#but you can also search up recipes for them if you'd like exact ratios to start from

[n-r-drafts]

These aren't really recipes — more methods — because uhhh I don't have them written down anywhere.

(added after I typed this all up: I went and checked OP's post, and the tags said "no red meat." I'm not sure if pork counts... if it does, well, perhaps this will help someone else who can eat pork? Otherwise, turkey-ham can be substituted for ham, and chicken or turkey can be substituted otherwise.)

Cornbread muffins with cubed ham and corn kernels added are pretty good, and they keep well frozen. Jiffy corn muffin mix works great, but you can also google for copycat recipes if you can't get that; it just means more measuring, though you can do that part ahead of time. You could throw in some cheese and/or chopped jalapeno, too, if you wanted. If you don't want to bother with muffins or don't have a muffin tin, you could also make it in a casserole dish and just cut it into squares. I think it would be good served with greens (collards or turnip greens) on the side, if you like those.

The "leftover frittata" is another classic:

Basically, cook/heat up/combine whatever ingredients you like in a skillet with seasonings and then pour a bunch of beaten eggs over them. Add cheese if you want. If your skillet can go in the oven, the whole thing can be baked until the eggs are cooked through, or you can just leave it on low heat on the stove, same idea, and maybe flip over some sections carefully. The idea is to have it turn into something you can serve in slices, more or less, but it doesn't have to be pretty. Whatever you put in shouldn't be very wet or oily, but otherwise just about anything goes; it's just up to your taste.

Possibilities for ingredients to throw in include...

Proteins: ground meat of choice (browned with garlic, salt, pepper), cubed rotisserie chicken, ham or cooked bacon ...or honestly you can leave it out because all that egg is plenty.

Vegetables: broccoli (steam in the microwave first), chopped bell pepper (frozen works), chopped onion, or spinach/other greens.

A starch: cubed potatoes (good use for leftover hash browns or french fries), perhaps squash? or if you don't put a starch in the frittata, just serve it with toast or something.

It's basically an un-fancy quiche without the crust.

One of my favorite and very simple dinners is:

pan-fried pork chops (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic)

baked whole sweet potatoes (with butter), and

brussels sprouts (steam-in-bag, tossed with butter and some garlic+paprika-based seasoning salt after cooking).

It helps to have an instant-read thermometer for temping the pork chops, so you'll know when they've reached a safe temperature without overcooking them. We usually use pork loin, cut into thick steaks, since it's cheap and also boneless. All of it makes for really good leftovers. The sweet potatoes are basically hands-off once you wash them, so there's plenty of time to get the pork chops cooked, and then the brussels sprouts take hardly any time at all, so it's pretty easy even if there are multiple dishes. If you don't bother with a baking sheet and just use aluminum foil under the potatoes to catch the drips, then there's only one pan to wash, too.

If you wanna, you can also serve the pork chops with apple sauce or cranberry sauce, but I don't find it completely necessary.

edit: the sweet potatoes take MUCH longer than the specified 45 minutes total cook time, oops! So that's something you'd probably want to make ahead to have later. They DO keep very well - about a week in the fridge! - and you can cook a bunch at once.

White bean chili is also delicious:

ground turkey (or pork)

chopped onion

canned beans (whatever kind you like as long as it's not red or black, could be a few kinds for variety)

canned green chilies (the milder kind, can also add jalapeno or serrano if you like more spice)

canned corn

chicken broth

lime juice

spices (garlic, salt, white pepper [or black pepper if you only have that], cumin, paprika, cayenne I guess if you like spicy?, and some recipes I've seen call for cinnamon, which is interesting, but I've never tried it)

Sweat/saute the onion in oil until translucent; add ground turkey and spices, go until just cooked; add the canned stuff (beans, corn, chilies) and just enough chicken broth to let it simmer without burning; simmer ~30 minutes, stirring periodically, or longer if you want a more broken-down texture on the beans. Adjust seasoning to taste. You can mash some of the beans also to thicken it. Add lime juice to taste. If you are up to it, a garnish of fresh cilantro and green onion in each bowl is a good finishing touch.

Optional: You can serve it with tortilla chips if you want; maybe sour cream? avocado? pepper jack cheese? idk I'm not the boss of you.

Also works well for using up leftover chicken (shredded) if you don't want to bother with raw meat; just put the cooked chicken in toward the end instead.

If you have an Instant Pot, this dish could probably be adapted for it to reduce the simmering time.

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner