One of the tasks of the day that causes me the most difficulty is coming up with a menu for dinner. The Contrarian would be happy if we had the same maybe 21 meals all the time, but I love variety and am always trying to vary things. Some days I just get stumped, and so I thought I would record meals as I do them, and think of them and use it as a reference for those days that I just cannot come up with anything. Feel free to get ideas here, of course.
Breakfast Meal
- Waffles
- Pancakes
Soups
- Navy Bean
- Leek-Potato
- Beef Barley
- Chicken Noodle
- Tomato
- Cabbage Cheddar Cheese
- Chili
Chicken/Fowl
- Roasted Chicken Breast
- Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
- Fried
- Chicken StirFry
- Chicken Salad
- Chicken potpie
- Brined Turkey
- Roast Duck
- Chicken Cutlet scalloppini
- Arroz con Pollo
- Chicken and dumplings
- Roasted Turkey Breast
- Chicken Paprika
- Chicken Cacciatori
- Chicken tenders
Beef
- Saute Steak
- Beef Brisket oven baked
- Pot Roast
- Beef Stroganoff
- Meatloaf
- Beef stew with dumplings
- Liver and Onions
Pork
- Pork Chops
- Pork Steak
- Pork loin roast
- ribs
- Ham
- boneless ribs
- pulled pork in wonton wrapper
Casseroles
- Beef/corn noodle bake
- Chicken potpie
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Hamburger Spaghetti Ragu a la Iowa
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Broccoli-Coleflower Bake
- Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Corned Beef & Cabbage Casserole
- Quiche
- Fritatta
- Sausage and Cabbage Slow cooker stew
- Cheeseburger casserole
- Chicken and veggie Al Fredo fettucini
Skillet Comfort Food
- Beef macaroni tomato feast
- Bacon pasta tomato delight
- Sausage-pepper-onion saute
Tex-Mex
- Fajitas
- Taco salad
- Taco casserole
- nachos
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Arroz con Pollo
- Stack of quesadillas
- Tostados
- Fish Tacos
Chinese
- Beef Stirfry
- Chicken Stirfry
- Shrimp Stirfry
- General Tso’s Chicken
Italian/Pasta
- Pizza
- Spaghetti & Meatballs
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- Pasta Salad
- Lasagna
- Chicken Cutlet Scalloppini w/ red sauce
- Chicken Cutlet Scalloppini w/ Al Fredo sauce
- Hamburger Spaghetti ragu a la Iowa
- Ravioli with red sauce
- Shrimp with Al Fredo sauce
- Scallops with Lemon sauce and pasta
Greek
- Moussaka
- Pastitsio
- Stuffed Grape leaves
- Souvlaki
Sandwiches
- Pulled pork
- Hamburgers
- Hotdogs
- Chili dogs
- Submarine
- Toasted Cheese/and meat
- Chicken/beef wraps
- Turkey Reuben
Salads
- Meat Salad
- Potato
- Pea
- Coleslaw
- Pasta Salad
- chicken salad
- Asian pasta salad
Seafood
- Shrimp fried/sauted
- Shrimp with Al Fredo sauce fettucini
- Scallops/ sauted with Al Fredo sauce fettucini
- Lobster
- Crab
- Scallops with Lemon sauce
Mmmm. Looks like one good menu to me. If I saw it in a restaurant, I’d come back.
Glad they are of some help…I know they help me! lol.
Is the menu static as in are you changing it? If you do, how often? Who cooks and how often?
In my home there are about 10-15 semi-fixed items. They are frequently modified. New dishes appear regularly and sometime stay. I am the cook because I love it. I am a veggie guy; my lady is a meat lady.
The season has crucial influence on our food.
I add new menus from time to time. And I make up a monthly menu scheme. Some things we have every month, like Pizza, and others only every other or so. I try to vary it. I do most of the cooking. My husband cooks here and there. We are not vegetarians! lol..And we do eat seasonally as well…No more chili until fall! If you wish a recipe on anything you see here, just email me at troyspeyton@iowatelecom.net and I’ll write one up for you. Most are standard recipes that I update a bit here and there to our own tastes. I have a particularly good focaccia and pizza dough recipe that works amazingly well for instance and I do my own spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc.
Have a good one!
What¿ No biscuits n gravy with eggs over medium.
lol…that is good but not my idea of dinner.
I seve that for dinner occasionally. Just make it ‘sausage’ gravy and the eggs overeasy. As R.R. says: Yummo! We are a strange house in a way, but who wants to eat such a huge meal like that for breakfast these days. And I figured, if people can serve chicken and waffles for dinner (delicious by the way), then I could serve biscuits with sausage gravy and eggs.
Mix and match as it suits your taste. That’s always the rule!
Hey Sherry – I’m making Polynesian sweet and sour pork spare ribs, but I’m not sure what side dishes to serve with them. Any suggestions?
I’d do a fried rice and perhaps load it with some snow peas and carrots with a salad of coleslaw with an Asian dressing? Perhaps with the coleslaw, add in some mango or other fruit as a compliment.
Great, I think I’ll try to make this meal Poly-Asian with a hint of the South. Mmmm I’ll serve ginger-mint-juleps!
Now that’s a plan. …Fusion! I like it.
Just discovered Steak Pizzaiola. Love at first bite.
Certainly sounds interesting. Recipe?
two boneless steaks 8-10 oz each (I prefer ribeye or New York Strip, but any decent steak will do), two large cans of diced tomatoes OR two large cans of skinned whole plum tomatoes, Italian seasoning to taste (I prefer oregano and premixed “Italian seasoning”), 2-3 cloves diced garlic, 1 medium yellow onion.
preheat oven to 350.
Place steaks in a deep twelve inch cooking pan (round is better imho), cover with diced tomatoes or crush plum tomatoes and spread on top of steaks liquid included, add garlic and seasonings liberally, slice onion thin to medium thick and place on top of mixture. Bake two hours. Check after one hour and add water and spoon it into the mixture if it is getting too thick. Final mixture should not be soupy.
Steak should be so tender that it easily separates with a fork. Top with shredded cheese if you like. Bread sticks (garlic of COURSE
), and steamed spinach make good side dishes.
Eat and experience Dante’s Paradise
Wow, sounds good. Except for the cut of meat, this is quite near to swiss steak, which oddly enough, I’m doing today. Gonna let it just bubble away until dinner and then thicken it a bit. I’ll make note of your recipe though. It sounds delicious! Thanks.