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Seven Simple Dinner Ideas for the Work Week

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I have a confession to make.

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been about twenty plus years since my last confession, and it’s very likely I tried to make a pass at you for no other reason than it felt sassy.” 

Just kidding, it’s not that kind of reveal, even though my Catholic school rearing steers me that way. I also picture Madonna belting out Like A Prayer while crosses burn in the background. Talk about a weird dichotomy. I blame my parents; they allowed me to listen to her devil music, which in hindsight explains so very much. P.S. I still love Madonna.

In any event, my earth shattering secret, or not so much, is I don’t like cooking during the work week. Gasp. I know, I know. I’m a food blogger and a healthy living one at that and yet I don’t want to hang out in the kitchen and get my cook on. Quick, somebody report me to the foodie police.

Here’s the thing, I don’t like to do much of anything Monday through Friday night. My brain and body shut down the moment my sneakered shoes step out of the office each day, and I turn into a braless creature who tucks her socks into her sweatpants, and only wants to eat ice cream direct from the carton while watching bad reality television. I wouldn’t mind a gorgeous salad either or a warm bowl of soup with a side of cheesy biscuits. 

Actually, the food doesn’t matter so much. Sure, tasting good and being healthy are super important, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the time investment. I’m like a man slut, on the prowl for easy, and I don’t mean McDonalds, Burger King or any of the fast food goliaths. There’s easy, and then there’s dirty, and we’d do well to stay away from the latter.

All this to say today I’m sharing

Seven Simple Dinner Ideas for the Work Week  

Seven Simple Dinner Tips for the Work Week Collage

I recognize I’m giving more options than you’d need for a standard five day work week and it’s because I like flexibility, literally.

Let’s begin.

Kirsten’s Breakfast Salad: who doesn’t like breakfast for dinner? This is a combination of sautéed cabbage, red skinned potatoes and scrambled eggs. It comes together quickly and is incredibly filling.

Shortcut: roast the potatoes ahead of time and reheat them in the oven when you’re ready to eat.

Breakfast Salad Sauteed Shallots and Cabbage, Scrambled Eggs and Red Skinned Potatoes

Arman’s Parmesan Pesto Pancakes: despite them being pancakes, these savory babies are not breakfast food. In fact, I top mine with sour cream, tomatoes and chives for additional veggie loving, which pairs wonderfully with the zucchini inside.  

Shortcut: use a store-bought pesto and prep the dry ingredients on the weekend so all you have to do is add the liquid and zucchini when it comes time to make them.  

Parmesan Pesto Pancakes

Super Stuffed Oven Baked Potato: a giant packed potato is easy and delicious and depending on your toppings, nutritious. It’s everything you want in a meal.

Shortcut: roast the potatoes in the oven on the weekend when you’re doing laundry or watching bad reality television so all you have to do is pop it into the oven for a quick reheat. While the potato is reheating, you can get your toppings ready.

Baked PotatoKirsten’s Fattoush Dip. The Hubby and I have actually shared this very same dip for dinner on more than one occasion. While it has all the pretense of an appetizer, it’s a meal in itself, without even turning on the stove.

Shortcut: sub the homemade hummus for a store-bought one, and from there it’s a few fast minutes of chopping.

Fattoush Dip

Jenn’s Sweet Potato Chickpea Burgers: I eat these on a near weekly basis with a quick side of roasted broccoli, green beans, asparagus or even Brussels Sprouts.

Shortcut: make a double or even a triple batch and then freeze them. You’ll happily live off them for months. When it comes time to eat, it’s a simple trip to the oven. While they’re heating away, you can prep your side dish.  

Sweet Potato and Chickpea BurgersHomemade Vegetable Pizza: where sautéed veggies are covered in a pillows of delicious cheese, all on top of a whole wheat crust.

Shortcut: use store-bought pizza dough, and sauté your veggies ahead of time, so all you have to do is assemble when it comes to make it.  

Veggie Pizza

A Sexy Salad and Butternut Squash Cheddar Drop Biscuits: is anything but boring. In fact, with the right toppings, a salad can be incredibly satisfying, magically delicious and most importantly, easy. If you’re eating a bowl of greens, make sure to add some protein and fat in the form of cheese, eggs, beans, avocados, and nuts with an olive oil based dressing.

Vegetarian Cobb Salad Dec 2014

Shortcut: make the biscuits in mass quantities ahead of time and then freeze them. A simple trip to the oven will bring them to life while you focus your efforts on the salad. You can also make the hard-boiled eggs days before and have them at the ready.

Butternut Squash Cheddar Drop Biscuits

At the end of the day, I really do want to eat well, I just don’t want to work for it, which is why these simple dinner ideas with shortcut hacks are week night life savers for me. Plus, it gives me more time to cocoon on the couch or prance around to Madonna.

Are you too tired to cook after work too? What are your simple dinner ideas? If you’ve got a post on this topics, please feel free to link it up in the comments below. The more, the merrier. 

Comments

  1. Super round-up, Meg! I’m with you about spending minimal amount of time in the kitchen on a weeknight- laborious meals just ain’t happening Monday to Friday if I can help it! Lately I’ve been taking batch cooking a bit more serious to make sure there’s always something in the fridge I can just heat up. Lately I’ve been loving roasted veggies (broccoli, kale, sweet potato are a few faves currently) mixed with grilled tofu and hummus…hands-on time is pretty minimal and I just let it cook while I’m in the middle of doing something else i.e. watching telly ;)!
    Khushboo recently posted…Why I stopped Kayla Itsines Bikini Body ProgramMy Profile

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  3. Meghan,
    At some point I hope to add ‘pressure can half pints of beans so you’ve got beans ready to go’ but I’m not there yet. I’m staring at my pressure canner knowing that today is the day I’m christening it. I made a ham stock (with a leftover ham bone and a soup pack) on Monday, and today I will scrape off the fat and pop it in the trash just in time for garbage pick up, then boil the stock, put it in hot jars, and do something with a jiggling petcock.

    I am not making this up.

    Once the petcock is jiggling to my satisfaction (not too much, not too little) it’s a simple matter of timing–just like when we canned tomatoes.

    Then I will have jars of stock. Chicken, beef, and vegetable stock will come long. I can only hope that these will help streamline meals.

    Meantime, I could really go for some fattoush. The sunlight in the evening is making me crave it.

    Thanks!
    Kirsten recently posted…Mediterranean Chopped Salad Concept RecipeMy Profile

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  4. Madonna is coming to Edmonton! You should come visit… except that you won’t be able to see her because her tickets sold out in like 15 minutes 😆 Craziness. And you know my lax approach to dinners and cooking in general… This is why I end up eating breakfast for dinner so often — I just can’t be bothered to whip up a fancier meal just for me. And i’m still bitter that I got screwed on the leftovers this past Sunday…
    Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…. flourless morning glory muffins .My Profile

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  5. Lol to Madonna and her devil music — explains SO much. And ps i still put on the immaculate collection, usually on airplanes. And yep im the same– nothing gets cooked during the week. I either go out, order in, pick up or cleverly make something* quick and easy (*I’m talking about cereal). I love this post — can you please organize all the other aspects of my life now please?
    Charlotte @ Commitness to Fitness recently posted…The 30-Second WorkoutMy Profile

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  6. “life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone…… ” and then the gospel singers come out, that always made me sing and clap.
    ok so now i get it. this is why i love you. Madonna. yup, that’s it.
    so i was a total nerd as a kid, and would spend all my free time lip syncing and dancing to Material Girl and Like a Virgin. well, when i was 11 i decided to be bold and entered a small lip syncing contest… girl, i actually won! $20 for doing my little Material Girl thing in front of my super jealous and bitchy mean-girl peers. i made my costume out of old gymnastic leotards and cutup leg warmers… we were poor. like “poh” at that time. it was the best day of my freaking life back then. OMG can you imagine???? i will always love that woman, and her damn biceps. remember her movie “who’s that girl” ? that was on repeat in our VCR at home during the summer… yup total nerd over here.

    i’m with ya on the weekly eat being no fuss what so ever. last night i heated up a box of soup. i made it fancy by adding frozen greens. and made sourdough toast. fancy!

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  7. I need to start making stuffed baked potatoes. It’s one of those things I’ve been meaning to do for way too long and somehow keep forgetting. Every time I see one of yours I make a mental note, this time it needs to stick! Arman’s pancakes look amazing too.
    Michele @ paleorunningmomma recently posted…A Day In the Life WIAWMy Profile

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  10. I actually just stopped writing about food for the most part because I was like, aint nobody wanna see me microwave a hot pocket.
    For real though, I’m trying to do exactly what you’re saying in this post – keep it simple during the week so I can eat well but not get stressed out.
    Sara recently posted…clam bakes and trips to the cape.My Profile

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  11. Love this! These are all such great ideas. And you know what? I totally agree with you. When I was doing my internship, I would do most of my food prep on weekends because when I got home from a long day at 7 pm, all I wanted to do was eat and crash on the couch. I need to get back into doing food prep again once I start my new job! I also want to make heavy use of my slow cooker.
    Chelsea @ Chelsea’s Healthy Kitchen recently posted…Miso Edamame DipMy Profile

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  14. Ooh that Fattoush Dip looks awesome. The boyfriend and I enjoy snacky wine parties for 2 on the weekends and that would be a lovely addition.

    My go-to weekday meals are pretty simple. I always have a huge batch of Chipotle Black Bean Burgers from Iowa Girl Eats in my freezer at all times, as well as other random freezer meals I’ve stocked up on (currently: eggplant parm). Salmon tacos and enormous salads are also easy favorites. (PS- that veggie pizza totally reminded me of garlic naan pizza and made me very nostalgic. Time for a recreation at home I think)

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    • It’s definitely not take out that’s for sure. : Some cooking is involved, although I try to keep it mostly minimal during the week. Then again, there are nights where a bowl of cereal with a side of toast happen.

      Thanks Mary.
      Meghan recently posted…Currently: March 2015My Profile

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