5 Dinner Winners

I love trying new dinner recipes. So much, in fact, that I only repeat dinners if they are beyond amazing, because I’d rather try something new than re-make something that’s merely okay or pretty good. Here are some dinner winners that I’ve made recently that have earned a highly-coveted position on my ‘repeatable dinner’ list by being quick to make, delicious, and family- and budget-friendly:

Kung Pao Ramen Noodles from Mel’s Kitchen Café

Any recipe that starts out with a few packets of Ramen is sure to be a favorite for Forrest. But this was very adult-friendly, too . . . it’s flavorful and delicious, plus it’s quick and simple and very inexpensive to pull together. It’s going down in history as a new family favorite over here.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup from Our Best Bites

Breakfast for dinner is always a hit at our house, and these pancakes were wildly tasty. I almost didn’t bother making the peanut butter syrup (this off-putting and very challenging portion of the recipe includes a daunting list of 2 ingredients and the exhausting effort of mixing those 2 ingredients together), but oh it was delicious. I could have (read: did) slurped it alone. Yum.

Taco Pizza from Newly Woodwards

I’m having blogja vu with this one—maybe I’ve mentioned this recipe already?—but we love and regularly repeat this recipe for Taco Pizza, a knockoff of a popular dish at Happy Joe’s, a Midwest institution that we, sadly, never visited in the years we lived in Iowa, mostly because I thought Taco Pizza just sounded obnoxious (be tacos or be pizza, do not be both). But I humbly renounce my snobby monogamistic recipe ways and with open arms welcome this bicurious dish to my dinner table. It’s delicious and different.

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder from AllRecipes

I love and regularly crave this tasty, slightly spicy, mega-delicious soup. I’ve made it dozens of times (a true rarity for any dish in my house), and recommend the following simple changes:

- make 1 or 2 cups of white rice while you’re working on the soup and toss it in before serving . . . it adds a little much-needed substance to make this feel like more of a hearty meal.

- if you’re feeling real crazy (WOOOO, I KNOW I AM!), swap out the chicken for tilapia. I tried it once, simply because I had tilapia in the freezer that I didn’t know what to do with, and now I actually prefer it that way and haven’t made it with chicken since. And I’m not a fish lover, so don’t worry about it being too intensely fishy.

Thai Curry from Everyday Reading

This dish has the most delicious Thai coconut flavor, and it’s a fantastic recipe to have on hand because it’s so easily adaptable. Whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand work perfectly, so I love making it when I have random veggie odds and ends in my fridge that I don’t have a plan for. Personally, I prefer it with less (or no) fish sauce, but either way, this recipe is scrumptious. We rarely have leftovers of this one.

Taken From Here