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Hello! Happy Friday!
I am excited to bring you an easy dinner meal plan today! Last week I shared some ideas for family breakfast and while I love breakfast (it is actually my favorite meal of the day), I think we can all use some inspiration on what to have for dinner on busy nights.
My husband works 12+ hour shifts so I am solo for dinner several nights a week and I made all of these dinners with minimal effort and 3 young kids running around. When I say these are easy dinner recipes, I truly mean it!
I hope this meal plan will be helpful to you and provide some encouragement and inspiration when you are planning your own meals for the week!
White Ravioli Casserole
This dinner took about 5 minutes to put together and it was SO good! I followed THIS recipe for White Ravioli Casserole, but I used smoked chicken in place of sausage, because that is what I had on hand. It turned out delicious! What’s not to love about ravioli, alfredo sauce, and cheese? It’s also a nice way to sneak in some extra greens for your kids. The whole family gave this dinner an A+!
Tip: I assembled this in the afternoon when I had a few extra minutes, then I baked it right before dinner.
Broccoli Cheddar Orzo
I tweaked this recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Orzo because we aren’t Vegan, but oh my goodness this was a surprisingly good dinner. I stumbled across it on Instagram and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it. I used normal butter, milk, cheddar, and parmesan but of course you can use the Vegan ingredients if you choose. It came together very quickly which is always helpful on busy evenings.
This dinner was so good my whole family devoured it before I could even get a picture.
Cheesy Chicken Quinoa Enchilada Meatloaf Muffins
Say that 5 times fast! But in all seriousness, we really liked THESE enchilada meatloaf muffins. I love that they are made using quinoa as a binder because it adds some extra protein. I don’t know about you, but I am always trying to get a little extra protein into my kids, one of them in particular. This recipe was a great way to do that. You can serve the enchilada muffins with veggies on the side and you have an easy dinner that is adult and child approved!
Ham Pot Pie
Do you freeze leftover meat and then try to figure out what to do with it later? I do and this recipe is a case in point. We had a baked ham for dinner several weeks ago and ended up with a ton of ham leftover, so I portioned it out and froze it for another time. This week when I went shopping in my freezer I decided to to add ham to my meal plan. When browsing for recipe ideas, I stumbled across THIS one for Ham Pot Pie.
It’s a new take on a classic recipe (ie-Chicken Pot Pie) and I thought it was such a fun idea. Although mine didn’t turn out as beautiful as the original blog post, this was a really yummy dinner! I appreciated that the recipe used easy ingredients and the only change I made was using a store-bought pie crust instead of croissant dough, because that’s what I had on hand. I would definitely recommend trying this recipe if you’re looking for comfort food on a busy night!
Sloppy Joe Bowls
This dinner is my own concoction, so I don’t have a specific recipe for it, but my family loves these! I’m a huge fan of bowl meals where you throw various things into a bowl and call it dinner (although I do divide it out on my kids’ plates).
I have made various versions of this dinner, but I will summarize the main idea here:
- Roasted potatoes. I have used russet potatoes and sweet potatoes, they are both good options!
- Coleslaw. I’ve tried a few different recipes, but for dinner on this particular night, I used Salt and Lavender’s Coleslaw and it was phenomenal! I will use her recipe in the future because it was so good.
- Protein. I’ve made Crockpot BBQ Chicken and sloppy joe beef and they are both good choices for this bowl meal! I tend to use what I have on hand so sometimes I make this with chicken and sometimes I make it with beef.
- Top with a little bit of shredded cheese
I typically layer the potatoes, then coleslaw, then the meat and top it with a little cheese. This is a very versatile meal and I hope you will give it a try!
What are your favorite easy dinner recipes? I am always looking for inspiration and I would love to hear what your go-to meals are! Share in the comments below!
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