One pot dinners are priceless when it comes to weeknight dinners.  Magic happens when you can toss everything into one giant pot, throw it in the oven and watch an entire meal come out.  Calling for only a tiny amount of planning (soaking the beans overnight), this recipe needs to be added to your arsenal of one-pot dinners perfect for the chilly fall weather knocking on our door.

A warm bowl of creamy, lemony white beans topped with tender shredded chicken and a zesty dollop of pesto for added kick.  The kind of meal that warms you from the inside out, this is perfect for a family dinner or can be dressed up for a quick dinner party.  Easy, delicious and healthy … what else are you waiting for?

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There is nothing sexy about refried beans.  Nothing.  We all know the famous “Beans, Beans” song.  They are probably one of the Top Five Least Attractive Foods to Photograph.  If you were taken on a first date where the person took you to a place for some “great refried beans,” there probably wouldn’t be a second date.  All that aside, homemade refried beans are freakn’ delicious.

Growing up I refused to eat beans.  They looked gross and tasted even worse.  Of course, my experience was generally limited to cheap restaurant beans which can’t hold a candle to homemade beans.  Once I ventured into the wide world of making my own beans at home, I was an instant convert.  This recipe is beyond simple, delicious and can be whipped up in time to pair with your new favorite salmon tacos.

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This salad is so fancy I feel like I should be charging myself $15 just to eat it.  A bed of baby spinach topped with sliced sirloin steak, sauteed thyme mushrooms, crumbled goat cheese and a hot caramelized onion vinaigrette.  Can’t you just picture that salad gracing the menu of a fancy restaurant?  People like to toss around terms like “flavor profile” and espouse about the combination of flavors in a dish, but all I can say it that this salad is flippin delicious!

Imagine a perfect steakhouse dinner.  Steak.  Mushrooms.  Spinach.  Now, imagine that perfect dinner transformed into a mouth-watering, one-plate salad.  A bed of tender baby spinach wilting under a hot caramelized onion vinaigrette.  Thinly sliced steak paired with earthy thyme mushrooms and melting goat cheese.  With food this good at home, you won’t ever have to go out again!

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Raise your hand if you think you are getting enough veggies and whole grains in your diet?  Anybody?  Seeing no hands, I’m going to assume that we could all use more veggies and whole grains in our diet.  Doesn’t that seem to be the mantra of the health food movement lately?  Eat more vegetables.  Eat more whole grains.  This super simple, delicious soup is the perfect answer to that seemingly hefty requirement.

Advertising this soup as the Healthiest Thing You Will Eat This Week does it a disservice.  It also happens to be creamy, chewy, filling and perfectly delicious.  It’s the kind of soup you would order at a restaurant, fall in love with immediately, tell all your friends about and then drive twenty-minutes out of your way to pick up on the way home for dinner one night.  It’s that good.

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Am I the only person who was under the false impression that making a roast chicken was extremely difficult and wildly time consuming?  For years, I was convinced that roasting a chicken (like my more familiar Thanksgiving turkey) was an all day affair.  If you jump over the logical gaps involved in that analogy (i.e. the difference between a 20 pound turkey to feed twelve and a 3 pound chicken to feed, um, two) you will quickly discover what I recently did.  Roast chicken is a simple, delicious and totally doable weeknight dinner.

When I tell you this is the best roast chicken I have ever had, I am not exaggerating.  Succulent, juicy meat that falls off the bone with a perfectly crispy, papery, thin skin you will find it hard to believe that bird came out of your own oven.  If I could FedEx you a sample in the mail I would, but you’ll have to take my word for it.  This recipe will impress your friends, loved ones will begin requesting it be added to the regular recipe rotation and neighbors will pound on your door begging for an invite to dinner.

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Ever try something that is so perfectly ready for adaptation that you instantly begin dreaming of ways to make it better?  A chocolate chip cookie leads you to a dark chocolate cherry cookie.  Or a piece of pumpkin pie leads you to spiced sweet potato pie.  Well, that was my experience with zucchini boats.  So versatile.  So healthy.  So easy.  So many possibilities!

Zucchini makes a perfect vessel for a variety of fillings.  The insides of the zucchini are easy to scoop out, leaving a sturdy shell that is just asking to be heaped full of delicious goodness.  Choose from an Italian filling with tomato sauce, peppers and topped with mozzarella cheese or a Southwestern filling with black beans, green chilies and topped with cheddar cheese (and sour cream!).  With all these flavor combos, you will never again be screaming “What can I do with all this zucchini?!?!”

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Meet my new favorite side dish.  In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, I’ve been a little short on time these days.  An elaborate side dish that requires lots of dicing and chopping and stewing is beyond my realm of thinking at the moment.  Give me something fast, deliciously creamy and oh, can it please be relatively healthy too?  Awesome.

A simple side dish that is packed with protein, fiber and happens to be incredibly flavorful, this will quickly become a staple in your recipe arsenal.  The sauteed garlic and rosemary paired with the smooth, creamy white beans create a dish that will rival plain ol’ mashed potatoes any day.  I hate to say it, but this may be the mistress that breaks up the eternal marriage of Steak and Potatoes! Gasp! Oh, the horror!

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