A Dozen Dinners ~ February 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.

This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more here.

A DOZEN DINNERS

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

I’m a big fan of sheet pan dinners, especially on busy nights. It’s so nice to not have a lot of pots and pans to clean up.

Greek Chicken and Veggie sheet pan dinner (based on this recipe)
brioche roll

I love a good homemade cheeseburger. I like to thinly slice a red onion and sauté it slowly in butter and a bit of brown sugar until caramelized. So tasty! This night I was out of regular tomatoes so I sliced several grape tomatoes for our burgers. The ranch style beans were from a can.

cheeseburgers with caramelized red onions and all the usual toppings
ranch style beans
french fries

Ranch Style Beans

Tacos are definitely a family favorite and I make them almost every Tuesday night. I wonder how many thousands of corn tortillas I’ve fried in my lifetime? I’ve never bought a box of taco shells.

tacos (seasoned ground beef on fried corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, green onions, hot sauce, cheese and sour cream)
refried beans
tortilla chips

This was a new-to-me recipe and all three of us really enjoyed it. It made an easy meat-free meal using items I always have on hand.

Eggs Creole (from this YouTube video)
sautéed spinach

There’s nothing quite like homemade scalloped potatoes but I had not made them in quite awhile. They are the perfect accompaniment to ham.

ham steak
Scalloped Potatoes
mixed vegetables
cranberry sauce
roll

It was an unseasonably warm day and David cooked the hot dogs outside on the grill. So good!

grilled hot dogs
french fries
side salad

Another sheet pan dinner. I sliced up a smoked sausage and combined it with a bag of fresh carrots and broccoli. I had red bell pepper that needed to be used and part of a red onion. I drained a can of pineapple chunks and put all of these items on a sheet pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. I drizzled a bit of olive oil on top and seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and soy sauce.

sheet pan dinner with smoked sausage, baby carrots, broccoli, red bell pepper, onion and pineapple
rice

I had a package of ground turkey in the freezer and decided to make chili with it. I added drained cans of kidney beans and corn, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and a package of chili seasoning mix I had in the pantry. This was SO good!

turkey chili with kidney beans and corn topped with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream
roll

I browned the seasoned chicken breasts in butter and olive oil, added chicken broth and simmered until done. I then thickened the sauce, adjusted seasonings and added a little heavy cream. It made a really good sauce/gravy which we spooned over the chicken and potatoes. I roasted the potatoes and Brussels sprouts on the same sheet pan. I cooked the potatoes until they were about half done then added the sprouts.

chicken breasts browned and then simmered in creamy sauce
roasted red potatoes
roasted Brussels sprouts

Spaghetti is always a good weeknight dinner option.

spaghetti with meat sauce, topped with parmesan cheese
broccoli
garlic cheese toast
side salad

I used to cook roasts more often but they’ve gotten so expensive lately. But I’d been craving pot roast so I splurged. I browned the seasoned and floured roast in olive oil in my Dutch oven on the stove top. I added a sliced onion and broth then put in the oven at 350 degrees. About an hour later I added the peeled and cut carrots and cooked another hour or so until the roast was tender. This was so good and the leftover roast made good sandwiches the next couple of days for lunch.

pot roast
carrots (cooked with the roast)
mashed potatoes topped with drippings from the roast

Tuna Noodle Casserole is a tasty, low-cost dish. The sweet carrots and crunchy broccoli slaw provided a nice combination of flavors and textures to this meal.