Easy Weeknight Dinners: Our Favorite Family-Friendly Meals

Cooking at home and making healthy meals has always been a priority for us. We love sitting around the table together at the end of the day and catching up… it’s one of my favorite parts of our days!! Chris is definitely the main cook in our house (which I’m so grateful for!!), and he truly makes the best meals.

These are the dinners we come back to again and again. We make them on repeat during the week because they’re simple, reliable, and everyone actually eats them (which feels like a win with kids!). They’re all very family-friendly, and also great options if you’re bringing a meal to a friend, especially during that postpartum season.

If you’re looking for more easy recipes, check out this blog post for more of our fall favorites, as well as this recipe for Zucchini Boats.

I found this recipe in an amazing, family-friendly dinners cookbook, Every Day with Babs, and it has been a family favorite since the first time we made it. These taquitos have so much flavor and, despite the name, are not as spicy as you would think (our young girls even love them). The original recipe didn’t include shredded chicken, but we added it to the recipe for some extra protein!

Jalapeño Popper Taquitos

Ingredients:

• 8 slices bacon (chopped into small pieces)
• 1lb chicken breast (shredded)
• 2 poblano peppers (seeded and finely chopped)
• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cup chopped and pickled jalapeños
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 6-inch flour tortillas
• Avocado oil
• Optional toppings: sour cream, fresh, chopped cilantro

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil
2. Place the bacon in a large pot and set over medium-high heat. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring often. Transfer the cooked bacon to a small bowl keeping 1 tbsp of the bacon grease in the pot.
3. While the bacon is cooking, boil water and chicken breast for 30-45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and shred. Set aside for later.
4. Add poblano peppers to the pot containing the bacon grease, and heat over medium-high heat for around 3-5 minutes.
5. Transfer the cooked poblano peppers to a medium-sized bowl and add the softened cream cheese, jalapenos, and cheddar cheese. Mix in bacon and add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Cover the tortillas with a damp paper towel and microwave on high for 30 seconds.
7. Spoon 2 -3 tbsp of the filling, layer on a spoonful of shredded chicken, and tightly roll up the tortilla. Place seam side down on the lined baking sheet.
8. Using avocado or another neutral oil, brush the tops and sides of the tortillas. Place the baking sheet into the oven and cook for 14-18 minutes (until the taquitos are crisp and golden brown).
9. Serve hot with desired toppings!

I love pasta, so whenever I find a recipe that is a new or interesting take on pasta, I have to try it! I found this recipe on a Netflix series starring Meghan Markle (“With Love Meghan”) and it was so quick and easy to make! It’s all in one pan and is the perfect go-to meal when you’re in a pinch!

One Pan Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ lb spaghetti
• 1 lemon, zested
• 4 cups of hot water
• 6 oz spinach
• ½ cup freshly grated Romano cheese
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Boil a small pot of water (at least 4 cups)
2. Heat a large frying pan on medium-low heat. We love to use the Our Place Always Pan because it’s large enough to fit everything, it’s non-toxic, and is so easy to clean. Once hot, add tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt spaghetti, and lemon zest.
3. Pour 3 cups of boiled water over the spaghetti and cover with a lid.
4. Slightly raise the temperature. Cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes. Stir the pasta to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Gradually add spinach to the dish and cover. Cook spinach in 5-minute increments, adding in more spinach and stirring at each interval.
5. Once the pasta is cooked and the spinach is welted, pour Romano cheese over the top, and stir.
6. Remove, plate, and serve! We always add in a little more Romano cheese to the plated pasta, for some extra flavor!

I LOOOVE Italian food. It’s one of my guilty pleasures, but making lasagna takes so long and has so many steps. Enter: Lasagna Soup. This recipe is so easy and tastes exactly like the lasagna we all know and love but takes half the time! It reheats well and the girls even have it for lunch as leftovers! It’s a win-win!

Lasagna Soup

Ingredients:

• 1lb lean ground beef
• 1 cup diced onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 32 oz low sodium beef broth
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 6 uncooked lasagna noodles, broken into 1 ½ inch pieces
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan (we have a La Creuset Dutch oven that works perfectly for this recipe, and our favorite chicken noodle soup recipe), brown beef and onion over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for around 1 minute. Drain excess grease.
2. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, tomato paste, and beef broth. Bring mixture to boil.
3. Reduce heat and stir in lasagna pieces. Cook for 15 minutes or until noodles are tender.
4. While noodles are cooking, mix ricotta and parmesan cheese together in a small bowl. Add salt to taste.
5. Spoon lasagna soup into a bowl and top it off with the cheese mixture! Enjoy!

This one is so, so easy to make! You literally throw everything in the crock pot in the morning and it cooks all day. You do need to reserve around 5 minutes before dinnertime to shred the chicken, but that’s it! We like ours super spicy so Kennedy does not eat this with us, but you could definitely tone down the spice and this would be appropriate for an older child.

Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)
• 1 can corn (undrained)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 package ranch dressing mix
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 8oz. package cream cheese
• 2 chicken breasts

Instructions:

1. Place chicken at the bottom of the crockpot.
2. Pour the can of corn (undrained), Rotel tomatoes and black beans (drained) on top of the chicken.
3. Top with seasonings and ranch dressing mix and stir together.
4. Place cream cheese block on top.
5. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
6. After cooking time is over, take the chicken breasts from the crock pot, shred and stir back into the chili.
7. Let cook for another 10 minutes and then enjoy!

This recipe is actually an adaptation of a recipe from TikTok (if you’ve heard of TikTok Pasta – that’s it!). I switched up the original recipe some by using burrata cheese instead of feta, and adding some broccoli for a little nutrient density. This recipe is SOOO easy and delicious. It would be even better with some grilled chicken on top, but that is a little too time consuming for me, so we have it just plain and we love it. Kennedy loves this one, too!

Burrata Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 pints of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 3 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1 box of pasta noodles of your choosing
• burrata cheese (we use two whole burrata cheese containers but we really like cheese)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• fresh basil

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Toss cherry tomatoes and sliced broccoli with minced garlic and olive oil, place in baking pan.
3. Bake for 40-50 minutes.
4. While the tomatoes and broccoli are baking, boil the pasta following the instructions on the pasta box.
5. Take the tomatoes and broccoli out of the oven, add the burrata on top and mix it in to create the sauce.
6. Add the noodles into the sauce and stir.
7. Sprinkle fresh basil on top before serving.

This next recipe is a household favorite! Chris makes it every Sunday night and it makes enough for us to eat during the week as well (either for lunches or a whole other dinner). Kennedy enjoys this one, too! To make it a little easier, you can chop up the veggies beforehand and store them in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Chris likes to chop the veggies during Kennedy’s nap time, and then it’s really easy for him to throw together at dinnertime. Keep in mind, this recipe does simmer for an hour, so you’ll want to make it a full hour before you plan to serve!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 lb. carrots
• 1/2 bunch celery
• 2 split chicken breasts, bone-in (this is important!)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 whole bay leaf
• Freshly cracked pepper
• 2-3 tsp salt
• 1 cup of egg noodles

Instructions:

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large pot and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent.
2. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, wash and slice the carrots and celery. Add them to the pot and continue to sauté for a few minutes more.
3. Pull the skin from the chicken breasts. Add the chicken breasts to the pot along with the bay leaf, basil, parsley, thyme, some freshly cracked pepper, and eight cups of water. Cover the pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for one hour. Make sure the pot continues to simmer for the whole hour – this will ensure that the chicken shreds easily!
4. After an hour of simmering, remove the chicken from the pot. Using two forks, pull the meat from the bone and shred it. Season the broth with salt (the salt will really make the flavor of the broth “pop!”). I end up using 2 to 3 teaspoons.
5. Add the noodles to the pot, turn the heat up to high, and boil the noodles until tender (about 7 minutes). Return the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste and season again with salt if needed. Serve hot, even better if it’s alongside some sourdough bread!