I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could just put a frozen pizza in the oven! Let's face it, there are just days when that would be NICE! Eating "Paleo" style usually means so much prep work and planning ahead, it can be difficult to know what to do when those kinds of days happen. So I've come up with 5 basic meal ideas that are almost as easy as frozen pizza, but much healthier! Our pace of life lately has been a little hectic, so I've been basing my weekly menu off of these ideas a lot. I'm going to have to come up with more easy recipes soon so my family doesn't get sick of these! :)
1. Baked chicken. I usually freeze my meats and chicken, so the biggest pre-planning I have to do is to remember to take the chicken out of the freezer the night before. I usually use chicken thighs or legs. Once thawed, place them on an ungreased baking dish, sprinkle all over with your favorite seasonings. (You can vary between a seasoned salt, or lemon pepper, or really any spice combination that sounds good to you.) Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve with a salad or bake some sweet potatoes alongside the chicken.
2. Baked fish. Same idea as the chicken. Once thawed, sprinkle generously with spices. Do grease the baking dish and if you love lemon like I do, squeeze a couple lemons worth of juice over it before and after baking. With fish though, whether it's tilapia or flounder or even salmon, the baking time will be much less, about 10 minutes depending on the amount and thickness. Most store-bought packages include baking directions, so follow those. Serve with steamed veggies (which also just take a few minutes).
3. Burger spread. Burgers without buns or cheese sound boring, until you spread your table full of delicious topping options! Try any of these: tomatoes, onions, pickles, bacon, avocado, cucumber, hummus, olives, peppers, goat cheese and/or large leaf lettuce to wrap them in. I'm sure you can come up with more great toppings too!
4. Slow-cooker meal. Nothing like throwing something in that crock-pot that will smell delicious all day and be ready to eat for dinner! My mom taught me to put a whole chicken in there and pour about 1/4 cup of cooking wine over it. In just a few hours, it will be the most tender chicken you've ever had. Great to use for shredded chicken tacos (with lettuce for wraps again) or to add to a salad. There are also really easy recipes that won't require the somewhat tedious job of taking the chicken off the bones. A couple favorites of ours are Crockpot Chicken Tomatillo and Crockpot BBQ Chicken.
5. Breakfast for Dinner. In our house, I'm kind of an "Awesome Wife" if I make breakfast for dinner. :) It's my husband's favorite meal of the day, so it's a winner any time of the day. And the kids just think it's fun...pancakes for dinner? Maybe we're just weird, but it's become one of my favorite last minute quick dinner ideas ever since I've found so many great recipes for pancakes, dutch babies, breakfast cookies, etc (see other posts on this blog).
So that's a normal week of dinners at our house these days. I'll usually throw in a new recipe about once a week and I always try to make enough so that there's leftovers for my husband to take to work and for me and the kids to have for lunch the next day...therefore lunch is usually taken care of at the same time!
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