My top 12 easy family meals (in the winter)!

1. Bread maker calzones (or pizza dough) & salad

2. Staci's chicken pockets and salad

3. Staci's Taco Soup with bread maker bread or corn bread and frozen green beans

4. Whole chicken in a crock-pot, fresh mashed potatoes, garden frozen or fresh green peas

5. Elk (or ground turkey) joes with a salad or mixed veggies

6. Spaghetti (and meatballs sometimes) with bottled spaghetti sauce or Alfredo sauce (with or without chicken breasts)- This is our quick meal. When time allows I add meat to our dish. I use the Western Family Alfredo seasoning packs and follow the directions on there.

7. Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, no fat re-fried beans from a can, and brown rice (cooked for an hour on the stove)

1 can cream chicken soup (low sodium preferred)

1/2 can corn (no salt added preferred)

¼ cup chopped onion

3 Tbsp (1/2 pkg) fajita mix (or taco or enchilada seasoning is ok too)

2 cups diced cooked chicken breast (I boil for 20 minutes on the stove)

½ cup light or no fat sour cream

1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese (save ¾ cup for the top)

Garnish of canned olives, sliced

1 pkg of tortillas (I use the whole wheat or high fibers ones often)

Mix all the ingredients all together except olives, tortillas, and ¾ of cheese. Use a 8x8 square pan. **I would double this recipe and use a 9 x 13 pan for a larger family and use more tortillas. Separate ½ of the mixture and fill about 6 tortillas with the mixture and put the rolled tortillas with the seam down. Pour the remaining ½ of soupy mixture on top of the rolled tortillas. Then top with remaining ¾ cup of cheese and garnish with sliced olives. Bake at preheated oven of 350 degrees till heated through about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

8. Boneless skinless Chicken breasts, stir fry veggies, and brown rice-
I cut up slightly frozen chicken breasts and brown till no longer pink in the wok with olive oil. Then add the stir fry veggies. I buy the big bags of the Asian frozen stir fry mix at Costco and it comes with 2 sauce packets. I use half a bag and 1 sauce packet for our family size. We layer it on hot brown grain rice (which takes about an hour to cook) Occasionally I use frozen shrimp instead of chicken.

9. Hamburgers & veggies
We use elk or moose meat patties. I cooked hamburgers in the winter on our George Foreman lean mean grilling machine for about 5-7 minutes. And all the toppings- lettuce, tomatoes, onions from our garden, ketchup, mustard, miracle whip, and bar-b-que sauce. I usually have some random vegetable and not fries. You could make homemade sweet potato fries but I don't go that far.

10. Staci's easy fajitas with no fat canned re-fried beans and brown rice

11. French dip sandwiches-
I cook a large rump roast in the Western Family brand Au Jus seasoning and water on low for 8 hours. I usually have baked potatoes with no fat sour cream, I can't believe it's not butter spread, and dried chives. I add a veggie that we are craving like cooked carrots, peas, asparagus, red pepper slices, or a salad. I usually find my french bread on clearance racks at the store or use the bread maker to knead and rise my french bread. Then I shape and bake the french bread in the oven. I follow a bread making book for directions.

12. Oven baked Salmon- I put the salmon in a glass baking dish with "I can't believe it's not butter", lemon juice, and dried dill. I cook the salmon till flaky with a fork. I serve with broccoli and brown rice.

I'd love to hear your top family easy recipes. Please share!