Pinterest Dinners My Family Actually(!) Ate Last Month

I tend to believe that the “what’s for dinner” dilemma has transcended mothers throughout all of human history. Factors like limited resources, seasonal produce changes, and picky kids have surely fluctuated with time… but at the end of the day there is always a parent wondering what they can possibly make efficiently, at 5pm, so they can get a full kid into their bed.

As a mother, and self-desired primary person responsible for cooking in my household (I’m just much better at it), I am very grateful I am raising kids in the age of Pinterest recipes. Each week, me and my husband sit down with our cups of coffee on Sunday mornings and scroll through my “Eat Well. Live Well.” Pinterest board I’ve had for over twelve years. We decide on 3-4 recipes, write down ingredient lists and leftover nights (and let’s be real — always one takeout night), and make the grocery list. We split the list, split the kids, and go shopping. This approach has helped us save lots of time and money during the week when work gets crazy; always having our dinner planned with the ingredients ready, and a recipe for my husband to follow if I unexpectedly get called to a birth.

Here’s the December Round-up of the four Pinterest Recipes my family enjoyed most this month —

Ground Turkey Bang Bang Rice Bowls

Tangy, easy, reheatable, and customizable. These bowls can have whatever leftover veggies added to them — so are a great fill-in recipe for the end of the week.

Crockpot Beef Stew

This hearty meal is perfect for the winter months. While requiring some morning pre-planning of slicing and dicing the vegtables, and browing the meat — nothing beats coming home to a house filled with the smell of this meal ready to eat!

Coconut Chicken Rice Bowl

While this dish looks bland, the coconut sauce is packed full of flavor. We also usually enjoy it with avocado, but we were out and I had some kale in my freezer, so I added it to the rice, and the kids cobbled it up (a feat).

Lasagna

The lasagna I made for Christmas Eve might have been my best lasagna yet. I used this simple recipe but seasoned the meat with garlic, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning; and used an italian seasoned marinara sauce. Since the wonderful invention of no-boil noodles, I always overestimate how long it takes to make a lasagna and feel inspired to add it more regularly into our rotation.

Feel free to follow my public Pinterest page as I rotate more favorite recipes onto it, and comment below a favorite recipe that actually gets made and eaten on weeknights at your household for all of our 5pm inspiration.