Spinoff: Hands-Off Dinners

LenaGardner

LenaGardner

New member
Well for those of us who even think HH is too much work :p .....

Do you have any favorite hands-off dinners? There is nothing I dislike more than slaving over the stove, stirring and flipping and stirring and watching...ugh.

I love to pop things in and go, but the crockpot isn't always what I want. Lately I've been making stuff I can pop in the oven and walk away.

It almost always incorporates a baked potato...I mean, that's 2 minutes of prep time and throw it in... I'll put chicken in a pan with cooking spray and put it in there too...and then open up a few cans of green beans or use frozen green beans and put them in a small casserole dish and put them in there. They could just as easily be made in the microwave or on the stovetop but I love having my whole meal in the oven and I can go sit down! :D Then when DH comes home supper is ready and I'm not so tired I'm grumpy.

Another one I make is spaghetti casserole. I make the noodles and sauce like normal, then I dump the spaghetti in a cake pan, cover it with a container of cottage cheese, then the sauce and a package of shredded cheese. I can put aluminum foil over it and walk away for a half an hour and it's done!

What kind of dinners do you make like this?
 
Roast in the crockpot. Either with onion soup mix or cream of mushroom soup or even beer. Easy, can do it in the morning when I'm not as busy, and yummy!

Another crockpot favorite is salsa chicken. Just frozen chicken breasts, jar of salsa, can of corn, can of black beans. Serve over rice. LOVE that.
 
Hmmm... the only thing I can think of that I eat that is 'hands off' is a DiGiornio frozen pizza or Lean Cuisine meal! *lol*

Sorry, I am no help. Having no kidlets means I have time to slave away at the stove without distraction. :)
 
LOL The pizza sounds good right about now lol!

Those recipies do sound yummy!! I of course cant think of anything this second and will come back and post LOL!
 
A great nearly hands-off meal is any of the Bertolli frozen meals, especially if there's only 2 people. Pop that in the skillet for 10 minutes, maybe stir twice, have a hot roll (either the Pillsbury or Alexia frozen rolls) in the oven, and blam - instant dinner.
Another one that I do is really a pick-up dinner - a lot of the grocery stores now make those rotisserie chickens - I pick up one of those, make some couscous at home (which is super easy and tasty) and one of those steamer bags of frozen veggies and voila! Fast and healthy...
 
I'm salivating over spaghetti casserole. Not so sure about the cottage cheese though. Could I substitute ricotta instead?
 
I LOVE the Bertolli meals!

I do a lot of crokpot stuff, not many casseroles because DH doesn't like them. Tonight we are having BBQ chicken sandwiches (in the crockpot), corn, and some kind of potato.
 
I make baked ziti, which sounds like spaghetti casserole without the cottage cheese. I put ricotta in mine.

My easiest hands off meal is Deli Mex Taquitos with a tossed salad. Microwave the taquitos for 2 minutes, push them together on the plate, sprinkle 'fiest mix' cheese on top, nuke for 30 more seconds and serve with salsa and bag of pre washed salad.

oh, wait.. the easiest is either a rotissery chicken or ribs from the supermarket deli, with a bag of salad and some microwaved frozen corn or peas.
 
Angie I am going to put that chicken recipe in the crock pot RIGHT NOW! Thanks for the great idea. So easy and I have all the ingredients. Yay me!
 
We don't eat a lot of processed stuff, so fast dinners still take a little prep, but some fairly fast ones are broccoli cheese soup, add some garlic bread and you are good to go. Frittatas are fast to make. We also eat a lot of salads in Summer like couscous salad. It takes like a couple of minutes to cook the couscous and then you can throw in any veggies or meat you like.
 
For me, when I'm feeling lazy but the kids need to eat (lol), I've got lots of stuff on hand. My kids LOVE Michelina's Mac & Cheese, which I just pop in the microwave for 4 minutes each.

Or we'll do something like chicken strips or fish with some sort of potato from a bag, lol (you know...fries or smiles or tasty taters).

I'm not the chef in the family, by any means...lol!
 
i LOVE the crock pot. it is quite possibly the greatest invention in history.

we have two sizes of crock pots. HA! seriously, we do. we have a REALLY big one that mom always uses. and the little one is used when she makes rice pudding (cause she and i are the only ones who eat it).

but she cooks TONS of stuff in the big one. roast, chicken, pasta, soup.. i think she made bread once. or was that cake? i dunno. she's got like, ten crock pot cookbooks.

my favorite is 'something special stew'. she's actually making it tomorrow. =]
it's like beef stew. but she stirs in some barbecue sauce and some apple jelly. i know, it sounds gross. but it's AMAZING. and you serve it over egg noodles. YUM-O!
 
Now I'm really getting hungry!

I wasn't sure about the cottage cheese either....I learned to make that from a recipe years ago when I was on WW Core. I tried it and was surprised that you really can't taste the cottage cheese at all. It melts into the casserole. I am certain you could substitute ricotta or any other kind of cheese for it! In a pinch I've used extra shredded cheese in place of it, and it turned out fine.

I am anti-skillet because having something on the stove means I have to watch it. I love throwing stuff in the crockpot or oven and walking away.
 
My favorite crockpot meal is to throw 3 frozen chicken breasts into the crockpot with 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, 3 cans of hot water and a cup or two of rice or barley. It's yummmmmmmmy. Everyone in the house loves it...it was Naomi's first solid food (the rice and creamy soup mixture, not the chicken...though she loves the chicken too, now that she has teeth :p )
 
wow, i'm getting a lot of good ideas here! I just made a similar spaghetti back last week, but i put pepperoni in it and tons of mozzerella cheese. it was really good and the kids all liked it. When i make lasagna i sometimes substitute the ricotta with cottage cheese, though i prefer ricotta. I love my crockpot! one of our favorite meals, one that my mom made all the time when i was growing up is to take some smoked sausage, cut it into pieces, some potatoes cut up, 2 or 3 cans of mushroom soup, milk and 2 cans of green beans. let it cook for a couple hours. i just keep checking it and when the potatoes are soft its done! i used to hate it as a kid, but now i love it. put some pepper on it and yummy!
 
LenaBrandenburg said:
My favorite crockpot meal is to throw 3 frozen chicken breasts into the crockpot with 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, 3 cans of hot water and a cup or two of rice or barley. It's yummmmmmmmy. Everyone in the house loves it...it was Naomi's first solid food (the rice and creamy soup mixture, not the chicken...though she loves the chicken too, now that she has teeth :p )
Click to expand...

That sounds super yummy too!
 
Canneloni is something I love to make that's a little different... it sounds like way more work than it actually is... and it can sit in the oven for a while!

Mix half a tub of riccotta with a handfull of shredded cheese, one egg and some frozen spinach that you've thawed...add salt and pepper in a ziplock bag. Cut the corner off one end, and use it to squeeze filling into 8-10 canneloni, manicotti or large shell noodles (the kind you don't have to pre-cook!)
Put canned sauce in a baking dish, put the filled noodles on top, and pour more sauce on top. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, add some cheese on top and bake for another 10 to melt. Voila! And it looks like you spent FOREVER with it.

The filling can be anything really... if you have leftover ground meat, that with tomato sauce is great. Chicken and cheese, just lots of cheeses, all sorts of things are good! It takes me less than 5 minutes to squirt filling into a dozen noodles...and I throw away the bag and clean up is done. :)
 
We love those frozen chicken & mozzerella frozen raviolis from Costco. We always have a couple packages in the freezer. Just throw them in boiling water for about 4 minutes, add a little jarred sauce you've warmed up and it's done.
 
I make spaghetti pie. Boil the noodles, fry some hamburger. Dump the noodles into a cake pan, add the hamburger, beat 2 eggs and dump those over and cover the top with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for like 10 minutes.. just long enough to set the eggs and brown the cheese. Let cool and slice like pie. yummy. I think I'll make some tonight. LOL
 
Probably baked chicken & potatoes is the easiest. Or I really like it when we get one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and i just have to throw some carrots in the steamer and mash some potatoes. MMMM

Farmers sausage is another fast meal
 
i have the perfect idea and everyone will love it, did it the other nite and my family (even the little picky one) LOVED it!

the easiest taco salad
brown some ground beef, drain and add taco seasoning and a little water, let simmer
then in the micro do some canned refried beans (i like to add a little marg or butter to make them more creamy)
then chop up some green leaf lettuce
you'll also need:
sour cream
salsa
taco sauce (taco bell brand is yummy)
shredded cheese
tortilla chips

::k your done with dinner::

get bowls and put tortilla chips in the bottom, followed by the lettuce, beans and meat and then top that with all your other yummy stuff.

they will love it and it only takes the 7 mins to brown the meat!
 
stayawake said:
Canneloni is something I love to make that's a little different... it sounds like way more work than it actually is... and it can sit in the oven for a while!

Mix half a tub of riccotta with a handfull of shredded cheese, one egg and some frozen spinach that you've thawed...add salt and pepper in a ziplock bag. Cut the corner off one end, and use it to squeeze filling into 8-10 canneloni, manicotti or large shell noodles (the kind you don't have to pre-cook!)
Put canned sauce in a baking dish, put the filled noodles on top, and pour more sauce on top. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, add some cheese on top and bake for another 10 to melt. Voila! And it looks like you spent FOREVER with it.

The filling can be anything really... if you have leftover ground meat, that with tomato sauce is great. Chicken and cheese, just lots of cheeses, all sorts of things are good! It takes me less than 5 minutes to squirt filling into a dozen noodles...and I throw away the bag and clean up is done. :)
Click to expand...

This sounds really good!!!
 
Another easy one is take a box of taquitos (I like the chicken ones) and pour a can of green (or red if you prefer) enchilada sauce over them. Sprinkle with some mozzarella or other "white" cheese, cover with foil and bake until hot (about 30-40 minutes). Serve with french bread and a salad. Yummy and easy!!!
 
chicken stew or cherry pork chops are my usual crock pot dinners. I don't dislike cooking, but I find myself "forgetting" to get dinner together early enough. lol
 
This is such a great thread so I thought I'd bump it :)

This is a super easy & yummy recipe I love to make in the crockpot, I like to make up a batch & eat it all week for lunch!

Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
2 tsp minced garlic
1 can Rotel tomatoes (I used the milder version)
1 can plain diced tomatoes

1 can Campbell’s cream of chicken & mushroom soup
1 can pinto beans (could use any kind of mexican beans or black beans also)
1 package taco seasoning
shredded cheddar cheese
crushed tortilla chips


Mix chicken broth, minced garlic, Rotel & diced tomatoes, soup, beans and taco seasoning in crockpot. Cook for several hours until heated through. Top with crushed tortilla chips and cheddar cheese.

I also do Salsa Chicken in the crockpot a lot too. Just put a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts in there and cover with salsa and cook for a few hours til done. Then just shred the chicken with a fork and we like to eat it in warm tortillas with shredded lettuce, pinto beans, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. It's easy peasy & so yummy!

I had a whole word doc of crockpot recipes on my old computer/EHD that was compiled from a bunch of old 2Peas NSBR threads. I know it's on here somewhere so I need to dig it up cause there's some more really good ones in there!
 
oh, here's another really easy one. I've never actually been to Cincinnati, but I LOVE Cincinnati chili. We make it with this spice pack which is SO GOOD.
http://www.amazon.com/Skytime-Inc-Pack-Cincinnati-Chili/dp/B000B6O4LO

Just throw water, ground beef (straight out of the package, no browning), tomato paste and the spice pack into a pot and simmer for about an hour. Serve over plain spaghetti. It's spicy and divine. You can serve with any combo of cheese, oyster crackers, onion.
 
Ah, yes - Cincinnati Chili is good. You've got the 3-Way - spaghetti or baked potato as base, then chili and cheese; 4-Way - same as 3-Way plus diced onions or beans; or a 5-Way - same as 3-Way, plus onions AND beans. Yum.
 
We used to have an Italian restaurant chain here that had the yummiest dish called Spaghetti Cincinnati Style! It was a spaghetti base with chili topping and then lots of shredded cheese on top (and then diced onions were optional)! I was so bummed when they closed down a few years ago! I'm going to have to make it sometime now!
 
Mmmm, that salsa chicken sounds YUM!

My fave hands off meal is a pork shoulder roast covered in a quick BBQ sauce in a baking dish, lid on. Bake in the oven at 325 for 3 hours, take it out, pull the meat apart into shreds, back in the sauce and oven for an hour then serve. I LOVE mine with white rice, but you can also eat it on a bun or a baked potatoe. We had it for dinner tonight with rice. lol
 
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