What to feed the people you love/live with for dinner—no offense to Hamlet, but that is the question...always!
Thus, here are seven of my favorite weeknight dinner recipes. They're easy, delicious, and perfect for this cozy/soulful/comfort-food-worthy season of fall we're in. My family loves them...and I hope you and yours do too!
Recipe No. 1: Spaghetti Carbonara
The other day, I felt as if we had no food in the house. Agh!
But I scrounged around in the fridge, and found bacon, eggs and Parmesan cheese. Predictably, there were boxes of pasta in the pantry too. A lightbulb went off in my head: Spaghetti carbonara, the sure-to-please Italian staple that's basically breakfast for dinner (with pasta, of course!).
I used this recipe for spaghetti carbonara, compliments of the Spend With Pennies website. Everyone loved it:
Recipe No. 2: Homemade Hamburger Helper
I first got the idea for "Homemade Hamburger Helper" from the "Skinnytaste: One and Done" cookbook (2018). Here's the exact recipe from page 152 of that cookbook.
Meanwhile, here's another, similar option for Homemade Hamburger Helper from the Salt & Lavender website.
Whichever recipe version you use, made-from-scratch Hamburger Helper is just a smidge more effort than the boxed adaptation—while being much more flavorful, and healthier too:
Recipe No. 3: Tortellini Soup With Italian Sausage and Kale
About a year ago, I discovered this truly amazing recipe for Tortellini Soup With Italian Sausage and Kale, compliments of The Modern Proper website.
I kid you not, friends: I have made this soup recipe at least 20 times in the past 12 months alone. It is fantastic, and I am always recommending it to people: family members, friends, co-workers, all my library patrons who are checking out other cookbooks.
Stanton and the girls adore this soup...although not as much as I do! Just trust me, and make this soup. You won't believe how easy it is, or how delicious:
Recipe No. 4: Baked Penne Chicken Puttanesca
This recipe also is from The Modern Proper (I promise they don't pay me to do their PR!). The recipe isn't available online, but you can find it on page 122 of their 2022 cookbook.
You can buy the book; check it out from your local library; or, if you know me in real life, ask me for a picture of this recipe for baked penne chicken puttanesca:
Recipe No. 5: Spaghetti With Turkey Marsala Meatballs
One day while flipping through Food Network Magazine, I found this recipe for spaghetti with turkey Marsala meatballs. While I personally prefer red-meat meatballs to white-, this recipe is a fun, different-flavor twist on plain ol' spaghetti and meatballs:
Recipe No. 6: Classic Chili
Chili is such a wonderfully quintessential fall food. Not to mention foolproof. Take my favorite chili recipe, for example.
When I decided to make this on Sunday, in between watching NFL games with Stanton and the girls, I realized I didn't have beef broth or petite diced tomatoes. Absolutely no worries: I substituted beer and regular diced tomatoes, respectively, and the recipe still tasted good.
You just can't mess up chili, no matter what you put it in:
Recipe No. 7: Sweet and Sticky Pork and Asparagus
This last recipe, for sweet and sticky pork and asparagus (also from The Modern Proper), offers some accessible gourmet to any weeknight. Serve alongside rice:
OK, friends...let me know what you try, and what you think! Enjoy!
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Like what you just read? Then check out Melissa Leddy's e-books on Amazon.com. Short fiction and creative nonfiction writing that's engaging, witty and from the heart.
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