Tonight, I’m struggling to figure out what to do with some thawed chicken. My usual gotos require more prep than what I’ve done or do not appeal to me.
What’s your plan B when you have no idea what to make?
Is it pick up the phone and call for pizza or pull something from the fridge or cupboard?
The follow up is what is your thought process for deciding on dinner?
I might have figured out something by the time this gets posted.
Thawed chicken…pound thin, dredge in flour and spices, saute in oil, sprinkle some minced onion, pepper, and cheese on top and pop under the broiler until golden.
For chicken pieces, bone-in or boneless, my usual go-to when the pantry is running short or I can’t think of anything more original is to just season the meat with garlic salt and dried herbs (even a basic Italian seasoning blend works). Depending on what you have, maybe a couple of smashed garlic cloves, some sliced onion, a chopped pepper, and/or a can of diced tomatoes. Pop all that into a covered pan in a 350°F oven for 45-60 minutes, and voila! Dinner.
Unfortunately, I don’t usually have the option of ordering a pizza or going out, which is why some of the stuff I end up cooking is a little, um, creative. I pretty much always have dried pasta and rice, canned veggies, beans, and tomatoes on hand, and I’m lucky to have a generous spice cupboard, so a quick vegetarian chili, rice and veggie casserole, or pasta sauce is always an option. I freeze every bone and veggie scrap for stock, and then freeze the stock, so soup is another “oh, shit” option.
I’ve made snack bars from leftover oatmeal and canned fruit, made sauce for turkey meatballs from half a can of apricot halves and pickled jalapeños, made cornbread waffles using a can of creamed corn one of the kids opened thinking it was regular, omelets with leftover hotdogs and frozen peas… feeding 7 people on a single minimum wage income required a LOT of creativity and a willingness to use every scrap. I’ve even made good homemade applesauce from not-very-good apples we picked in the park!
I happened to go to the food pantry once on a day when they had gotten a huge load of fruit and veg from a local store whose walk-in cooler had failed. They told me to take as much as I wanted. I made sure they meant that, then loaded up! Made a huge batch of mixed berry (strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry, I think) jam after picking out the gross ones. I froze dozens of going-mushy bananas for smoothies and baking. Made a giant pot of veggie soup. Canned several dozen pounds of cherries, made tomato sauce, blanched peppers and froze them… I worked for 2 days straight, but man, we had a full pantry for months!
Um. I may have wandered off there a bit. Sorry! Basically, I’d be awesome on Chopped. I’m very rarely stumped for long, no matter how random the ingredients, and I can make anything taste good if I have my spice cabinet!
@HoneySmacks in my house we call any food like that “wingin’ it”, because I wing it using food on hand. Your combos sound ingenious and delicious. Once you “get” your family food styles, you can go wild. I especially liked your use of creamed corn, those sound very good.
The kids started calling the more random meals “and stuff”, as in “pasta and stuff” or “chicken and stuff”.
There was a while when I didn’t have a working stove or oven (or microwave), so I had a rice cooker, a crockpot, and a waffle maker for cooking. Talk about creative! I also learned how to make cornbread and some other stuff on a charcoal grill in a cast iron pan.
Tonight I made a butternut squash, garlic, thyme, and coconut milk thick, almost mashed puree ladled around scallops dredged in crushed walnuts, smoked paprika, and garlic powder, sauteed in olive oil. It was tasty. Sounds fussy and twee but it wasn’t too hard to make.
My go-to oh shit meal is either an omelet, cereal, avocado mashed up with some spicy seasonings, or cheese and crackers.
Tonight’s oh shit dinner, brought to you by “I have food to cook but I don’t want to be eating dinner at 8:30 when it’s prepped and done” was leftover chopped veggies mixed with a chopped avocado and some canned beans and sour cream. I thought about going out for something, but the weather has been crap all day and I didn’t want to have to put a bra on and change out of my nightgown to leave the house. Also I truly do need to lose weight so a 1000 calorie drive through meal isn’t smart, either.
Side note, my “ugh I’m over it” chicken meal is braising the chicken on the stove so I don’t have to fuck with the oven (I still am not a big oven person), frozen veggies either microwaved or boiled, and then microwaving a potato. I also keep a box of the pre-made frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s in the freezer for days like that. It’s stupid expensive compared to uncooked brown rice, but also the convenience factor is through the fucking roof.
My go-to, when I have thawed chicken & can’t be arsed to *do* anything with it, is to spray one of our 1/2-sheet pans with cooking spray, throw the chicken on it, shake spices over all of it (Typically Cavender’s Greek Seasoning, Onion powder, Garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever else sounds good), then bake it at 350° until it’s cooked (45 minutes or so).
Then I pull it out of the oven, cover it with aluminum foil to help keep it juicy, and let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes.
We eat whatever we feel like that night, then the rest gets cubed up after the meal & frozen for using in “______ bowls” (rice, pasta, whatever!), because THAT is quick & easy, too!
LOL I love this comment because between my initial comments and now I stepped away to saute some chicken breast so I can chop it tomorrow and add to a broccoli salad to eat that for several days.
And my typical go-to lately when I’m exhausted & hungry, is the Barilla ready-pasta, a can of jarred pasta sauce, and some frozen meatballs.
Or a bag of ready-rice of some kind, then a bag of Target’s Good & Gather Chana Masala–the Chana Masala is TASTY, and also suuuuuper easy!
If we have chicken or Paneer, I’ll warm that up in a pan (or sear the paneer!), then open the Chana masala, pour it over, & warm it up… the CM is also GREAT by itself with some Naan!
Lately, with all the stress of getting Dad’s apartment packed up & moved, 2.5-minute meals are helpful, and mean I *remember* to actually eat!
Eta, forgot the link!;
https://www.target.com/p/vegetarian-chana-masala-10oz-good-38-gather-8482/-/A-81945660
Oldest just picked up Grandbaby and I’m exhausted, so it’s a Lean Cuisine lasagna with some bread and butter for me, tonight! Husband and BabySmacks are at work and they’ll eat there, one kid is making himself a frozen pizza, the other had a sandwich, and O-H had a leftover cheeseburger and the graham crackers that Grandbaby didn’t finish.
Some nights, that’s just what’s gonna happen 🙂
Sheet pan fajitas require minimal prep and is easy to clean up. What did you end up making @manchucandidate?
Right? Inquiring minds want to know!
Pan fried the outside to brown and then cooked for 12 minutes in the instapot. Deboned a couple, mixed with white basmati rice, sesame oil and veg for a quick simple rice bowl.
Sounds good!
What’s going bad first in the fridge tends to drive what’s getting cooked next. I missed the farmers market today so the fridge is pretty bare, though.
I wanted to go this morning to ours but there were bad thunderstorms so I stayed in. I’ll hit up Aldi tomorrow for my fruit and veg for the week.
I get most of our fruit and veg at Aldi, too. The fancy grocery store in town is too expensive and Walmart’s produce is… sad, to say the least.
Also, I’ve definitely been known to have some cooked potatoes for dinner before.
If they’re a good enough meal for Samwise Gamgee (and by extension, other hobbitses) and Lizzie Bennett, good enough for me!