29 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
7 cloves of chopped garlic (I didn’t have any fresh garlic so I used garlic powder. Sorry, Catherine!)
2 tablespoons dried basil (hey, I like basil, ok?)
½ cup of chicken broth (I used water)
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
Dash of ground black pepper
18 oz. of frozen spinach
2 tablespoons dairy cream
1 cup mozzarella cheeese
1 lb. of your favorite macaroni
8 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled
Olive oil – for drizzling

I also added some leftover, frozen (pre-cooked) ground beef that I needed to use up. The beef adds a wonderful savor to the dish, especially with the nutmeg.

I boiled my penne rigate.

I sauteed my beef with the first 7 ingredients in the list for about 20 minutes. I then added the frozen spinach on top and allowed it to thaw. I then added the cream.

I placed the pasta in a large casserole dish and added my mozzarella cheese and some leftover broccoli.

I then poured the tomato sauce into the dish and stirred it all up. I sprinkled the feta cheese and a little extra olive oil on top.

I cooked the dish for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

OOOOO LA LA!!! This would win the heart of anyone, even those guys hawking bad credit small business loans. Sooooo gooooood.

I served this meal with some broiled Italian bread. We get leftover loaves from Panera Bakery. I slice these in half and spread either olive oil or butter on them, sprinkle garlic powder on them, and grill them under the broiler for about 3 minutes. They are magnificent with the meal, believe me.

*sigh* It’s good to eat Italian food on a snowy winter eve. Manja manja!

1. Pasta with frozen meatballs.

Sometimes I skip the meatballs and throw leftover cubed chicken (when we have it) and pesto sauce. Pesto sauce is SOOO good and a little jar goes a long way.

2. Chicken with shrimp and pasta.

I wrote about this recipe here; I call it Easy Shrimp & Chicken Garlic Pasta. It does require some preparation, but not much!

3. Greek Salad with flat bread.

We love this one. It requires almost no cooking (if you serve shrimp, you have to cook it or thaw the pre-cooked stuff). It does require a lot of table setting (a zillion jars of stuff). I wrote a post about some of our favorite salad ingredients here.

4. Tuna Casserole Sans Peas

I hate peas! So my tuna casserole has nary a one. I love tuna casserole because it can be on the table in about 90 minutes. The hardest thing about it pre-cooking the pasta and trying to shake the gravity-sealed cream of celery soup out of the cans. Here’s our favorite recipe for Easy Non-Peas-y Tuna Casserole.

5. Crockpot Manhattan Clam Chowder

This is a great one if you have 15 minutes to spare in the morning. Pre-cook the sausage or crumble the breakfast bacon leftovers into the crockpot, and throw in a bunch of ingredients. Allow it to simmer all day. By dinnertime, the house will smell delicious. Clean up is SO easy, too. My personal favorite is my own recipe, Manhattan Clam and Fish Chowder.

6. Tortellini with Edamame and Kielbasa

I love this, but the kids have grown out of it. I don’t know WHAT it is about edamame, it makes me feel like superwoman after eating it. It’s just so good. The kielbasa is a little salty and too flabby for me, though. I think the edamame with the tortellini or just the edamame is good enough. I have the recipe here: Tortellini with Edamame and Kielbasa.

7. Leftover Turkey Pasta Primavera

This is an AMAZING dish, perfect for after the holidays when your fridge is stuffed with leftover turkey. I love it because it is so easy and so delicious. Check out my recipe here.

These are the few recipes in my repertoire that I use for those moments of OHMYGOSHIFORGOTTOSTARTDINNER. Which, incidentally, are occurring a LITTLE too often for my tastes. But I’ve been clobbered with writing assignments with such technical topics like Technical Recruiter Consultant Jobs and electric wiring!

Hey, if you have any Quicky Meals that you want to share, please do! I think the family is starting to tire of my repertoire, lol.

SO it took a team of horses to drag me into a tuna casserole recipe (this was a few years ago). I skipped the peas and the pasty sauce. Instead, I used cream of celery soup and cheese and lots of tuna… and YUMMMMM it was good.

Since that first brave casserole exploit 20 years ago, I’ve tried to improve the recipe somewhat with quirky additions here and there. I’ve added broccoli, used mozzarella or monterey jack cheese, dill, s video cables, Creole seasoning (OK, just kidding on the cables– who noticed that?)….

But today, my daughter made the most luscious tuna casserole I’ve ever had. HOW did she do it?? She’s so young!

Well, here’s her recipe. This was goooood stuff. It was so good that I never got the chance to snap a photo. And it was such a pretty casserole, too.

Yummy Don’t-Worry-There-Are-No-Peas Tuna Casserole
serves 6-8

4 cans of tuna, with juice
1 box medium shells pasta, cooked and drained
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 cup fresh kale, shredded into small pieces
2 Cream of Celery canned soup
1 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning
minced white onions (optional)

Throw all the ingredients into a dish and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

It is SO GOOD. I think the kale is what does it for me. YUM.

Now if I can just get the daughter to improve my pot roast recipe….

Curried Turkey Dinner
Serves 4-6

2-3 pounds of fresh broccoli florets, washed and cut into chunks and cooked until tender (you can use frozen broccoli if you want)
3 cups cooked, diced turkey
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup low-calorie mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (to your taste)
1 1/2 cup seasoned croutons

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, combine and mix the mayo, soup, lemon juice, and curry powder. Let sit for a moment.

Place your cooked broccoli into a medium-sized casserole dish. Add the turkey on top.

Pour your mayo/soup mix on top of the broccoli/turkey, making sure that you cover the broccoli (so it doesn’t get crispy or burn in the oven). Sprinkle the croutons over the top of everything.

Place the casserole in the oven, and bake for about 25 minutes. Serve immediately, with Basmati rice and a fresh-green salad with carrots. Yum!

Super Easy Chicken Florentine
serves 6-8

Chicken breasts, boned, skinned, and cubed
2 cans Alfredo sauce
1 28oz. can spinach -or- three handfuls of raw baby leaf spinach
Parmesan cheese
Paprika

optional: shredded mozzarella cheese

The chicken can either be cubed into chunks or left whole in the casserole dish. I vary from week to week, depending on if I am feeling lazy or not. One of the many great things about having teenagers is that you can sit down and just EAT DINNER. You don’t have to go around, plate to plate, cutting everyone’s meat. But sometimes I pre-cube the chicken, sometimes I throw the whole breasts in the dish and let the family hack it out. Whatever floats yer boat.

One tip: cut the chicken while it’s slightly frozen. Completely thawed chicken is jiggly and squirmy. I pull my chicken out of the freezer and thaw it on the countertop for about two hours before slicing. I know “they” say you aren’t supposed to thaw meat on the counter!! I live dangerously, I guess.

So, put your chicken in the dish. Open the can of spinach and drain it thoroughly. I do the canned spinach in the winter, and the raw spinach in the summer (from my garden). If the raw spinach has large leaves, shred them up by hand into smaller pieces. Lay them on top of the chicken.

Open up the Alfredo sauce jars and pour both on top of the spinach.

This is where it gets fun: mix with your hands!

Yum! OK, if you are squeamish, go ahead and use a spoon. Fraidy cat. I grew up in an Italian home, where we loved to dig into the mixture. My kids think I’m weird, but…. it’s kind of fun.

After you’ve mixed it, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese to the top. Not too much! Just enough to give the sauce a little kick. At this point you can add a little mozzarella cheese if you wish. Don’t add too much, because the dish will become too cheesy. Just a small handful of shredded cheese will do. I prefer to make the dish without the cheese, but some of the kids like the cheesy taste. Sprinkle paprika for color.

Place the dish into your oven, 350 degrees for an hour. If you are using whole chicken breasts, make the time about an hour and a half. You’ll know it’s all ready when the sauce is bubbling and the top of the mix is golden brown. I almost always check one of the breasts, to make sure it’s thoroughly done inside.

Like I said, you can serve this with rice, egg noodles, pasta. It’s delicious! You can serve this with a side dish of steamed broccoli florets or small pre-cooked carrot slices. Yummy!