What’s For Dinner Wednesday (5 More Meal Ideas)
It’s time for our weekly What’s For Dinner Wednesday post! Today’s post is the fifth installment in this series!
You can catch up on a whole list of meal ideas from the past 4 weeks here:
What’s For Dinner Wednesday (4 Simple Meal Ideas)
What’s For Dinner Wednesday (5 More Meal Ideas)
What’s For Dinner Wednesday (3 More Meal Ideas)
What’s For Dinner Wednesday (4 More Meal Ideas)
I think each of us appreciates some fresh ideas now and then, so hopefully this post will be inspiring to you!
** Note: The meals I’m sharing for “What’s For Dinner Wednesday” aren’t ALL of the exact recipes I’ll be making that week, although I’ll make sure to include some of the meals in my weekly meal plan amongst the recipes in the list. 🙂 Enjoy!
Spaghetti with Roasted Red Pepper Cream (& Garlic Bread):
I just made this last night and it was so, so good!! Bjorn loved it, too. We actually think it may be better than regular spaghetti! It’s full of fun flavors and it feels like a classier version of a favorite Italian meal. This recipe is from the Home Chef website. I doubled everything except for the bell peppers (because I forgot to double those, haha). I’ll just tweak the recipe below to show you how I made it.
Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves
2 red bell peppers
1 baguette
1 onion
2 oz. cheese and garlic croutons
10 oz. spaghetti
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (add more for extra heat)
8 fl. oz. light cream (I just used a cup of whole milk)
4 tbsp. tomato paste
2 oz. grated parmesan (about 1/4 container)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bring 8 cups water and 2 tsp. salt to a boil in a medium pot. Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and cooking spray. Stem, seed, and halve red bell peppers. Place peppers on prepared baking sheet, skin side up. Drizzle with 1 tsp. olive oil and a pinch of salt and massage oil into peppers. Roast in hot oven until slightly charred and tender, 20-22 minutes. Remove peppers to a cutting board. Replace foil on baking sheet and reserve. While peppers roast, mince garlic. Halve baguette lengthwise. Peel and halve onion. Slice thinly. Crush croutons into coarse crumbs.
Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta in a colander and set aside. While pasta cooks, make garlic bread. (Combine 2 tbsp. olive oil and 2 cloves of the minced garlic in a mixing bowl. Place baguette on re-foiled baking sheet, cut side up. Spread olive oil-garlic mixture on cut side. Bake until golden brown, 5-7 minutes.) Cut roasted red peppers into ¼” dice.
To make the tomato cream sauce: Place a medium non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 2 tsp. olive oil and the sliced onion to hot pan. Stir often until onion begins to caramelize, about 4-5 minutes. Add remaining 2 tsp. garlic and red pepper flakes (to taste). Cook until aromatic, 30-60 seconds. Stir in pasta cooking water, cream/milk, tomato paste, and diced roasted red peppers. Stir occasionally until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Season with ½ tsp. salt. Remove from burner.
Combine the pasta with the parmesan and sauce until pasta is completely coated. Garnish with crushed croutons. Enjoy!
Best Ever Meatloaf Recipe:
This one is from Yummy Healthy Easy. Although I don’t make meatloaf all that much, it’s probably my favorite meatloaf recipe!
Ingredients:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 onion, diced small (about ½ cup)
2 eggs
½ tsp. ground pepper
¾ cup quick oats
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. onion salt
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp. mustard
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×5″ loaf pan with cooking spray. Mix together ground beef, onion, eggs, pepper, oats, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, onion salt and tomato sauce in a large bowl, using your hands. Do not overmix.
In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, sugar and mustard. Spread on top of meatloaf and place in oven.
Bake for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes, or until meatloaf is cooked through. Let cool for a few minutes and then slice and serve. Enjoy!
BBQ Chicken Salad:
I’ve tried several recipes from this site now – yum!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 rotisserie chicken, with meat taken off the bone and set aside (OR 2 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts, cooked)
salt and pepper, to taste
6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 roma tomato, diced
3/4 cup canned corn kernels, drained
3/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup tortilla strips
Directions:
To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with chicken, tomato, corn, beans, onion and cheeses. Mix Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce in a small bowl. Pour on top of the salad and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately, topped with tortilla strips.
Easy Tator Tot Hot Dish:
Ingredients:
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom)
1 32-oz. bag frozen tator tots
2 cans of corn (or a few cups of thawed frozen corn)
1 can green beans
1 lb. ground turkey
1 medium onion, diced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown turkey in skillet until it is no longer pink. Pour tator tots out into a 9×13 baking dish. Drain cans of corn and beans, then add those on top of tator tots. Add ground turkey, diced onion, and cans of creamed soup. Use a large spoon to stir all ingredients together within the pan, then spread out the mixture evenly. (Some people like to arrange tator tots across the top of the hot dish, but I just stir it all together.)
Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until tator tots are slightly browned on top.
Slow-Cooker (OR Stovetop!) Zuppa Toscana:
I love this soup so much! It’s delicious paired with garlic bread and a side salad. Since Bjorn doesn’t like sweet potatoes as much as I do, I’ve tweaked the recipe from this site a bit. It works well in a crockpot, but it also can be made quickly on the stovetop!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground spicy sausage
1.5 pounds potatoes (or 3 sweet potatoes) – about 1.5 pounds, washed and sliced
1 bunch of kale, washed and chopped
1.5 teaspoons fennel seeds
1.5 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
Directions:
{Slow Cooker} Break apart the sausage and add all ingredients to your slow cooker, except the heavy cream. Cook 8 hours on “low” setting or until sausage is cooked through. Add heavy cream and stir to heat through.
{Stovetop} Brown the sausage in a skillet. Add all ingredients except cream to a large pot. Cook until potatoes are fork-tender. Stir in cream at the end and cook a few more minutes before serving.
There you have it! Be sure to follow Just Bee on Instagram and Facebook so you can stay up to date! 🙂 Thanks for reading along!
What’s a go-to fun meal idea in your household? I’d LOVE to hear!! 🙂