Easy recipe ideas?

[Kat]

Soooo... we are in search of some good, easy recipes we can make at our new apartment. It's tough because we have a ton of food allergies (milk for me, and almost everything else for my hubby)...

We just have no variety so I hoped you gals might have some ideas to share? We love Italian food, Mexican, Chinese, pretty much anything "classic", but we just eat the same ol' thing every night... pasta/spaghetti, chicken and potatoes and every now and then steak and baked potatoes, salads, sandwiches and ramen noodles.

I've got a board on pinterest too, but I've really only tried one recipe, most of them are too complicated and I am not much of a cook. There are no kids in the house to worry about cooking for which does make it a little easier. Just the two of us.

 

[mrs2a50]

Not sure how this will work with the allergies, but I boil up frozen cheese ravioli, mix it with homemade spaghetti sauce in individual casserole dishes, top with cheese and bake until bubbly. It's awesome! Also works with frozen cheese tortellini

 

[scrapsandsass]

This is pretty easy. Some chopping required. It is really yummy though. We always use sirloin and then make extra sauce.

Chinese pepper beef (a Coca-Cola recipe)
http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-pepper-steak-coca-cola-64195

Oh, and it says prep time 30 minutes/cook time 30 minutes. That's not really my experience with prep time. I don't know how it could take 30 minutes unless you stopped to watch tv or something.

 

[Angie4b1g]

Fiesta Enchiladas

8 flour tortillas (8 inch)
2 c tomato juice
1½ c shredded iceberg lettuce
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 c seeded, chopped tomato
1/2 lb ground chuck
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1 16oz can refried beans
2 c shredded cheddar cheese (more if you like it really cheesy)

Wrap tortillas tightly in foil. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Combine tomato juice, oil and seasoning mix. Stir well. Brown ground chuck in skillet; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup tomato juice mixture and beans. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until heated. Stir occasionally; remove from heat. Place about 1/4 cup meat mixture and 2½ tbs cheese down center of tortilla. Roll up tortillas and place seam down in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Pour remaining tomato mixture over casserole. Cover and bake for 35 minutes or until heated. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle lettuce, tomato and avocado over enchiladas; serve with sour cream.

 

[Karen]

I just made this one and it is SO yummy! It's way outside my normal meal, but it was really good and just requires some can opening and chopping of the veggies. Nice! I found this on Melissa Lewis' blog last week I think.

http://eclecticrecipes.com/black-bean-corn-avocado-salad#comments

 

[javamonster]

Try Recipe.com. they have tons of simple recipes, but good ones. You can search via ingredients, too.

 

[4noisyboys]

Karen..that looks fabulous! I'll have to try that one.

Here's one from a fellow digi friend Tali. It's my boys favorite recipe now...they even requested it for their Christmas Eve dinner last year.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

1/2 c. hot wing sauce (we use Frank's)
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 tbps. butter
1 rotisserie chicken (2-3 lbs)

1/2 c. blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 c. mayo
Juice of 1/2 a lemon (I just use bottled lemon juice, a few tbsp.)

4 French rolls, split (I use Kaiser's, usually the 'everything' kind), toasted

Bring hot sauce, broth and butter to a boil. Reduce heat to low and keep warm for serving.

Remove meat from chicken and set aside.

Combine blue cheese, mayo and lemon juice in a small bowl.

Spread each half of the rolls with some of the blue cheese mixture. Place lettuce on bottom half of roll (optional, I don't use it), top with some chicken and season with pepper. Cover each with a top portion of the roll and serve with warmed wing sauce for dipping.

One of my boys refuses to eat Blue Cheese dressing, so he makes his without. He still loves it!

 

[4noisyboys]

Another really super easy recipe

Green Chili Enchiladas

Chicken...cooked and shredded
corn tortillas
green enchilada sauce (not salsa verde)
grated cheese

I tear up the tortillas. Put some sauce in the bottom of a pan, layer the chicken, cheese and tortillas, more sauce, etc....end with cheese.

Bake covered at 350 for maybe an hour (I make a huge pan, so less for a smaller pan). Uncover and bake another 10 min or so.

 

[kelley]

I do something similar to Debra for Green chili enchiladas, but since I'm vegetarian, mine uses black beans and onions in place of the chicken. It is really super easy and super yummy.

I love to make a quick pizza - 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1tbsp sugar, and a .25 oz packet of yeast - mix that up quick then add 1 cup of warm water and 2 tbsp of oil. YOu can throw in any seasonings you want too. I pat it out onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan. You can let it rise, but you don't have to - its really fast. Then just preheat to 375 and top your pizza with whatever. My fam likes italian sausage (I just buy links and cut them up) with canadian bacon, tomato sauce, parmesan, and mozzarella. My fav is white sauce or butter sauce (just mix a few tbsp of melted butter with some garlic, herbs, parmesan, and rub that onto the crust), then spinach, artichoke hearts chopped up, and feta with mozzarella. The pizza cooks for 20 min.

Taco pie is really good too - spray a pie plate or 8x8 pan and put cresent rolls lining the bottom, then top that with any combo of cooked taco meat, beans, refried beans, salsa, any sort of nacho dip, then sprinkle the top with crushed up doritos or tortilla chips and bake it for about 20 minutes. Then sprinkle with some cheddar, pepperjack, or whatever cheese you want and pop it back in till melted. We serve with sour cream, lettuce, salsa, and sometimes guac.

 

[Kat]

Such great ideas! I spent a good deal of time at Recipes.com too!!