What is your "staple" dinner? The one you know is fast, easy, doesn't require much thought, uses ingredients you always have on hand, is healthy, and tasty enough. A workday dinner.

I ask because I seem to be in a chicken breast & broccoli rut. The Boys have chicken "bones" (drumsticks) instead of breasts, and a starch in addition to the veggies. And I do change out the veggies, depending on what looks good at the store. But, we're all getting a bit ... bored with chicken.

BTW, I do cook other things during the week, and usually something semi-fancy (or at least more time-consuming) on the weekends. But I still feel like I could use some ideas for everyday on-plan eating.

Kim

Spaghetti with turkey breast meatballs, sauteed peppers and onions

Turkey breast meatloaf with a veggie side and roasted sweet potatoes

White bean and chicken sausage soup

Those three have a really heavy place in the rotation.

Kim! My DH always complains he's about to start clucking.... That being said, we do eat a lot of chicken, either broiled or stir fried usually.

Other fairly staples:

spaghetti with lf sauce, including either 93-95% lean burger or a TVP for protein

chile - using kidney beans, lean burger or TVP as above, or occasionally lf ground turkey

I also buy lean, boneless pork on sale, and um, well as a former Alaskan you know, I always have lots and lots of salmon - frozen roasts or filets, and canned. I use it in casseroles, as patties, broiled, grilled, any way you'd use tuna.

spaghetti (barilla +) with chicken

salmon - we keep the individually flash frozen fillets in the freezer (costco) and they are quick to thaw.

soup...I never make just a little soup, when I make soup I make a BIG pot and freeze it in individual servings. Serve with leftover protein and/or salad.

Also you can change up the chicken to make it less boring. Take baggies and fill them with different spice rubs or other ingredients and put them in the freezer so you dont have to think. I almost always have a blackened chicken rub, a baggie with parmesan, italian seasoning and breadcrumbs for quick chicken parm. ( I keep some lowfat shredded mozarella in the freezer too) , a couple different kinds of marinades that are good on seafood or chicken

Oh, and if you want the family to REALLY think you are giving them a treat..get the contessa tail on medium raw shrimp --they are cleaned except for the tail. 15 minutes to thaw, 5 min to cook up some divine "scampi" - chopped red pepper, garlic, saute it all in some evoo and just enough butter for flavor, splash of white wine if you want. Add veggies and grain. Or shrimp primavera--same as above but toss with pasta, tomato sauce and lots of veggies. I buy the shrimp whenever they go on special and keep them in the freezer.

pasta oilio~ whole wheat pasta, minced garlic, olive oil, chili flake, parsley and a bit of parm

pasta puntanessca~ whole wheat pasta and a sauce of anchovies, tomato, olives and capers

kimchi soup~ kimchi, veggie broth, tofu, garlic, ginger, scallions, leftover veggies and lots of Korean chili powder

canned salmon patties~ bound with egg whites, ww bread crumbs, and whatever spices I'm in the mood for

red lentil dahl with brown rice~ red lentils cook up super quick

I also like to load up on veggie side dishes.

A quick and easy meal that always pleases my teens is a Sausage/Veggie/Rice thing that I started making a couple years ago. I made a few slight changes when I started losing weight, but nothing that anyone really noticed.

1 link (one pound) of lite Turkey Smoked Sausage (like Hillshire Farms, etc)
1 medium white onion, diced
3 cups uncooked brown minute rice
1 can unsweetened pineapple chunks in juice
4 cups frozen mixed veggies (we like Birdseye Fancy)
1 green pepper, cleaned and cut into chunks
1/4 cup light, low sodium soy sauce
2 chicken bullion cubes

Dice sausage and brown in pan with onions while defrosting veggies in microwave. Drain pinapple juice into large measuring cup, add soy sauce and enough water to total 3 cups liquid. Add liquid and bullion cubes to pot and bring to a boil. Stir in rice and cover (on low) for 5-7 minutes until rice is cooked through and liquid is gone. Stir in the heated veggies, cold pineapple and green pepper chunks. The heat from the rice will heat the pinapple and peppers up, still leaving the peppers crisp. Serve! The kiddos add extra soy sauce, I do not. Totals 3 WW points per cup, and it sticks with you pretty well!

Oh, how did I forget shrimp! I buy it whenever I find a good price, and as long as it's wild caught. I vacumn seal it and pull it out whenever we feel the need for a "fancier" dinner. My DH is not big on eating out, so this way I feel like I get a nicer dinner, even if I did have to cook it myself. He has other qualities though - he'll always make the salad!

Hm, I always have green beans and brown rice under the hand (I use an asian rice cooker, so I just have to throw it in with water, push the button and voilà, 30 minutes later my rice is ready to be eaten). And I have plenty of herbs, and a soy steak or chicken as well. Fortunately I'm not a complex person nor do I thrive on complex meals only.

I'm considerably less creative. Our go-to meal is pasta with canned or jarred marinara sauce, with perhaps some bagged salad on the side. Once in a while I might heat up some Costco frozen turkey meatballs to go with it. I never get tired of it. 350 calories for 1.5 c of cooked pasta plus 1/c marinara. I might put some parmesan on it. Everyone loves it, it is fast and ridiculously easy. And yes, there is very little protein (on a non-meatball night), and yes, I'm OK with that.

Anne

Anne, I'm like you. A bagged salad and pasta with a jar of canned sauce is my go-to dinner. Sometimes I throw a bag of frozen mixed veggies in the sauce. Sometimes some parmesan.

I will admit, that if I'm alone, pasta and jarred sauce are high on the list of things I can heat up fast and still be reasonably healthy. (And really tastier than another bowl of cereal or cheese and crackers. )

Thanks for all the ideas, ladies!

Last night's "in-a-hurry" meal was omelets (with more whites than yolks) and veggies. Hey, at least I managed to vary which part of the chicken we ate ...

Kim

Ah, omelets are a pretty good way of doing it as well, yes. I tend to eat them more for breakfast (same thing: more whites than yolks, vegetables, etc), but I find they fit well for any meal, in fact.

When planned dinner isn't possible, DW makes omelets on whole wheat toast - equal number of yolks and whites, TYVM.

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I like to cook up either chicken or ground turkey with peppers, onions, celery and carrots. Then dump in a can of diced tomatoes, chick peas, black beans and kidney beans. Spice it up with garlic, pepper, and cumin. Sometimes I also do it meatless for an even quicker meal! Throw a veggie on the side or a salad and dinner is done. Jelly