Cook Your Cravings and Other Reasons to Make A Great Dinner (Week 14)
If you’re anything like me (these days), then your taste and cravings for dinner change all-too-often throughout the day. As we have relaxed our somewhat-rigid meal planning on the weekends, this has left our weeknight meals more up in the air than ever before. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Since we are rarely planning specific dishes in advance, we simply have a very full fridge of ingredients, there’s a lot more wiggle room for changes in regard to day-of dinner plans. I’m working full-time from home so I have dinner on my mind most of the day. And while I usually have a decent idea of what we will make by the time lunch rolls around, there have been many instances when it’s suddenly 5pm and I still haven’t decided on a meal/recipe.
I’m learning to embrace the lack of planning; this relaxed attitude has allowed us to make many of our cravings last-minute. Suddenly hoping for pizza instead of pasta? Easy! Need to use up some extra veggies? Add them into the soup! For someone like me that tends to thrive on routine (especially around mealtime), this quarantine time has allowed me to chill in a way I never anticipated. While having a full-blown meal plan is awesome, I’m admitting that it’s totally fine to not have one at all. In fact, I barely know what we’re making tonight.
So, whether you’re in planning-mode or not, let me share with you the meals we made last week that met so many of our cravings and came to be after much discussion (and online scrolling) well-past 5pm.
Chicken and Rice Soup with Garlicky Chile Oil
Recipe via basically. (A naturally gluten free recipe)
If you’ve got chicken, rice, garlic, and greens, then you can definitely make this soup. OK, so it needs a few more ingredients, but have no fear this is an amazing weeknight options that really delivers on flavor. It looks like it takes tremendous time and effort and it’s actually very much the opposite.
Our version included spinach instead of kale because that’s what we had available. As the recipe indicates, you may want to make a double batch of the chile oil because it’s freaking awesome. I wish I had a vat of it. It’s scrumptious, spicy, and the perfect garnish to drizzle over everything.
Sticky Ginger Scallion Meatballs
Recipe via All the Healthy Things (Naturally gluten free)
My adoration for this website continues as we have made at least two of her recipes each week. And as the biggest fan of meatballs out there, I knew we had to make this dish. OMG. These meatballs are marvelous! Like, so delicious I didn’t want to share them with Seth. Like, so awesome I immediately wished we’d made double the amount. So. Darn. Great.
The secret seems to be that “saucing” the meatballs after they’re cooked is key to get that glistening appearance. It’s also the secret to making them undeniably amazing. As someone who can be skeptical of fresh ginger (even though I know it’s good for me), I loved the ginger flavor in this dish. Also, if you haven’t cooked with coconut aminos before, now is the time. They’re used instead of soy sauce and surprise, surprise, it’s a delicious alternative! Not quite the same zing, in my opinion, but definitely still flavorful and great for meatballs.
Shrimp Scampi Pizza
Original Recipe
This may be my favorite pizza we have ever created. Yes, I stand by my statement. If you love shrimp scampi, then you will love this pizza. We used an Against the Grain Gourmet gluten free crust, but you could use any number of GF crust options. The key to success for this pie is in the toppings; plenty of them!
Pre-cook the shrimp with plenty of garlic, red pepper flakes (optional), lemon juice, and butter. Then they will be ready to go on the pizza. Beyond shrimp, we used a hearty amount of mozzarella, diced plum tomato, garlic scapes (if in-season), and a sprinkle of feta. Yes, this scampi pizza uses two types of cheese and I say that is another reason to celebrate. Mozzarella is the required “base",” but the feta on top really takes it to the next level of flavorful pizza.
All together, this pizza is an explosion of amazing flavors, which are undeniably amazing and supremely scrumptious. Shrimp scampi is a great dish, but shrimp scampi pizza is superb.
Crispy Buffalo Ranch Chicken Nuggets
Recipe via All the Healthy Things ( Naturally Gluten free)
After much deliberation about what to make for dinner last Thursday, I suddenly remembered saving this recipe during my frequent searching for delicious, flavorful meals. Wow! Another winner from this website and it may just be my new favorite way to make buffalo chicken at home.
Whether or not sports will be coming back to TV soon, we can hope, I do know that we want awesome “game day” dishes available for the future. Of course, you don’t need sports on TV to make buffalo chicken, but something about this dinner screams “we should be watching football.”
Once again, the best trick I learned from this dinner was to coat the chicken in buffalo sauce right after it came out of the oven. The sauce does make the pieces slightly less-crispy, but no less delicious. We made our own buffalo sauce, and ranch, from scratch for this meal. However, there is no shame in buying bottles of it pre-made at the grocery store. Saves time and energy, which is definitely essential on a weeknight!
Beyond Sausage, Mushroom, and Onion Pizza
Original Recipe
Let’s be real because honesty is the best policy: I did not like this Beyond Sausage and took all of the pieces of off my slices of pizza. I’m sorry. It’s just not for me. However, this pizza was delicious with just the mushrooms, onion, and diced tomato. Seth ate the Beyond Sausage, but I just didn’t like the smell, flavor, or texture. I’d rather have skipped it! But we had it in the freezer and it was a good try. I much prefer the Impossible burger meat, made into cheeseburgers.
If you’re in the mood for a meatless pizza, then by all means, top it with plenty of veggies! Add extra cheese! There are innumerable ways to make a pizza that don’t require meat, or a meat substitute. And while I wasn’t a fan of this particular substitute, others may enjoy it.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I most-often prefer a veggie-focused pizza, with extra cheese please. This is a big change as I used to be an only-pepperoni type of person. There will always be a time and place for a good ‘ol (real) sausage and mushroom pie, but more often than not I’m fine with a meatless slice (or a few).
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Recipe via All the Healthy Things.
By the time Saturday night rolled around, it was time to do a repeat. Some weekend nights we venture out and try a new recipe, but this night, after we had cocktails on the balcony and enjoyed a really nice summer evening, it was time for a new-to-us favorite. Egg Roll in a Bowl - why haven’t we been making this for years?! I just love it.
While we had made it last week and followed the instructions as written, this time around we changed it slightly by using ground turkey instead of pork and serving it over Jasmine rice, instead of well, nothing. It’s so yummy! It’s so easy. It also makes amazing leftovers, which I happily enjoyed on Sunday night. :)
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