My Go-To Quick Meals for Dinner

I love to cook, but not when there are sad kids at my feet. That’s most days at dinner time! So, here are our favorite meals as a family that are healthy, easy to make, and QUICK!

First, some background.

Below are the quick meals for dinner we always keep the ingredients on-hand. We usually get one cooked Coscto rotisserie chicken and shred it, freezing leftovers. I always dice a lot of onion when a recipe calls for it (GET THIS CHOPPER! It saves so much time) and freeze the rest to use for whatever else comes up.

Fresh veggies and lettuce (and fruit) are always on hand to use as sides. I have chicken broth bouillon replacement in the fridge (I get it from coscto, and it looks like a gel in a jar). Plus lots of canned goods, chicken sausage, frozen chicken and ground beef, tortillas, rice and pasta from Costco (meaning, a in bulk–so we freeze things so they don’t go bad!), etc.

Whenever I go to Costco, I get some locally made Ciabatta bread for my kids to munch on around the store, then I use that to turn into homemade croutons, sandwich melts, and just sliced bread on the sides of meals for a day or two.

I LOVE my Instant Pot and make big batches of rice, chicken, etc.

We are not opposed to quesadillas, eggs and toast with green smoothies, and frozen pizza–so those are definitely had here as well.

We typically have some sort of Mexican once a week, a butter pasta another day, roasted chicken with rice, roasted sweet potatoes, huge salads with bread, etc. that don’t involve “recipes.” But my other go-to meals and their recipes are below! Lots include links of recipes I used to share on my blog. Others, I write a bare-bones description on how to make them.

Now for the recipes:

Healthified Hawaiian Haystacks (NO CANNED GOODS)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Homemade Egg McMuffins: Separate the muffins (we buy tons from Costco and freeze them). On hot griddle, toast each side. Heat up ham briefly and place on muffins. Cook eggs, flip and top with cheese and salt and pepper. Layer onto muffins and eat with veggies and fruit on the side.

Veggie Grain Bowl

Tomato Soup: One 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, 2 cups of diced carrots, 1/2 onion, diced, 2 cups of chicken broth (using the bullion replacement from Costco), 1/2 cup of milk or cream, a pink of sugar, salt and pepper. In pot with heated oil, cook onion and carrots until translucent. Add all other increddients but the dairy. Bring to a simmer for 15-25 minutes (depending on your time–feel free to add more broth as needed). Purree soup (I do it in batches with a blender), pour back into pot and add dairy and season as desired (include dried basil). Serve with homemade croutons.

Strawberry Salad with Warm Homemade Croutons

Korean Beef Bowls (we like these with roasted sweet potatoes, too!)

Melty Chicken Fold-Overs (with Costco rotisserie chicken)

Instant Pot Honey-Lime Mexican Chicken (to use in bowls, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas): in Instant Pot with rack insertion, place 2-4 frozen chicken breasts. Drizzle over: half jar of tomatillo salsa (I get my from trader joes), honey (1-2 TB), sprinkle with Mexican spices (cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, etc.), salt and pepper, plus one cup of water. Cook on manual for 12 minutes. Do quick release after five minutes. Shred in mixer with 1/2-1 cup of liquid chicken cooked in. Add juice from one lime and salt and pepper.

Mexican Quinoa (or Rice) Bowls

Butter Pasta: Cook pasta of your choosing, dump in frozen peas and greens the last minute. Drain. While draining, melt a 1/2 cube of butter in pan (more or less depending on how much pasta you cooked). Add back in pasta and veggies, stir in salt and pepper and shredded chicken (mine comes from the freezer usually!). Serve with salad and sprinkle cheese on top.