Quick and Easy Family Meals

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Many of us are navigating life a little differently right now. Hopefully, you are able to be home and safe with your loved ones. 

For my family, I already keep a list of easy meals to have for dinners when my husband works the night shift. I try to stick to meals that have minimal prep work and if clean up is easier that is a bonus! That way when it is just me and the kiddos I don’t have to spend so much time in the kitchen while they destroy the house. 

I realized there are probably many more people cooking right now, maybe more than they are normally used to, and this could be overwhelming to some. So I want to share a few of my easiest meals that my kids enjoy! 

 

Mac N Cheese with Meat

This meal is a family favorite and we have it often. The best part is it is QUICK to make! This feeds my family of four with plenty of leftovers for the next day.  

Ingredients: 

24 oz Box of Velveeta shells and cheese ( or HEB easy melt mac and cheese)  

2 lbs Ground Beef or Ground Turkey 

How To Make It:

  1. Prepare the box of Mac N Cheese as directed on the box.
  2. Meanwhile, brown your meat (add salt and pepper as desired). 
  3. Once both are cooked, put mac n cheese in a large bowl with the cheese, then add meat and mix. 
  4. serve! 

Mashed Potato Bowl 

I started to make these years ago when KFC came out with something similar, but we wanted a cheaper option and now it is something that my kids have started asking for. This is normally enough to feed our family of four, we don’t often have too much leftover. 

Ingredients:

Potatoes (you can use instant potatoes or you can make them from scratch) 

15 oz can of corn 

1 packet of country gravy mix (If you prefer brown gravy you can substitute it for the country gravy)

1 bag of Tyson Grilled Nuggets 

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 

How to Make It: 

  1. Make Mashed Potatoes. (Instant or from scratch)
  2. Cook the Tyson Grilled Nuggets as directed on the bag.
  3. Heat up corn 
  4. Make gravy as directed on the package. 
  5. Then let your family build their bowls as desired. (Mine is mashed potato, corn, chicken, cheese and then top with gravy)

One Pan Chicken and Veggies

For me, if I can cook everything ALL in one pan and limit the number of dishes that have to be done at night I am all over it! This meal is great because you can make a little more and have leftovers for the next day. 

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breast (we make one breast for each person in our family)

24 oz Fresh Baby Gold Potatoes 

Veggies of choice (we typically do green beans and squash)

Melted butter (I use 1/2 cup)

Powdered salad dressing mix (I have used Ranch and Italian and both were great) 

How to Make It: 

  1. preheat oven to 350
  2. place chicken breast on one side of a cooking sheet
  3. cut potatoes into halves or cubed place next to the chicken breasts
  4. place veggies next to the potatoes in the cooking sheet
  5. sprinkle chicken, potatoes, and veggies with powdered salad dressing 
  6. melt butter and pour over the pan. 
  7. cover pan with foil, place in the oven and cook for one hour. 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

This meal is probably not new to ANYONE! But in our house, it doesn’t matter the temperature outside my kids go NUTS when they know we are having grilled cheese with tomato soup for dinner! The best part it is quick and easy! So crank up the A/C and serve up some soup! 

Ingredients: 

Bread

Butter

Cheese slices 

4 cans Progresso Reduced Sodium Creamy Tomato Basil Soup (This is enough for our family of four, you may need more or less depending on family size)

How to Make It: 

  1. Put soup in a pot and heat on medium on the stovetop. 
  2. Meanwhile, make your grilled cheese sandwiches. I make mine on a cast iron skillet and think these come out the best. You can even use a George Foreman grill if you need to make multiple sandwiches and cut down on time. 
  3. serve! 

King Ranch Chicken Casserole 

This recipe comes from my mom. Thanks, mom! She is the queen of quick and easy meals and it is one of our favorites when I go visit at her house. 

Ingredients: 

2 10.5 oz cans of Cream of Chicken Soup

1 10.5 oz can of Cream of Celery Soup

1 can 10.5 oz Mild Rotel 

Shredded Chicken (5-6 chicken breasts worth)

1 package of white corn tortillas (Cut into quarters) 

Shredded Cheddar cheese 

How to Make It:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. 
  2. Mix Soups, and Rotel together.
  3. In a 9×13 casserole dish layer starting with Tortillas. In each layer, you will place Tortillas, chicken, soup mix and sprinkle cheese. Do this until you reach the top of the casserole dish, ending with cheese. 
  4. Bake for an hour (should be a little brown on top)

 

These are my top five favorite quick and easy meals. My hope is that these help you to plan and take a little stress off of dinner making. If you have some easy meals you are using to make things easy during quarantine or any time of the year please share them with us in the comments. 

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Jennifer
Jennifer is a Coastal Bend Native, born and raised in Ingleside. She began contributing to the Corpus Christi Moms Blog in 2018 and stepped up as the Community Engagement Coordinator in 2019. She is happiest when she is crafting, writing, or doing anything artistic. She loves music, especially ANYTHING from the 90's, and is often seen dancing around the kitchen to Nsync while cooking dinner. She is married to Derik and has two kids, Connor and Keeley (pronounced Key-Lee). Jennifer still feels like a novice when it comes to parenting and enjoys letting other moms know they are not doing life alone. She also admits she watches copious amounts of Netflix, but balances that out by reading to and with her kiddos as much as possible each day.