Easy Dinner Ideas

Having dinner as a family is something I love but it is a challenge to do. Especially as the kids get older. I don’t believe in complicated or fancy. That’s ok if that’s your thing, nothing against it. Simple is key for this mom. During the week when we are juggling sports and work schedules, easy dinners are my go-to.

Here are a few easy dinner ideas. Most take a little prep then you can just pop in the oven and work on other things while they are cooking.

Meatloaf and roasted potatoes. This is about 15 minutes prep then it’s in the oven! Super simple.

For the meatloaf, I usually just wing it!
I’ll search a recipe on Pinterest and then loosely base my recipe on that.
The Roasted potatoes can be done numerous ways but basically you clean and cut them into wedges, season with olive oil, spices and roast!

Stuffed shells. This is also about 15 minutes prep and in it goes. Serve with a salad and fresh bread.

Basically, the shells are a lasagna filling. When I make the stuffed shells I skip the meat and just do a cheese filling. You could serve meatballs on the side or just add meat to the mixture to stuff the shells. The recipe above is a good basic recipe and you can edit as you like!

Chicken with roasted squash and stuffing.

Some nights I just use a rotisserie chicken so I’m only prepping the sides.

I buy the cubed squash from the grocery store and then add a diced (large dice) red onion. They go on a roasting pan drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper then go in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes. It is SO good and the colors are beautiful together. Warm the chicken and cut into servings and make the dressing (I often use the box stuffing, my kids love it).

I’ve been meal planning for awhile now and it makes a huge difference! I use my bullet journal. I’ll share more about that soon!