Fast and fabulous dinners-we all have our favorites.  I love nice hot and homey dishes.  My husband thinks as long as red meat’s involved, dinner’s perfect.  Our kids (the ones who live with us) love spicy.

So what do I do when all of us have forgotten to take something out to defrost?  Or if we‘re just not able to cook?

I have some very quick, easy and nutritious meals that can be on the table is a matter of minutes-and no there isn’t a PB & J in sight.  Although, that does sound pretty good!

As I mentioned in Sunday’s column-I keep salmon and turkey burgers in the freezer and some gourmet sausages in the fridge.  And no, I don’t just serve them as sandwiches or over pasta.

Some other items I keep on hand all the time:  Costco-sized bags of triple-washed spinach and broccoli.  Tomatoes, carrots, onions are all key ingredients as well.

Fast dinner #1:  Grill up the burgers, serve over the spinach, tomatoes and add some dried cranberries and sliced mushrooms.  Serve with artisan bread or muffins. (don’t like cranberries-use fresh strawberries or canned and drained mandarin oranges)

Fast dinner #2: Grill the sausages and serve over your favorite pasta or rice.  Serve w/ roasted broccoli that has been tossed with olive oil, a tad of lemon juice, salt and minced garlic.  Another seasoning for roasting the broccoli-olive oil, some Montreal steak seasoning and cumin, yummy!

fast dinner #3:  Leftover frittata-whatever you have that’s just enough to save but too little to serve as a side dish or main  course-chop it up and heat with some garlic and oil in a very large skillet.  In a blender, blend up the amount of needed eggs with a bit of salt, pepper and a couple of  tablespoons of water, then pour over the heated “mess” in the pan.  Turn on your broiler.  Turn the stove to medium-low and let the eggs cook until the bottom is set.  Top with your favorite cheese (or not, this is optional) and then put it under the broiler until the egg is done and the cheese is just starting to turn brown.  

If you have frozen hash browns in the freezer or the “want” to grate fresh-make the hashbrowns at the same time as the eggs in another big fry pan-I love to add some green peppers, onions and garlic to mine.

There are my 3 top go-to fast meals.  Please share!  Who knows, we all might be able to have some new “old” favorite recipes to serve.