10 Easy Weeknight Dinners for Busy Families
For when life is crazy, here are 10 easy weeknight dinners for busy families.
1. Taco Night
There’s some relief to the mental load when you have a regular taco night. Taco Tuesday isn’t popular for no reason! Keep Taco seasoning packets on hand or make your own using some common spices and at least one night’s dinner will be a breeze!
I use the following recipe as a guide for my taco seasoning: 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, and 1 tablespoon of cumin. Combine all spices and sprinkle over ground beef while cooking.
2. Pasta & Meatballs
Another easy throw-together meal is pasta and meatballs. You can use spaghetti pasta. Aldi’s carries a bag of frozen meatballs. Cook the meatballs according to the package directions and the pasta of choice seperately. Combine at the end. You may even add more pasta sauce if you desire.
3. Chicken Tortilla Soup
This recipe is one of my favorite recipes of all time! I love to add tortilla chips, shredded cheddar, and sour cream to my bowl.
This soup can be thrown into the crockpot. To a crockpot add: two chicken breast, container of chicken broth, taco seasoning, can of pinto beans washed and drained, can of corn, can of Rotel, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Here’s a similar soup that sounds just as easy to make…
Click this link to check out this recipe. 4. Sheet Pan Fajitas
Time is always precious in the evenings. Having a meal ready to go within 30 minutes is priceless! The following Pinterest pin highlights one of my fave go-to meals: sheet pan fajitas. This meal was a no-brainer for adding to my 10 easy weeknight dinners for busy families.
5. Frozen Pizza
Please don’t come at me for this one! When you just do not have the energy to cook, you can typically count on Publix to have some brand of frozen pizza on a Buy One, Get One sale. On nights that I go grocery shopping, a frozen pizza is usually in our near future!
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com 6. Roast & Veggies
Another great use of the crockpot is placing a roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots in it. If your roast is frozen, you can place it in the crockpot along with some beef broth on low overnight and in the morning before work, toss in the onions and carrots. My husband likes to add peeled cloves of garlic to his roast recipe. You can try a variation of this by adding peperoncino peppers and a packet of ranch dressing.
7. Orange Chicken & Rice
This is my daughter’s favorite meal and if I am honest, I never fully remember how to make the same recipe twice! We always place the orange chicken over a bed of white rice. Add a little soy sauce and you have an awesome meal.
For the chicken, cut two to three chicken breast into cubes. In a small bowl add: half a teaspoon of garlic powder, half a teaspoon of ground ginger, salt & pepper to taste, the zest of an orange, a quarter cup of soy sauce, and a tablespoon of honey. To a skillet, add your cubed chicken and as it cooks, pour the mixture over top until cooked through. Sometimes, I will add a teaspoon of cornstarch to my dried, cubed chicken before placing it in the skillet. This is a crowd pleaser in our home.
8. Baked Chicken & Roasted Vegetables
Any type of sheet pan dinner is an easy win for me. For baked chicken, place your chicken breast and desired chopped vegetables on a aluminum foil-lined pan. Drizzle olive oil and desired spices (such as garlic powder, Italian seasoning, thyme, salt, pepper, etc.) over chicken and veggies, baking them at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Ta-da! Dinner is served!
9. Tater Tot Casserole
I fell in love with this casserole during my years that I watched 19 Kids and Counting. My version is slightly different than the original.
Cook ground beef with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Once meat is drained, add to a casserole dish that already has frozen tater tots on the bottom. In a separate bowl, combine a container of sour cream, a can of mushroom soup, a teaspoon of garlic and onion powders, and a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Layer the mixture on top of the tater tots and meat then cover with a layer of shredded cheese. Bake on 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes.
10. Hamburgers
If I’m being totally honest, by the time I got to the 10th meal, I really was struggling for an easy win. Grilling hamburgers is an easy dinner for me because typically, I only have to patty up the burgers then my husband does the rest – ha!
Well, how did I do? Any new recipes that you would like to give it a try? There are certain tasks that us moms will continue to do until we pass away – wash laundry and cook dinner are two that come to mind! In a past post, I shared about my year of attempting to have 365 different meals. You can read about my attempt here. May these 10 easy weeknight dinners for busy families provide you a little bit of inspiration – enjoy!
Home Organization: Hacks for Every Room!
That title might be a bit deceptive. Not sure I have a hack for EVERY room but I will share the knowledge that I do have. Keeping a house running smoothly will require some home organization hacks along the way!
Functional Bathrooms
Having a double vanity sink would make one think there is enough space for all one’s bathroom products. One would be wrong. Having a proper organization hack will help utilize the small spaces underneath bathroom sinks. I’ve utilized double tiered shelving as well as hair appliance storage. You can check out my hair appliance organizer here. (As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from any viable link.)
Smart Tips for an Organized Kitchen
No matter the size of the kitchen, there are plenty of items to fill it! For a small kitchen especially, there are organizational tips and tricks. For example, a lazy Susan is a wonderful hack for organizing spices. Upper cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling are also a nice addition of space.
Snapware glass containers are great for food storage and stack nicely in the cabinets when unused.
Hacks for a Clutter-Free Bedroom
Under the bed storage organizers are a brilliant hack for saving space in the bedroom. I use a couple of zip-up storage containers.
In our youngest son’s bedroom, canvas storage totes are used to hold not only clothing but toys and books as well. You can read about our recent update to our son’s room, here.
Creative under-the-bed storage solutions. Any quick Google search can generate a wealth of home organization hack resources. An account I discovered on Instagram that has amazing home organization hacks is @lelaburris She also has a beautiful blog that highlights some great organization tips. You can read about it here.
Using these hacks, think of ways to create space-saving storage solutions and organization in your own home! Let me know what other home organization hacks you incorporate at your house. I’d love to hear from you!
Trends in Jeans I’m Predicting for Moms this Fall:
Fall is my absolute favorite season and with it comes a whole new opportunity to change wardrobes and styles. As a mom – maybe even just as a woman – finding a good pair of jeans is always a challenge. We, as moms, want to look nice but have the functionality to take care of business when necessary. Here are some trends in jeans I’m predicting for moms this fall.
Wide-leg Jeans: the classic friend
As much as I loved the pairing of skinny jeans with an oversized sweatshirt or tunic, I’m loving the wide legged jean’s silhouette. For an apple shaped girlie, the wide leg draws the eye to an area other than the tummy. While I feel some are still wearing the skinny jeans and leggings, the wide leg jean is on trend for
this fall.
These jeans were a purchase for my senior daughter. They are an absolute hit! *As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission on any viable links.* Cargo Jeans: the trendy friend
This is one trend, I am uncertain I will get on board with. The jury’s still out on how I feel about all the pockets of the cargo jean. In my search for examples to share, I came across another blogger’s take on the fall season jean trend and like her perspective. You can read her thoughts, here.
Retail Cheapskate is always providing great deal ideas! Thick-cuffed Jeans: possible friend of short girls
Being 4′ 10″, I love any excuse to cuff or turn up my jeans. Carefully curating my wardrobe affords me to show off some great, classic styles. You can read about my capsule wardrobe planning, here.
Elastic Waistband Jeans: every mom’s friend
Another win in my book is jeans with an elastic waist band. I mean, what’s not to love? Now, to be honest, I’m not sure the style below is for me; however, these came on my radar as I was viewing various jean styles on Instagram.
Four types of jean trends for this fall: wide-legged, cuffed, cargo, and elastic waist bands. Which trend will you try?
These jeans are No Boundaries Pull-On Cargo jeans from Walmart.
