Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas

I’ve been blogging for six years, almost to the day. (What day was it?) In that time, I’ve put up a lot of recipes, some of them complicated, most of them easy, and nearly all of them French.

I’ve decided to put links to some of the easiest dinners to make in my repertoire so that you have a quick reference guide. In this post, I’ll give you the estimated timeframe and the ingredients needed, assuming you already have salt, pepper and oil.

Number One is actually a three-fer because I am being featured over at BonBonBreak right now with three ten-minute meals that are French classics, or at least a variety on some french classics. I won’t give too much away, except to tell you that they have never before appeared on A Lady in France, so I hope you’ll click over to get inspired. (And I’ll give you a hint – one involves bacon, another involves eggs, and a third involves beets. Whut. Not into beets? Okay, then corn). 😉 I’m pretty sure your kids will like these recipes. You can find them by clicking here.

Number Two – Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce. Click here for the recipe. You’ll need some good steak, oregano, sour cream, blue cheese. Total time: 10 minutes, not including a side dish which could be rice or potatoes.

Number Three – Lentil Soup. Click here for the recipe. Ingredients for this recipe are lentils, carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaf, basil, bouillon cube. You can also add hotdogs cut into pieces if the kids like that. 15 minutes preparation, 1 hour to cook.

Number Four – Eggplant Gratin. Click here for the recipe. Ingredients are eggplants, mozzarella, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, parmesan, Swiss cheese, basil. Eggplant gratin is lengthy only in that you have to keep an eye on the eggplant slices as they are roasting in the oven, but it’s about an hour total for cooking and preparing, and you can do other things while it’s in the oven. Serve with bread and salad.

Number Five – Creamy Tarragon Chicken – Click here for the recipe. You’ll need chicken breast, tarragon, Dijon mustard, sour cream, onions – to be served over rice. 15 Minutes, not including the rice. This one is a big hit for something so easy.

Number Six – Vegetable Soup Purée – Click here for the recipe. You’ll need carrots, leeks (or onions), turnips, red pepper, zucchini, and cream cheese. Serve with fresh bread, and why not have a mini cheese platter with brie cheese, goat cheese, and Swiss? An hour, 10 minutes total.

Number Seven – Roast Chicken – Click here for the recipe. (This recipe might look more complicated than it really is because it offers a more involved seasoning and also shows you how to cut the whole chicken. But just pour some olive oil over the whole bird, sprinkle some thyme or herbes de provence, add salt and garlic powder and/or Dijon mustard, and into the oven it goes for an hour. Not complicated. Ingredints are: whole chicken + desired spices – serve over rice or quinoa. Total time – 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Number Eight – Garlic-Shrimp and Scallops – Click here for the recipe. Not really French if you consider the Parmesan cheese, but still yummy and really quick to make. Ingredients: Shrimp, scallops, garlic, white wine, parmesan, butter, sour cream, parsley. Serve over rice. 15 minutes total, not including the rice.

Number Nine – Easy Lasagna Click here for the recipe. (I use gluten-free lasagna noodles). This one takes a wee-bit longer, but it’s not all that hard to make. You’ll need pre-cooked lasagna noodles, onions, ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, eggs, chives. I’d give it an hour and a half just to be comfortable, though it really shouldn’t take that long.

Number Ten – Quiche Lorraine – Click here for the recipe. I can’t forget quiche if I’m going to talk about easy French dinners, right? You can do all sorts of varieties of quiche but this one is a classic. I’ve included a recipe for gluten-free crust, but if you don’t need to be gluten free, by all means, buy a pre-made crust and save yourself the time! Ingredients: pie crust – or ingredients for pie crust (see post) – bacon, eggs, sour cream, nutmeg. 20 minutes prep time (or less if you use a pre-made crust), 30 minutes bake time.

I hope these posts inspire you with some ideas. Dinner is never easy when you have to do it over and over again, is it? Or you can do like my mother-in-law when her five boys were young.

“It’s Cheese Night!” she declared. A platter of French cheeses, a baguette, a salad, and let’s call it a night! 😉

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