On busy nights, the last thing I want to do is make a fuss over dinner! While I want to feed my family healthy foods, I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen and I certainly don’t want to have a lot of dishes to wash when the meal is over. With that in mind, I gathered 12 One Dish Dinner Recipes to Crave to save the meal on busy nights at my house, and I know you are going to love a few of these too! From Barbeque Bacon Chicken Bake to a delicious Mushroom Ravioli, this list has a one dish dinner idea for everyone.
This post has been sponsored by Barilla and Galbani. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The holidays are near and that means my family is hungry for festive fun and food! We are craving all things festive; lights, decorations, and parties, cookies, cartoons, and carols! It is hard to resist all of the fun that the holidays have to offer! The holidays are the perfect time to reconnect with family and spread cheer to friends!
This holiday season I have a go-to meal planned that works in almost every holiday situation. From a family gift wrapping party, to a gathering of friends and neighbors, and even a full-blown holiday meal with my loved ones. I can’t tell you how much it helps me to know what I am serving ahead of time without trying to allot preparation times and adjust my budget.
When I was at Walmart, I realized that Barilla and Galbani make the perfect pairing for the holidays. Pasta and cheese are always crowd pleasers and with these two brands, I can make versatile meals at great prices. Anytime I can save some cash without compromising quality makes me very happy! I always want to serve the best without breaking the bank. With a large family and an even larger circle of loved ones, serving a great meal at a great price is always important to me!
My go-to holiday dinner is Manicotti with the Barilla Jumbo Shells. This is such a filling and delicious dinner that is loaded with hamburger meat, cream cheese, sour cream, Ricotta cheese, traditional sauce topping. It is so incredibly delicious!
I love that all of the ingredients in my Holiday Manicotti can be found at Walmart, which makes holiday cooking so convenient and affordable! Ibotta users will love that on top of every day low prices from Walmart, they can earn $2 back on purchases of Barilla Pasta or Sauce and Galbani Cheese through Ibotta! This is the perfect time to stock up and save!
There is something about serving a hearty and delicious pasta meal to friends and family. It seems to bring us together around the table with a chance to share a love for good food and great conversations. Pasta is a universally adored and appreciated dish at any time of the year. Serving it at the holidays makes perfect sense!
I would love to hear about your holiday dinner plans. Are you cooking or attending a dinner with someone special? Have you ever prepared pasta and cheese for a holiday feast? If you have a special pasta dish that you like to serve I would love to hear about it! I am always looking for tasty ways to use Barilla and Gabani together!
Are you going to stock up on the perfect holiday pairings of Barilla pastas and sauces and Galbani Cheeses? Now is the perfect time to do so, as the Ibotta offer gives you $2 back on qualifying purchases! Serving a large party dinner has never been so easy on my wallet!
From my family to yours, happy holidays!
Conagra Brands sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Life with three active boys can get a little hectic. The day starts early to get everyone ready for school and there on time. The days often run later than I would like, trying to fit in homework, practices and of course, the most important part of childhood; play. It takes a lot of juggling and multitasking to fit it all in! And we haven’t even mentioned dinner yet, or the rituals of bath and bedtime.
On a busy and cool fall day, there is nothing I like better than a steamy dish of comfort, like a Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pie. It has the homemade taste I want to savor with a golden flaky crust, and it is a complete meal with veggies and protein all in one yummy package! I love that I can make a fuss-free, mess-free dinner that the whole family loves with these pot pies!
As an Ibotta shopper, this is the ideal time to stock up on easy and satisfying meals like Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pies. You will earn .50 cents on every 2 you purchase, on top of the great price at Walmart. With savings like that, there is no reason not to fill your freezer for the busy days to come this fall. No matter how busy we are, we still have to eat!
Busy moms, hungry families, and working millennials can all agree that pot pies are food made for fall days! With the great price and convenience of 10 and 16 oz single serve packages of Marie Callender’s makes dinner, delicious and easier than ever without spending a small fortune!
Marie Callender’s Pot Pie options: Chicken Pot Pie, Turkey Pot Pie, Beef Pot Pie, Chili Pot Pie, Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie, Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie, Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie, Veggie Pot Pie. Your family is sure to love these delicious meals.
I love to keep a few in the freezer for when we need a filling and yummy dinner in a flash. My family loves the homemade flavor and how quick I can have a wholesome meal on the table even on the most hectic of days. My three growing boys are always hungry, so having a quick meal for those days when time runs short makes a huge difference at my house.
I would love to hear about some of your go-to options for dinner on a busy night.
Have you ever had fried apples? They are so good and pair so well with pork chops. This is a top recommended recipe you really must try!
The first thing to remember when making this for dinner is that you need to prepare the apples because this will take time and cooking both will take roughly the same amount of time.
Ingredients:
1 bag of Apples (two apples per person)
1 tbsp. brown sugar per apple
1/4 tsp. cinnamon per apple
1 tbsp. butter per 2 apples
4-6 pork chops
1 tbsp. olive oil
Directions:
The Fried Apples:
1. After washing your apples, core them, and use a paring knife to remove the hard centerpiece that is left behind. Leave the skins on the apples – the vast majority of the nutrients are just under the skin and the skin itself is great fiber. However, if you prefer, you can peel the apples, though it won’t be quite the same.
2. Put the apple slices in a skillet with 1 tbsp of butter per 2 apples and set the burner to medium heat. When the ingredients start to bubble in the pan, turn them down to low heat and simmer. Cover with a lid and while they cook for about 15 minutes or until tender but still firm
3. This is where you need to start prep for pork chops while apples are cooking.
4. After the apples soften, add about 1 tbsp of brown sugar and ¼ tsp of cinnamon per apple.
5. Cover a while longer, 5-7 minutes and stir several times. At this point, you should have started the pork chops.
You will want to be sure they are very close to being done. If not, put your apples to the side and don’t let them continue cooking.
6. When ready, remove the lid from your apples and cook the liquid down until it caramelizes on the apples.
The Pork Chops
When making pork chops, sprinkle olive oil into the pan and heat on medium-low.
Season the pork chops with your favorite seasonings, such as a bit of salt and coarse ground black pepper, maybe some garlic powder and place the pork chops in the pan.
Depending on the thickness and whether or not they are bone in, cooking time can vary. It’s important to cook them thoroughly but not overcooked. 20-30 minutes will suffice.
Serve with your favorite side dish. (Corn on the cob or canned corn is perfect.)
There’s nothing more comforting than a nice hot meal on a winter’s day. The problem is, what many of us consider to be winter comfort foods aren’t always as healthy as we might assume.
Many comfort foods are high in simple carbohydrates like white flour and sugar, instead of healthier complex carbohydrates like whole wheat flour and vegetables. Simple carbohydrates can reduce our serotonin levels and make us tired (and even depressed), which is quite the opposite of what a comfort food should do. In addition, many recipes include ingredients high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium, so curbing those is only going to help your waistline and overall healthy.
With all this in mind, let’s look at how the comfort foods we love can really be good for us.
Macaroni and Cheese, Lasagne and Other Pastas: Use whole wheat noodles and replace any flour in the recipes with whole wheat flour. Add more vegetables and reduce the cheese and meat content.
Fried Chicken: Instead of frying, try baking your coated chicken and don’t forget to use wheat flour and egg whites instead of a whole egg.
Soups: Forego the canned varieties that are extremely high in cholesterol and make yours fresh where possible. It’s not as complicated as you might think and it tastes much better. When making your own soup, always skim the fat of your soup stock and use plenty of vegetables. If you don’t have time to make your own stock, choose the low sodium pre-made varieties.
Chili and stew: Choose leaner cuts of meat. For example, a turkey chili can be just as hearty and delicious as its ground beef counterpart. Of course, don’t forget to load up your chili with vegetables. When making stew, always cut the fat off the meat before cooking and use wheat flour for thickening your delicious meal. If serving bread, use whole wheat and reduce foregoing the butter. A warm whole wheat baguette dipped in homemade chili or stew just doesn’t need the extra added fat and cholesterol.
It doesn’t matter what your preferred comfort foods are, you can use these guidelines to prepare many of your favorite meals:
Whole wheat flour replaces white flour.
Olive oil replaces butter, margarine, and other oils.
Eggs whites replace whole eggs.
Skip the butter on bread and vegetables. Use seasoning instead.
Reduce sugar in recipes. Use ingredients like vanilla, cinnamon or other extracts to add a sweet flavor.
Choose leaner cuts of meat and cut off any visible fats before cooking. You can also remove the skin from chicken, or to retain juicinessremove the skin before eating.
Use skim milk instead of whole milk.
Reduce salt in recipes dramatically. Most recipes don’t actually need salt, excluding ones that include yeast for leavening.
Cook more meals instead of eating packaged ones.
When in doubt, add more vegetables.
Eating healthy doesn’t mean avoiding your favorite comfort foods, but it could mean adjusting things a little. Keep these tips in mind when preparing your next meal to stay healthy, happy and trim this winter.
School nights are busy nights in my house! We have practices, games, family commitments and of course, homework to fit into just a few hours a night! Sometimes it sure feels like there isn’t much time leftover for dinner. This year I tracked down 24 Quick Meals for School Nights to save the day and dinner for my family and I am sure you are going to love a few of these recipes every bit as much as my family does!
Hey, I’m Toni and I’m the mama of 3 Little Birds. I love Writing about Parenting, Health, Recipes and Crafts, the life of a Mum and more. Learn more about me here Grab a Tea or Coffee and come see what you find.
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