Quarantine Main Dish & Side Dish Ideas

Not quite a quarantine picture, but it looks pretty isolated.
Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia/January 2020

Since we've been on quarantine for a month, I thought I'd share some new recipes and old recipes we've enjoyed.  I've been trying to get items like beans and frozen veggies, but it has been difficult. One of our go-to easy meals is chili and it requires mostly canned items, so that's off the menu for the foreseeable future. With that said, I've been creative with meal planning and have made all of this with items we had on-hand (#pantrycooking).  

Side dishes:

Easy Creamed Spinach  (by Diethood)  I had a bag of spinach leftover from another recipe and this turned out delicious and paired well with the baked cod. 

Sautéed Carrots - just sautéed with olive oil or butter, salt, pepper, fresh garlic (stole this from my Mom and my friend Michelle - we have eaten these at least twice in the past couple weeks)

Spanish Rice -- (by dinnerthendessert.com)  So simple and delicious. We served this with steak fajitas. 

Parmesan Roasted Carrot Fries -- (by Closetcooking.com) I haven't made these in awhile, but will probably add to our menu this week!

Main Course:

Baked Cod (by 30seconds.com) I served this with creamed spinach. 

Homemade Sloppy Joes (by five heart home) on brioche buns, with french fries and a veg.  So much better than the canned sauce. 

Steak Fajitas -- skirt or flank steak is best, but we bought a 2 pack of NY strip and I froze one. I don't normally freeze steak, but the store substituted and I ended up with a 2 pack.  We defrosted it and Seth seasoned it, then we sautéed some onions and peppers in butter on the stove and served with spanish rice (listed above).  A leftover idea is to toss the it all on a tortilla and make a fajita quesadilla. 

Shredded Chicken Breast -- my friend Michelle told me she puts the chicken in the crockpot, adds seasonings (salt and pepper is fine), and adds water so it just covers the chicken. Turn crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  Remove from crockpot and shred.  We use this for chicken salad, chicken quesadillas, chicken enchiladas, etc.

Lemon Garlic Butter Chicken & Green Beans Skillet -- served this with riced cauliflower. 

Loaded Sweet Potato -- I stole this from my sister, Becky. Season and cook ground beef or cook chorizo, add shredded cheese, sautéed spinach and any topping you want. 

Dessert:

Dark Chocolate Chip COOKIE -- (by Great Value) Singular! Not plural! Buy the walmart brand (great value) dark chocolate chips. Use ONE round, metal cake pan. Cut recipe in HALF.  Instead of spooning out, just spread the dough into the cake pan. Place toothpick 2" from edge and it's done when it comes out clean.  I believe I added 3 minutes to the recipe. Cut with spatula into wedges.   

Happy cooking & baking!

-Jenny