Welcome back to another week of Misty Creek Kitchen: Weekly Dinners Made Simple! With the fall season fully here, I’ve been gravitating toward cozy, hearty meals that warm us up and keep things simple. This week’s lineup brings a mix of comforting favorites and some new flavors that are quick enough for busy evenings. As always, I’ve included links to the Pinterest recipes that inspired these dishes along with my own tweaks to make them easier and / or gluten free dairy free and delicious. Let’s dive in!
1. Hamburger Helper - Not like you made as kids!
I vowed that as an adult I would never make Hamburger Helper. I literally can't think of the last time I bought that box from the store. Thankfully this version is actually good for you and tastes so much better! As per usual, we used venison instead of ground beef and I bought Banza noodles. Those give you even more protein and can really stretch a meal by getting bellies full faster. The recipe says to use a yellow or red onion - I chose to use a yellow onion. Those are really the only tweaks that I did. The meal was really good and filling. Leftovers are also great and easy to put in a thermos for lunches too!
2. Italian Sausage White Bean Soup - Also can be made in Crockpot!
Jeff had at least 3 servings of this soup. It was perfect for a cloudy chilly day. First of all, I'm going to encourage you to find bacon that doesn't have sugar in it and Italian sausage that is from a local farm. I know that it's not possible for everybody but I'm telling you, it tastes so much better. I did alter this one a bit. I used my chicken bone broth instead of just plain chicken broth. I also did buy the spinach that goes in this recipe however, by the time I went to make it then spinach was bad. I just omitted it. I also added about 5-6 gold potatoes. Jeff loves potatoes. Instead of the 3 cans of beans, I just did 2 and then added the potatoes. It worked perfectly. If you try this let me know! It's definitely a keeper.
3. Tator Tot Casserole - A Kid Friendly Healthy Favorite
If you want your kids eating more veggies then sometimes you have to get them in meals that they already love. What child doesn't love a good tator tot? This recipe is loaded with veggies. I want to ask you to read the ingredient label of the tator tots you usually buy. Typically, they include a lot of ingredients that I don't feel are necessary. Try to find the best tator tots you can with the least ingredients. I mean it's a potato - a list of 5-10 ingredients is not needed. I also decided to not buy dairy free shredded cheese. Since we don't actually have a dairy allergy just a slight intolerance for me, I didn't feel it was necessary. I just didn't put some cheese in a corner for me. I generally prefer just not having cheese if I'm trying hard to commit to being dairy free. That's just me. I know kids feel like they need to see the cheese for it to taste good.
Let me know if you try any of these recipes or have any questions. I'd love for you to tag me in your posts if you share on social media. There are many meal prep ideas for these recipes to make it easier on weeknights. For example, you can precook the bacon, sausage and ground beef. You can also precut the veggies. Every minute you save during the week can benefit you so much.