http://emilys5blessings.blogspot.com/2007/03/tortilla-soup.html

http://emilys5blessings.blogspot.com/2007/01/wonderful-wednesday.html

And we like “big burritos”:
http://kristine-jewelsofmyown.blogspot.com/2007/10/big-burritos.html
When we’re in a hurry, it’s Minute Rice w/out any of the fancy seasonings, and packaged guacamole from the deli case.

Oh, another chicken thing is just plopping an entire chicken ($3.50 at our grocery store) into the oven for 1.5-2 hours. First, I pour a little olive oil over it and sprinkle rosemary and oregano on top. It smells delicious, looks difficult, costs so little, and requires almost zilch effort (except the cleanup, when I frequently feel required to remake it as chicken noodle soup or something but then just leave it in the fridge to go bad with a good smattering of other friendly containers in the same condition–sigh). But then, with teenagers in the house, maybe there’d be no leftovers.;-)

homemade mac & cheese is great, too! After you make your roux, you add whatever kind of cheese you have on hand! Never any leftovers with this!!!

Food on the grill all year round is great, too! anything can be grilled - meat, veggies, fruit, ,etc….

I’ll send you some ideas but a question about that first chicken recipe — looks good — do you use powered parmesan or fresh? Do you put the breasts in the oven while they are frozen? Or defrost them first?

THANKS!
ARC

Since Luke is from Texas, chili is always a good bet at our house, served with cornbread muffins and a green salad.

We also have lots of grilled meat (chicken or otherwise) year round, usually accompanied by grilled veggies tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and some kind of a quick starch.

Hope this helps, Kathy!

At Costco in the frozen food section they sell bags of pre-grilled frozed chicken strips. I ALWAYS have a bag in my freezer!

Here is what else you will need:
1 Can Black Beans (drained)
2 Cans Diced tomatoes with green chilis
1 Can Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper
Ground Cumin

Throw the frozen chicken strips (about half the bag) in a saute pan with some olive oil. Season with salt, pepper & cumin. When they are nearly heated all the way through add in the diced tomatoes. Simmer those together for a couple minutes and then add the black bean and the chicken broth. Simmer altogether until hot.
You could stop there, or you could treat it kind of like a tortilla soup and add black olives, crushed tortilla chips and cheese on top of each bowl full.

The other option is to stop after adding the diced tomatoes. Don’t add the broth. Heat the black beans up in the microwave and serve the chicken/tomato mixture atop the black beans. I do this often for myself for lunch. For one person I do 4 oz of chicken/half the can of tomatoes/one third can of black beans.

Quick and yummy!