20 Quick & Easy Dinner Ideas {Real Food, Fast}

Have you entered the giveaway for Trilight Health’s NRG energy-boosting herbal formula yet?! Get out of that afternoon slump–without coffee!

Get 20-Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy for 20% off this week, using code: humbled20! Or, enter to win the giveaway here! (If you buy the book and win, your money will be refunded!)



For our final post in the "Real Food, Fast" mini series, I'm giving some ideas for simple, quick and easy dinners. I hope you've found this series helpful and have been armed with some good, quick and easy recipes to add to your meal planning repertoire!

Real Food, Fast Re-cap

• On Monday, I reviewed Leigh Ann of Intentional by Grace's new eBook, 20-Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy. This book includes lots of techniques for simplifying meal planning, and it gives 28 recipes for dinners that only take 20 minutes each! Leigh Ann is giving all Humbled Homemaker readers 20% off the book until July 14, using code: humbled20. And it's not too late to try to win a copy here! (Winners who have purchased the book will be refunded their money!)
• On Tuesday, we gave ideas for some quick and easy breakfasts--from those that take barely any time at all, to breakfasts you can cook the day/night before and feed your family on all week , to crock pot breakfasts that cook while you sleep, to breakfasts that are ready in about 15-20 minutes from start-to-finish!
• On Wednesday, we looked at quick and easy lunches--my least-planned out meal. I confessed that many of my lunches are just very, simple, thrown-together snack-like plates, like my friend Creative Christian Mama also talked about yesterday. We also talked about eating leftovers for lunch and listed some 10-minute lunch ideas.

Image by Vox Efx

Now let's move on to that one meal that you want to always be prepared for--dinner. I'll be transparent and say that I've really had a hard time with meal planning while pregnant. Plan to Eat and ListPlan are both helping me get back on the ball (just in time for baby's arrival in about 4 weeks!), but there are still nights when I look at the clock at 5, and think: "Oh, man! I need to start dinner, and I have no idea what to cook!"

Having a list of super simple, quick and easy dinners that only take 20-30 minutes to make from start-to-finish is helpful for any homemaker!

Image by Annie Mole

My 20-30-Minute Meals Collection

• Stir-Fry over rice:Hands down, this is my most favorite, easiest, quickest meal. I make it with either chicken or shrimp and either fresh or frozen veggies (fresh is my favorite, of course!). If I have pre-chopped veggies and pre-cooked shrimp, this meal is incredibly fast to whip up. (Note: You'll want to have some pre-cooked rice on hand to make this the fastest meal ever!)
• Pasta with Spinach & Mushrooms: My second favorite easy-peasy meal only requires a few ingredients: chicken or shrimp, some type of pasta, spinach, mushrooms, garlic and cheese. After boiling the pasta, I cook everything else on the skillet. I love feeding my family healthy greens...and this is such an easy way to do it!
• Breakfast for Supper: Eggs and bacon, anyone? This is my go-to end-of-the-month meal. Not only is it fast, but it's affordable!
• Simple Sugar Snap Pea Pasta Salad: With the use of pre-cooked shrimp, this is another one-dish meal that takes very, very little time to prepare.
• Taco/Chicken Salads: If I already have pre-chopped veggies, these meals only take as long as it takes to cook the meat! Top the salads with the meat, and you're good to go!
• Tuna Pasta Salad: I make this with salmon, and it's typically a longer lunch for me and the girls since my husband doesn't care much for fish. But, really...it's a wonderful, quick dinner that's full of yummy omega-3s!
• Southwestern Chicken Chili Mac: Another pasta-skillet dish, this one includes white beans and shredded chicken!
• Recycled Quick Lunch Ideas: Many of my 10-minute lunches from yesterday's post--like quesadillas or sliced-bread pizzas--also make their way to our dinner table when I'm running low on time!
• Meals from 20-Minute Meals: If it's late, and I have no plan, I turn to this book and whip up one of her recipes--particularly the honey-orange or lemon-rosemary chicken!

Other Dinners to Try

• Cheeseburger Tortilla Skillet: Elsie's version of homemade "Hamburger Helper" is quick, easy, and much, much healthier than the additive-laden store-bought stuff!
• Pasta with Chickpeas and Garlic Sauce: I pinned this one a while back but haven't tried it yet. I love chickpeas and pasta...and this dish looks to take about 30 minutes to make!
• Creamy Lemon Pasta with Chicken: Another Pinterest find, this one looks to combine my love for cheese and chicken!
• Easy Summer Chicken Spaghetti: This recipe from Ramblings of a Christian Mom looks really simple--and delicious!
• Sweet Chili Lime Turkey Burgers: I love how this recipe from Inspired-Housewife includes one of my favorite fats--avocados!
• Chicken Enchiladas & Salad in 30 Minutes Flat: Natalie's recent quick meal on Keeper of the Home looks super easy--and feeds her family of 11!
• Leigh Ann's 20-Minute Meals Series: The author of 20-Minute Meals recently ran a series with 5 of her 20-minute meals recipes! I'm excited to try her Chicken-Caesar Wrap, Shrimp Scampi, Pork Diane, Simple Spaghetti, and Pan-Seared Curried Cod.

Resources:

• Plan to Eat: I recently started using this online meal planning service–which is also one of my July sponsors! You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here!
• List PlanIt: I recently won a membership to this online organizational resource and have been using their pre-made lists to also aid in my meal planning.
• Plan It, Don’t Panic: Stephanie’s book gives you all you need to get your meal planning in order.
• 20 Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy: While Leigh Ann’s book only gives dinner recipes (28 meals that only take 20 minutes!), she includes lots of great tips for making any meal of the day less stressful. You can get a copy for 20% off through July 14 using code: humbled20, or you can enter to win one in this week’s giveaway! (She’ll refund the money of any winners who have already purchased the book!)
• Real Food, Real Easy: This is an eBook I wrote with several other bloggers. The 70+ recipes included are designed for real food newbies!

What are your quick and easy dinner ideas?

Top Image by jugglerpm

*I have included affiliate links in this post.

Quick & Easy Lunch Ideas {Real Food, Fast}

Have you entered the giveaway for Trilight Health’s NRG energy-boosting herbal formula yet?! Get out of that afternoon slump–without coffee!

Get 20-Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy for 20% off this week, using code: humbled20! Or, enter to win the giveaway here! (If you buy the book and win, your money will be refunded!)



This week is all about arming ourselves with simple, quick, easy and delicious meal ideas for when life gets busy.

Yesterday was all about breakfast--my most challenging meal.

Today we're giving some ideas for my least-planned-out meal: lunch.

 

Use Those Leftovers!

My most common strategy for lunch is eating leftovers from the night before. In fact, this is pretty much all my husband and I ate for lunches before we had kids. He's not much of a sandwich guy, and I didn't like buying sandwich stuff for just me.

However, on a limited grocery budget each month, we can't always afford for me to make enough of one meal to cover all four of our lunches the next day. So, normally, my husband takes leftovers with him to work, and the girls can I eat something very, very simple for lunch. In a big rut, we may just eat breakfast leftovers for lunch! (A traditional Costa Rican breakfast--gallo pinto--is perfect for this!)

Image by Lachlan Hardy

Protein & Produce

I often tell my husband that we girls just "scrounge around" the fridge and pantry for lunch. And that's pretty much what we do. But I normally try to include at least some time of protein and produce in each of these super quick and easy lunches. A typical lunch at my house may look something like this:

• pre-cooked beans (black, kidney, garbanzo, lentils), peas and apples (Note: My girls LOVE frozen peas! So no cooking required for those!)
• hummus with veggie sticks
• salmon with a veggie or avocado
• cheese and crackers with salmon or avocado (for me...the girls can't eat dairy) and a fruit
• fruit & yogurt with granola (no yogurt for the girls)
• protein-packed smoothies

Image by NatalieMaynor

10-Minute Prep

When the day is running smoothly and I do take a bit more time to plan, these are some of my favorite 10-minute lunches:

• sliced bread pizzas: Top a slice of bread with tomato sauce, shredded cheese and any desired toppings, and broil on high for about 5 minutes. My favorite bread to use is sourdough, but my mom used to make me and my siblings French bread pizzas this way! (And our classmates always wanted to trade for our lunches at school!)
• quesadillas: Fill a whole wheat tortilla with shredded cheese and pre-chopped veggies or meat. Fold in half and cook on heated, oiled skilled for a couple minutes on each side.
• Stacy's tuna melts: I'm not a tuna girl, so I use salmon for these. Stir together salsa, mayo (I use plain yogurt), salmon, mustard and cheese. Spread mixture on two slices of bread or a tortilla and cook like a grilled cheese. (See Stacy's blog for full recipe!) Here's another yummy-looking salmon/tuna melt recipe.
• tomato sandwiches: This probably doesn't even take 5 minutes to make--and it's one of my favorites in the summer with fresh tomatoes from our garden!
• tossed salad topped with leftover shredded chicken or canned salmon/tuna: If using the fish, this is the perfect lunch for a breastfeeding mom! And if your veggies are pre-chopped, this lunch should take less than 10 minutes of prep. time.
• apple and peanut butter sandwiches: I also do something similar with rice cakes...quick and easy lunch for those mommies with gluten-free kiddos!
• snack-style lunches: Justyn from Creative Christian Mama gives some great ideas in this post!

Resources:

• Plan to Eat: I recently started using this online meal planning service–which is also one of my July sponsors! You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here!
• List PlanIt: I recently won a membership to this online organizational resource and have been using their pre-made lists to also aid in my meal planning.
• Plan It, Don’t Panic: Stephanie’s book gives you all you need to get your meal planning in order.
• 20 Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy: While Leigh Ann’s book only gives dinner recipes (28 meals that only take 20 minutes!), she includes lots of great tips for making any meal of the day less stressful. You can get a copy for 20% off through July 14 using code: humbled20, or you can enter to win one in this week’s giveaway! (She’ll refund the money of any winners who have already purchased the book!)

What are your quick and easy lunch ideas?

* I have included affiliate links in this post.

Top Image by Meneer Zjeroen

14 Quick & Easy Breakfast Ideas {Real Food, Fast}

Have you entered the giveaway for Trilight Health’s NRG energy-boosting herbal formula yet?! Get out of that afternoon slump–without coffee!

Get 20-Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy for 20% off this week, using code: humbled20! Or, enter to win the giveaway here! (If you buy the book and win, your money will be refunded!)

Today marks the start of a 4-day mini series--Real Food, Fast: Quick & Easy Recipes. With baby's due date quickly approaching, I've been collecting some recipes for those early postpartum days when I know I'll be sleep-deprived!

Breakfast is one of those meals that always gets me--especially when I haven't had much sleep. To be honest, I used to skip breakfast a lot when it was just me (I know, I know--it's the most important meal of the day!). But I simply cannot do that with two little mouths begging mommy for something to eat first thing in the morning!

One thing I've learned I'm learning is that pre-prep is key. In her eBook, Plan It, Don't Panic, Stephanie of Keeper of the Home talks a lot about including prep. notes in our meals plans. Thawing out meats the night before, chopping fruit for smoothies, making sure all your ingredients are gathered, etc. can make your mornings (or any meal times) much more peaceful.


No matter what your current life season, I hope the following quick and easy breakfast ideas will prove helpful to you:

Image by stevendepolo

Ready in a Matter of Minutes

• Scrambled Eggs & Fruit: Scrambled eggs is one of the fastest meals you can cook. I scramble mine with coconut oil to get in some good fat first thing in the morning. Pair the eggs with a fruit you don't even have to cut--like berries or grapes.
• Fruit & Yogurt: Plain, Green yogurt will be your best bet for a protein-packed breakfast here.
• Granola with Milk, Yogurt or Kefir: This is a personal favorite. I usually make a double batch of granola to last me all week. If you are accustomed to cold cereals in the morning but want to opt for something healthier, this is your best bet. (Watch out for my homemade pumpkin-flax seed granola recipe soon!)
• Smoothies: I've been on a smoothie kick this entire pregnancy. They are so easy in the morning or for a snack. I used to make all berry smoothies. I've since fallen in love with green smoothies and avocado smoothies. If you're a subscriber, be sure to request your FREE smoothie eBook!

Image by stevendepolo

Cook Once & Enjoy All Week

These breakfast ideas require one day of cooking/baking, but, after that, you can have a quick and easy breakfast at your fingertips in the time it takes for you to pull something out of the fridge (or, for a few, warm something up in the toaster oven).

• Spinach and Mozzarella Egg Bake: I absolutely love egg casseroles, and this one looks both yummy and healthy!
• Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole: This one takes about 45 minutes to bake, but all you have to do is pop it in the over in the morning because you can make it up the night before. My mom made a version of this every Christmas morning growing up--and, believe me, the leftovers are definitely a hit!
• Healthy Homemade Granola Bars: I can't wait to try this recipe from Red and Honey! Not only are these granola bars healthy, but they don't even require any baking! Her suggestion is to cut them up and even freeze them for super quick and easy breakfasts!
• A Quick Bread: Quick breads don't need to rise, so they are easy to whip up--although they do tend to take at least 45 minutes and up to an hour and a half to bake. Save, Life, Love tells me she will make up a yummy banana bread and freeze it into individual slices for an effortless breakfast idea.

Image by nate steiner

Make the Night Before

I have yet to use my crock pot for breakfast, but these both look like excellent ideas...and what nicer scent to wake up to than breakfast--already made?!

• Crock Pot Breakfast: Wake up to Trailing with God's hearty combo of eggs, bacon or sausage, peppers, onions, cheese and potatoes! (And who will need lunch after all that?!)
• Crock Pot Oatmeal: I love oatmeal, and having it already cooked when I roll out of bed will be really nice once baby arrives!

Whip Up & Enjoy

These breakfasts may take a bit longer, but they are still not too time intensive--especially if you have the ingredients all ready to go.

• Quick Cinnamon Biscuits: These look super yummy and only take 15 minutes to bake! (Healthy Upgrade: Sub in whole wheat flour, palm shortening, sucanat and homemade powdered sugar.)
• Muffins: These usually take only 10-12 minutes to bake. With the start of blueberry season, I'll be making these pretty often, and these basic almond muffins also look super yummy!
• Super Easy Breakfast Quesadillas: Rachel's breakfast twist on an old Mexican favorite includes peanut butter, honey and fruit!
• Protein Packed Pancakes: These are a favorite in our house since Little Girl is gluten-free. Whip up this bean-based batter in a blender while your skillet is heating.

Image by Dita Margarita

Need Even More Ideas?

The Welcome House recently listed 6 ideas for simple summer breakfasts.

Resources:

• Plan to Eat: I recently started using this online meal planning service--which is also one of my July sponsors! You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here!
• List PlanIt: I recently won a membership to this online organizational resource and have been using their pre-made lists to also aid in my meal planning.
• Plan It, Don't Panic: Stephanie's book gives you all you need to get your meal planning in order.
• 20 Minute Meals: Giving Weary Chefs Grace While Keeping Families Healthy: While Leigh Ann's book only gives dinner recipes (28 meals that only take 20 minutes!), she includes lots of great tips for making any meal of the day less stressful. You can get a copy for 20% off through July 14 using code: humbled20, or you can enter to win one in this week's giveaway! (She'll refund the money of any winners who have already purchased the book!)

What are your quick and easy breakfast ideas?

I'm linking up with: The Better Mom, The Prairie Homestead, Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, Deep Roots at Home, Time-Warp Wife, Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well

Works for Me Wednesday,Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter, Full Plate Thursday, Frugal Friday, Fight Back Friday, Friday Food, Frugally Sustainable

*I have included affiliate links in this post! Thank you for supporting my site!