carrots into rounds, cut up sweet potatoes and red potatoes into bite sized pieces, and defrost a bag of frozen green beans. On the back of a Lipton Onion Soup mix, there is a recipe for roasted potatoes- I used that recipe with the veggies above cut up and defrosted, and bake them according to the package directions while watching my Bruins hockey games.
Next morning, I take a trimmed pot rost, rub in a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix and a tablespoon or two of olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil completely, throw it in the crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours- the beef is fork tender and delicious! You can make a gravy on the stove with the juices from the crockpot by adding some cold water or milk with flour, if desired. Reheat the roasted veggies in the microwave, viola, a yummy and healthy dinner when you get home.
7. Chicken and Cheese Fajitas. I marinade 2 pounds of cut up boneless chicken breasts in a marinade of : 2 cups of Italian dressing (I use fat free), 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 4 tsps of Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 cup of salsa. Marinade overnight in fridge. Next evening, cook chicken on medium for about ten minutes, then low for about 20 minutes. While chicken is cooking, prepare tortillas by cutting aluminum foil long enough to cover up each filled tortilla. Add sour cream and salsa to tortilla if desired, and reduced fat cheddar cheese. Once chicken is completely cooked, drain completely, add to tortillas already with fillings on them, wrap up tortillas, then wrap in foil, covering tortilla completely. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, turning over tortillas once half way through. Very filling, and another meal that gets some cut up fruit or veggies on the side.
8. Some nights, we have
Chicken Salad ********* or some other Chicken Salad, warmed wheat rolls, and veggie salad on the side. Change it up and have tuna salad or seafood salad.
9. Some nights we have an antipasto salad with warmed wheat rolls on the side. You can have all the ingredients made up ahead of time, even the meat rolls (turkey breast, low fat cheese, fat free bologna, low salt/calorie ham rolled up and cut into rounds). My kids love this very much and we have it at least once a week during the spring time.
10. Do you have a grill? Turkey burgers and potato salad are a nice option for a fast meal, even in the winter months. Low calorie hot dogs with a side salad and corn on the cob. Pork chops on the grill with Yellow rice and a couple of veggies. Steak tips and Tortellini salad with spinach and artichokes.
11. A family favorite veggie side- I use one can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz), 2 small zuchinni a 1 summer squash sliced a about a half inch thick, a bag of frozen green beans already defrosted, and a couple of carrots sliced into rounds. I add 1/8 - 1/4 tsp ground red cayenne pepper, tsp of iodized salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. I cook it on the stove for about 40 minutes to an hour on low/medium heat, until carrots and both squashes are cooked.
You can eat as is with some grilled meat on the side like chicken or pork, or add to pasta and have a side salad. We add freshly grated parmesan cheese on top of it, it is delicious! I double or triple this recipe myself, so I have some for the rest of the week as a side for lunch or other dinners.
12. Hungarian Goulash in the crockpot. I serve it with bow tie pasta and a side salad.
13. Chicken Cacciatore in a crockpot. Another fast and easy meal! Just cook some ziti when you get home, and viola, another yummy dinner without much fuss.
14. BBQ'd beef, pork or chicken in a crockpot. Serve on hamburger rolls, with a side of baked beans and corn on the cob.
These are just some suggestions that I use to help with hectic nights. Hope a couple of them might help you.