As we begin to wind down season two of Didn’t I Just Feed You and move into summer vacation madness, Stacie and Meghan share the easy dinner recipes, as well as a snack, breakfast, and dessert recipes too, that we’re cooking right now and think you should be cooking as well. These are our lifesavers, the back pocket recipes saving us from take out night after night.
We share the recipes with notes on what makes each great and how everyone can be adapted to suit your family, schedule, and budget too.
This is our cheat sheet. And now it’s yours too.
What’s Happening in our Kitchens
We love sharing ideas, tips, and experts with you week after week, but this time of year serves as the ultimate reminder that, despite being food professionals, we’re all in the same boat when it comes to feeding our families.
Sure we have more developed skills and a sharply honed ability to throw meals together out of virtually nothing, but stress, overwhelm, and simply having too much to do in a day gets to us too. And when it does, we don’t enjoy making dinner any more than the next parent.
That’s why we keep a stash of back pocket recipes that we can count on to help get us through. With these, we can go on autopilot knowing that dinner will be fast to make and easy to serve everyone in our families.
We think that you’ll appreciate having these recipes on tap, too, and to make sure of it, talk you through what we love most, what can be changed, and how you can fit these breakfasts, snacks, and dinners into your family life.
The Cheat Sheet
Let’s get to the point! These are the recipes you should add to your meal plan rotation STAT:
Stacie’s List:
Instant Pot Pasta and Meat Sauce (and Rao’s store-bought sauce, which Stacie mentioned using for this recipe)
Baked Crispy Peanut Tofu served with Cold Noodles With Chile Oil and Citrusy Cabbage
Alison Roman’s Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecornio Breadcrumbs
Hummus Bowls of all kinds
Cheesy Garlic Bread: recipe in Make It Easy, Stacie’s cookbook
Meghan’s List:
Savory Dutch Baby (and even more savory Dutch Baby ideas)
Vegan Sloppy Joes (and Stacie’s Beef and Lentil Sloppy Joes, if you’d rather use lentils to just reduce meat)
Bowls of all kinds, including Hummus Bowls
Smoothies of all kinds, especially turned into popsicles, inspired by The Lazy Genius Makes a Smoothie
Other products and recipes mentioned in this episode:
How to freeze tofu so that it absorbs more flavor (and even more on freezing tofu to make it taste better!)
Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi (a review at Cooking Light)
Giardiniera, and both a homemade Giardiniera recipe as well as Stacie’s recipe for Giardiniera Roasted Vegetables)
For the Love of Popsicles by Sarah Bond (and upcoming guest!)
Our episode on meal planning
Our episode on meal prep with Tracy of Shutterbean
Our episode on intentional leftovers with David Tamarkin of Epicurious
We Love Our Sponsor
A huge thank you Green Giant for sponsoring this week’s episode
We admit it! Even WE roll our eyes when experts suggest prepping veggies in fun, novel ways — even though we’re among those experts and have suggested that very thing (more than once!) on this very podcast. Especially when we’re busy like now, in that transition between the end of school and beginning of summer.
The thing is: It works! But it also takes time and energy than a lot of busy parents don’t have.
That’s why we’re so incredibly excited about the new Green Giant Veggie Swap-Ins. Their frozen riced veggies, veggie spirals, veggie tots, and cauliflower pizza crusts are a busy cook’s dream.
Made with nutritious vegetables like cauliflower, sweet potato, beets, and so much more, these affordable shortcuts make serving veggies, easy, fast, and fun — without any pressure to cook them before they go bad, like the pricey prepped veggies you get in the produce aisle!
To learn more about the full line of Green Giant Veggie Swap Ins, visit GreenGiant.com, and be sure to download coupons at GreenGiant.com/promotions to try them today!
Follow Us on Instagram
You don’t have to wait like an episode like this one to get a glimpse into our kitchens. We’re sharing what we cook regularly on Instagram. Join us there!
Find Meghan at @meghan_splawn and Stacie at @staciebillis And of course, together, we are @didntijustfeedyou.
We Want to Hear from You!
We’re also talking on Facebook, if that’s where you spend your time! This week, we want to know more about what’s happening in your kitchens, too, because it takes a village.
WHAT RECIPES DO YOU HAVE IN REGULAR ROTATION THESE DAYS?
Chime in on Facebook! You can find us as there as @didntijustfeedyou. And if you’re a listener who knows the answer to the secret question, be sure to join our Listeners’ Group too.
Hey! If you’r always looking for something to listen to after hearing us gab, check out one of our favorites, Selfie podcast.
Sarah James, a lifestyle blogger at Whoorl and self-help aficionado, is joined by bestie Kristen Howerton, a writer and psychotherapist who blogs at Rage Against the Minivan, as they tackle the tricky and often elusive aspects of caring for ourselves.
Their weekly conversations explore questions like: Why don’t I eat the way I should? How do I get enough sleep? What aspects of my personality make self-care tricky? And what’s the best way to deal with pubic hair?
I mean… how are you not hitting subscribe right this minute?!
