You can buy appropriate relaxing dinner music to download instantly at Amazon.com that would go nicely with these special night dinners at home. If you or your family feel that your meals are boring, begin to have special dinner nights to cure that boredom. When your meals are varied, you will enjoy them more. Remember, people eat with their eyes first, so make your meals look good when served on beautiful dinnerware. Make sure the aromas coming from your kitchen are delectable fragrances that make you and your family want to sit down together to eat all your meals. Let your conversations make memories you will remember as good times.
1. French Night Dinner = Open a can of Campbell's French Onion Soup and heat it up. Put it in a bowl with a hefty slice of toasted bread to which cheese has been added to the top of the bread, and serve this per each person eating as a first course. Prepare the meal so you can take it to the table as desired. To make Potatoes au Gratin, open 1 or two drained cans of GV Sliced Potatoes into a saucepan on the stovetop. Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 1/2 tsp. True Lemon Pepper Seasoning, and stir to combine over medium heat. Keep stirring and cooking it until the cheese has fully melted and become a sauce with the cream. Serve in a pretty dish. Open a can or two of drained GV Whole Green Beans to which you mix and add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and onion powder each, 1/2 teaspoon of dillweed, and 1 Tbsp. True Lemon Powder, then garnish it with 2 Tbsp. sliced almonds to make Haricots Verts Amandine. You can heat it or not as it tastes fine unheated. Buy some Butter Croissants from the bakery at your grocery store and warm them for 30 seconds in the microwave just before you serve them. Serve GV cooked grilled chicken breasts that have an orange gravy over them which is called Chicken Breasts ala Orange. To make the gravy, mix an undiluted can of Cream of Chicken soup with the empty soup can filled with NFC Orange Juice and mixed into the soup, and heated through with the cooked chicken breasts in a skillet. Serve the chicken topped with the Orange Gravy on a nice plate. Serve decaf sweet lemon iced tea for a beverage, or you could serve chilled Welch's Passionfruit Juice. For dessert, for each person eating, make a faux Crème Brulee using a French Vanilla pudding cup placed into a ramekin or dessert bowl and topped with ready-made Smucker's sugar-free Caramel Sauce or Grandma's Molasses. If you don't have Caramel Sauce or Grandma's Molasses, for each Crème Brulee melt 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar in a skillet using medium heat and stirring until it becomes a liquid, and spoon it evenly over the top of the pudding cup. As it cools, it will harden again, so serve it with a spoon so each person can break it up and eat it as it hardens. The liquid brown sugar will be VERY hot at first, so it needs to cool down on top of each Crème Brulee before allowing children, disabled people, or elderly people to eat it. For them, using the ready-made sugar-free Caramel Sauce works so much better. If you read the ingredients in Grandma's Molasses you will see that all the major electrolytes are in it, so keep a jar in your food pantry at all times to take a Tablespoonful with water anytime you need to rehydrate yourself or your family. I also recommend you serve a glass of ice water for each person eating, so they can drink it quickly if needed.
An easy French Breakfast could be for each person eating, a Little Debbie Large Honey Bun placed in the center of a small plate and heated for 20 seconds in the microwave. Remove. Top with Caramel Sauce and Pecans. Serve with a mug of your favorite coffee with creamer and sweetener. Here is a tip of mine I will share with you to make your coffee special anytime you want to make it. Purchase Sweet Leaf Sweet Drops in the flavors of Vanilla, Caramel, and Chocolate and keep them in stock at home to always be prepared to make your coffee taste like it was made by a barista. Amazon.com sells all three flavors.
2. Italian Dinner Night = Buy a can of Campbell's ready-made spaghetti with sauce and heat it through in a saucepan. Or microwave separately a Hormel Compleats Spaghetti with Meat Sauce shelf-stable meal for 60 seconds on high for each person, then put it on a nice plate. Or heat a cup of water to boiling, then pour it over a cup of Ramen Chicken. Stir and let it sit for 5 minutes, then drain off the liquid, and add 1/2 cup heated Marinara Sauce to it. Or cook a package of spaghetti in boiling water in a pot for 11 minutes. Drain off the water. Stir in 2 Tbsp. butter, 1 or more individual packs of Hereford cooked Beef and Chicken Meatballs, and 1 jar heated Marinara Sauce of your choice, heated through, and serve it on plates. Or buy frozen Michelina's Fettuccine Alfredo and cook it 4 minutes in the microwave, then serve it on a plate. Or cook a package of Fettuccine noodles in a pot of boiling water for 12 minutes, then drain off the water. Add 2 Tbsp. butter, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder to the cooked noodles and serve it on plates. Or buy frozen Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna and cook it 8 minutes in the microwave, and serve either of these on a plate. Or make one night at home Pizza Night and for each person eating buy one Digourno Hand Tossed 8-inch Personal Cheese Pizza and cook each for 3-1/2 minutes on high in the microwave. Cut each one into wedges and serve with your favorite cold soft drink. You can add small dishes of condiments like sliced black olives, diced sweet onions, diced green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, and sliced mushrooms to add to your pizza, if you like. Serve your Italian meals with a bag of ready-made salad mix with a homemade salad dressing of plain yogurt and lemon pepper seasoning mix to suit your taste, garlic toast (toasted sliced bread that is lightly buttersprayed after you toast it then sprinkled with garlic powder to suit your taste,) and a glass of cold Welch's Red, White, or Concord Grape Juice. Serve Nonni's Biscotti and coffee with creamer for dessert or serve sliced cheesecake topped with fresh sliced strawberries or Key Lime Pie or a Yoplait Whip Mousse spooned into a dessert dish, a cold Strawberry Jello Cup with GV canned whipped cream on top, or a Vanilla or Chocolate Pudding Cup.
3. Mexican Dinner Night = Prepare at least 2 Queso Enchiladas per person eating by mixing a jar of CheezeWhiz with 1 can drained diced green chilies and 1 jar drained diced pimentos, then spread evenly onto corn tortillas and rolling them up, placing seam sides down in a glass baking dish with some canned Enchilada Sauce in the bottom of the dish. Top with more Enchilada Sauce, shredded cheese, colorful diced bell peppers, and sliced black olives. Microwave on high for 3 minutes or until everything is heated through and shredded cheese is melted. You could also make them in a covered skillet on the stovetop. Or open a can of Beef Tamales and heat them through. Serve on a plate. Or buy 2 pkgs. of GV frozen Beef Taquitos 20 ct. each, and place 8 on a large plate. Microwave them for 3 minutes on high. Two packages will make 5 meals. Serve with 2/2 oz. cups of Wholly Classic Guacamole to dip them into it as you eat them. Or serve two fried eggs over a base of heated canned black beans and garnish it with salsa to make Huevos Rancheros. Prepare a box of Spanish Rice according to package directions. Open a can of Luck's fat-free Pinto Beans and heat them in a saucepan while stirring. Serve on brightly colored dinnerware. Liquify cubes of cold seedless watermelon in a blender mixed with cold water to suit your taste, and serve as your chilled beverage. Or purchase Crush Liquid Watermelon Water Enhancer and mix with water and ice cubes to suit your taste. Or purchase True Watermelon drink mixed with water and ice cubes to suit your taste. Serve a Vanilla Pudding cup with Caramel Sauce over it as Flan for dessert for each person.
4. Chinese Dinner Night = Buy a box of Chung Vegetable Egg Rolls and heat them in the microwave on high, wrapped in white paper towels for 2 minutes each. Serve with the sauce that comes with them, or use a jar of Apricot Peach jelly as an egg roll sauce. Make a box of Rice-A-Roni Fried Rice according to directions on the box. Scramble two eggs with 2 Tbsp. heavy cream, and cook them in a buttersprayed skillet until done, then add to the cooked Fried Rice. Add some hot or chilled Green Tea for a beverage, and serve 4 Fortune Cookies per person for dessert. If you need more food, make Egg Drop Soup out of a quart of chicken stock heated in a saucepan until boiling. Add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 tsp. sesame oil, and 1 Tbsp. soy sauce to the chicken broth. When it's boiling, beat with a fork in a bowl one whole large egg then using a fork mix it circularly and quickly to create ribbons of the beaten egg into the boiling broth mixture. Cook while stirring for two more minutes then serve in bowls. You can purchase Mission Fried Tortilla Strips in bags now at grocery stores online to serve like crackers in each bowl of soup. Or you can make Chinese Fried Noodles out of cut strips of Egg Roll Wrappers or Wonton Wrappers, fried in hot vegetable oil in a skillet, which will cook very fast so you need to stay right with them or they will burn. Keep them moving around in the hot oil with a large slotted spoon or spyder. Then drain them on white paper towels. Salt and pepper can be added while hot to suit your taste. Keep them stored in a zippered plastic bag to use as needed, or you can put cinnamon-sugar on them when they are still hot and make a dessert. You can make a variety of entrees out of one drained pouch of cooked chicken breast chunks, and some GV frozen stir-fry vegetables with 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1 tsp. minced gingerroot with a slurry of 1/2 cup cold water and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch added and cooked to make a sauce. Serve over cooked brown rice or use Minute 60 seconds microwaveable brown rice cups. Top with either 2 Tablespoons of sliced almonds, chopped pecans, chopped cashews, or chopped walnuts when served to make Almond Chicken, Pecan Chicken. Cashew Chicken, or Walnut Chicken. Frozen Stir-fries usually contain baby broccoli florets, baby corn pieces, canned sliced water chestnuts, sliced mushrooms, green snow pea pods, sliced sweet onions, and sliced carrots. You could add cooked sliced beef strips or chicken breasts cooked and sliced. Chinese food can be made to taste like Chinese foods by simply adding gingerroot, garlic, onion, sesame oil, soy sauce to suit your tastes. To make them hot add some cayenne pepper to suit your tastes, starting off with 1/4 tsp. and increasing it until it is as hot as you want it to be. The hot Chinese meals are called Szechwan or General Tsao's. All Chinese soups are made that same way as the Egg Drop soup is. You can change it to Hot and Sour by adding 1/2 cup lime juice and 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper without the beaten egg. Or you can add 1 cup Rice Krispies dry cereal once you serve it in bowls to make Sizzling Rice Soup without the beaten egg, or lime juice or cayenne pepper. The Rice Krispies make it pop and crackle when they are put into the hot bowls of soup.
5. German Dinner Night = Cook Beef Wieners sliced into coins mixed in with a can of drained Sauerkraut or canned baked beans in a saucepan until heated through and the wieners are fully cooked. When serving, add a bottle of squeezable yellow mustard to top each of the Weiner coins. Open a chilled jar of spiced apple rings, drain them, and put them in a bowl to serve with a fork. Open a can of German Potato Salad, heat through, and put in a bowl to serve with a spoon. Serve with warm crusty Kaiser rolls, and bottles of non-alcoholic chilled ginger beer or cold root beer served in frosted mugs. For dessert, serve sliced German Chocolate Cake or Black Forest Cake with Coffee and Creamer or sliced B&M Brown Bread topped with chopped red maraschino cherries, cherry juice, and GV canned whipped cream.
6. Indian Dinner Night = For every person, serve half an undiluted can of heated Progresso Lentil Soup with a cup of cooked brown rice underneath it in a large bowl. Serve warm Pita Bread as a side. For dessert, serve a can of Sweet Paneer Balls. Serve chilled or hot Celestial Seasonings Spiced Indian Chai as your beverage.
7. Irish Dinner Night = Purchase Hormel Compleats Beef Pot Roast or Dinty Moore Beef Stew meals, and microwave 60 seconds each per directions on packages. Add a can of heated green peas or green beans to mix into the meal into a large bowl. Or make an Irish Stew out of 1 quart beef broth, 1 pound of cooked stew beef chunks, 1 drained can diced potatoes, 1 drained can sliced carrots, 2 sweet onions cut into small wedges, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced peeled tomatoes with juices, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, and salt and pepper to suit your taste, cooked in a crockpot overnight or for 8 hours or until the stew beef is done. Serve 4 buttered Irish Soda Bread slices or just use your favorite sandwich bread that you buttered for each person eating. For dessert, serve a slice of poundcake with peaches on top and a teaspoonful of Raspberry Syrup over the peaches as Peach Melba for dessert. Serve large glasses of Sweet Iced Tea with Lemon as your beverage.
8. Greek Dinner Night = Buy some Dolmadas ready-made from your deli at your grocery store. They are grape leaves with cooked seasoned rice inside them and rolled up into little rolls. You can serve them cold or reheated. Cook some Mediterranean Vegetables Blend and put into a bowl with a spoon to serve. Add pita bread that has been warmed in the microwave. Cook lamb chops on both sides in a skillet in vegetable oil until done. Serve with a jar of Mint Jelly. Add a cup of Greek Yogurt mixed into Granola for a dessert. Serve with chilled Limeade as your beverage.
9. Japanese Night Dinner = Go to your deli and ask for ready-made sushi rolls and purchase 2 for each person eating. Serve with Matcha Green Tea as a beverage. Serve frozen Mochi for dessert.
10. American Night Dinner = Beef Manhatten = Open a can of Kroger cooked USA Roast Beef and Gravy, and heat it through. Serve it divided over two slices of loaf bread on a plate with cooked Idahoan Instant Mashed Buttery Potatoes on the side of it. Serve a can of heated sliced green beans as a side. Serve a sliced Beefsteak Tomato or sliced Cantaloupe. Serve Decaf Sweet Lemon Iced Tea as your beverage. Serve warm Apple Pie with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream as your dessert.
11. Picnic Food = Reheat two purchased fried chicken breasts from KFC or your deli, or as many as you need to serve. Wrap in foil to keep hot. Make a Faux Slaw out of frozen CA Blend Vegetables placed in a food processor until finely chopped, then add plain yogurt, salt, and black pepper to suit your tastes, or you can just buy a bag of Marketside tri-color coleslaw mix and add plain yogurt, salt, and pepper to it to suit your tastes. Open a can of Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans, heat them through, and put in a lidded bowl. Add some warmed rolls to plastic Hefty bags. Add a 2 liter chilled soft drink or a gallon of sweetened ice tea with lemon, tablecloth, paper plates, large cups, bags of ice cubes, plastic spoons, knives, forks, serving spoons, disposable salt and pepper shakers, and some wet white paper towels in plastic bags to clean up with, and a large garbage bag to put your trash in. Put your foods and utensils in a picnic basket, and head out to a nice quiet park or beach to enjoy it on a blanket. You could also just go buy a bucket of chicken and the sides you prefer and drinks to go with it and take that on your picnic. Add some salted and chilled seedless Watermelon cubes for dessert. If it's raining or cold outside, just use a blanket on your living room or den floor, and spread your picnic there.
12. Holiday Dinner = Sauté Turkey Breast Cutlets in a buttersprayed skillet until done on both sides. Open a jar of brown gravy to go over it, and heat it through in the same skillet. Make Sage Cornbread Dressing out of cooked crumbled up 3 days old cornbread, 1 Tbsp. dried sage, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp. celery seed, 1 beaten large egg, and enough chicken broth to moisten it enough to combine all the ingredients. Fill a 10 oz. ramekin with this mixture for each person eating. Microwave each separately for 3 minutes in the microwave on high. Open a can of chilled Cranberry Sauce and slice it, put it in a dish to serve. Open and drain a can of sweet potatoes that are cut up into bite-sized chunks and add a can of drained pineapple chunks to them. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over it to suit your tastes. Heat in a skillet. Place in a bowl to serve. Microwave some frozen green peas and diced carrots and 4 oz. drained jar of diced pimentos with 2 Tbsp. butter for 3 minutes, and place in a bowl to serve. Serve Sweet Iced Tea with Lemon Wedges as your beverage. If you want a dessert, serve a ready-made Sweet Potato Pie topped with canned whipped cream or a ready-made frozen Pecan Pie thawed.
13. Holiday Lunch = Open a can of Kroger Roast Beef and Gravy, add some Instant Refried Beans to it, and some Kraft Hickory Honey Barbeque Sauce, and heat it through in a saucepan on the stovetop. Make sure the cooked beef is pulled apart using two forks, and covered with the Barbeque Sauce. Add to Wonder large sesame seed buns to make BBQ Sandwiches. Make a coleslaw out of a package of tri-color coleslaw mix, 1/2 cup classic mayonnaise, salt, and pepper to suit your taste. Serve a bag of Lay's Potato Chips and a heated can of Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans with this for a meal. Add a chilled soft drink of your choice. For dessert, add a slice of Cherry Pie.
14. Seafood Night Dinner = Sauté Rainbow Trout filets or Salmon filets in butter and lemon juice in a skillet on your stovetop until done on both sides. Microwave a 12 oz. package of frozen Steamer Vegetables in a vented covered dish for 6 minutes or until done. Bake a washed Russet potato wrapped in white paper towels then wet with water for each person eating, and then placed in the microwave for 8 minutes for each, sliced lengthwise down the center, add butter, salt, and black pepper to suit your taste, and serve. Serve decaf sweet lemon iced tea. Serve ready-made Lemon Meringue Pie or a dish of Lemon Sherbet for dessert.
15. Grilled Steak Dinner Night = Grill a Sirloin Steak or a steak of your choice until done on both sides with garlic powder and onion powder sprinkled on both sides before cooking on the grill. Serve with Heinz 57 Steak Sauce. Bake washed whole Russet potatoes wrapped in white paper towels that you wet with water and place in the microwave for 8 minutes each. Slice lengthwise down the center, and add butter, salt, and black pepper to suit your taste. Make a quick fruit salad out of a jar of Dole Tropical Fruit Chunks or Pineapple Tidbits with a Pineapple Yogurt Cup added as the dressing, and serve a large bowl of it as your Salad. It will help you digest your steak. Serve warm rolls. Serve Sweet Iced Tea with fresh Lemon Wedges. Serve Strawberry Shortcake, (sliced Angelfood Cake topped with sliced strawberries and canned whipped cream,) for dessert served with Coffee and Creamer.
16. American Dinner Night = Serve cooked Black Angus Meatloaf Slices reheated in the microwave for two minutes with either Salsa Topping or a homemade topping of 1 part Ketchup, 1 part light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and 1/2 part yellow mustard mixed together. Make Kraft Easy Mac and Cheese per directions on the box as a side dish. Drain a can of GV Mixed Vegetables and heat it with 2 Tbsp. butter and 1/2 teaspoon of Black Walnut Oil. Serve warm rolls. Serve Decaf Sweet Lemon Iced Tea for a beverage. Serve Pineapple Shortcake, (sliced Pound Cake topped with canned crushed pineapple and canned whipped cream,) for dessert.
17. Southern Dinner Night = Open a can of fat-free Luck's Pinto Beans, and heat through in a saucepan. Peel one raw Vidalia sweet onion cut into 4 wedges. Bake one 8-inch skillet of white cornbread, and slice it into 4 equal pieces. Cornbread is 2 cups self-rising Buttermilk white cornmeal, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, and 1 cup Half and Half Milk mixed together and poured into a butter-sprayed skillet. Bake at 400 degrees in your stove oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown all over. Wash, peel, and cut 8 potatoes into chunks and place them in a lidded pot, just barely covering them with water. Add 1/2 stick margarine to them. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat. Add 2 cups Half and Half Milk, and salt and black pepper to suit your tastes. Slice one Beefsteak Tomato, salt, and black pepper to suit your taste, and place in a dish with a fork. Serve your meal on nice dinnerware with a large glass of Sweet Iced Tea with lemon wedges. For dessert, serve banana pudding, made with Vanilla Wafers, sliced bananas, and ready-made Banana Cream Pudding cups, layered in a clear glass dessert dish, then topped with canned whipped cream just before serving.
18. Frugal Meatless Night Dinner = SCALLOPED POTATOES & MIXED VEGETABLES CASSEROLE = Prepare a box of Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes according to directions on the box, except add more margarine and milk. Also add to cook in it, 2 drained cans of frozen mixed vegetables, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp. black walnut oil. Makes 4 large delicious colorful servings. For your beverage, serve a large glass of limeade over ice cubes. For dessert, serve a dish of sherbet of your choice.
19. HOT, SUMMER DAYS CHILLED MEAL = BLACK BEANS SALAD = 2 cups cooked cold brown rice, 1 can drained and rinsed black beans, 1 can drained chickpeas, 1 jar drained diced pimentos, 1 can drained corn niblets, 1 diced avocado, 1/2 cup diced red onion, 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, and Black Walnut Oil, 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 2 Tbsp. lime juice mixed into it, all mixed together in a bowl, and served chilled. For a beverage, serve a large glass of Sweet Iced Tea. For dessert, serve a frozen cup of your favorite Yoplait Yogurt Whips or your favorite ice cream treat.
HOT, SUMMER DAYS CHILLED MEAL = SUCCOTASH SALAD = 2 cups barley flakes cooked in beef broth, not water, 1 can drained green lima beans, 1 jar drained diced pimentos, 1 can drained corn niblets, 1/2 cup drained diced cooked carrots, and 1/2 cup salsa mixed together in a bowl and served chilled. For a beverage, serve your favorite cold soft drink. For dessert, serve a frozen cup of Yoplait Lemon Burst or Orange Cream Yogurt or a Drumsticks Banana Split Sundae Cone.
20. VARIETY NIGHT = Serve GV cooked grilled chicken breasts with Peach Salsa made from diced canned peaches and a jar of salsa. Add a heated can of Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans as a side dish, and make Potato Salad from a can of drained diced potatoes, a jar of drained diced pimentos, 2 Tbsp. dill pickle relish, 2 diced peeled hard-boiled eggs, 2 Tbsp. yellow mustard, 1/4 cup classic mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp. celery seeds, 1/4 cup diced sweet red onions, salt and black pepper, mixed together to suit your tastes. Serve with warm rolls, and add a large glass of sweet iced tea with lemon wedges or a packet of True Lemon powder. For dessert, serve a bowl of heated can of Peach Pie Filling topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
