A Dozen Dinner Ideas ~ October 2023

Welcome to a new 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’ll 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

I already have three regular features that I share at the beginning of the month so this one will be on or around the 15th. Hopefully there will be photos with each dinner but they will likely just be a quick shot with my phone so don’t expect Instagram-fancy pictures or chef-worthy plating. These are just our regular, everyday dinners.

I’ll share links to recipes where I can and give brief descriptions of some others. If you have questions about anything, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to tell you how I made it.

So let’s get started!

pork tenderloin
rice
baked corn and tomatoes
Crunchy Broccoli Slaw Salad

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shrimp with cocktail sauce
roasted Brussels sprouts
baked potato
salad

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spaghetti and meatballs
mixed vegetables
salad

I buy frozen meatballs from Aldi and the sauce this time was Classico caramelized onion jarred sauce.

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homemade soup from leftovers plus potatoes, carrots
crackers

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baked pork chop
baked potato with butter and sour cream
broccoli
salad

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shrimp in honey garlic sauce
rice
broccoli in cheese sauce
salad

I bought a big bag of frozen cooked shrimp on sale and marinated it in a honey garlic sauce about 20 minutes and then sautéed it in the other half of the sauce. The broccoli in cheese sauce was frozen, microwaveable – not something I buy often but it looked good when I was grocery shopping.

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Cajun Chicken Alfredo
salad
garlic toast

One of these days I’ll share the chicken Alfredo recipe. It’s something I started making when my kids were teens. My daughter’s then-boyfriend (now husband) LOVED this so I always made it for him. One of the kids’ friends used to come over and watch 7th Heaven with us (her family didn’t have t.v.) and she loved this, too, although she was vegetarian so I cooked the chicken separately when she ate with us.

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baked potato
asparagus
yellow squash/onions/bell pepper
salad
cornbread

Sometimes I like to serve an all-vegetable dinner. Meat is getting so expensive so that’s part of it, but we actually all enjoy veggies.

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homemade macaroni and cheese topped with caramelized onions
candied carrots
asparagus (leftover)
yellow squash and onions (leftover)

I have a baked mac and cheese recipe here on the blog:

Macaroni and Cheese with Caramelized Onions

But this was one I made in the Instant Pot:

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

I caramelized the onions separately and then we topped our portions with some. I should also do a blog post on the candied carrots. My grandfather made these often and he told me how he made them. This is a HUGE favorite in our family.

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chili dog
corn on the cob
strawberries

This was a super easy dinner. I cooked the hot dogs in my Le Creuset grill pan and the chili was Hormel chili with no beans. The star of the show was the delicious, fresh corn on the cob!

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barbecue chicken
mashed potatoes and gravy
green beans (canned French style green beans)
side salad

This is one of the meals that is simple but a real family pleaser. Actually, any meal with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy makes my guys super happy.

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pot roast cooked with carrots and onions
mashed potatoes and gravy
side salad

I cooked the pot roast with carrots and onions in my beloved Le Creuset dutch oven. I lightly browned the sliced onions in a little olive oil then added the seasoned and floured beef. I seared it on both sides and added about 2 cups of water. I brought it to a boil, added some Worchestershire sauce, put the lid on and put it in the oven at 350 degrees. About an hour later I added the peel and cut up carrots then returned to the oven for another hour or so.