"Go To" Dinners

When I want dinner on the table ASAP I grab a salmon fillet and bunch of asparagus. Sprinkle Mrs. Dash on the salmom and shove it in the toaster oven for 15-20 minutes, cut off the bottom inch of asparagus and put it in a Tupperware dish and show it in the microwave.

Voila, dinner is served and it's fit for company too.

What's you "go to" dinner?

I recently learned that if you serve something with asparagus the dish becomes 'a la princesse'.

cut off the bottom inch of asparagus and put it in a Tupperware dish and show it in the microwave.

Try snapping the bottom off. Bend the stalk and it will naturally break where the tough part meets the tender part. If you don't want to cook the whole bunch, treat the rest like flowers. Cut off about a half inch off the bottom & stand them up in a glass, jar, or even vase of water. Put a piece of paper towel gently on the top, cover the whole thing with a baggie & refrigerate. It will keep as long as a week that way, although you might need to replace the water.

The paper towel keeps water from condensing on the tips and turning them slimy. (I only recently learned that trick.)

My go to dish is sautéed chicken breasts with a pan sauce, served with a green salad, whatever vegetable I have on hand (fresh or frozen), and rice.

Another, even faster, is frozen ravioli with a quickly made tomato sauce. Or, if I've been ambitious of late, with homemade sauce pulled out to f the freezer. Green salad & sourdough French bread.

Careful with that Tupperware

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Axcucq742c

I think I have to turn in my Get Stuffed club card. My go to dinners involve things like Kraft Mac & Cheese or packaged tortallini with packaged marinara. Or, if I have a bit more time but no energy I make yellow rice mixed with ground beef and served with Worstechire sauce for my family and a sandwich or leftovers for myself, since I can't stand that stuff.

At least once a week I slow cook a fairly big joint of meat.
Today - while cooking the Sunday lunch, I did a large scrag end of beef which I first shallow roasted in a deep pot, with veg (peppers, spring onion, chives, carrots and celery). It stays on the lowest of low heats in a few spoons of stock and water for 2-3 hours, then is left in the pot overnight - covered.
Each day - there's a chunk to carve off (it pretty much disintegrates, it's so tender) for either a nice meat salad sandwich, quick bowl of broth, or maybe few small cubes with a bitta stir fry.... Oh spoilt for choice. Yum.

I've never had or heard of meat salad batty. Is it like chicken salad?

Yeah, pretty much.
Meat, in this case - beef, finely chopped raw cabbage or Brussels sprout marinaded in a little oil and pepper (I hate lettuce), thinly sliced tomato (I say tom'ar'to - do you say tom'ay'to ?) and cucumber, all very neatly placed between two slices of lightly buttered wheatgerm brown bread.
That's a meat salad sarny.

Sounds interesting bb. I would go with the cabbage. And yes, I say to'may'to.

It's deeeelish.
Glad you'd go with the cabage as well.
The only time I eat a doner kebab, is if they serve it with marinaded cabbage. If there's only lettuce on offer, then I won't buy it.

Actually, I will eat lettuce on occasion but the meat sounds like it would go much better with cabbage. I like Ceasar salads (with romaine lettuce of course) but a lot of times I prefer other salads with fresh spinach. Has more flavor and is better for you.

Every time I post on one of these kind of threads I forget something. Cheese quesidilla. Cooking as we speak.

Omelette, salad. Potatoes if I have some left over, good bread otherwise.

Or pasta. Maybe with tomato sauce if there is some in the freezer, as there usually is. Or puttanesca, or carbonara. Salad.

Edited by: VinnyD

Steak dinner is very easy/quick to prepare and makes for happy family. Thaw steak in microwave, then cook 7 minutes per side under gas-oven's broiler. While steak is thawing, wash and slice 8 oz of mushrooms. And wash and prep 2 baking potatoes or sweet potatoes. While steak is broiling, cook mushrooms in skillet with butter and garlic. Use microwave to make "baked" potatoes. Also steam frozen green beans in microwave & top with slivered almonds and sometimes a bit of finely grated orange or lemon rind.

My other go-to meals could generally be called "chicken something". I always have a package of 3 - 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts in the freezer. I open the Dinner a Day cookbook, look through the current week's recipe for a chicken meal (or week before/after, if needed), and make that with one of the suggested sides. Last week the meal was chicken with sauteed onions and garlic in a mustard-broth-wine combo. Finished by stirring in fat-free sour cream (recipe called for plain yogurt but I was out of that) to create a sauce. Suggested with rice, but instead I served with cubed potatoes cooked in broth and also a side of sauteed mushrooms.

I live alone, so when I cook I almost always have leftovers. I freeze them, then take them out when I have a taste for a particular dish. Right now I have lamb chops in the refrigerator, and in the freezer I have one or more servings of the following: spaghetti with meatballs; salmon salad with new potatoes; Polish sausage and sauerkraut; chicken drumsticks. As side dishes, lentil salad with onion and bell pepper; pickled beets with onion; carrots; broccoli.

Oh, as I was mentally going through the contents there, I remembered that I do, in fact, have a "go to" meal in the freezer: White Castle cheeseburgers. When I don't feel like defrosting one of the other meals mentioned (any of which take six to eight minutes to defrost), I can put a couple of sliders in the microwave and have dinner in one minute flat.

Quesadilla as mentioned or noodles w/fried eggs.

It's only just gone 8am here (UK) and already - after reading all your tasty posts, I'm looking fwd to peeling a bitta scrag off - and munching with coleslaw and salad.
Incidentally, who likes coleslaw? I do, but it 'Has' to be made with salad cream and 'Not' mayo. Hate the stuff.

Rice paper, rice noodles, a bit of meat and some herbs from the garden. Quick and easy vietnamese rice paper rolls. Even easier when you have people around and serve it do it yourself like burritos or tacos.

Tummy's rumbling

:-)

Slice garlic, julienne onions, slice tomatos, add salt, crushed spices (your choice) I rotate my spice mix from caribbean, indian, thai, puerto rican adobe etc. add olive oil and zap in micro wave for 3-4 minutes.

On a buttered toast, or pita bread, or medium taco spread the mix with sprinkling of either Olive oil or mustard oil (if you want pungent nd sharp flavor) - The sandwich is ready.

And then what do you have for dinner, dulceamor?

VinnyD - That's dinner :) My lunches are elaborate, and dinners frugal. Do not like sleeping with a very heavy meal.

Do not like sleeping with a very heavy meal

Me neither. I've tried it before - and it makes the sheets ever so messy.

I would probably use different language, calling that supper and maybe calling the big noon meal dinner.

I like the Vietnamese egg rolls but don't think of them as a go to meal, although they are pretty quick and easy. We have them as a special treat.

I like coleslaw bb, we eat it regularly. Although (once again) I'm not as picky as you are about it. I'm fine with mayo.

We do a combination of #16(MB) and #18(harimau) and sometimes substitute with sardines or shredded/left over roast chicken meat instead of tuna and wrap the ingridents/herbs/spices in tortilla or chapati.