Versatile Foods

As my Bear get's older it gets harder and harder to actually make dinner. But I'm a big fan of everyone eating together. Because funds have been low lately and time is scarce we have been cooking with "versatile" foods - there is one food used in all recipes and only 4 other ingrdients. Below are a few recipes that I hope you enjoy too!

Frozen Chicken Patties:

Meal 1: Chicken Parm. - Put one patty for each person in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes while that cooks put a pot of water to boil for your choice of pasta. Flip the patties after 10 minutes and cook for 5 more minutes. By now your pasta should be done so strain and add red sauce to the put and remove from heat. Take out your patties and top with shredded mozarella, put back in oven for 5 more minutes. Put pasta in bowls and top with a cheezy patty.

Meal 2: Chrispy Ranch Sandwiches with home cooked crispy taters. - turn oven to broil. Slice up potatoes thin and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, lay out evenly on a pan lined with tinfoil, put in the oven on the top rack until they start to brown, flip em and pull them out when they look crispy. If you want to skip this step buy frozen french fries or potato chips. turn oven down to 450 and cook patties 15 minutes then flip and cook for 10 minutes. Put on a bun with lettuce, ranch and whatever else you want - tomato, bacon, etc.

Meal 3: Crispy Chicken Salad. - cook chicken like above recipe. Slice up romaine, cherry tomatoes, peppers and then cut chicken into strips and top with your favorite dressing!

Other ideas - buffalo chicken sandwiches (add hot sauce to the ranch in recipe 2)

BlackBeans (vegetarian):

Meal 1: Black Bean Burrito. Make whole wheat rice (either in microwave or stove top) Drain black beans and a can of corn, rinse and add to rice. Add a can of diced tomatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. I usually add in some kind of seasoning like taco seasoning or soul seasoning but salt and pepper works too. This can be eaten as is or in a tortilla. Extra toppers: hot peppers, hot sauce, chives, sour cream, etc

Black Bean Nachos:

Meal 2: Turn oven to 450. Lay out tortilla chipscorn chips on a pan lined with tinfoil. Drain beans and rinse, evenly distribute over chips, sprinkle mild salsa and top with cheese and pop in the oven until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream and avocado slices.

Meal 3: Black bean breakfast for dinner! Drain and rinse black beans, cut up chives and add to beans. Add diced tomatoes to mix. Beat eggs in a bowl and heat skillet with butter. Add egg to skillet, when the bottom is cooked flip and add mixture and cheddar cheese. Fold omlette in half until cooked through.

I hope everyone else enjoys these simple recipes! Bear loves beans and chicken so I usually just cut all this up small and give to him too.

Love,

PlusPeace