Salisbury Steak

This recipe doesn't take much prep time, but it does take a bit of time to bake, so plan ahead for that. The sauce has a nice zip to it, thanks to the barbecue sauce and the stuffing mix adds a nice flavor to the patties and helps to make this a quick fix dinner. To make this recipe even faster, substitute dehydrated onion flakes for the chopped onion.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb ground beef

1 package stuffing mix for chicken

1 ½ cup water, divided

¾ c chopped onion (or 1 tablespoon dehydrated onion flakes)

8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

½ c barbecue sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together then ground beef, stuffing mix, 1 ¼ cup water and the onion. Pat into ½ inch thick oval shaped patties. Put in a large baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

While patties are baking, spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Sauté mushrooms for 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Add remaining water and the barbecue sauce. Turn heat down to low and cook 1-2 minutes or until the sauce is heated.

Serve sauce over patties.

To round out this meal, serve with green beans and potatoes baked in the microwave while the patties are baking.

Zippy Chicken & Pasta

This is a fun and colorful fast dinner recipe that kids and adults love. It's a great way to get kids to enjoy eating their veggies. This is a complete dinner on its own so it's especially fast. Since it's fairly light, dessert would be a good addition to this dinner.

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package fusilli or rotini pasta

½ c Italian salad dressing, divided

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

2 cups broccoli florets

1 large red pepper, chopped

1 small onion, sliced thin

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Follow directions on package for cooking pasta.

While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet, heat ¼ cup of the dressing over medium-high heat. Add chicken chunks and cook about 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir occasionally. Add vegetables and parsley to the pan and cook 5 minutes longer.

Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture and stir well. Add remaining ¼ cup of Italian dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

A fun twist on this dinner would be to substitute shrimp for the chicken. If you make this substitution, you should reduce the cooking time to about 2 minutes or just until the shrimp turns pink. Shrimp will turn rubbery if overcooked, so it's important to watch your cooking time.

Since this fast dinner recipe is a complete meal in one bowl, there really isn't anything to be added to round out this meal. But since it's nice and light, a quick dessert would be fabulous. I would suggest a pudding parfait. Just take your favorite flavor of pudding, layer it with cool whip and some graham cracker crumbs in a pretty glass and there you have an easy but fancy looking dessert.