nice but easy dinner?
 

My mom is coming over on Thursday for Mother's Day dinner. She isn't a picky eater and will be happy just not having to cook, but I have no ideas about what to make. Dh can't eat dairy, so that cuts out everything I like to cook. Cheeeese!!! Cream!!!! I don't really love cooking, and I am not going to want to put a lot of energy into something fancy. I'm guessing ds will want to make a cake (already have a recipe), but if we do that, I want the rest of it to be easy. Ideas?? (No seafood- I don't like it.)

Dh will be at the grocery store that morning, but whatever I ask him to get needs to be pretty clear cut. He never asks for help when he can't find stuff. :doh I honestly thought about take out but trying to keep costs down.

Re: nice but easy dinner?
 

What I'm making tonight is easy if you like Asian type stuff. I'm just throwing some
Chicken thighs in a pan with some soy sauce, garlic, a little water and probably a little brown sugar. Let that cook with a lid on. Flip occasionally. It will absorb most of the liquid. Then boil some Noodles and toss with a little of the sauce. Add shredded carrots and cabbage and whatever else. Add some Veggies to the chicken until heated and it's done.

Re: nice but easy dinner?
 

I like to do a roast chicken, with lemon and herbs and onion chunks in the cavity, s&p and oil on top. I surround that with lots of big carrot pieces, small or chunked potatoes, onions, shallots and lemon wedges. I toss all the veggies in oil, s&p, and maybe toss in some herb sprigs. You can make gravy with the drippings and serve it on the side.

Serve with arugula, diced shallots, and a dressing made from oil, lemon juice, honey, parsley and salt. You can add some extras to suit your family, like berries, shaved parm, thin radish slices?

Re: nice but easy dinner?
 

This is nice and easy, but a little pricey.

Put a roast in the crock pot. Add chopped raw potatoes and either chopped carrots or a bag of baby carrots. Pour a packet of onion soup mix over the top and enough water that it almost covers the roast. Cook for a long time- like 18 hours is good. If you put it in the night before it's definitely ready by dinner time. Super easy and people love it! If you try to shorten the cooking time it will be done but tough. If you cook it long enough it melts in your mouth.

Re: nice but easy dinner?
 

I love to make lemon rosemary chicken.
Juice and zest two lemons. Put the juice in a bag, along with a couple tablespoons olive oil, some salt and pepper, a few cloves of minced garlic, and of course, rosemary.
Then, cut some chicken breasts in half lengthwise (so they are thinner. All the breasts are so thick these days!) Put it in the bag and let it sit.

You can probably do an internet search if you want to find exact quantities. I am usually in a hurry, so I don't bother. Everyone loves it. I make it once a month without fail.

Recently, I have started roasting red potatoes while the chicken is marinating. I quarter them, put them on a sheet pan, and then drizzle olive oil and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then roast them at 400 for about 20 minutes. Then, I take them out, add a bag of fresh green beans, drizzle with some more oil and salt/pepper/garlic and stir it all round, then put the chicken on top and bake for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is done.
I make a quick salad or if I don't have salad greens, I will roast a bag of baby carrots in the oven while the chicken/potatoes/green beans are cooking. (Just put them in a square baking pan, drizzle with oil, salt, pepper, garlic at minimum, maybe add some rosemary and thyme. Stir it all around and toss in the oven. Stir it once or twice while you open the oven to check the chicken.

I got the idea to do the chicken with the potatoes from cookingclassy.com, which has a lot of sheet pan dinners. Her similar recipe is more complicated, but you could look there to see it.
ETA here it is.
http://www.cookingclassy.com/lemon-c...et-pan-dinner/
I don't make my chicken like that, but it is close. I certainly don't cut them up into bite size pieces. I also don't use lemon anywhere except in the chicken marinade. I wish I could tell you how long I cook the chicken, though. It is more like "Oh, I better get that chicken out!" I use stoneware, so I don't have to worry about burning the veggies.