My Eight Favorite Easy Dinners That Have Become a Staple in Our House

I suck at making dinner. (Eloquent, I know.) But I do. I don’t mean I’m not a good cook- because, not to hoot my own horn or anything, but I’ve learned a thing or two about cooking over the years and I know my way around a kitchen. I love cooking. I love baking. And I’ve gotten pretty good at it. But I suck at WANTING to make dinner. When you’ve got two kids and a house to take care of, that 5pm dinner making time comes in like a ton of bricks. I’m tired by that point. I’ve already been making meals for my kiddos and myself all day. And cooking dinner is usually not what I feel like doing after the “day” is done. Blake is tired at the end of his work day, too, and we feel the same way about making dinner…sometimes it’s just easier to order in.

When I do cook dinner and I’ve got the house picked up and the kids are playing and we’ve been dancing, man I feel like I’ve.Got.This.Life.Thing.Down.Man. I feel like a superhero. But there are many nights when I haven’t done enough meal planning or grocery shopping prep to have dinners ready four nights a week. We always go out to dinner Friday and Saturday (or during Covid, order out) and sometimes Sunday night too, depending on what’s goin on. On those other four nights I try to make dinner- but if I don’t have my ish together, we end up ordering in food more than we want to.

I’m not the freezer meal queen and I’m not the prep everything on Sunday queen (maybe someday). Right now I don’t want to spend all day Sunday doing that when it’s one of two family days for us. To those mamas and papas that do- I salute you. And I would love for you to share your tips and tricks that help you stay on the dinner course.

But for me, two things have helped me stay on course to make sure our family has healthy meals at night during the week.

1. Organizing my recipes. I don’t look at cookbooks too often, although I have some beautiful ones. Like I’m sure all of you, I save my recipes on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. While all the inspiration and ideas are sooo helpful, I found myself still overwhelmed with all my saved recipes because they were in so many different places. While I’m definitely a 2020 iPhone chick, I’m still a bit old-school when it comes to printing things out. I like physical copies in front of me. I write my “to-do” list with actual pen and paper every week and get way too much satisfaction from physically crossing off completed things. So printing out all my saved recipes and putting them in a 3-ring binder gave me a starting point. (Also, printers are the worst. They never work. We finally got a laser printer and I want to marry it, it’s so nice…aka, it always works. Highly recommend.) Also, bonus- Charlie likes to go get my recipe book for me and help cook dinner with me. Sometimes I just take the whole binder to the grocery store and sometimes I take photos of the recipes I picked out for the week.
2. These eight meals. They are easy. They have common ingredients. They are healthy. For the most part they are Crock Pot or Insta Pot recipes, with the exception of a couple. They don’t require a ton of prep- or at least not hard prep. Most of them make enough for leftovers so you can stretch the meals even further. And they are all easy to customize for your diet- gluten-free, low-carb, etc. Even when I am exhausted, I usually still have it in me to make any of these. I add in new recipes throughout the month too. But these eight are good to have in your back pocket and rotate as regulars.

Without further ado, my dinner staples:

• Slow Cooker Lemon Pesto Chicken- The Magical Slow Cooker (Note: I double the amount of chicken broth and often times I’ll eat it over spinach rather than pasta and I always roast broccoli to go with it like she suggests.)
• Best Instant Pot Chicken & Rice Recipe- Lena Abraham on Delish (Note: She doesn’t say to, but I use the sauté feature for the onions first. I will sometimes add carrots if I have them, but I will add half a bag of mixed frozen peppers from Trader Joe’s and half a bag of frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe’s instead. I almost always end up adding more salt after it’s done.)
• Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili- Diabetes Strong (Note: It calls for 8oz. of green chilis- I use 4oz and I find it plenty spicy. Especially with kids. I use the frozen Trader Joe’s roasted corn and I think it adds a lot more flavor. I have always used a rotisserie chicken that I shred, makes it so much easier and quicker.)
• Insta Pot Chicken Tacos- Friends told us this one years ago and we’ve been using it regularly ever since. It’s the easiest oh crap I don’t have dinner planned dinner ever. Two frozen or thawed chicken breasts, one jar of salsa (we use 3/4 of a tub of Jack’s mild salsa and leave some leftover for on top of tacos), one packet of taco seasoning. Add all to Insta Pot and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes if thawed and 45 minutes if frozen. Shred when done and serve as tacos with toppings of choice.
• Easy Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken- Green Healthy Cooking
• Slow Cooker (or stovetop) Cincinnati Chili- This one also came from friends over 15 years ago and I wouldn’t think of making any other kind of red chili. The cinnamon and allspice are the secret. Note: I add 1/2 can more of tomato sauce and I use turkey instead of ground beef. The original recipe doesn’t add beans in the chili, but I have for years and prefer it that way. I have definitely made it in the Crock Pot but I have also made it on the stove just a couple hours before dinner and it still comes out delicious. Serve it by itself, with spaghetti, onions, shredded cheese or Fritos.)

• Herbs de Provence Whole Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes- This one comes from Blake’s mom. It slow roasts in the oven rather than a slow cooker, but it’s so easy to put together. And it always comes out looking GORGEOUS. If you want to impress people, cook this for dinner. You’ll look like you were cooking all day (but you weren’t). Stuff one whole chicken with half of a small onion, half of a lemon and several cloves of garlic (after you take out the insides). Cut up one package of baby potatoes and add to bottom of Dutch oven. Cover with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add chicken to Dutch oven over potatoes. Add 1/2 package of baby carrots around chicken. Cover carrots and chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover chicken generously with herbs de Provence. Add 4-5 pats of butter to top of chicken. Roast in oven, covered, at 250 for 4 hours. Roast, uncovered, at 350 for one more hour. Serve in bowl and spoon roasting liquid over chicken, potatoes and carrots.
• “Everything” Chicken- Gimme Some Oven (Note: “Everything” as in “Everything Bagel” seasoning, aka the best seasoning ever. Get it at Trader Joe’s, most grocery stores and even Amazon. This dinner is truly a pantry last minute easy dinner. And it’s so yummy. She lists to brine the chicken- I never have. I just coat with salt and pepper. Serve with Brussels, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. Goes with everything! It’s good, too, as leftovers over a spinach salad.)

So there ya go! My dinner staples. I would love to hear your favorites below!