Alright, parents: I have a busy week coming up, so I need to think ahead and come up with some meal plan ideas for quick meals that will keep my family satisfied and nourished for some of these longer nights we have ahead of us. I’m also looking for some portable meals we can take with us, because some of our activities overlap dinnertime this week.
And I’m getting sick of paying for takeout, just saying.
If you’re feeling the same way, I hope these easy dinner ideas will help your family out this week, too.
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When you have some downtime, whip up a big batch of the meatballs from this Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps recipe at The Garlic Diaries. In fact, go ahead and double (or triple) it because they’re that good and you can freeze them for quick dinners later. At dinner time, all you need to do is pull out the lettuce and whip up that slaw. My kids rave about this dinner, so it’s definitely worth adding to your meal plan too.
Quesadillas are one of my go-to dinners for busy nights, but if you’re tired of plain-old-chicken as your filling then up your game with this Chorizo Quesadilla recipe at Serious Eats. It’s so easy, but the chorizo flavors really switch things up for us and make this feel more like a entree-level quesadilla than just a quick meal we heat up at lunch. (That said, any leftovers will make a tasty quick meal to heat up at lunch.)
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Sausage, peppers, fire-roasted tomatoes and tangy cream cheese make this Cajun sausage pasta at Pass Me Some Tasty a family favorite dinner that’s loaded with flavor but ready in under 30 minutes. You could easily switch up the andouille for vegetarian sausage if you aren’t eating meat, or just leave it out altogether and add more peppers or even black or kidney beans for added protein.
I always crave perfectly cooked, crispy salmon in spring time. Something about the warmer weather just makes it sound so good. I love the idea of preparing it using this air fryer salmon recipe at The Food Blog, because in my busy kitchen with four kids I usually get distracted and let fish burn on the stovetop.
Since my family is obsessed with ramen, I’ve been playing around with some recipes that really zhuzh it up, you know? I love what Tieghan has done with this crispy miso katsu chicken ramen at Half Baked Harvest. It has all the ease of making ramen for dinner, with the good feeling that I’ve done more than just, well, make ramen for dinner. All in under 30 minutes. A definite winner.
