After working all day, picking up your kids from school and taking them to sports practice, you probably aren’t itching to come home and cook a four-course meal. But, even on the busiest nights, you don’t have to make stopping at McDonald’s on the way home a part of your routine — and, if you do, we won’t judge! Here are some recipes submitted by your neighbors, to help make dinners at home fast and easy, when they need to be (aka most of the time).
Skillet Flat Iron Fajitas
Jeffrey Lee, Woodstock
Skip the marinade! You can make tasty fajitas without marinating your steak for hours. Serve with flour tortillas, guacamole, queso or sour cream.
Ingredients
• 1 pound flat iron steak
• 2 bell peppers (color of choice)
• 1 small white onion
• 1 ½ tablespoons fajita seasoning, separated
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions
Slice the steak, bell peppers and onion into strips. In a bowl, add the sliced steak and 1 tablespoon of fajita seasoning. Toss to coat. In a separate bowl, add vegetables and ½ tablespoon of fajita seasoning. Toss to coat. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and vegetables to the hot skillet. Cook for 4 minutes, or just until vegetables begin to soften. Add the steak to the pan (Leave the vegetables in!), and stir frequently. Cook for 6 minutes, or until desired doneness is reached.
Easy Chicken Pot Pie
Janis Forrester, Canton
Ingredients
• 1 (12.5-ounce) can cooked chicken breast, drained
• salt and pepper
• 1 can mixed vegetables, drained
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of potato soup
• 1 can crescent rolls
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine chicken, salt and pepper (to taste), vegetables and soups into a bowl. Mix well. Pour mixture into a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Unroll crescent rolls and place on top of the filling. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Cuban-Style Mojo Pulled Pork
Cristina Markley, Canton
For a quick and easy meal, serve with buns for barbeque sandwiches. For a full meal, serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn.
Ingredients
• 2 pounds pork tenderloin, frozen
• ½ bottle of Goya Mojo Criollo Marinade
Directions
Place pork in a Crock-Pot, and pour the marinade over the pork. Cook on low heat for 8 hours. Shred the pork in the Crock-Pot so it soaks the juice back up.
4-Ingredient Lazy Lasagna
Katie Phillips, Woodstock
This is a great recipe to make with kids. There’s no chopping involved, and they can help you layer the “lasagna.” Another plus is the prep time is short, and it’s on the table in less than an hour. When you’re shopping for ingredients to make this, pick up a salad kit as an easy side.
Ingredients
• 1 jar (24-ounce) pasta sauce
• 1 bag frozen ravioli
• 16 ounces shredded mozzarella
• ½ cup shredded parmesan
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish, and spread a thin layer of pasta sauce (less than 1 cup) in the bottom of the dish. Arrange about half of the frozen ravioli in a single layer over the sauce. Top with half of the remaining sauce and half of the mozzarella. Repeat with remaining ravioli, sauce and mozzarella. Sprinkle with parmesan.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown.
Note: If you like meatier recipes, add ground beef or mushrooms to the dish, or serve with meatballs. I like to use chunky pasta sauce to incorporate more vegetables.
Garlic Butter Baked Flounder
Sydney Galantiz, Woodstock
A low-carb side for this meal is asparagus, and you can cook it in the oven at the same time. Place the asparagus on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stick it in the oven when you put in the flounder. Check after 15 minutes.
Ingredients
• 1 pound flounder filets
• salt and pepper
• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• garlic powder
• 2 lemons
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 teaspoons garlic, minced
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the flounder dry with paper towels. Season both sides liberally with salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper and garlic powder. Cut one lemon in thin slices and the other in wedges, for serving. Make a tin foil packet on a sheet pan. Place half of the butter in the packet, and add the seasoned fish filets. Top with minced garlic, lemon slices and remaining butter. Seal the foil packet, and place the pan in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
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