3 Quick & Easy “Quarantine” Meals

OH DEAR, haven’t we found ourselves in some unprecedented times, mamas? The COVID-19 has wrecked our world literally and figuratively.

Let me first say that while this post may be of a “light topic”, my heart truly is breaking for the extreme and sad situations that have come to pass because of this illness. I am praying daily for those families that are hurting and for protection over the rest of us facing what will be no doubt a tough and critical few weeks.

On the ground level, since we are all participating in “social distancing”, changing our work, play, and eating patterns, this calls for some logistical modifications and planning on our part as moms. Personally, I cook about 3-4 nights a week and the rest we eat out, order in, or gather what we have left, which we endearingly call “Smorgasbord.”

In efforts to minimize our contact with pretty much anything other people touch (lol), I’m making an effort to cook all of our meals at home. I love the idea of making big batches of things that use similar ingredients that I could divide and freeze or eat from all week long.

Here are three of my simplest, most crowd-pleasing meals that can all be made quickly, AND frozen. The steps are simple and little hands would be a big help with all of these recipes!

BBQ Cups

My mom used to make these all the time, and they are SO EASY and have such little cleanup! Great sides would be a simple salad and baked beans.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground meat
• 1 16-oz. bottle BBQ sauce
• ½ chopped onion (optional)
• 2 cans Grands biscuits
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Brown ground meat, and season with salt and pepper. Mix in onions until soft. Mix in BBQ sauce.

Meanwhile, flatten out biscuits. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and place biscuits in pan, spreading out edges onto pan. Fill biscuits with meat and top with shredded cheddar. Bake according to temperature and time recommended on biscuit can. (For my oven, this is usually about 10-12 minutes.) Edges of biscuits should be golden brown.

*I would not recommend baking this entire dish and freezing it, but you can certainly prep the meat and freeze it. Then just thaw and fill the biscuits when you are ready to use.

“Simple” Lasagna

My husband and I actually named this recipe ourselves, because it is exactly that: SIMPLE. In fact, I think it should really just be called “cheating”. It’s not restaurant-level complexity, but completely passes the “homemade lasagna” test. You CAN prepared this entire dish and freeze. I usually serve with a tossed salad.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground meat
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (I actually use Vodka sauce)
• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 4 oz. Feta cheese crumbles
• 8 oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Boil a large pot of water, add lasagna noodles for 12 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. (Noodles will be super hot!) Line bottom of 9×13 pan with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce. Layer noodles, then sauce, then meat, then both types of cheese. Repeat three times. (This means you’ll use nine lasagna noodles.) Bake for 25 minutes until cheese on top is bubbly.

Spinach Tacos

I actually found this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Mix and Match Mama. She has some amazing recipes, so you’ll definitely want to check her out. If you want her word-for-word recipe, click on the link. But so you get an idea, here you go! These tacos are AMAZING and quite the crowd pleaser. It makes a lot so we always have leftovers for more tacos or even wraps! I always serve with coleslaw and black beans.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground meat
• 1 bag frozen chopped spinach*
• 1 small jar basil pesto sauce
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 16 oz. jar salsa (My favorite is “On the Border” brand)
• 8 oz. block Monterey Jack cheese (I buy the block and shred it myself; so much better than way!)
• Stand-and-Stuff taco shells

Instructions

*Make sure to thaw chopped spinach beforehand!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground meat. Add taco seasoning, basil pesto, and salsa. Squeeze excess spinach and add to meat mixture. Fill taco shells with meat and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 10 minutes.

I hope these quick recipes help you get through these next few weeks! I DO realize that people are still touching our groceries, so like I said, I’m trying to MINIMIZE our contact, not eliminate it. We still HAVE to have groceries, but by cooking at home, we definitely minimize the number of touches from food prep to delivery.