If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you probably saw this picture last night. The caption for the picture was it was a pancakes for dinner type of day.
Nothing major went wrong yesterday, it was just one of those crazy days. I had to go to the allergist. Sometimes I feel like my family lives at the allergist’s office. Really we don’t, but they do know us quite well there.
Add on to that grocery shopping, a trip to Sam’s Club, a few other errands I had to do, laundry, the normal everyday type stuff, and it made for a busy day.
Oh and I have had a headache for three days. One of those headaches that is not a migraine, but is bad enough to make you feel bad because it just won’t go away, type of headaches.
Anyone else have days like that?!
By the time it was dinner time I realized that I had not defrosted any meat. And although I had food because I had just gone grocery shopping, I really did not feel like putting much work into dinner. So, all of that made it a perfect pancakes for dinner type of day.
Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite quick and easy meals. Pancakes, scramble eggs, eggs and toast, or even eggs over rice work great for days when you need a meal, but really don’t feel like cooking.
When I have taco meat in the freezer, which I don’t right now, I also like to make taco fries or tater tot nachos. And restocking the freezer with taco meat is going on my to do list, because really that is a must have for my freezer for days like today.
All of that leads to my Ask the Readers question for today. We all have days like I had yesterday. Crazy days are just part of life.
So, I would love to hear your favorite meal, or meals, that you turn to when you have those crazy busy days. Do you have a meal you find yourself turning to over and over on those kind of days? (Hopefully we can give each other some new ideas, because I think we can all use more ideas for days like that.)
Alexis
On those kind of days, I pull out 2 boxes of DeLallo gluten free gnocchi & a jar of Scarpetta Tuscan Vodka Sauce from my pantry, and peas from the freezer. In 10 minutes, dinner is ready.
Lynn
I agree. I keep a jar of pasta sauce on hand for the same reason. It makes a great quick and easy meal. I have not tried that sauce before. I will have to look for it. It sounds delicious!
Sandy
I roll hot dogs and cheese in tortillas and microwave until they’re hot. Served with canned baked beans (hot or cold) and cole slaw, it’s super quick and easy.
Lynn
Hot dogs are always a great quick and easy meals. I need to keep them on hand more often.
Susan S
Same here – on those crazy busy days which now that I think about it are every day – so on the really crazy days we do breakfast for dinner. Waffles with eggs, bacon or sausage. And I always double the recipe so we have waffles in the freezer for breakfasts.
Lynn
Yes, I did the same thing last night. I doubled the recipe so there would be plenty leftover for breakfast this morning. Two meals in one makes it even better. 🙂
Jamie
I am so super glad to know that I am not the only one who gets home from the grocery store and then has absolutely nothing ready to actually cook!!!!!
Lynn
Oh no, this happens to me too. I love to use my crock pot on days that I grocery shop because after all the shopping I rarely feel like coming home to cook. But yesterday the crock pot just did not get started in the morning, so pancakes worked fine.
Cori
Lately, fritatas or a simple Garlic and oil pasta with bacon and peas! But we do pancakes sometimes too!
Chris
This may or may not be helpful…but it sure helped me! Ashley (edibleperspective.com) has this thing she calls pan bread. If you NEED something to make a quick sandwich, you can have two pieces of “pan bread” (enough for two semi-circle sanswiches) in about 10 minutes! Gluten-free happy sandwiches! We just did this and rolled sausages and slaw together for a quick lunch! I must use this new “trick” 2-3 times a week now! An egg, 1/2 cup of “milk” – which means unsweetened almond milk for me, and a flour combo! SO FAST!!
Lynn
I don’t think I have ever been to her site, so thank you! That sounds like a great recipe so I will check it out and her other gf recipes.
Twyla
I like frozen perogies, frozen vegetables, ham and Greek dressing all mixed together and in the oven. Sometimes I will use canned diced potatoes instead of perogies. Another idea we use is naan bread with pasta sauce, ham and cheese and heat in the oven or toaster oven for individual pizzas.
Dineen
Scrambled eggs is my favorite easy dinner. They easily become fried rice if I have left over rice too. I’ve never served them with freshly cooked rice, I will have to give that a try. Soup with an added can of meat is another. Progresso has some good GF soups that I’ll keep around and add another can of meat (like tuna or chopped Spam) to create a stew. It works out OK in a pinch for my small family. And speaking of Spam, it’s not MY favorite, but my husband loves it when I use it as one of my fall-back meals. I keep it around for quick and easy, for treats for him and for emergency situations. If I have Spam, I generally serve corn or other starchy frozen veggie for a quick meal.
Mindi
Once I made waffles for dinner and my kids thought I was crazy! I thought it would be fun, but they just didn’t get it. My backup meal is normally spaghetti since I always keep a few jars of sauce and boxes of noodles on hand. Or maybe something frozen from Trader Joes. But planning a slow cooker meal on a day when you’re busy shopping is a great idea! Every time I come back from Costco or a big shopping trip, I always feel like I never have anything for dinner either! Or I’m just exhausted too. I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Hope your headache goes away!
s
That was tonight…and I heated up a boxed cream of tomato soup and boiled some cheese tortellini and then threw those into the prepared soup…sometimes I’ll add a swirl of pesto as well. Easy quick and my kids love it.
Shanan
Breakfast for dinner is a great option for me too, but the favorite lazy dinner that my 6 yo and I enjoy is a big bowl of popcorn, apple slices, cheddar cheese slices, and carrot sticks (and a cuddle session on the couch while eating and watching Mythbusters). That is our favorite way to wind down from a hectic day.
Tammy
I almost always have chicken cooked and diced for quick meals (chicken and rice, chicken and biscuits – really anything that calls for cooked, diced chicken). Lately my quick go to meal is chipped beef gravy on biscuits (my daughter doesn’t like it on toast).