A Dozen Dinner Ideas ~ April 2024

Welcome to the LWD blog feature – “A Dozen Dinner Ideas“. We can all use some dinner inspiration occasionally, right? I love seeing what others are serving their families so I thought I’d return the favor. Once a month I share a dozen meals we’ve had lately and I hope you’ll get an idea or two.

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A DOZEN DINNERS

Here are a dozen dinners we had in our home recently. I hope you find inspiration for your own dinners!

I’ve shared before that I really like keeping a bag of Aldi’s parmesan herb encrusted chicken tenders in the freezer. They are so easy to cook. This night I cut up a bunch of fresh veggies I had on hand, tossed with olive oil and seasonings. I put a piece of aluminum foil on a sheet pan, sprayed with cooking spray and put the chicken and veggies on the same pan. The only other thing I had to do was heat up some leftover rolls. Super easy Sunday supper!

parmesan herb encrusted chicken (Aldi)
roasted veggies (red potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, red bell peppers, onion)
Hawaiian sweet roll with butter

HamBeens soup
cornbread
coleslaw

I only used half a package of this 15 bean soup mix and still had lots of leftovers.

Note: Amazon’s price is ridiculous so check your local grocery store. They are only $3 a bag at my store.

Black Bean Enchiladas
yellow rice
tortilla chips

Debi’s Cajun Style Jambalaya
homemade potato salad

chicken and rice
asparagus

This was my plate. I like to have a little plain pasta with butter, garlic salt and parmesan along with my spaghetti and meatballs.

spaghetti and meatballs
green beans
side salad
garlic toast

We eat tacos almost every Tuesday and we never get tired of them. This night we were low on corn tortillas so I had one corn and one flour (both were fried).

tacos
tortilla chips

My mom used to make pork chops with Shake and Bake when I was a kid and I remember liking them. But when I saw how expensive Shake and Bake is these days I looked up a homemade version. It’s basically bread crumbs (panko is best), seasonings and a little oil.This was a really tasty meal and I cooked enough to make two plates of food to take to my mom.

pork chops with homemade “Shake and Bake” coating
Stove Top Stuffing
peas
apples cooked in butter with brown sugar and cinnamon
biscuits

Every homemaker ought to have several easy dinners in their repertoire. I like to keep a few cans of Hormel Chili in the pantry for just this reason. Heat and pour over a baked potato for those nights when you just don’t feel like cooking. I also keep bags of frozen veggies that can be steamed in the microwave. Easy peasy!

baked potato with chili, sour cream, grated cheddar and green onion
steamed broccoli
leftover cooked apples

Chicken Tikka Masala topped with plain yogurt and raisins
toasted naan bread
chilled apricots

This year I decided to skip the china/silver/crystal for our Easter meal. And you know what? The food tasted just as good. I do love using my pretty things but it had been a busy weekend so I made it easier on myself.

Easter dinner

ham (spiral ham in the slow cooker)
mashed potatoes and gravy
candied sweet potatoes
green bean casserole
Stove Top Stuffing
deviled eggs
Hawaiian sweet rolls

We really like the veggie burgers from Aldi and find that they make an easy, meatless dinner once in awhile. Serve them on brioche buns with lots of tasty condiments!