Quick And Easy Family Meals

Family meals keep the family connection strong, encourage healthy eating practices and can make your house ring with laughter. Before you can sit down at the dinner table however, you have to answer the dreaded question. What's for dinner? You know it needs to be healthy, the kids know it has to taste great and everyone wants it right away, so what do you make?

Enter the “potluck” ground beef skillet dinner. This meal can literally be thrown together in no time. Throw some ground beef in the skillet to brown, then throw in whatever vegetables and spices you prefer. Throw it back on the stove for 30 minutes and serve it up after it's done cooking. One recipe uses 1 cup chopped onion, 1 cup chopped celery, 1 cup cubed green pepper, 3.5 cups diced tomatoes, 1 cup frozen peas, 2 diced small carrots,1/4 teaspoon salt,1/2 teaspoon black pepper,1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1 cup uncooked rice, and 1.5 cups water. You can find this at http://southernfood.about.com/od/skilletgroundbeef/r/bl30419t.htm.

If that beef-and-rice variant does not appeal to you, you could make a stroganoff version over noodles instead, using 3 slices diced bacon,1/2 cup chopped onion, 1.5 tablespoons flour,3/4 teaspoon salt, a dash or pepper,1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika, 10.5 ounces of condensed cream of mushroom soup and 8 ounces of sour cream. This can be found at http://southernfood.about.com/od/skilletgroundbeef/r/bl30214m.htm.

The best part about “potluck” skillet dinners is that anything goes. If neither of those ideas sound good to you, change them. Try chicken or steak instead of ground beef, pasta instead of rice, different veggies and seasonings. Personalize the meal to what your family likes. No matter what you decide to put in it, a skillet dinner will be easy, fast and delicious.