Tips for a quick and simple Dinner Tonight!

What’s for Dinner Tonight? At the end of the day this is the question that’s on the minds of people everywhere. With our busy lives, eating out is a daily temptation but with the Dinner Tonight recipes from Texas AgriLife Extension Service and a little advanced planning you can overcome the temptation and put a healthy meal on the table for your family.

In order to prepare healthy meals you have to have a plan in place. Preparing a weekly meal plan is the first step. The easiest way to do this is just to sit down with pen and paper, divide the paper into 7 columns and 3 or 4 rows (depending on whether or not you include snacks in your meal plan) and just begin to fill in the blanks. You need to include a menu for each meal eaten at home and those you will take to work or school. Once your meals are planned for the week, prepare your shopping list. Do this by checking the pantry, refrigerator and freezer to see what items you have on hand, add the items you need to your list and you are ready to head to the grocery store.

Here area couple of quick tips for preparing your shopping list

• group the items by the category in which you find them at the store
• if you use coupons put a star by the item for which you have a coupon, this will serve as a reminder when you pick up that item to be sure you are getting the right brand, size, ect.

Post the weekly meal plan on the refrigerator and check it each night before bed to see if there is something that needs to be thawed, if so transfer that from the freezer to the refrigerator. It takes several hours for beef, chicken or pork to thaw, if you arrive home and the main ingredient for your meal is thawed and ready to be cooked this will help you avoid the temptation of eating out!

I hope you will visit our Dinner Tonight website each week to get some ideas to help you put a quick and healthy meal on the table for your family.

Healthy regards,

Dana

Three Way Garlic Pasta with Beans and Peppers

Welcome to the Dinner Tonight! Blog. Be sure to save this website in your favorites list or subscribe to the link for weekly updates. Each week a Texas AgriLife Extension Agent demonstrates an affordable, quick, and nutritious meal for you to make for your family. Visit our recipe section, nutrition tips, and view our videos. Come back often!

The Three Way Garlic Pasta with Beans and Peppers recipe I demonstrate tonight is one of my favorites. I enjoy making it because I can prepare much of it ahead of time, then when I come home I put dinner on the table quickly. Everything is pre-chopped and I put on the pasta as soon as I come in, adding the remainder of the ingredients per the recipe.

Preparation tips that I find helpful in the kitchen:

• Clean as you go. Wipe up spills when they happen and put dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher as you use them.
• When cooking meats, make extra and freeze or refrigerate for later in the week.
• A huge time saver – have single sized resealable plastic bags of chopped onions, peppers, celery, tomatoes, and carrots or other vegetables all ready to go in the freezer. Pre-chopping and freezing veggies makes for easy going in the kitchen.
• Keep ‘cheat’ sheets inside cabinet doors for handy common quantity conversions. (see sample conversion chart) Another sheet I keep is one for seasonings - which works best for what types of foods and one for substitutions.

Pre-planning meals can be an enormous time saver in the kitchen on busy nights. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Dee Lee

Dinner Tonight!

Welcome to the Dinner Tonight! blog. Each week you will see a Texas AgriLife Extension Agent demonstrate a quick meal suitable for your family's dining pleasure. In addition to the video, recipes and nutrition information are available.

The Taco Soup recipe shown today is one that I’ve used for years simply because it is quick, easy, and good! It has enough meat and vegetables to satisfy any appetite. I turn on the crock pot when I go to work and my family’s entrée is ready when I come home. All I have to do is make cornbread or get out a box of crackers and we have a nourishing meal for the family. Now, that is fast food!

Here are a few tips that work for me:

• Make a menu for a week at a time.
• Check pantry and refrigerator for ingredients and purchase necessary items for each recipe.
• Review recipe in advance for any preparation steps that need to be done ahead of time.

With a little planning, a busy family can eat a nutritious, low-cost dinner together. I hope your family enjoys this recipe. Don’t forget to use the link to subscribe to this blog in order to get weekly updates!

Donna