During August last year, my boyfriend and I moved into our own place. We pretty much knew what to expect, as we had been living in a basement-apartment before with his parents, so a lot of what we did there versus at our own house wasn’t changing much. However, we rarely had to cook our own meals for dinner. I try my best to eat well, always thinking about what protein and how much veggies I should put into a meal. A lot of the time, I am digging through our small freezer trying to use up meats and other frozen foods. With all of this being said, Google has become my go to for recipes. I grew up watching my mom cook most meals during the week, so of course I have a decent amount of knowledge when it comes to cooking. But actually doing it can sometimes be the tricky part. I’ve looked up a lot of recipes, altered some to my liking and slowly found some of my favorites. If you’re like me and you live in your own place and consider your eating habits semi-healthy, this article will help with meal inspiration.
Recipes are listed in no specific order, I love them all!
1. Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta
This one came from my boyfriend accidentally picking up legit ground italian sausage instead of ground breakfast sausage. So, I had some searching to do for a dinner recipe that used ground italian sausage. My search was actually pretty easy, and it tasted so good. The main ingredients are penne pasta (but you could use any pasta), spinach, heavy whipping cream, parmesan cheese and of course the ground italian sausage. Between the red pepper flakes used in this recipe and the sausage, this dish does give off some heat. I’m not a spice lover though, and it was doable for me. Here is the exact recipe I use; if I don’t have actual onion and garlic, I just use my dry-minced ones. I also have used grated parmesan cheese instead of shredded, and it seems to taste the same to me. The fact that I could add spinach to a meal and my boyfriend actually likes it is a miracle, so this recipe is definitely a win!
2. Crock-pot Honey Garlic Chicken
This one is perfect for when we both work full days and I want a decent meal after work. I throw this in the crockpot right before I leave for work, and now that I’ve done it so many times it takes me less than 10 minutes to prepare. There are two main components to this recipe: chicken thighs and the sauce. I usually use 6 chicken thighs from Aldi–I’ve used both bone-in and without bone. The sauce is so easy to make and its ingredients are likely things you already have. It includes ketchup, soy sauce, honey, garlic and dried herbs or seasonings. This is the recipe I reference, but I usually do most of this one from memory as it’s so simple. I will usually pair the chicken with a freezer veggie and potatoes.
3. Ground Turkey Spaghetti with a Twist
This one I do not have an exact recipe to give you. It’s pretty much traditional spaghetti with a few alterations. First, I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. And sometimes, I don’t even use spaghetti noodles, penne is usually my go-to for this one. I cook my turkey and noodles, then combine them together in a large pan or pot. As for the sauce, I use Aldi’s red sauce (the exact kind varies each time I make this) and cream cheese together. That’s pretty much it, different types of meat, noodles and sauce but still the same idea. I will of course season my meat with salt, pepper, italian seasoning and anything else I feel is necessary. Most of the time, I will pair this with garlic knots and a green vegetable. This is a favorite of mine because it doesn’t take a lot of time, and my boyfriend and I can both easily work on parts of it to get done faster.
4. Kielbasa and Potato Casserole
This is another one that I don’t have an exact recipe to reference. When I first started making this, I pretty much just read a few different recipes and took a bit out of each one to create something I would like. This casserole is easy to make and can be prepared beforehand like the night or morning before. I use a glass, rectangular casserole dish for this one. First, I cut up small honey gold potatoes into fourths. Then, I cut up one kielbasa sausage into pieces about the same size as the potatoes. After combining the potatoes and kielbasa into a bowl, I season. My seasonings are pretty much whatever I feel like doing, usually it’s salt, pepper, italian seasoning and minced garlic. After this, I chop up about a fourth to a half of a yellow onion and add to the bowl, mixing it all together. Add this to the dish, evenly spread out, and you’re ready for the oven. This cooks well at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes I add approximately a half a bag of shredded cheddar cheese to the top. Yum!
5. Half Stuffed Peppers
Basically an easier version of stuffed peppers because they’re halved! For this, I will use between two and three whole peppers, making four or six halves. This is another recipe where you can use either ground beef or ground turkey. I love this one because it is so savory to me; I like the meat, rice and sauce mix topped with cheese (because who doesn’t love cheese), all on top of a pepper (I really like peppers, too). This is the recipe that I mostly use, but of course I change different things sometimes to my liking. Although this recipe takes a little longer to make, it is a great dinner option when you are all out of ideas.
Living on your own is difficult in many ways, but making food that you enjoy shouldn’t be a struggle. I hope you try and enjoy at least a couple of these recipes next time you can’t think of anything to cook!