It doesn’t have to be a chore for you to prepare meals on a nightly basis.
The recipes included within offer simple, easy-to-find ingredients and also a variety of techniques to produce fast, hearty meals that can feed your entire family.
1. Chicken Parmesan Casserole
When preparing a chicken parmesan casserole, you don’t have to worry about having to fry and bread each individual piece of chicken.
Using frozen popcorn chicken allows you to bake it in the pan with all of that delicious marinated sauce and melted cheese.
You can prepare this type of recipe in less than an hour and provide a meal for your family without spending hours in the kitchen.
2. Rosemary Chicken with Vegetables
An easy, one-pan dish that can be ready in under an hour, rosemary chicken with vegetables contains chicken that is tender and vegetables that are perfectly cooked.
I prefer using an oven-safe skillet because you can prepare it on the stove and place it directly into your oven without having to wash a separate pan.
The rosemary provides a great earthy flavor that feels very extravagant but requires no extra work on your part.
3. Homemade Hamburger Helper
This takes about the same amount of time as the box type but actually tastes like food.
You can relax and know that your children will have comfort food while also knowing exactly what they are eating.
4. Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
Slow cooker red beans and rice is one of those meals you can set and forget.
The longer it cooks, the better it gets.
When you slow cook a beautiful ham shank it’s all about the smoky flavour that you get from all those hours in the slow cooker, and that ham shank will really enhance the flavour of the beans, making them creamy and rich, as well as tender and delicious.
Dump your ingredients for this recipe together in your slow cooker before going to work, and by the time you walk in the door after a long day of work, dinner is just about ready to eat!
5. Shepherd’s Pie
To be honest, this is how I get rid of my leftover mashed potatoes, but you can certainly use fresh potatoes too.
What’s most important with Shepherd’s Pie is to ensure you seal the mashed potatoes around the outside edge so that they remain intact when you cut into them.
Shepherd’s Pie is filling and satisfying and can be made using inexpensive staples.
6. Dutch Oven Pot Roast
Dutch Oven Pot Roast is probably the best comfort food, requiring very little prep time yet providing maximum comfort.
The long slow cooking method causes tough cuts of beef (chuck) to soften and become fork-tender and the vegetables become soft and mushy, tasting as if you spent hours preparing this meal.
You can enjoy this on Sunday or any time you want your home to smell delicious all day long!
7. Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole appears complex on the surface, yet it is made from ingredients most people already have at home.
Because ranch seasoning powder contains starches that make it clump together when combined with sour cream, it will smooth out and become creamy during the baking process.
This dish serves many people at the same time and will allow leftovers the following day to be reheated in the microwave.
8. Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
There is no need to pre-boil pasta; all of the ingredients are combined in the crockpot.
Stirring occasionally is very important to ensure uniform melting of the cheeses.
This makes a huge batch, which could easily feed a family, and also has enough leftovers to be eaten the following day.
It is much better than any boxed mac and cheese available on the market.
9. Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
This pasta salad is a full-on comfort food, yet requires the least amount of effort in making it for a group.
This dish includes a Catalina dressing that adds a brightness to the creamy, rich flavors that are typically found in bacon and ranch dressing.
It can be made ahead of time, to be eaten during busy weeks, or you can double the batch and take it to a potluck or any type of gathering.
10. Creamy Leek and Gorgonzola Pasta
Leeks have a sweeter, milder onion flavor profile than most other onions; therefore, leeks can be used to compliment sharper cheeses.
This makes them an excellent candidate to pair with gorgonzola cheese, which would otherwise be unappealing to those who are picky eaters.
In addition, the pasta cooks while preparing the rest of the ingredients, allowing the dinner to be completed quickly and efficiently.
Creamy leek and gorgonzola pasta is an elegant dinner, made easily.
11. Pasta Carbonara
The recipe for pasta carbonara is true to its name, using only eggs, cheese, and bacon fat in making the sauce.
The key to this dish is to prepare everything as quickly as possible once the pasta is finished cooking, to ensure the egg does not get scrambled.
While it may sound like a fancy dish, it is actually one of the quickest meals you can make with ingredients already in your home.
12. Smoked Gouda and Sweet Potato Rigatoni
The sauce is created using pureed sweet potatoes.
This sounds like a crazy idea, as sweet potatoes are not typically associated with pasta sauce, but the outcome will amaze you!
The sweet potato creates a creamy, full-flavored sauce, which is appealing to children.
The addition of smoked gouda cheese adds a great depth of flavor to the dish without overpowering the other flavors.
Roasted red peppers give the dish a colorful addition and contribute to the sweetness of the flavor.
This dish will allow you to incorporate vegetables into a pasta dish without a child even recognizing them.
13. Tuna Macaroni Salad
The ingredients for this dish are always present in my home, and can be made in under 15 minutes.
The trick to this dish is to add the peas at the very end, to avoid mushiness.
The addition of high-quality canned tuna makes this salad taste amazing.
This dish is perfect for those days when a person is craving a meal, but does not want to heat up anything over a stove.
