DIY Food Pt. 3: Weeknight Dinners

One of the things I’m most excited about in this series is exploring together how to make cooking a part of our daily lives. On the weeknights, Ben and I have a few go-to recipes that we can whip up with minimal prep and on the cheap. Here are our top five and I’ll see you back here next week for my round-up of to die for desserts. ​

1. Veggie Burgers with Sweet Potato Chips and Copycat Cane’s Sauce

After much trial and error we have settled on the very best veggie burger you can buy and it's the Carrot and Pea Burger from our ever wonderful Trader Joe’s. We like to keep these on hand, alongside some whole wheat sandwich bun thins, and all the fixins’, for burger night.

As we prep the burgers in small skillet, we like to slice up sweet potatoes into thin wedges, toss in a little salt, pepper, and olive oil, and roast for about thirty minutes on high heat.

For a perfect dipping sauce and sandwich spread, copycat Cane’s sauce is literally always in a mason jar in the fridge. Here’s the recipe:
½ cup mayo
¼ cup ketchup
½ ts garlic powder
¼ ts Worcestershire
1 ts black pepper
Just whisk together and keep in the fridge if you don’t eat it all the night you make it!

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2. Fancy Salad

Ben is a big fan of your traditional cubed chicken, ranch dressing, iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese, and croutons thing, but guys...I hate that kind of salad so much. The dairy based dressing feels too heavy to me and iceberg lettuce is just too much like solid water when there is that much of it in my bowl. Instead our go-to salad is created on a bed of spring mix, and has all the textures and flavors you need in a good salad. There are creamy white cheddar blocks of cheese, tart dried cranberries, sweet green apple, and acidic red onion and they all come together like a dream. As an extra plus, I always pick up every single ingredient for this salad at Aldi! The recipe is below!
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salad recipe

3. No Recipe Soup

Our friend Kendra, at the Lazy Genius Collective has the best tips for learning to make soup without a recipe. I’ll outline them here while giving you my favorite of her soup recipes.

1. Start with your raw meats and saute until brown: for this soup use Italian sausage.
   
2. Take out meat and saute aromatics in the meat liquid until brown: use garlic and onion here
   
3. Quick saute greens: a handful spinach here
   
4. Add liquid: use a whole can of crushed tomatoes then fill up with chicken stock until the pot is ⅔ full.
   
5. Bring to a boil.
   
6. Add meats and “heavies” (like pasta or beans): add in sausage and frozen cheese tortellini.
   
7. Simmer until all warmed through then serve with fresh basil and grated Parm.
   

P.S. Season with salt and pepper between every layer!

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4. Crockpot Cheeseburger Soup

Every time we host on a weeknight I either make a sheet pan or crockpot dinner so my prep can be done in the blink of an eye. This soup is SUCH a crowd pleaser. I’ve made this at least five times and it's a show-stopper every time. I also ALWAYS serve this with a crusty warm loaf of homemade Italian bread (I promise we’ll chat about that in a few weeks).

The best part is that it can be pulled together first thing in the morning and ready by the time you get home! Click below!

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cheeseburger soup recipe

5. Crockpot Tacos

Another of our favorite hosting ideas (especially during football season) is a walking taco bar. Other than chopping up some toppings and setting up the spread the only prep for taco night is the taco meat and this recipe takes even that work basically off your hands. Not only is this recipe easy peasy - this might be the cheapest dinner party you’ll ever throw.
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Taco meat recipe