6 or less ingredient dinners

[mrsabbott]

We are all about quick, easy, fairly healthy, inexpensive dinners at our house. We eat simply and mostly vegetarian (Hubs eats chicken and fish).

Easy chili: 2 cans beans (black or kidney), 1 can rotel tomatoes, 1 can corn drained (optional), chili powder, salt, and garlic to taste. I make mine in a pot on stove but can use a crockpot. Hubs says it is the best chili an I've tried lots of recipes! Top with cheese. Serve over rice or with cornbread. Use leftovers to make enchiladas the next day..

Hubs calls this hobo stew but it's easy and good! Diced potatoes, chopped carrots, onions, celery, peppers, or any combination of veggies to go with the potatoes. Can also dice up chicken with this. I've also heard of people chopping up ham or sausages and adding to it. It's all wrapped up in foil.. Drizzle with EVOO or dot with butter. Use whatever seasoning you want (salt and pepper, Cajun, ranch, garlic, herbs, etc..) then wrap it up and bake it at 375 or grill it. Cook until meat is cooked and veggies are tender. I like it cause you can use whatever you have on hand and you can change it up. Easy clean up as well. We make some variant of this a few times a month.

 

[Minnesota!]

Smothered Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons seasoning salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 cups chicken broth, low sodium

Season flour with salt and pepper and mix well. Coat chicken completely with the seasoned flour. Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken and brown on each side (about 4 minutes per side). Remove and set aside. Add sliced onions to the pan drippings and cook for 1 minute. Add remaining flour, continue to stir until onions and flour begin to brown. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, stir until incorporated and return chicken to the gravy, cover skillet, reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until gravy is thick and chicken is tender.

Spaghetti Pie

1 lb ground beef – browned and drained
6 oz spaghetti noodles - cooked, drained, rinsed and cooled
2 eggs
½ cup grated parmesean cheese
8 oz favorite spaghetti sauce
1 cup sour cream
mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350’. Brown and drain beef. Cook, drain and cool noodles. In large bowl, beat eggs and parmesean cheese. Stir in cooled noodles until coated. Press noodle mixture into a 9 inch pie pan (like a crust). Top this with the sour cream. Then beef, spaghetti sauce and finally enough cheese to cover top. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Serve with salad and garlic bread.


Easy Baked Chicken and Rice

1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tsp. paprika (divided)
1/2 tsp. pepper (divided)
2 boned, skinned chicken breasts
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 375.
In an 8”x8” baking pan, mix the soup, water, rice, 1/4 tsp. of paprika, and 1/4 tsp. of pepper. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and 1/4 tsp. paprika, then place on top of the rice. Cover with foil (tightly). Bake 45-60 minutes.

Chicken, Broccoli and Noodles

1# chicken breasts
2 cans broccoli cheddar soup
16 oz sour cream
1 bag frozen broccoli cuts
1 # noodles (elbow, rotini, etc).

Put chicken in crockpot. In a bowl, mix the soups and sour cream. Top the chicken with it. Cook on low 8-10. When almost done, boil the noodles - add broccoli to noodles near end. Shred the chicken in crockpot. Mix in drained noodles/broccoli. Serve.

I usually top this with some more shredded cheddar. I really love this dish - but it does stink up the house!

 

[Minnesota!]

Another one that I have been almost exclusively eating lately (it's quick!) is this:

Boil up egg noodles. While those are boiling, I saute some mushrooms in EVOO and Worchestershire. I toss fresh chopped broccoli into the noodles as they are finishing up.

Drain noodles, mix mushrooms in. Throw in a tiny pat of butter, some chopped nuts (I like walnuts or almonds) and some fresh grated parm. It's really good (I had it for dinner last night leftovers for lunch today, AAMOF). Cheap, too. I am sure adding chicken in there somewhere would be good, too

 

[lisaross]

[this came out great!!

QUOTE=sandgrace;50477530]This is so easy and yummy!

Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
6 ounce jar of prepared pesto (I like the sun dried tomato flavor)
1 package Ranch Dressing Seasoning Mix
1/2 cup chicken broth

Place chicken thighs in crock pot and spread with pesto. Sprinkle with ranch dressing and pour chicken broth over. Stir gently. Cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.[/QUOTE]

 

[lisaross]

Making this tonight -

I add a couple handfuls of corn to this and 30 minutes before cooking is complete add 8oz brick of cream cheese. I serve this with rice. This is one of DH's favorite meals and it's sooooo easy!

 

[kmjhmom]

Potato Soup
28 oz. package of frozen hash browns
4 cans chicken broth
1 package McCormick’s Country Gravy Mix
1 package polska kielbasa
1 can corn

Add the gravy powder to a pot. Pour in one can broth and stir until mixed. Add the other three cans of broth, hash browns, sliced polska kielbasa and corn. Simmer until potatoes are heated thoroughly.

So yummy and easy!

 

[imsayin]

Very easy one:

Chicken breasts (4-6)
Jar of salsa
Can of black beans (drained)

Throw it all in a crockpot 6-8hrs until Chicken falls apart. Shred the chicken and mix well.

Add any toppings you've got (cheese, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, etc.) and make tacos, salads, burritos, sandwiches, etc.

I add a peeled and diced sweet potato to the crockpot with this.

 

[mommyburns]

I make a bacon ranch chicken quesadilla (similar to Chili's)

Fajita wrappers
Ranch powder ( ranch dressing works as well, just not as tangy)
Chicken breasts
Bacon bits
Cheese
Sour cream (if using dry ranch mix)

Season chicken with ranch mix ( the more the better in my opinion, you could also use ranch dressing) and cook in skillet
Shred chicken
Spread a thin layer of ranch/sour cream mix and spray back of wrapper with cooking spray
Pile on shredded chicken, bacon bits, and cheese
Cover with another wrapper painted with ranch and sprayed with cooking spray
Cook each side until browned to your preference.
Cut into wedges and serve (great with some extra sour cream or pico de gallo)

 

[worm761]

I try to cook as much as I can with real, whole ingredients. I cook as much as I can from scratch too.

Coral Reef Chicken: we had a chicken dish at Coral Reef that we loved and this is our take on it.

chicken cutlets
chopped bacon, cooked crispy
onion, diced and sauteed
shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the chicken cutlets util done. Top with bacon, onion, and cheese. Bake until the cheese melts. Tonight I served with roasted green beans.

Pork Chops w/ apple compote: this has more than 6 ingredients but is super easy to make and very good!
http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Pork-Chops-Apple-Compote-Clinton-Kelly

 

[dprincessmom]

Super Quick Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1 box stove top stuffing chicken flavor
1 cup water


Mix together and then bake in muffin tins (top with BBQ Sauce or Ketchup) - 350 for about 25 minutes.

Add salad and a veggie medley from the freezer section and you are all set.

 

[tina.tina]

This has a plain flavor similar to Campbell's chicken noodle soup. I made it with angel hair pasta last week and my extremely picky kids loved it. I'm planning to try spiral noodles next time and I hope it doesn't blow their minds. I would have liked it with more spices. The recipe I have suggests garlic powder.

Chicken Noodle Casserole (or sort of Chicken Tetrazzini)
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (or Celery if you don't like Mushrooms)
2 cans chicken broth
16 oz spaghetti noodles- cooked
1/2 cup mozzarella or parmesan cheese

Mix all together and bake 1.5 hours covered with foil

 

[lisaross]

[what kind of chicken did u use?

QUOTE=tina.tina;50592665]This has a plain flavor similar to Campbell's chicken noodle soup. I made it with angel hair pasta last week and my extremely picky kids loved it. I'm planning to try spiral noodles next time and I hope it doesn't blow their minds. I would have liked it with more spices. The recipe I have suggests garlic powder.

Chicken Noodle Casserole (or sort of Chicken Tetrazzini)
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (or Celery if you don't like Mushrooms)
2 cans chicken broth
16 oz spaghetti noodles- cooked
1/2 cup mozzarella or parmesan cheese

Mix all together and bake 1.5 hours covered with foil[/QUOTE]

 

[tina.tina]

[what kind of chicken did u use?

I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts at Sam's.

I used to bake the whole package and then freeze them individually (either cubed/chunked or whole) in freezer bags.

I just got an electric pressure cooker for Christmas and now I freeze the chicken breasts uncooked individually and just cook them from frozen in the pressure cooker for about 20 min.

To save time, I've used cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store in recipes.

My sister uses canned chicken in a lot of recipes so you could probably use that, too.

 

[lisaross]

ok so i am going to buy chicken breasts i guess about 2lbs and cook it in the oven i guess - can i ask do you put anything on the chicken when cooking or just plain? thanks

I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts at Sam's.

I used to bake the whole package and then freeze them individually (either cubed/chunked or whole) in freezer bags.

I just got an electric pressure cooker for Christmas and now I freeze the chicken breasts uncooked individually and just cook them from frozen in the pressure cooker for about 20 min.

To save time, I've used cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store in recipes.

My sister uses canned chicken in a lot of recipes so you could probably use that, too.

 

[tina.tina]

I just cook them plain but you could spice them any way you want. My kids are just incredibly picky and stubborn. When I lived at home, my dad went on a diet & I helped him with dinner because mom was working late. We made so much baked chicken spiced with just with garlic salt and pepper.

You could use 1lb of chicken with this recipe as a way to stretch the budget and the meat. I think this is a good basic recipe that you could do lots of different modifications to.

I love trying new recipes. Thanks, OP, for starting this thread.