The Wheaton Blog
Easy Dinner Recipes – Part One
When you’ve recently moved into a new house, the last thing on your mind is planning intricate and delicious meals. Sometimes you don’t even know where half of your kitchen utensils or appliances might be! Don’t fret. Wheaton World Wide Moving understands how stressful the first few days after a move can be. We’ve found some delicious yet easy meals that the whole family will enjoy.
Follow Wheaton on Pinterest for more meal ideas as well as home decorations, gift ideas and more. All of these recipes can be found on our Easy Recipes board on Pinterest.
Recipe 1: Easy Meatloaf
Ingredients:
- 1 pound freshly ground chuck (at least 80% lean)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 level teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
Glaze ingredients:
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- few dashes tabasco sauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, salt, pepper, onion powder, ketchup, breadcrumbs and any additional ingredients using your hands until just combined. Overmixing will result in a less-than-fluffy loaf
- On a foil-lined baking sheet, shape the mixture into a free-form loaf, then smooth over using your fingers
- Mix all glaze ingredients together in a small bowl
- Spread an even layer of glaze over meatloaf and transfer to oven
- Bake for 45 minutes, then remove from oven, allow to rest for at least 15 minutes, slice and serve
Recipe 2: Sausage and Pepper Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
- 8 ounce uncooked ziti rigati pasta
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cubanelle peppers, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 12 ounces or 4 links spicy or sweet Italian sausage
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta
- 1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 2 cup marinara sauce
Directions:
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook pasta in a large pot of lightly salted water as package directs for al dente texture.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add peppers, onion and sausage; cook 6 minutes or until sausage is browned. Remove from heat, cut sausage into 1/4-inch slices.
- Mix ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 3 Tbsp Parmesan and the parsley in large bowl. Drain pasta; toss with cheese mixture, sausage mixture and 1 cup marinara sauce.
- Pour pasta mixture into a 2-qt shallow baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until bubbly.
Recipe 3: Nacho Mac ‘n’ Cheese
Ingredients:
- 3 cups uncooked spiral pasta
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 cups chopped sweet red peppers
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 envelope taco seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2-1/4 cups 2% milk
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1 cup coarsely crushed tortilla chips
Directions:
- Cook spiral pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook beef and red peppers over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain
- Stir in the butter, flour, taco seasoning and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese and corn until cheese is melted
- Drain spiral pasta; add to beef mixture and stir to coat. Sprinkle with tortilla chips
Be sure to visit our Pinterest board for more easy recipes!