Even though I work from home, it does not mean I have a lot of time for dinner prep. I want good tasting food without a lot of fuss. Here, I am sharing a typical weekly menu that I make for my family. These are easy and delicious dinner ideas that are also easy to clean up.
Sunday Night
For our first meal of the week, I took the help of a local butcher shop called Mr. Steer. I haven’t been there in a few years and since I was in the area I decided to stop in. I bought 3 pounds of their Cannonball steak tips. They are sticky, sweet, spicy, and tender as can be. I paired these tips with some roasted fingerling potatoes. Here is how I cooked the potatoes:
- Pre-heat oven to 400° F or 340° F if using the convection setting
- Melt 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the microwave
- Wash and dice the fingerling potatoes
- Place diced potatoes on a baking sheet
- Add bacon grease- YUM
- Spices to taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper
- Mix thoroughly and then place in a single layer
- Bake for about 40-50 minutes, move potatoes around on the pan half-way through. This guarantees them to be nice and crisp.
I also had a garden salad already made for those who wanted a side salad. Dinner pulled together quickly. This is a good thing on a Sunday night because Sundays are typically when I’m mentally getting ready for the work week ahead. IYKYK. I don’t want to have a lot of dishes to do or lots of cleanup. But I still need to eat and feed my family.
Monday Night
On Monday night, I realized that I had not done the grocery shopping yet and my options were getting limited. For this dinner, I again needed something that I could pull together fairly quick, clean up easily, and leave enough time for me to go to the grocery store. So, I decided to pull a few things out of the freezer.
One item were these green beans. I grew them in my 2024 garden, blanched them, and then vacuum packed for the freezer. While I do like to can green beans so they are shelf stable, flash-freezing is actually really good too. Especially if you still want your green beans to have a little bit of crunch. I sauteed these in my cast-iron skillet with some bacon grease and butter. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika to taste.
For the roast, I let my crockpot do the work. I must confess. Pot roast is not my family‘s favorite meal. It doesn’t matter how it’s cooked, it is just not at the top of any dinner list. Funny enough it also does not photograph well! Additionally, anything cooked in the crockpot is not typically enjoyed by my daughter. She thinks the crockpot makes everything taste the same and lacks any texture. She is not wrong. But sometimes you just need an appliance to do the work for you. Why do I even buy roasts? Well, I typically buy a quarter or a half a cow and there’s always a few roasts that come with it.
Recipe:
- Place the frozen roast in the crockpot on a bed of sliced, sweet onions
- For the liquid:
- 1/4 cup of leftover spaghetti sauce
- several healthy dashes of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup of water
- a teaspoon of chicken bouillon (that’s what I had on hand)
- Hoisin sauce- about a tablespoon
- Salt and pepper to cover the roast
- Cook on high for 6-8 hours
Once I pulled it out of the crockpot, I shredded it, and tossed my daughters’ portion in some Japanese barbecue sauce. Since I cannot handle too much spice, I just put a little dash of that barbecue sauce along with some of the Au Jus from the crockpot. It was delicious.
Tuesday Night
Tonight was another easy and delicious meal. When I went food shopping yesterday they had wingettes or party wings on sale. I paired these with sautéed zucchini. Here’s how I cook the wings.
- Preheat oven to 400° F or 340° F on the convection setting
- 3 lbs of wingettes
- Divide the package so that half the wingettes are each on a sheet pan
- 1st Sheet pan:
- Avocado oil
- Japanese BBQ Sauce
- Chipotle Tabasco
- Salt, pepper, and smoked paprika
- 2nd Sheet Pan
- Avocado oil
- Worcestershire sauce
- Dash of Japanese BBQ Sauce
- Salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Once all the spices are added, I mix them to coat thoroughly. I baked these in the oven for 40 minutes and halfway through I flipped them and rotated them. As far as the zucchini in my cast-iron skillet, I melted a tablespoon of butter and added a tablespoon of avocado oil. I cut the zucchini into rounds about a half inch thick. I added salt, pepper, minced dried onions, and garlic powder. These were simmered, nice and low for about 20 minutes. Clean up was easy and these were delicious.
Wednesday Night
Wednesday night was another easy meal. I served a pork tenderloin with roasted broccoli. When I went food shopping on Monday, they had marinated tenderloins on sale. This pork loin was marinated in a Kansas City rub. To cook the broccoli, after washing, I cut them into spears, placed them on a large baking sheet, and drizzled with avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Mixed thoroughly and roasted in the convection oven at 340° F for 40 minutes. I added the roast on a separate baking sheet and it roasted for 40 minutes as well. Everything was done at the same time. This night was pretty much hands off cooking, and so very delicious. I’m never afraid to take a little bit of help from the store when the price is right.
Thursday Night
Leftovers
On this particular night, I had a business meeting at 7 o’clock. So, making dinner was not something I was planning on. Every week, I try to build in a left overnight and, typically, I have enough leftovers so that there’s a bit of a smorgasbord available. That way, everyone can choose what they want to eat that night.
I do not like food waste. Tossing extra food is a waste of time, money and resources. So, we make sure that we eat all the food that I’ve prepared, and this is one night less that I have to cook. I really appreciate it when I have a late meeting, it is very helpful to have those leftovers as a back up or safety net. On this particular night, I finished up the broccoli and pork tenderloin. My daughter also had some broccoli and chicken wings. My husband finished off the chicken wings, and the zucchini.
Friday Night
This was a cold and rainy again, Friday. And so what’s more comforting than homemade pizza. My favorite recipe is the easy weeknight pizza crust recipe from King Arthur. You can find that recipe here. The only change I made to this recipe are the spices that I add. I use my mortar and pestle to grind basil, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper, which I add to the dough.
What I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t take too long to proof. This is important on a weeknight- even if it is Friday. This recipe is consistently delicious and it makes enough for a few pizzas- depending on the size. Today, I decided to cook these in my cast-iron pans. I have a 10 inch and a 14 inch. To prepare, I set them in the oven at 450° while the dough was proofing. I have a double oven so the bottom oven was pre-heating to 450° F so the top oven was nice and warm and a great place to proof the dough.
When the dough was fully proofed, I divided it 2/3 and 1/3. The 1/3 was going to be used in the smaller cast-iron pan and 2/3 in the larger pan. I always make my daughter a separate pizza because she does not like any type of tomato. So, all of her pizzas have no sauce on them. I carefully took the smaller pan out of the oven, rolled out 1/3 of the dough to a little over 10 inches because once placed in the hot pan, the dough shrinks a little. I added a spray of avocado oil to the pan and spread that around with my silicone brush to make sure the dough wouldn’t stick. Without putting any toppings on, I placed that pan back in the oven to start baking the crust. I repeated the same process for the larger pizza.
Topping the Pizza
After about 10 minutes for each pizza, I then took them out of the oven and added the toppings. My daughter’s pizza, got a simple brush of olive oil, pepperoni, Parmesan cheese, and some Monterey jack cheese. For my husband and I’s pizza, I added home canned marinara sauce and pepperoni. I also used Monterey Jack cheese because it melts well, it’s tasty, and that is what I had in the refrigerator. That’s the main reason. These pizzas came out deliciously crispy yet tender full of flavor and they were truly comforting on a Friday night.
Saturday Night
You know how earlier I said I did not like to waste food? Well, this last meal is another way I don’t waste. You see, a few months ago, we made a lot of a burrito filling. It included some nontraditional ingredients such as rice, chorizo, and yellow bell peppers. It was smokey and flavorful. But, I made too much and decided to freeze the leftovers. Freezing leftovers is a great way to ensure you decrease waste but also help yourself later with a quick, homemade meal.
I did not have tortillas on this night and I was too lazy to go to the store. So, I decided to use my sourdough and make tortillas. Here is how I made those:
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup sourdough discard (fed or unfed)
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of Tajin
- 1/4 cup of avocado oil
- 6 or so tablespoons of warm water – just enough for the dough to come together
Mix all of the ingredients and let sit for about 1/2 hour. Heat on medium-high a dry, well-seasoned cast iron. Divide the dough into 8 separate doughballs. Roll each out to about 8″ or as thin as you can get them. Place on hot cast iron and cook each side. If you notice they are too dark, turn down the heat to medium. They should not stick in a well-seasoned cast iron but if they do, you can use a little avocado spray.
Once the tortillas are cooked, place in a towel to keep warm. Sometimes, I will add a damp papertowel underneath the towel to maintain the moisture so that the tortillas remain soft. Once these are complete, I added the filling and served.
7 Easy and Delicious Dinner Ideas Complete
So, there you have it. A complete seven days of meal ideas that are not complicated and are easy clean-up. As i reflected on this week, I realized a few things. I love to roast. It really brings out the flavor, in vegetables especially, and it is easy to clean up. I appreciate prepared foods on occasion and I especially appreciate it when I was the one who made and froze it at a previous date. Lastly, dinner doesn’t have to be complicated. My family’s non-negotiable include that the meal is tasty, filling, and well rounded. My daughter may also add that it doesn’t include a crockpot or tomatoes, but I digress. If you want one more idea, check out this sheet pan dinner idea here. Happy cooking!