Because No-One Likes To Clean Up After Dinner

I’m having a super tight schedule today! I won’t bore you with the details but let’s just say I got up at 5am and I probably won’t be going to bed until midnight, so yeah, busy is the word. Somewhere in between all the craziness I’m supposed to cook dinner for my family – I could just go for takeout but it always makes me feel so guilty!

Instead, I’m going to make one of my favorite, super quick, one pan meals. What I dislike even more than really complicated and time consuming recipes, is the massive clean-up after dinner. So I’ve collected quite an impressive amount of simple recipes that don’t make a mess.

This roasted chicken and vegetables recipe is also a pretty inexpensive one! I often buy a huge batch of chicken thighs when they’re on sale, and then freeze them for later. Then just thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and they are ready to be cooked for dinner the next day.

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Quick Tip: Use any kind of vegetables you prefer!

My Favorite Holiday Side Dish!

If you are anything like me you have probably never even entertained the thought of eating artichokes.

I mean, I’ve had them pickled before and in hot dips but never have I ever an entire dish from artichokes… until now. Folks, this recipe is seriously amazing. You take a can of artichokes, prepare according to the recipe directions which can be found on the next page, and bake to perfection. What comes out of the oven is a heavenly dish that tastes like a dream come true. Who knew?

I really like making these Parmesan baked artichokes as a side dish when company is visiting. The presentation of the food looks amazing. Everyone is always impressed when I bring out this dish. And we all love that incredible, gooey cheese, don’t we?

So, g’head, try something new and exciting and bake up your own batch of these savory artichokes. Enjoy!

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Quick Tip: If you’d like a bit of something extra, try serving chipotle ranch dressing with these.

You May Not Need An Entree When You’re Serving These

If there is one thing that I enjoy most about Thanksgiving dinner it would have to be the sweet potato casserole. When I was growing up my mom didn’t just set out a pot of sweet potatoes with a bit of butter and brown sugar on them. Nope. She blended it all up into a creamy mess and baked it in the oven until we had a glorious sweet potato casserole. My favorite! My mother would use lots of brown sugar and butter and her sweet potato casserole always came out divine.

I’ve used my mother’s recipe for every Thanksgiving meal, but last year I decided to try something a little different for a change. I still wanted that wonderful sweet potato flavor, but I was hoping to modernize the dish a little bit. When I came across this recipe on Facebook, I immediately knew this was it!

This is probably considered an appetizer but I made a huge batch of these and served them as a side dish, instead of the traditional sweet potato casserole. My family loved these! They disappeared in minutes and people were hoping there were leftovers, to munch on later at night!

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Quick Tip: You could use regular chili powder instead of chipotle.

Festive Flavors And Lean Ingredients Make This A Superb Dinner!

I have to be completely honest with you. I really love meat; whether it’s pork, beef or chicken, if it’s cooked to perfection it is something that makes my mouth water.

I do enjoy vegetables as well, and I always try to include them on every meal. This dish combines both and that’s why it is one of my favorite meals ever! The ingredients are rather simple and very lean, so you can enjoy your dinner without having to worry about your calorie intake!

I have a tip for all of you who like to keep an eye on how much you spend on food. These days when a bag of groceries seems to get more and more expensive all the time, it’s good to pay attention to when and what you’re buying. The root vegetables in this dish are great for the winter season; that’s when they are most inexpensive and they stay fresh for a long time. I also like to buy a large batch of meat whenever it’s on sale, then I divide and freeze it for later use.

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Quick Tip: Cooking times may vary, depending on the size of the brisket piece. Keep an eye on it and keep checking between 4 and 6 hours.

Now that it’s summer, I keep seeing recipes for cucumber salads.  They look light and refreshing and all, but you know what I really need?  Bacon. Yes, like many people I’m a bacon fanatic and I believe it really could be added to anything. In fact, last Christmas my family got my bacon lip gloss.  Surprisingly, you can’t add bacon flavor to lip gloss.  Well, you can, but you shouldn’t.  However, you really can’t go wrong adding bacon to a recipe, am I right?

There’s something about pairing the saltiness of bacon with the refreshing lightness of cucumbers that really drives a one-two punch for this recipe.  You’ll get the feeling of a traditional cucumber salad, but a salty flavor that will WOW your taste buds.  Perhaps it’s your body knowing how good for you cucumbers are, but how sinful bacon can be.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Simply Healthy Home.

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Quick Tip – Prepare all ingredients before hand, but heat the bacon and stir into salad right before serving for a fun warm/cold mixture.

Perfect for picnics, backyard BBQs, summer birthday parties and the ladies book club meetings. This salad is so simple to make and will be the perfect companion to BBQ chicken, ribs or burgers. You can even use it on fresh bruschetta.

My mother often had lady friends over who played cards and drank iced tea. She would also serve various salads such as tossed, macaroni and pasta. She also made a cucumber salad that was similar to this one. Us kids always got the leftovers, if there were any. But if there were not, she would always whip up a small batch for us to have with dinner. It was so good and so refreshing on hot summer evenings.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Ceara @ Cearas Kitchen

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Quick Tip: Be sure this is served well chilled for the freshest taste.

A good stew can work wonders for your palate and your stomach on a cold night. This Slow Cooker Chicken Vegetable Stew has a great blend of veggies, herbs, and spices (including rosemary, thyme, and sage) to excite your taste buds and warm you up just right.

Normally, when I think of stew, I think of something beef-based, but I have to say, this chicken-based stew recipe really hit the spot. It didn’t hurt, either, that it was such an easy recipe, thanks to the Crock-Pot, and the aroma while it was cooking was a feast for the senses just by itself. As-is, the recipe makes four to six servings, though I think that you could expand it without too much difficulty, provided that your slow cooker of choice has the room for it.  

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Quick Tip: Serve this stew with your favorite sandwich. I like grilled ham and cheese.