It’s time to start thinking about your meal plan for next week. From an avocado pesto pasta to easy pork tacos with pineapple salsa, we’ve got five dinners that will get you through the busy week ahead. So grab a pen, make your shopping list, and stock up before the weekend’s over. And if it’s easier for you to do that from your inbox, be sure to sign up for our weekly meal plan emails.
Top: Vegan Avocado Pesto Pasta at Hot For Food | Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa at Pinch of Yum
Related: How I prep my family’s dinners for the week in under two hours.
Something I’ve learned by staying dedicated to #MeatlessMonday is that you’ve got to keep it simple if you’re going to stick with it, whether you’re trying to stick with it as a full-on diet change or just a one day a week shift. Adding these easy vegan pasta sauces at Hot For Food — Avocado Pesto (pictured), Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, and Pumpkin Sage Cream Sauce — into your weekly rotation will help. Start with the pesto, because if you don’t have it, the recipe will still work nicely without the nutritional yeast. But if you want to take my stick-with-it advice, grab some and put all three pastas into rotation. I promise the kids will buy in.
There’s something about winter that gets me excited about braising food in booze, and why should red wine have all the fun? These Beer Braised Shrimp Tacos at Beyond the Bayou are perfect for #TacoTuesday, look utterly delicious, and come together in about a half hour, which is many hours faster than most red wine braised winter stews, so I’m in. Plus, I’m feeling the chipotle crema and cabbage slaw (which, by the way, can be swapped with store-bought broccoli slaw to save time).
From vegan pasta to beef chili (hey, it’s all about balance!), my 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Chili honestly couldn’t be easier. Watch for the how-to and get the full recipe in the description under the video. Make it once and, believe me, you’ll remember it forever. It couldn’t be more simple.
Related: 10 things that you can do (besides fighting) when your toddler won’t eat dinner.
We are all about amplifying authentic voices and meaningful cultural exchange, so if you’re looking for genuine Chinese cooking inspiration — which, by the way, can be fast and easy, even for a curious but lackadaisical home cook — this Easy Orange Chicken recipe at Budget Bytes isn’t it. But it is an authentic interpretation of American take-out and given how simple it is to make and the fact that it comes out to $1.64 per serving, I’d say it’s worth a look. Especially if by Thursday, you’re ready to call your local Chinese restaurant for delivery.
I’m doing it: I’m going crazy and I’m putting tacos on the meal plan twice this week. You mad about it? What if I tell you that these Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa at Pinch of Yum take 25 minutes, start to finish? Still mad? I’m thinking that I’ll turn this recipe into a burrito bowl to switch it up. If you want to do the same: Follow the recipe, skipping the tortillas and serving the pork and salsa over steamed white rice tossed with a can of rinsed black beans. Boom. Let the weekend commence.
