Dinner in fifteen minutes

It’s 6:00 pm and you, tired and hungry, are just walking in the door. Whether you have had a stressful day at the office, just finished a chaotic taxi shift to various activities with the kids, or simply forgot to defrost the meat for dinner, you want something easy and fast.

The kids are revolting and dramatically threatening to pass out if they don’t get food “right now”.

Easy dinners to the rescue

The exhausted chef hands the kids some yogurt to hold them off (and get them out of the kitchen) while coming to the rescue with a delicious meal created in under fifteen minutes.

Avoid breaking down and running to the nearest fast food by keeping the ingredients for quick meals on hand.

Here are a few of my family’s favorites.

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Meatball Subs

• 1 package of frozen meatballs (small bag…or get a large and use half)
• 1 jar of Marinara sauce
• 1 small package of mozzarella cheese
• 4-6 Hoagie rolls from the grocery store deli

1. Defrost the meatballs in the microwave for a few minutes if you didn’t thaw them in the refrigerator during the day.
2. Place the meatballs and marinara sauce in a skillet and warm them up for 10-15 minutes on low.
3. Spoon warm meatballs and sauce into hoagie rolls and top with mozzarella cheese.

Add a side salad and some fruit for a complete meal in minutes.

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Vegetable Tostadas

• 1 can of petite diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1 can of yellow corn, drained.
• 1 small can of sliced black olives, drained.
• Basil – 1 tsp dried or 1 Tbsp fresh
• Feta cheese (optional)
• Cream cheese or can of refried beans – your choice
• Package of tostadas

1. In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, corn, olives, basil and cheese.
2. Spread cream cheese or refried beans on the tostada.
3. Top with the vegetable mixture.

It is that simple. This is one of my favorite summer meals. You could play with the ingredients and create variations with other vegetables.

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Chicken Salad

• 1 can of chicken (or leftover chicken from last night’s meal)
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 Tbsp Sweet pickle relish
• celery, two stalks, chopped
• bread

1. Mix the chicken, a small amount of mayo, pickle relish, some juice from the pickle relish (to keep the mayo amount to a minimum), and celery. Stir well.
2. If too dry, add more pickle relish juice.
3. Toast some bread and make sandwiches.

Add a salad and a fruit and you have a light, fast dinner.

Looking for more recipes – help!

Can you ever have enough quick dinner recipes? No way!

I am looking for more last-minute dinner ideas. I am creating a “Quick Meal” recipe book for the website, so you can print the meals you choose and add them to your own Try-It Cookbook. Add a new category for “quick meals”.

Have any family favorite last-minute meals to share?

I need more recipes! Leave them in a comment or email them to me at info@simplehomeorganization.com. Don’t forget to let me know how you want to be credited for your contribution such as “Julie B.” or “Fabulous Mom in Texas”.