I have a confession to make: our family dinners are boring.
And I don’t mean the conversation. Kernan and I talk about a whole lot from politics, showbiz, work, running and whole lot of other stuff. Add the kids into the mix and we’ve got a happy ruckus going on.
When I said boring dinners, I meant the food. Over the years, our dinner menu has become pretty standard, predictable and well, boring. They’re tasty, mind you. We are fortunate to have a skilled helper who cooks well. When he has time, Kernan whips some pretty amazing dishes too.
But on most days, we rotate our routine dinners. We don’t eat pork and very little beef at home so our meal plan just alternates between chicken and fish. Like we’d have sinigang na isda on Mondays, chicken and peas on Tuesdays, pasta on Wednesdays, fried fish on Thursdays, monggo on Fridays. You get my drift.
My tastebuds are craving for something new so I’m thinking of revamping our meal plan. It’ll still be chicken and fish dishes, of course, but with a twist. Ease of cooking is also a must for me because with kids and a hungry hubby around, we definitely need meals that cook fast.
I found some easy dinner ideas at Ivillage.com. They’ve got a a user-friendly interface for their recipe site and the ones I found were pretty easy to follow and modify to your liking too.
Here are some of the recipes I liked:
1. Summer PastaThis one looks easy to cook. I like the combination of nuts and cheese, two of my favorite finger foods. 
Even if we use cashew nuts instead of pine nuts I think it will taste just as good. Having cherry tomatoes instead of full on tomato sauce also makes it a light and fresh alternative to the heavy pastas we always make.
When our cook is not so inspired, she usually resorts to cooking fried chicken breast fillet. We eat it with ketchup and that’s it. (Told you it was boring.) Well, this recipe just gave me an idea on how to level up that good ole fried chicken fillet with a bit of breading, a smattering of tomato sauce and of course, cheese! (Can you tell I love cheese?) This looks best paired with pasta but I think I can eat it with rice too.
A better alternative to fastfood fries, these potato wedges would taste good with our homemade chicken burgers. My kids love fries so I’m sure they’ll like these even if they’re home made. I’m not a big fan of chili or sour cream though but I think I know what to substitute for a dip. Can you guess? What else, cheese! 
Actually I like potatoes a lot and if they’re cooked well, I can eat them plain and crispy.
What are your dinners like? If you’ve got easy dinner ideas, do share them in the comments section below. My hubby, my kiddies and my belly will thank you for it. 
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I cook most of our dinners because I love to and I don’t trust our helper. LOL! Since I love Japanese and Thai food, I incorporate it in our daily meals. How about Chicken Teriyaki, Tom Yum Soup, Red Curry or Green Curry. I just google the recipe =)
.-= josiet´s last blog ..EJ, take two =-.
Ooohhh, chicken teriyaki sounds good.
It’s a good thing you love to cook, your hubby must be so happy. As for me, well, cooking doesn’t love me back. Hehe… 
So I just eat and wash the dishes after.
hmm…i’m not the right person to talk about easy dinner recipes. i rarely cook.
.-= kayni´s last blog ..My Books Are Home =-.
I rarely cook too. Hehe…
I do know how to cook rice though and the basic frying. It’s a good thing our helper is a good cook and hubby cooks really good too.
hmm…I try to think of new ways of revamping our food… minsan sa kitchenomics or sa mga websites… you get ideas there. Ako, I don’t really fancy cooking but when I do … natutuwa naman ako kasi Roberts like them (yun nga lng he does not like the effort I put in preparing our food – masyado daw matrabaho hehehe)… kaya I get more inspired to cook!
.-= rach´s last blog ..Been Busy … (collected thoughts while I was busy)… =-.
I know what you mean about the matrabaho part. Haha… When I follow recipes kasi, I always try to follow the exact ingredients and procedures.
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