5 Go-To Recipes for Back to School

My husband once said to me, as I grimaced and tossed what was left of my dinner in the trash, “You know, you don’t eat much of your own cooking.” That night had seen the creation of yet another one of my failed Pinterest recipes (or maybe that was how it was supposed to taste, who knows, but whatever the case, the result was not good). I turned to him and replied, “I’d eat more of my own cooking if it was any good.”

I have to remember, though, that this came from a man who was brought up to eat everything on his plate, whereas I was not. It came from a man who eats because he’s hungry, whereas I eat because food tastes good. (It also came from a man who would never hurt my feelings by showing his dislike of a dinner I had made, and God bless him for that!)

I’ve had this kind of struggle with food all my life, and it’s what leaves me struggling, even as an adult, to eat the salads forced on me at restaurants or to not pick out the pieces of onion in my Chinese food.

I’ve been working hard these past few years to find recipes that are not only delicious, but also somewhat nutritious, and one of my many goals in life is to be able to be one of those people who cooks once a month and then has a constant supply of tasty, healthful freezer meals to make at a moment’s notice.

I’m not quite there yet, unfortunately. But I do have a few recipes I’ve tested out on adults and children alike that are easy to make on a school night, freeze well for those rare moments you have an afternoon to yourself to get your Barefoot Contessa on, are easy to portion out to take for lunch, and are reasonably healthy (or at least not totally unhealthy).

1. Baked Ziti

This is my go-to for just about anything. Having people over? Ziti. Friend had a baby and needs meals to freeze? Ziti. Want to make a big batch of something so we’ll have frozen lunches for the next two weeks? Ziti, ziti, ziti. I’ve used a few different recipes in the past, which eventually conglomerated in my mind into the one linked above. I almost always have a Tupperware or two of this in my freezer, and it’s a great lunch to take to work. My coworkers are always jealous.

2. Pesto Spinach Pasta Bake

You know what I love about this recipe? You throw all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them up, pour them into a pan, and then bake them. It’s literally that easy. The thing that takes me the longest is tearing/slicing up the spinach (which I discovered was a thing you should probably do after I realized that probably no one likes pulling full-sized, soggy spinach leaves out of their casserole). I usually make this with shells instead of spiral pasta, and I use shredded chicken just because I tend to usually have that on hand, but to each his/her own.

3. Skinny Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

I know, I know, I also hate the usage of “skinny,” but this one really is the bomb. It uses Greek yogurt and skim milk to make the sauce, and you can prepare the chicken and broccoli however you like, but usually I just fry ‘em up in a pan with some olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning (tip: do the chicken first, then lightly fry the broccoli in the same pan so you get some of the chicken fat/flavor). This one isn’t quite as easy as the first two, because you pretty much have to be at the stove the whole time, but it keeps well for leftovers and it’s a big crowd pleaser.

4. My Mom’s Famous Spare Ribs

You’ll never look at ribs the same again after using this recipe. The hardest part is getting the right barbecue sauce (if you don’t live in New York or New Jersey, you’ll probably have to order it on Amazon), but believe me, it is so worth it. My husband actually got angry with me once for giving away leftovers—to his parents! They take a while to cook, but it’s pretty much set-it-and-forget-it. The meat falls right off the bone.

Sorry, did I just drool on my laptop?

Ahem. Anyway.

5. Sangria

This is for when the kids and/or your service member are just on your last nerve. Much like in the recipes above, you pretty much dump all the ingredients into a pitcher and let it sit, the longer the better. The triple sec gives it a nice little kick that’ll leave you feeling dandy and totally okay with the kids eating cereal for dinner again tonight. (Kidding! It is probably a good bet that I’ll be eating cereal for dinner tonight, though.) The only thing I would personally change is maybe add more berries or add less citrus; I like the mellower berry flavor, but maybe that’s just me!

What are your favorite, simple recipes? I’d love to hear in the comments!