What Ingredients Make The Best Easy Dinner Recipes For The Family?

Other than on Thanksgiving Day, there is not one household I have found where someone wants to spend all day cooking in the kitchen. In fact, most families I know would want to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen possible on a day to day basis. This means there is a desire to focus on quick and easy dinner recipes.

Well every dinner is made up of the ingredients that go into it. When it comes to easy dinner recipes for the family, we must stick with fast cooking, easy ingredients. We use a rule of thumb in choosing ingredients. When cooking with kids, is it something they can cook by following directions and with minimum supervision. We want to be able to assign them a cooking task and have it be simple enough for them to see it through to completion. In order to achieve that, we have to follow the K.I.S.S. principle right from choosing our ingredients.

So what do we use to prepare these easy dinner recipes for the family?

1) Chopped meat. Ground beef is so flexible it can be used in a multitude of recipes to offer a solid meat product that can be used in burgers to Italian food to Mexican food to casseroles. If you are fat content conscious, you can substitute ground turkey for the ground beef.

2) Chicken tenders. This is the easiest for of chicken to use. Generally speaking, they can be used in almost any meal that calls for chicken. The difference is that the smaller pieces cook more quickly

3) Steak. Chuck steak is affordable and can be broiled in just a few minutes of each side. If you slice it before you cook it, it will fry up quickly as well.

4) Spaghetti. How can you go wrong with something that boils up in under 10 minutes. Kids love it, too!

5) Tuna fish. One of the quick standby meals in our house tuna noodle casserole. We have this perfected with a 20 minute start to serve process.

6) Canned ham. This is easy to throw into the oven as is, or you can slice it into ham steaks, which will cook up really fast. You can also dice it for use in casseroles.

7) Par-boiled rice. This cooks faster than regular rice and is less sticky. You can mix in almost anything to make it a meal.

8) Frozen vegetables. Using frozen veggie come out fresher tasting when cook, hold more nutrition than is in canned veggies, and cook into one pan meals easier

We work pretty hard to come up with recipes that can be cooked in one dish if possible. Whether it's a crock pot, a frying pan or a baking dish, it still one dish and makes clean up easy. The time and energy saved by think through these easy dinner recipes for the family is well worth the process.

Chris & Michelle Grimbilas both have backgrounds in teaching and education. Cooking is one of the things they both enjoy. They have five children who have shared the kitchen with them over the years. You can get more great easy cooking ideas at their Creative Cookery website. You'll find more cooking ideas,real resources that will help you in the kitchen, and best of all FREE GIFTS! Get software that shows you how to cook almost anything! Get free dessert recipes! Claim your gifts today at the Creative Cookery!

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10 Tips For Dressing Up Spaghetti For Dinner

Everyone loves spaghetti for dinner. It's one of those wonderful comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup and beef stew. However, sometimes we may get a bit bored with just plain spaghetti. Here are some tips to take ordinary spaghetti to something new and different.

1. Add vegetables. Not only do they add texture, they also add flavor. Vegetables can be added raw and cooked in the sauce or saute ahead of time. This is also a great way to use leftover veggies. Some popular spaghetti additions can include: mushrooms, artichokes, onions, green peppers, zucchini and eggplant.

2. Use different types of pasta There are many different types of pasta that make it fun to eat, and this is especially fun for children. A few interesting pasta shapes to try are gemelli, farfalle and rotini.

3. Add meat. Meatballs are not the only go with in spaghetti. Other meats will also add flavor. Try cooked chicken, sausage, bacon or pepperoni in the sauce.

4. Spice it up. A sprinkle of hot pepper flakes is all it takes to add some fire to spaghetti. Add more or less according to taste.

5. Serve it differently. Changing the way food is served can make it more appealing and appetizing. Plate the spaghetti on a special platter or casserole dish. Top with sauce and it is ready for the table.

6. Add cheese. Freshly grated cheese can make the dish. Parmesan and romano are the most popular, but pecorino and asiago are delicious also.

7. Try a new sauce Experiment with different recipes until you find a few favorites. Alfredo and Vodka sauces are easy and delicious.

8. Make it fancy with shellfish. Shrimp, scallops, clams or crab can be added to the sauce toward the end of cooking time with little or no preparation.

9. Add texture. Turn a plain tomato sauce into a creamy, rich sauce with the addition of a little cream or half and half. Start with 1/2 a cup and adjust to taste.

10. Pour in some wine. Adding 1/2 cup of red wine to the sauce will add a rich flavor to either homemade or jarred sauce. Simmer at least 10 minutes to cook out the alcohol and never use cooking wine. A good quality wine is preferred as the flavor will transfer to the dish.

Have fun and experiment dressing up YOUR spaghetti!

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