I tend to make similar things and rotate meals.
I make roasts often. (pork and beef)
I'm looking for some new things to introduce at dinnertime here.
We have no restrictions except no fish here.

I thought if we could list some things, then each of us may be reminded of something easy to make that we haven't made in awhile.

Sara

I stir-fry a lot. It's quick for after work and I can always rotate seasonal veggies and whatever meat I can get on sale. Tacos, spanish rice and salad are always a hit here(made with the ground meat that happens to be on sale) or I will roast a whole chicken on a Sunday and use the leftovers all week, one night over eggnoodles with cream of mushroom soup, another in burritoes, then maybe in soup or a salad.:chicken:

It depends on what is one sale, what I have in the freezer and what we haven't had for a while.

We do a lot of roast too. First night is roast, the second is stew and the third is a pot pie.

We always have homemade pizza once a week. We usually have some kinda pasta once a week too.

In the summer we do a lot of grilling, so we have hamburgers and chicken a lot.

This week we are having a lot of turkey dishes. :D

Other than that is mostly a play it by ear thing. I do tend to use my crockpot a lot in the winter.

I make the following often:

pasta/meatballs or meat sauce
beef stew
meat loaf
shepherd's pie
chicken pot pie
baked chicken
pork chops w/pineapple/onion sauce
grilled sausages
roast chicken (and then chicken soup or chicken salad the day after)

That's all I can think of right now...

I do alot of pasta (speghetti and sausage, lasagna, baked ziti, stuffed shells), I love Mexican like tacos, fajitas, burritoes, quesadillas served with spanish rice or refried beans. I also make alot of chili in the crock pot this time of year. One night is usually for leftovers. Sometimes we do breakfast for dinners...

Laura

I think I am going to add a homemade pizza night. I haven't made homemade pizza in a long time.

Now if dh offers takeout pizza for sympathy when I mess up meals, what will he do if I mess up homemade pizza? *LMAO*

Sara

Two of the things we make most here are casseroles and a rice/kielbasa dish. All easy stuff and taste good too.

Megareader, could you please post the recipe for the kielbasa/rice dish? Sounds yummy! :)

My weekly menu for dinner looks something like this

Sunday Creamy italian chicken(crockpot) over rice or noodles and a salad , garlic toast

Monday Homemade pizza,corn and fresh fruit. I like to get creative with the pizza. One week it might be hawwian, or mexican.

Tuesday Roast chicken on the Ronco, Homemade ranch fries and baked beans

Wednesday Homemade chicken, veggie, rice soup and rolls. The soup is made with the leftover chicken:)

Thursday BBQ porkchops, mashed potatoes and greenbeans.

Friday Taco bar and bean dip

Saturday Leftovers for everyone :D (Have to use them up)

:bump:

This is such a great thread that I want to bump it up and see if we can get even more ideas. :D

I make a lot of chicken dishes.
Chicken and dumpings
Chicken and rice
BBQ chicken in the crockpot
Chicken and noodles
Chicken salad sandwiches

We do
tacos or enchiladas with spanish rice and refried beans and for dessert I fry flour tortillas and sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar

Pot roast in the crockpot with veggies
turkey breast and dressing
tuna salad sandwiches


I can't wait to read everyones favorites.

I agree...I'd love to get some fresh ideas from our new members :)

BBQ chicken (in the oven)
homemade pizza
spaghetti
meatloaf
sticky chicken (about once a month)
hamburgers
fried rice (dd's favorite)
potato soup and grilled cheese

Pot Roast/mashed or baked potato/veggie
Baked chicken/rice, mashed or baked potato/veggie
Chicken Fingers/french fries/veggie
Chili/homemade bread
Hamburger Soup/homemade bread
Pork Chops/mashed or baded potato/veggie
Breakfast foods
Perogie/veggies(usually 2 different ones)
Spedies/roasted potatoes or salad/fresh veggies

If I think of more, I'll post them.

We also do breakfast for dinner quite a bit.

Pancakes, waffles, french toast, biscuits and gravy.

I see that a lot of you make homemade pizza. I need a good crust recipe, the ones I have tried aren't all that great. Too used to Pizza Hut or Papa John's I guess. Thanks!!

Thanks for the inspiration ladies!:) For us it depends on the time of year as to what we eat. During the colder months we do lots of stews, roasts, chili, homemade soups and homemade baked goods. During the warmer months we grill chicken, hamburgers, sausages, vegis, etc.. We are also big pasta eaters and like it hot (any way) and cold in salads. Fresh fruits and salads are always a big hit . Oh and anything chocolate!!!!:toothy:

I don't have anything fresh or new, but we do have a schedule. Just makes it easier and one less thing to worry about while I'm at work.

Sunday: Baked macaroni and cheese
Monday: Chicken, some sort of rice, and a veggie (chicken on the George Forman grill)
Tuesday: Pasta
Wednesday: Pot Roast in the crock pot, potatoes, veggies
Thursday: Grilled Event (dh grills something outside)
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Another Grilled Event

Great thread!!!!
Here is what we usually do, it can and does change often though!!

Homemade pizza (almost every Saturday night and we make it a family movie or game night as well)
chicken fajitas
tacos/taco salad
carne asada
hamburgers
bbq chicken
rotisserie chicken
stir fry
chicken fingers
lasagna or ziti
spaghetti
creamy italian chicken
homemade mac and cheese

These are pretty much the things I can make and the kids will eat, I do other things like roasts and stews and chilis but the kids don't like anything that they can't put ketchup on!!!!! Don't even try to put anything on their plates that has gravy in it!!!

Most of the time every other night is vegetarian night here. It doesn't always work out to be every other, though...sometimes we might have meat two nights in a row and then a veggie meal two nights in a row.

Here are some of the things I make:

Homemade Mac-n-cheese
Shepherd's Pie
beef barley soup or chicken barley soup
beef stew
Hearty vegetable soup
Tacos
Black Bean Chili (vegetarian)
Homemade Pizza or french bread pizza or Pizza Bagels or English Muffin Pizzas (we love pizza any way we can get it! LOL!)
Aztec Beans - with a Spanish or Mex rice dish
Pasta and Sauce (no meat)
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Pot Pie
Lasagne (meatless)

Edited to add:
bean soup
chop suey (I don't care for it, but my family does)

Can't think of anything else right now, but...I read somewhere that it is a good idea to write what you make for dinner down for a month. Then you'll have an entire month worth of dinner ideas.

Kristin :)

This is an Awesome thread!
Tons of dinners here, that I completely forgot about!

I usually make things depending on whats on sale and whats in the freezer and most importantly what I REMEMBER to pull out of the freezer! LOL :D
I make:
Hamburgers and Hot dogs
Chicken over pasta with gravy and a veggie
Spaghetti
Taco Salads(I use Doritos instead of plain nacho chips- adds a little more flavor)
Pork Chops and fried potatoes
Marinated Chicken (Italian Dressing)and fries over salad
Grilled ham and Cheese
Fish sticks and Fries
Salsa Chicken and rice
Meatloaf -smashed tators and gravy with a veggie
Pasta salad with tons of veggies

Thats all I can think of right now.
Thanks everyone for your great ideas!
Please post the recipe for homemade pizza dough. TIA

Here's one I posted from my Bread Machine book.

All ingredients should be at room temperature (70-80 deg F/21-27 deg C), unless otherwise indicated in the recipe. Always measure ingredients into bread pan in the order listed in the recipe.

Pizza Crust

Dough Setting
Not for Timer

1.5 pound

7 to 8 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 pound

9 to 11 ounces water
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Combine all ingredients into bread pan. Select Dough setting. Press Start/Stop to begin. When unit signals and display reads 0:00, press Start/Stop to cancel and remove dough.

Pat dough into a greased 12 x 15 inch jelly roll pan or a greased 12 inch round (1 1/2 pound recipe), or a greased 14 inch round pizza pan (2 pound recipe). Let stand 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 deg F/204 deg C. Spread pizza sauce over dough. Sprinkle toppings over sauce. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Pizza Toppings (optional)

1 cup (8 oz.) prepared pizza sauce
1 pkg. (3-4 oz.) sliced pepperoni
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage browned oand drained
1 can (4 oz.) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped green peppers
1 cup (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese

NOTE: When recipe calls for Bread Flour , I have used All Purpose Flour instead with no problems.

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16190&highlight=Pizza+Dough
***********************************************

Here's another one from Melissa:

Mel's Pizza crust
Subject: Mels Pizza Crust



This makes 5 large pizzas. The crusts that you do not want to use can either be used to make a loaf of bread or frozen to use later.

4 cups very warm milk

5 Teaspoons yeast

1 Teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons Veg Oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

10 cups flour divided

In a med bowl mix milk, salt, Sugar, and oil. Microwave for 3-4 minutes to heat and melt sugar. When done stir it up

Meanwhile in a large bowl sift 6 cups of flour and add yeast (5 Tsp = 2 packages Aprox.) Stir up

Add milk mix. Stir. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a stif dough forms. Once it is stiff put on a floured bread board and knead, 5-8 minutes, ading more flour if needed. Cover let rise 30 minutes.

Pull off handfuls (2 of mine = a large crust) Knead a bit then roll out and put in pizza pan.

Top , I use Hunts tomato paste for sauce.

Then bake at 350 about 20 minutes, or until the crust looks done. If the crust is really light the center will be doughy

I make this every Saturday for movie night.

Enjoy!

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15316&highlight=Pizza+Dough
***********************************************
Here is another one from Sherry:

Ingredients:
1 T. yeast
2½ C. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
¾ C. warm water
2 T. vegetable oil


How to Prepare:

Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork. Add oil and water all at once. Stir until dough forms. A bit of flour may remain in bowl.
Let rest at room temperature for 5 minutes.
Roll out onto a pizza stone (if you are using a pizza pan, grease it first).
Top with sauce and desired toppings.
Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1950

We eat pretty much in season and with sales although, I am always trying out new recipies. Kids favorites are tacos, pizza, macaroni and cheese, broccoli cheese soup and anything with pasta or spegetti sauce. With the cost of beef this summer we found ourselves eating a lot of fish, shell fish, pork, chicken and less beef than we normally do. I happen to love bbq so we eat this in the summer also. Along with a lot of seasonal veggies. Now that fall and winter is here we will eat things like roasted chicken, stews, soups, roasts (beef and pork) and seasonal vegtables. Such as sweet potatoes, carrots, acorn squash and butternut squash. Everyone here loves mashed potatoes so they are eaten all year.
As far a recipies if anyone here hasn't been there, I highly recomend allrecipies.com. Fairly simple home cooked meals there. I do recommend reading the reviews and ingredients to get an idea if the recipe is for you.
Thanks for posting everyone I am always looking for new ideas.

creamed chicken with biscuits.

Love to buy premade pizza dough when on sale for $1 and freeze it. Then I can made pizza, rolls, foccacia bread. I love kneading rosemary, olives, and sundried tomatoes in it then baking like a loaf of bread. yumm, plus it smells great baking.

Depends on the season here. In the summer 99% of the meals are done on the grill. Grilled steaks, chicken, roasts, briskett, ribs. Sides usually a green salad, sometimes a pasta salad, or just grilled vegis. BLT's are a summer time favorite. When the weather gets colder we do more roasts, ham and turkey breasts, soups, stews and chili.

Majority of weeks we eat

*pasta of some kind
*homemade pizza
*meatloaf and taters
*turkey breast and stuffing, taters
*grilled chicken, grilled veggies
*breakfast one night a week
*dinner at my moms once a week!

I will mix it up of course but these are majority of what we like right now

a few favorites here

pork chops with apple pie filling and stuffing
hamburgers
mac n cheese with hamburger
ginger chicken with rice
pizza
italian beefs with au jus

What we eat depends on the season, lots of casseroles and bakes in the winter and lots of stir fries and bbqing on the summer.
Typically in winter we eat:
Roast - crispy, fluffy potatoes, carrots/pumpkin/swseet potato, something green
Spaghetti Bolgnaise in various forms - lasagne, spahgetti bake(noodles mixed with cheese sauce on bottom, sauce, cheese sauce on top), cannelloni, tec
Tuna/Chicken Mornay
Beef Casserole
Lamb Chop Casserole
Apricot Chicken (made with large can of nectar and a packet each of french onion soup mix and dutch curry and rice mix)
Chicken Snitzels (most we pay is $A3.99/kg)
Train Smash Mornay
Chicken Casserols - family favourite

In Summer we have:
Lots of BBQ's
Stiry Fries
Quiche - imposible pie version
Carrot and Zucchini Slice (like quiche)
grilled meat and salads
Roasts
Pastas - tuna, carbonara, etc
sweet and sour meatballs with rice
Fried Rice

In the winter I make a lot of hot puddings but in the summer we have a lot of jelly, ice cream and fruit salads

This fall we have been having for meals:

Shake-N-Bake chicken (sometimes I shake dry ranch dressing over it isntead and add a little water/milk to the baking pan. to keep it moist and it makes a gravy later). We have that with stuffing mostly and a veggie

Homemade mac & cheese casserole with a veggie

Pasta with meatballs and a veggie

Frozen Fish patties with rice or noodles side dish and a veggie

Soup and grilled cheese sandwich

Sometimes breakfast for dinner

The veggies I like this time of year with dinner are: broccoli (frozen), cauliflower (frozen), carrots (canned), sweet potato (fresh), acorn squash (fresh), and beets (canned).

This time of year I try to make a homemade soup at least once a week.

Either chicken soup or pasta fagioli

I also make meatloaf, pata and meatballs or meatsauce, rice and beans with pork chops.

When I have the time I will make stuffed peppers.

my husband is very picky. He grew up with a mom who was an awesome chef and he is great himself. So, I can't get by just making mac -n- cheese like I wish I could!

Things in my usual rotation:
Grilled Salmon with an assortment of sides

Tilapia pockets, the kids and I take a piece of tin foil, put a piece of fish on it and tons of veggies and potatoes. Then sprinkle with herbs and EVOO and toss in oven. Served with a fresh spinach salad and HM dressing.

Chicken breast that is pounded thin, spread with cream cheese, sprinkle with paprika and mushrooms. fold over so you have a "stuffed" breast and secure with toothpick. Make in oven until done basting with more cream mixture half way into cooking process. Cover with tin foil if needed so it doesn't burn. Serve with risotto pilaf or something similar.

HM California rolls or hand roll plates, miso soup and edemame

Indian dishes are always a delight with HM naan

I might make a roast chicken with homemade oven fries or roasted potatoes and veggies.

Shrimp Alfredo over pasta with garlic toast and salad

DH doesn't like many many soups but did like my HM salmon chowder.

My favorite night is an antipasto night. A huge plate with an assortment of olives, tomatoes, marinated red onion and cucumber, brie, crusty french bread. and to keep it real, a bit of salami and sport peppers.

HM facocia breads with different toppings and a side salad.

I get many recipe books from the library and make something new a few nights a week. We'll find something we like and say we want to add it to the rotation then forget so just keep doing new dishes. I also watch cooking shows and get ideas every day for new dishes. My favorite thing to do is pick a nationality and make an entire spread from that country. But I have all day to make the food and hours to plan. So, this is like a hobby for me.

My easy dinner when DH isn't home, make brown rice in rice maker, when done add a can of black beans, a can of tomatoes and green chilies.
Then grate some cabbage in the bottom of everyone's bowl, put rice mixture over cabbage and sprinkle with salsa and cheese. You can add sour cream if you like.

I don't make many casseroles but would like to find a few good ones cause I need them when busy with soccer, brownies etc.

In a week, we never have the same thing twice. Shoot, in a month the only things we *may* have twice are pot roast or spaghetti & meatballs.

Now that the weather is cooling down we like chowders/soups/stews. At least once a week we have chili, bean & bacon chowder, or corn chowder or a homemade chicken soup from a whole chicken.

A lot of our meals are casseroles because that's what everyone here likes :)

Monday - Some sort of pasta - last night was chicken scampi, sometimes baked pasta - with no meat - depends on the week
Tuesday - Breaded pork chops
Wednesday - Stir fry or sweet and sour chicken with homemade eggrolls
Thursday - Homemade pizza
Friday - Homemade tortillas, with taco meat or chicken wraps
Saturday - Roast or bbq beef in crock pot.
Sunday - Maybe a fend for yourself - leftovers, or chicken and dumplings

some other ideas, soups - potato, bean, veggie, french onion
poor mans stroganoff, beef and gravy, shephards pie, enchilladas, baked chicken and rice

I cant think of anything else right now.

I guess we eat a little strange. Dh is typically on the road 3 weeks out of the month and home one week. During the time he's gone, it just me at home. In the winter, I might make a pot of pea soup, beans, or chili and eat the same thing all week until its gone. Dh complains about these dishes so I don't usually make them while he's here. He also doesn't like liver or chicken livers. So I eat these when I'm home alone. Most of my meals these times are pretty light. Maybe a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. Some sort of meat and vegetable or salad for dinner.

When dh is home, he wants three full meals every day plus homemade desserts and two snacks. He's like an angry bear if he doesn't get this. Here is where the cooking begins. Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day so he wants things like bacon, eggs, grits and muffins, or pancakes, waffles, stuffed omelets etc. For lunch some sort of sandwich and soup or leftovers from the day before. Dinner is usually something like steak, salmon, crab cakes, chicken tarragon, coq au vin, shrimp newburg, spaghetti, enchiladas, french meat pie etc. Dh does like neck bones. Most of the meats served this week come from Omaha Steaks, Kansas City Steakhouse or Chesapeake Seafood Gourmet.

There are always lots of homemade baked goods, muffins cakes, cookies and pies around when dh is here. I'm usually exhausted by the time he leaves from doing so much cooking and baking plus washing dishes. I do try to prep a lot beforehand though. I also always put on weight the week he is here and spend the rest of the month taking the weight off. My food life is crazy due to the fact that dh is a big 6'4", 240 lb truck driver who eats on the road the majority of the time and wants homemade cooking when he's home. Plus the fact that I am culinary school trained and we both like good food plus are mindful of the fact that its good to be frugal. I never spend over $250 a month for food which includes our mailorder meats, all paper products, cleaning supplies, drug store items and our stockpile.

I make all kinds of stuff..

lasagne
raviolis lasagne (when I am lazy)
chili
pork barbeque
stir fry
fried rice (use that uncle bens for a quickie
chop suey (meat/celery/beansprouts) with the crunchy noodles over rice.
~potatoes
stuffed double
meat stuffed
oh and I saw a restuarant do a bowl of pasta spagettie with chili and cheese on top.. interesting
I am constantly switching up so much. I think I should have been a frugal chef...

Tamale Casserole(usually twice a month)
Roasted Chicken
HM Pizza
Chicken and Yellow Rice
Pork Roast
Empanadas(stuffed with a beef mixture and cheese)
Cold and Hot Pasta
Taco/Burritos
Enchiladas
Chili
Taco soup
Corn-beef and white rice
Lasagna
HM Sub night

Theres so many more, but these are usually the ones asked for most.

We have alot of deer because my hubby is a hunter. We also have clams because he clams too. We have salmon or whiting fish about once a week. We love pork and chicken and I cook both many different ways. We have pasta about once a week. We love dried beans cooked in broth. I serve that with homemade bread or biscuits. We both love cooked breakfsts. So i make bacon gravy over biscuits, poached eggs on toast, bacon and eggs, panckes, waffles and french toast. We like oatmeal and cold cereal once in a while. Hubby loves chicken and dumplins. One of our favorite summertime meals is fried red tomatoes with milk gray! We love seafood and sometimes splunge on that! I guess you can see we love everything and pretty much make do with what's on hand. I learned this from my Momma1

Things we eat for dinner on a semi-regular basis:

*spaghetti with or w/o meatballs in a meatsauce
*hamburgers & soup
*hamburg with veggies and a starch
*chinese: steamed brown rice with spare ribs and peppers in a black bean sauce
*chinese: steamed brown rice with a tomato casserole like dish
*chinese: steamed brown rice with sauteed meat and veggies - aka stir fry
*cabbage rolls
*roasted chicken, veggies and a starch
*pizza - from frozen
*steamed salmon asian style with steamed rice and sauteed veggies
*potstickers and soup
*beef stew
*chicken stew (aka chicken a la king?)

Thats just of the top of my head.

I don't eat meat so these may not be terribly interesting ... but here's what I tend to eat a lot:

(whole wheat) pasta & sauce
stir-fried veggies & (brown) rice
mac & cheese sorta thing
black bean tacos
veggie burgers
"German" pancakes (like fatter crepes)

I used to make a lot of simple veggie soup, I should do that more again

Honestly, because I live alone and have an erratic schedule sometimes I'll just eat a pb&j or a bagel with cream cheese and some yogurt for dinner. Doesn't always have to be my biggest meal.

We eat mostly vegetarian, for our health, eco concerns, and our pocketbook. But we're not strictly vegetarian. If I get a good deal on some meat, I'll buy it in bulk and we eat that and fruits/vegetables in season.

I rarely cook more than 1/2 hour at night, so everything is pretty quick, and neither of us is fond of prefab foods, so it's usually from scratch.

This week I made stovetop beef burgundy stew (a beef tip, carrots, wine, onion, etc.), squash-yam soup with cider (it was what needed to be eaten), grilled cheese, stirfry, etc.

Typically, we eat either a one-pot meal (protein & veg) or a main course and a side dish (usually veg). I next to never do what my sister does: main course, 2 vegetables, salad and a dessert. I refuse to spend that long in a kitchen.

We typically have a "on the board" meal one night a week too and that's the left over dibs and dabs of food as a buffet, so to speak. And we eat leftovers for lunches most days too.

What I end up cooking depends on what's in the house that needs cooking, an eggplant and the end of a quart of homemade roasted tomato sauceright now, so DH'll likely have eggplant parmesan for dinner (I can 't eat tomatoes any more.) I'll likely make myself a portion of corncheese soup, which is easy, fast and you can make one portion without a problem.

Judi