So someone asked me for my favorite easy dinner recipes for a blog post today and I made a joke- here’s my secret recipe:
Step 1- Marry a man who likes to do the cooking
Step 2- Pour a drink
I was a joke… but it’s also pretty true. Andrew does cook dinner every night (or order dinner if we’re too busy/lazy, etc.). Since we both work full time jobs, we split our household duties half and half, and he actually likes cooking whereas I am more of a baker, that job is his. He also gets irrationally angry about how every other human being on earth loads the dishwasher, so he does the dishes as well, simply to avoid conflict ( I KNOW, I’M LUCKY!). We’ve found ourselves SO busy and tired lately though that even quick meals have been hard to prep for and make and we were ordering out way more than we wanted too (Doordash costs a FORTUNE now!). We’ve tried a bunch of meal kit delivery services and none have floored us (and I think we’ve tried them ALL) so we’ve gotten into either slow cooker meals we can make a lot of and freeze the extras or sheet pan meals. My kids are still heavy into mac and cheese, plain pasta, chicken nuggets and pizza so they rarely share in what we have. Our most used cookbooks with fantastic easy recipes are by Gina Homolka of Skinnytaste. It sounds like a diet cookbook, but it’s just cleaned up, good, simple meals. You don’t need odd ingredients you can only find in some off the beaten path Ayurvedic shop or whatever. Our faves are her first book , One & Done and Fast and Slow.
Pumpkin, Turkey and White Bean Chili
My winter ride or die meal- even better for lunch the next day. I add some shredded cheddar on top.
Classic Bolognese
Tried recently and was SO good- try over cauliflower rice, pasta or probably anything honestly… also freezes like a champ)
Pasta Fagioli Soup
Another repeat fave- I add an extra can of white beans or red beans in the soup (not pureed) for a heartier soup and more protein.
Greek Sheet Pan Chicken
We add kalamata olives towards the end of roasting- this is so easy and good!
Other sheet pans dinners I want to try from her site: Sheet Pan Thanksgiving, One Pan Parmesean Chicken and Broccoli
Another vegetarian dish I’ve been making for years (this is MY speciality) is this Martha Stewart recipe I found YEARS ago- one pan, SO GOOD!!!
One Pan Orecchiette With Chickpeas and Olives
I’ve probably made that one 30 times since I found the recipe!
So there ya have it! Link to any easy, quick recipes you love in comments please!
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We love the Gobble meal kits. Our son and DIL in Manhattan introduced us to Gobble. No more than 15 minutes of prep, so delicious, lots of variety and cuts down insanely on the shopping. If you haven’t tried Gobble yet, I couldn’t live without it.
I have every skinny taste cookbook. The absolute best, and I have 2 girls who always prefer the opposite. Big fan of that chili! We also love the chicken parmesan, lasagna soup, chicken enchiladas, giant turkey meatball parm & lemon chicken brown rice pilaf. My cookbooks are also stained!
The Skinnytaste BEST Chicken Enchiladas are on repeat in our house. I usually make them for a weekend meal. The recipe makes a big batch that freezes well. The leftovers have saved us on many a Manic Monday or Tumultuous Tuesday.
This post is so needed for us right now! My fave quick and easy meal is a pot of pasta ( I like Orechette), when the pasta has 2 minutes left, add a bag of frozen broccoli florets, drain reserving some of the pasta water. Return to the pot with butter, Parmesan, and enough pasta water to make a sauce, plus salt and pepper to taste. I add crushed red pepper to my portion. My kids gobble it up, and takes the same amount of effort as Kraft mac and cheese
This was a fun surprise on your blog.
My go to food blogs/cook books authors are:
Love and Lemons – easy vegetarian recipes. Fave recipes are the roasted butternut squash and black bean enchiladas, shells and roasted cauliflower and the shaved brussel sprout salad.
Dinner, A Love Story – approachable, easy family dinners with what you have on hand. Fave recipes are the vibrant winter salad and the greek lemon soup.
Smitten Kitchen – if I want to impress or have time for something more involved. Fave recipes are the turkey meatball and orzo soup, brown butter Rice Krispies and the feta, kalmata and sun dried tomato appetizer.
Yes to these and that Dinner, A Love Story avgolemono soup is the best!! For anyone thinking “it’s just soup” – it has 3 eggs in it and is quite filling and sooooo good.
My favorite no-recipe recipe is Kale, Sausage & Beans – takes about 15 min. Just brown a pound of sausage – any kind you please (personal fave is hot italian), then add shredded kale from 1 bunch to the same pan, put on the lid and steam for7-8 min til it’s nice and soft, then stir in a can (or two if u want) of white beans (or whatever you prefer). Squeeze on a generous amount of lemon juice and top with shredded parm. Sooooooo good.
Skinny taste Broccoli Cheddar soup is requested by my son who does NOT eat broccoli. We make the Goulash and Gnocchi (we just do reg pasta) and broccoli rabe (or reg broccoli) on repeat as well.
And the Turkey cheeseburger soup!!!
Looking forward to trying these recipes! We also try to break it up with take out, fast food, and I am also lucky that my husband is THE better chef and baker. We have also tried many subscription box food “kits”, and a lot of them still require a lot of prep. We found recently “WECO” which may just be in mostly the MA area, but if you haven’t tried it, you basically order online (it’s cooked by a chef/team who I think had a brick and mortar restaurant (?) and then pivoted to “bringing the restaurant to your home”) and mostly you just heat up. :) It’s a nice change of pace from fast food/take out if you need another option!
Thank you for your favorites. I do wish someone would open a soup only restaurant. “Seinfeld reference” Nothing beats a good hearty soup with a fresh salad and crusty bread. We love a PB & J with our soups too!
Lots of good, quick ramen bowls at Half-Baked Harvest. I also love Downshiftology’s clean food ideas. She shows seasonal meal prep and generally has free printable on timing, etc. So now I just need a good website to help me organize my kitchen!
Love Skinnytaste! Gina’s White Chicken Chili with Hominy (I think from Fast and Slow) is a favorite in my house. You can top with avocado and red onion for freshness but it is delish as is. Also, I discovered this one during Covid when I was trying to limit grocery store runs: https://www.skinnytaste.com/instant-pot-rock-creek-ranch-black-beans/ Great over sweet potatoes or with eggs!
One of my favorite easy meals is this old one from Real Simple magazine:
Cook a box of rigatoni
Roast some broccoli florets (I buy the bag that is already cut up, spray it with olive oil pam, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in toaster oven at 300 for 10 minutes or so)
toast some pine nuts
cut up a wedge of brie (including rind) into smallish pieces
When pasta is done, drain and put in a big bowl, add other ingredients, stir and eat.
When in doubt – breakfast for dinner! The kids go crazy for it, and we adults can fancy it up with fun omelets. Bonus is the leftover pancakes/waffles and eggs for their breakfast the next morning.
Thank you so much! Just ordered the books you referenced. Happy Holidays!
Love Skinnytaste and the pumpkin turkey white bean chili is a family favorite- I’ve made it countless times – so, so good! We also love sheet trays and one that we make a lot is this sheet pan feta recipe from the NYTimes. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021277-sheet-pan-baked-feta-with-broccolini-tomatoes-and-lemon
It’s great over orzo.
Back when I cooked, I had a stack of index cards with easy dinner menus. When I was stuck, I’d flip through them, pull out five and shop for needed supplies. Most meals were easy and quick and full of flavor.
Love your modern take on dinner.
I think you’d love the delish slow cooker chicken tortilla soup. Also freezes well!
Thank you thank you thank you! These look great. AND I have made the orecchiette one 30 times too since the first time you posted it! I have read so much about how much healthier it is to cook at home that eat out. Restaurants use tons of seed oils, which are horrible for you! Thanks Erin!
These meals sound delicious. I also really like Skinnytaste. I need to try that chili recipe. I have a turkey veggie one that I eat all of the time, but the white bean version sounds great.
I’m a big fan of making extra and freezing it. With two people working, you have to find ways to make things easier. Every winter I make two lasagnas and cook them both. I cut one of them into single serving portions, wrap each portion in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze them. Then I can pull two servings out of the freezer in the morning, unwrap them and store them in the serving dishes, then warm them in the microwave for dinner. I do this with veggie lasagna or meat lasagna.
I like this instant pot white chicken chili recipe from Natasha’s kitchen. It’s fast and most of the ingredients come from a can. You can also use frozen chicken breasts. My 3 year old niece loves it. You can also travel with it. We make it on our snowmobile trips. Thanks for your fast recipe tips. Definitely appreciated as my husband and I both have side hustles and I do the cooking.
https://natashaskitchen.com/instant-pot-white-chicken-chili/