Tag: Easy Dinner

Creamed Tuna

Normally I don’t like any recipe with canned tuna in it (except tuna sandwiches). But I remember Mom making this, and it never really tasted like tuna. Mostly it tasted deliciously of onion. It’s a great recipe when you don’t have many fresh ingredients available, and it’s pretty comforting. I don’t make this as often anymore, but it’s a good recipe to have on hand if you have lots of tuna.

If you’re making this gluten free, make sure to use cornstarch instead of flour.

Make it a meal with:

  • Rice
  • Peas
  • Fruit Salad

Creamed Tuna

  • Servings: 4?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Comforting and great for using pantry foods.

Ingredients

  • ½ c. Butter
  • ½ c. Flour (or 1/4 c. cornstarch)
  • 3 c. Milk
  • 1 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onion
  • 2 cans White Tuna
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

In frying pan, melt butter and add flour or cornstarch. Mix well and cook a little. Add remaining ingredients. Serve on rice.


Pesto Chicken

Man, I love pesto chicken SO much. It’s one of my very favorite meals. Garlic, basil, cheese, and tomato combine so well. You can make this as separate chicken breasts in a pan, or you can mix cubed chicken and cut up tomato with sauce in the pasta. Either way is delicious, but the separate chicken breasts in the pan seems a little more special for special occasions.

And good news, this one is naturally gluten free–just serve it with gluten free noodles.

Make it a meal with:

  • Pasta
  • Garlic Bread or Breadsticks
  • Corn or Green Beans
  • Fresh Fruit

Pesto Chicken

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Absolutely delicious, great for special occasions or weeknight dinners.

Ingredients

  • 3 large Chicken Breasts, fileted in half so they’re half the thickness (6 total pieces)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 10 oz. jar Basil Pesto
  • 2 large Tomatoes, sliced
  • Sliced or shredded Mozzarella
  • Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Place the fileted chicken breasts in a greased 9×13 pan and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the pesto over the chicken. Then cover each chicken with 1-2 tomato slices (salted and peppered), and top with cheese. (Optional: Sprinkle parmesan over all.) Cook at 375° for about 30-45 minutes or until the temperature reaches 165°. Also broil to melt the cheese until slightly golden brown at the end. Serve with pasta, and make sure to spoon the delicious liquid from the pan over the pasta.


Cowboy Surprise

I think in the strictest sense, cowboy surprise basically meant whatever the cowboy had ended up in the pot. But we’ve standardized it a little more (although not with terribly exact measurements), occasionally adding some extra stuff from our fridge like leftover bell peppers or vegetables. It’s kind of like a fancy Hamburger Helper, haha. But it’s pretty cheap and makes lots of good leftovers.

If you’re making it gluten free, I find that gluten free rotini holds up the best. But any gluten free pasta does tend to fall apart eventually, especially with stirring or after microwaving as a leftover. And condensed tomato soup does have flour, so make sure to use the substitute.

Make it a meal with:

  • Corn or green beans
  • Fresh Fruit

Cowboy Surprise

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Fast and easy, and it makes lots of leftovers.

Ingredients

  • 3 c. Macaroni (uncooked) (or gluten free rotini)
  • 1-2 lbs. Hamburger
  • 1 Onion, minced
  • 2 tsp. Minced Garlic
  • 2 cans Tomato Soup
    • For gluten free, use:
    • 16 oz. Tomato Sauce
    • 1 Tbsp. Sugar
    • 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
    • 1 tsp. Salt
  • ½ c. Ketchup
  • 1 heaping Tbsp. Brown Sugar (about)
  • ½ tsp. Chili Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 2 c. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions

Cook the pasta and drain. To save a pan, you can cook the rest in that same pan, then add back the macaroni. Cook hamburger and onion, then combine remaining ingredients in pot on stove and heat. Make sure it’s sweet enough. Add cheese at end. For gluten free, make sure to adjust flavors as much as possible before adding pasta because it will fall apart more easily with stirring.


Chicken Gravy & Dumplings

We make this meal without dumplings a lot, because it’s easy, we always have the ingredients in our house, and it’s a nice, warm, mild meal that’s easy on an upset stomach. It’s kind of our go-to, served on rice, if someone’s having stomach issues.

Also, the dumplings are surprisingly simple and delicious. You wouldn’t think canned biscuits would make very good dumplings or that they would taste artificial or something, but they’re wonderful. FYI, they do tend to soak up a lot of gravy while cooking, so you may want to add an extra can of soup. And sometimes when you microwave the dumplings as a leftover, they can get a little hard.

If you’re making this gluten free, make sure to swap out the regular cream of chicken soup for the gluten free kind and of course leave out the dumplings.

Make it a meal with:

  • Rice, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, or Noodles
  • Green Beans
  • Fresh Fruit or Jell-O

Chicken Gravy & Dumplings

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Easy, mild, and comforting for a quick dinner or for upset stomachs.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 lb. Chicken breasts, cubed
  • 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup (or gluten free cream of chicken)
  • Morton Season All Seasoned Salt
  • 1 can Milk
  • Optional: 1 can Biscuits

Directions

In a deep pan on the stove or a large electric skillet, brown cubed chicken and sprinkle seasoned salt all over top. Add the soup to the chicken, then pour milk in the soup cans and swirl around to get out as much as possible, then pour in with the chicken. Mix and heat until smooth. For optional dumplings, turn down the heat to low and place the biscuits on top of the chicken and gravy, then cover with a lid and barely simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the dumplings are no longer doughy inside. Serve on top of rice, potatoes, or noodles.


Berner Wuerstl

On my mission in Vienna, my companion and I discovered what we called “Heart Attack Wursts”, aka Berner Wuerstl. These bacon-wrapped, cheese-filled hot dogs were SO delicious, but we didn’t dare eat very many or we might actually die of a heart attack. Haha. They were sold in packages in the store in Vienna, but we don’t really have them readily available in stores near us; so I decided to make a substitute version for Oktoberfest. It’s really easy–the hardest part is wrapping the bacon around the hot dog so it doesn’t unravel. I try to tuck in the ends, and if I slightly stretch the bacon from side to side (not pulling on the ends but the sides), that it holds onto the hot dog easier.

You can either use nice cheese-filled hot dogs and wrap them in bacon, or stuff your own hot dogs with cheese.

And this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

Berner Wuerstl

  • Servings: varies
  • Difficulty: medium
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A delicious, bacon-wrapped “heart attack wurst”.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. good quality Hot Dogs
  • 1 brick White Cheese (like Muenster), thinly sliced to fit inside a hot dog
  • OR 1 pkg. Cheddar Hot Dogs
  • 1 pkg. uncooked Bacon

Directions

For the easiest version, buy cheddar hot dogs and simply wrap them with bacon. OR Slice hot dogs down middle, place cheese in middle, then wrap in bacon, making sure to tuck the ends so the bacon doesn’t unravel. Broil or grill on medium heat for 5 minutes on each side, turning halfway.


Baked Chicken

We used to have baked chicken all the time because it was very simple and only required Italian dressing.

And this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

Baked Chicken

  • Servings: varies
  • Difficulty: easy
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An exceptionally easy chicken dish that’s quick to throw in the oven.

Ingredients

  • Chicken Breasts
  • Italian Dressing

Directions

(For more flavorful chicken, marinate in Italian dressing for at least half an hour.) On a greased cookie sheet, cover each chicken with Italian dressing. If boneless, cook for 30 minutes at 375° or until temperature reaches 160°. For chicken with bones, cook for at least 45 minutes.