What to Make for Dinner

Many times, it happens that you enter the kitchen to prepare the dinner. You have all the grocery and ingredients available with you and you are left wondering what to prepare for dinner. You are bored eating the same recipe you prepare 2-3 times a week and want to have something different. Struggling to find the answer to the question, you get bored and end up ordering food from outside. If you plan the dinner and follow some simple strategies, you can easily get rid of this question.

Weekly planning of the dinner has proved to be an effective solution to this problem for many. All you need to do is, decide your dinner a week before and do the preparations accordingly. Here are some simple dinner ideas for you.

Dinner Ideas to Make in a Jiffy

Dinner Idea 1 - Spanish Rice

Ingredients

• Rice - 1 cups
• Plain tomato sauce - 1 cup
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Onion - 1, medium-sized
• Chicken broth - 2 cups
• Oil - 2 tablespoons
• Chopped parsley - 4 tablespoons

Procedure

Spanish rice is a very simple and easy dinner recipe. First chop the garlic cloves finely. Then take a medium-sized sauce pan and heat the oil over medium heat. Then put in chopped garlic and chopped onion into the sauce pan. Saut the mixture for about one to two minutes, until the mixture becomes soft. Then put in the rice and stir the mixture for a while. Stir until the rice turns golden brown in color. Then add the chicken broth and tomato sauce into the rice. Put in chopped parsley and stir the mixture and let it boil. When the rice starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover the sauce pan. Simmer the rice for at least 20 minutes and your Spanish rice is ready.

Dinner Idea 2 - Baked Ziti

Ingredients

• Dry ziti pasta - 1 pound
• Onion - 1
• Lean ground beef - 1 pound
• Spaghetti sauce - 2 (26 ounce) jars
• Sour cream - 1 cups
• Mozzarella cheese (shredded) - 6 ounces
• Provolone cheese (sliced) - 6 ounces
• Parmesan cheese (grated) - 2 tablespoons
• Oil - 1 tablespoon

Procedure

This is the best make ahead dinner for Italian pasta lovers. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Put in some water in a large vessel and add some salt to it. Bring this water to boil and add the ziti pasta to it. Boil the pasta for about 8-10 minutes until the pasta turns firm enough to eat. Then take a large skillet, put oil and saut onion and ground beef in it. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes. Grease a 9 by 15 inch loaf pan and arrange the layers. The order of the layers goes like this, half of the ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, half sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and in the end pour the remaining sauce mixture. Then grate Parmesan cheese over the mixture. Bake this mixture in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. You can serve this delicious pasta with tossed salad and onion rolls.

Dinner Idea 3 - Italian Zucchini

Ingredients

• Sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Zucchinis (sliced) - 2
• Olive oil - cup
• White onion (sliced into thin wedges) - 1 small
• Salt - 1 tablespoon
• Italian seasoning - tablespoon
• Diced tomatoes with juice - 1 (14.5 ounce) can

Procedure

One more simple and make ahead dinner recipe is Italian zucchini. First heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and then put in onion. Cook the mixture until onion cubes become soft. Then put in tomatoes, juice and zucchini. Add salt and Italian seasoning and cook the mixture until zucchini becomes tender. In the end add sugar and add seasonings according to taste required. Serve this recipe with rice.

So, still wondering what to make for dinner? Use the above given tips and plan your dinner recipes. You should decide the dinner recipe well before time and buy the ingredients in advance. This will save your time and also minimize your grocery trips. Make a list of favorites of your family members and decide the weekly dinner accordingly.