Recently, I have been bored with my dinner options. I have had absolutely no interest in cooking and felt lost in the kitchen. I desired to try new meals, but I needed them to be quick and easy (the less complicated the better). These dinner ideas also needed to be mouth watering, visually appealing, and require very few ingredients.
As usual, I decided to pay a visit to my favorite website, Pinterest, for inspiration and it didn’t let me down. I started by searching through my Food board to look at all of the recipes that I had already saved. I had saved thousands of recipes over the years and had not put a dent in the board (my Pinterest addiction is very real). Therefore, I decided to save some the most recent pins that I wanted to attempt onto a new board labeled Dinner Ideas in order to separate them from the rest of the recipes on my board.
I think I placed between 10-15 promising recipes onto the board. I planned to at least make a minimum of one each work over the course of a month. To my credit, I actually made more, but some of them were desserts (I’ll discuss them in a separate post).
I’ve written my thoughts on each recipe below.
Dinner Idea #1
Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles
This was the first recipe I attempted and let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint. The original pin was posted by Jennifer Sikora from the blog Jen Around The World. I was so happy to discover this recipe because I had been looking for an Asian noodle recipe which used ingredients that could be found in my pantry or my local supermarket.
I quickly read over the recipe and felt confident that I could successfully recreate the dish. The ingredients included ground beef, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, linguine noodles, hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes, beef broth, and spring onions.
I gathered all of my materials and immediately started to cook the dish based on the directions. Within 15-20 minutes, dinner was served. I made two bowls (for me and my mother). We were both surprised at how delicious and delightful this dish turned out.
The Verdict
For such a simple dish, it packed a lot of flavor. The sauce was a rich flavor, the noodles were a perfect size for the sauce and the meat to cling to, and the spring onions were a great garnish to round out the dish.
My mother, who is a tough foodie to please, absolutely loved the dish. With her seal of approval, I knew this dish was a hit. I immediately shared it with all of my family and friends that I knew would appreciate this easy meal. I strongly encourage everyone to try this recipe.
Be sure to click the link below for this tasty recipe.
Recipe Link: Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles
Dinner Idea #2
Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
For week two in my culinary adventure, I decided to make this sloppy sloppy joe dish. When I saw the title of the pin, it instantly brought back childhood memories of eating sloppy joes made with the classic Manwich sauce that came in a can. I vividly remember the sauce running down the side of my hand as I took each bite. It was messy, but tasty.
So when I came across this recipe posted by Oh, Sweet Basil, I was pleasantly surprised that someone had reimagined this childhood meal. There were quite a few variations of this recipe on Pinterest, but I decided to start with this one because it sounded so good when I read the ingredients. Plus, many of the ingredients could be found in your kitchen, which was right up my alley.
It took no time to brown the beef, sauté the onions and green peppers, mix the sauce, and add the cheese. In fifteen minutes, the dish was complete. I decided to add fries as side. Voila, dinner was ready.
The Verdict
My mom was the official taste tester of course. With baited breath, I waited for her to share her opinion. She devoured the sandwich and quickly made a second sandwich. She loved it.
I enjoyed it as well. It definitely had all of the flavors of a Philly cheesesteak and the brioche buns perfectly complimented the savory meat mixture.
If you love a good sloppy joe, be sure to check this recipe out.
Recipe Link: Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe
Dinner Idea #3
Teriyaki Meatball Bowls
I decided to try this third and final recipe because I desperately wanted to do something different with the bag of frozen meatballs that had been sitting in our freezer for a few weeks. I had no desire to have spaghetti and meatballs. Therefore, I opened my Pinterest app and proceeded to search for meatball recipes.
Fortunately, a teriyaki meatball bowl recipe posted by A Reinvented Mom caught my eye. There was just something about the deep brown sauce and sesame seed garnish in the picture that made my mouth water.
I quickly clicked on the link and was thrilled to see that this was possibly the easiest recipe to cook. It only required a few ingredients and could be ready in 30 minutes.
So, I put my meatballs in the oven according to the directions on the package, cooked up a pot of rice, and whipped up the sauce based on the recipe. Finally, I chopped up the spring onions and eagerly whipped up my bowl.
The Verdict
Everything came together well and my bowl resembled the one pictured on the website. It tasted just as good as I imagined. The sauce, created using brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger had a deep, rich, salty, but sweet flavor that went well with the meatballs. Not to mention, the warm bed of rice was not only filling, but went well with both the sauce and the meatballs.
However, there is only on flaw with this recipe. The sauce is great if ladled immediately out of the pan fresh and hot. Unfortunately, my mother and I learned the hard way that it doesn’t reheat well. Once it cools down, it turns into a gelatin which doesn’t melt down well once reheated. Therefore, If I made this recipe again, I would cut back on the cornstarch by one tablespoon. Other than that, the recipe was a keeper.
If you want to try this recipe, visit the link below.
Recipe Link: Teriyaki Meatball Bowls
