The end of August just begs for build your own meals featuring blends of freshly cooked, freshly picked, and made ahead ingredients. Everything from seared salmon and salsa kissed strawberries to cucumber salad and chickpea tomato confit find their way into a tasty bowl.
Richly seasoned noodles get combined with tender lamb and sautéed onions to make a quick and delicious dinner. What's more, it makes excellent leftovers for those weeks when busy is the name of the game.
Homemade ravioli becomes child's play when you use wonton wrappers to stand in for from-scratch pasta. Focus instead on fabulous fillings and dinner is literally minutes away. Round out your dinner with a light salad and chilled wine and suddenly gourmet doesn't have to mean hours in the kitchen.
Quick and elegant, this one pan meal is a great Valentine's Day dinner menu idea for you and the special person in your life. Instead of spending all your time and money on restaurants and waiting lines, turn to your own kitchen and get dinner on the table in a half hour!
Sometimes, I really think I could live on bread alone, as long as it's focaccia! If you think that fresh, homemade focaccia is too much work, you haven't turned to your bread machine for help! Get a tried and true method and break out your finest olive oil and grated cheese. It's dinner time!
When time is of the essence - and let's face it, it nearly always is - get dinner on the table and feed your hungry family in less than a half hour. Tender shrimp and veggies find their way to being tucked into tortillas and enjoyed fajita-style!
This is a great meal to prep in advance and grill when the mercury rises to the point where you don't want to cook inside. Tender grilled chicken and vegetables get a long bath in a complex and delicious marinade before finding the heat.
A quick dinner packed with flavor arrives at the table courtesy of ground beef, a quick pan sauce, and veggies galore. Everything from kohlrabi and carrots to bell pepper and green onions find their way into tender lettuce wraps.
They key to this amazing chicken is a super-flavorful marinade and a hot cast iron skillet. Chicken thighs get flavor and moisture from the marinade and the heavy skillet helps create a tender, juicy meal that's sure to please.
A summer favorite, the BLT, gets a morning makeover that involves a bagel, an egg, and swapping the lettuce for fresh basil. The result? A breakfast sandwich that you will turn to again and again all summer long!
Treat yourself to the fanciest, simplest pizza you've ever had. And you thought gift-giving had just ended! This one covers pieces of premade naan with fried shallots, chopped radicchio, slices of pear, torn prosciutto, shredded cheese, and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. Dig in!
Pasta might not seem like a very summery option unless it is starring in a pasta salad. Well, have no fear, it can definitely be just what summer ordered when it's loaded with grilled chicken and a spicy, smoky cream sauce. What's more, this is a fast dish that's perfect for entertaining. Happy Summer!
Packed with lots of fresh vegetables, tender beef, and tantalizing udon, this quick stir fry is just what you need on a busy day. A sauce that's brimming with ginger, garlic, and more brings it all together before you get it to the table.
Sometimes, life affords you both the time and the desire to make, roll out, and bake pastry for the ultimate in comfort food: pot pie. Other times, it's entirely worth it to take a short cut and enjoy your favorite comfort food flavors in under an hour.
Tender ravioli get the oven toasting treatment. Make things easy with my often-used mayonnaise and cracker crumb breading method and have these tasty morsels ready to do duty as appetizers or the main course in half an hour.
Grab your Instant Pot and get ready for a delightfully creamy corn and potato chowder. In a half an hour, you can have a perfect bowl of comfort food during a week that's busy enough with planning for Thanksgiving.
Shepherd's pie meets pot pie with this classic Chicken Cottage Pie. All the fillings of a chicken pot pie snag the topping of a shepherd's pie. It's comfort food at its finest!
A big batch of baked carnitas tacos filled with pork, black beans, and ooey gooey cheese is perfect late spring/early summer comfort food. Add them to a Tex-Mex themed buffet table or just dig in with your favorite toppings, sides, and a margarita.
If dinner takes only a half hour to assemble, take advantage of the extra time in the dinner hour to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Nothing says al fresco quite like a spicy sandwich with onion rings and a fresh salad.
If dinner takes only a half hour to assemble, take advantage of the extra time in the dinner hour to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. And summer just begs to include steak on the grill. Can it be done in 30 minutes? You bet.
Make-Your-Own-Pizza Night is a hit at my house. Everyone loves picking their favorite sauces, toppings, and getting them in the oven. And when you use pita bread as the base, everyone becomes the master of their own meal!
Braising, the act of cooking meat and/or vegetables by heating them slowly with oil and moisture in a tightly sealed vessel, is a rare culinary approach in our busy world. But set aside an afternoon to let your heaviest pot and your oven create the fall off the bone tenderest short ribs you've ever had.
Special occasions call for special food. Seared beef tenderloin with a homemade compound butter fits the bill. Celebrate Valentine's Day with a specially planned menu from Seasoned Cooking that will have your beloved swooning.
