Ideas for fast and easy weeknight dinners

Having trouble figuring out what to have for dinner? Break the meal into three parts: meat, starch, vegetable.

Usually I have one of each on hand, either fresh or frozen. I keep several meats (e.g. chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, fish fillets, etc) in the freezer along with frozen veggies for just these types of instances.

For example, make the starch (e.g. couscous – cooks in 5 minutes!), saute a chicken breast, steam some frozen broccoli with a sliver of butter and salt and a tablespoon of H20 in a covered bowl in the microwave, and make a quick pan sauce out of the drippings from the chicken using broth or wine.

Place the chicken on the couscous, cover with the pan sauce, put the broccoli on the side, and voila – a quick, easy, vaguely-fancy weeknight meal that didn’t require a trip to the grocery store!