Six Easy Ways to Make Dinner Awesome
This post is sponsored by La Famiglia Garlic Bread.
“Why do they want dinner, every, single, night?”
I’m sure you’ve seen the meme on facebook? The woman with her head in her hands lamenting the fact that her family want dinner every darn night?
Right now, that woman is me.
Not only do my family want dinner every night, but they want it to be delicious too!
At the moment, even the thought of having to make food at the end of each day makes me want to curl up in a ball and rock quietly in a corner. There is no way I can manage delicious too.
I’ve lost my dinner mojo.
It happens sometimes, and I can either give up entirely and order take out, or I can cut myself some slack and find some easy ways to make dinners doable until my mojo returns.
My budget and my health are pleased to know I am going with the second option.
Six Easy Ways to Make Dinner Awesome.
Keep it Simple!
Dinner doesn’t need to be a four course, fancy meal. Basic meals can still be awesome so go easy on yourself and make something simple. Baked beans on toast, eggs, good old spag bol… You can make it a little more special by adding a side dish, dessert or drink. Freeze some fruit into ice blocks to make boring water instantly more awesome and plain old pasta is always more exciting with some garlic bread.
Use Pre-Prepared Items.
I love cooking from scratch, but sometimes it’s just too much, or takes too long, so using pre-made or pre-prepared items saves my sanity. A bag of salad, frozen veggies, garlic bread… you are already half way to dinner if you start with something that is already done.
Make it No-Cook.
Dinner doesn’t always have to be a hot meal. No cook meals are quick and easy to prepare and easy for the kids to make. A salad platter, wraps, dip and bread, they are all totally acceptable and awesome dinners. So is a bowl of cereal!
Get the Kids to Cook.
Choose an easy meal and get the kids involved in making it. You’ll have less work to do and the kids are more likely to eat something they make themselves. Our big kids can cook a couple of meals almost entirely on their own – chicken noodle soup, pizza pasta bake, quiche – and they can all help with chopping vegies or making a salad.
Plan Ahead.
So I’ve lost my dinner mojo at the moment, but last month I was totally on my game and I filled the freezer with meals! I can manage to boil some pasta, defrost the sauce and throw some garlic bread in the oven even if I am totally overwhelmed. So take advantage of the good times and plan ahead for the not so good times.
Make it Fun.
You can serve up the same boring meal again and again if you make it a little fun and different. Spread out a rug on the lounge room floor and have an indoor picnic, eat outside (no crumbs to sweep up!), try eating with chop sticks, or light a candle and set the table all fancy.
Three Easy Garlic Bread Meal Ideas
Everyone loves garlic bread in our house, so it’s often the first thing I think of when I’ve lost my dinner mojo.
La Famiglia garlic bread easily makes ordinary meals, into awesome meals, and really, garlic bread makes everything better, doesn’t it?
I’ve been relying on the magic of garlic bread a lot recently with these three easy dinner ideas:
Garlic subs – this is a favourite easy family dinner which is half way to done before you even start thanks to the garlic bread base.
Spread a little tomato paste onto a traditional style garlic loaf, top with cheese and whatever pizza toppings you have on hand, and pop them in the oven.
Chicken noodle soup with garlic dippers – this is a meal my kids can cook pretty much on their own.
Add some rice noodles to some chicken stock, whack in some veggies if you have them, and cut some garlic bread slices into sticks for dipping.
Avocado on garlic toast – quick, easy, and delicious for dinner.
Mash some avocado with garlic and lemon juice, and pile it on some toasted garlic bread slices.
You’ll find lots more easy and delicious ideas on La Famiglia’s facebook page too, and they might just help you find your dinner mojo!
How do you make awesome dinners when it is the last thing you want to be doing?
This competition is now closed. Congratulations to Lisa who’s comment was chosen as the winner and who has been contacted via email.
Win a year’s supply of Australia’s tastiest garlic bread from La Famiglia simply by leaving a comment on this post and telling me your easy idea for an awesome dinner.
You must be an Australian resident to enter, and entries close on Monday 26th October 2015. See full terms and conditions below.
Competition Terms and Conditions.
You must be an Australian resident and have an Australian postal address to enter.
You must be 18 + years of age to enter.
You must provide a valid email address and entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close Monday 26th October 2015 at 11:59am Australian EST.
Entries will be judged on merit and creativity.
One winner will receive 1 x loaf of La Famiglia garlic bread per week for 52 x weeks to the value of $330, distributed by way of a supermarket gift voucher.
Winners will be contacted by email and announced on this post by Monday 2nd November 2015.
The winner must contact me within 5 days or the prize will be re-drawn.
The winner agrees to have their contact details passed on to the appropriate PR company or brand representative who will send out/organise the prizes directly.
This post is co-ordinated by The Remarkables Group
Too bad I don’t live in Australia! Thanks for the encouraging post though! I am 37 years old, have three kids and have enjoyed cooking dinner perhaps five times in my entire life so far… :-) Thankfully I have a sweet husband who doesn’t mind cooking, but for those times I can’t escape it I’m always thankful for simple ideas that don’t make either me or my kids cry and scream. I don’t mind cleaning, laundry and all kinds of things, but COOKING I absolutely dread… why, o why do they want dinner every day!!! :-)
My easy meal: cheese & corn toasties! Plug in your sandwich press (jaffle maker) to heat. Line up as many slices of bread as you need. Top with a piece of sliced cheese and a spoon or two of microwaved frozen corn. Top with another slice of bread, butter the outside and cook in sandwich press. The result- yummy cheesy goodness with bursts of sweet corn…a perfect combo :)
Oh man that sounds so good!
make your own wraps, I just chop what ever Salad ingredients I have put into bowls if we have any leftover meats and dips they get used too. Kids love it as there’s no try this or that they just put whatever they feel like on there wrap, quick and easy dinner!!
Funny- I just did the supermarket shop thinking of quick easy meals as hubbies away and really, who can be bothered cooking for two!! Garlic breads a winner here too soooo I bought garlic bread, roast Chook, lettuce, bacon and dressing for a quick Caesar Salad.
Pump the bbq up (it’s 32C here today).
Grill the garlic bread and bacon.
Boil an egg (if I can be bothered)
Grate some Parmesan.
Chuck all ingredients in a bowl add a dressing/ sour cream and dinners done! Yummy and pretty healthy! To mix it up I would chuck them in a wrap.
Otherwise pasta bake with crumbed garlic bread on top always gets a smile from my crew!!
Fabulous dinner ideas! We love using this bread with some baked beans and grated cheese. Always a winner in our house.
My easy meal is egg on peas with parmasen. Sometimes it’s a poached egg but if I’m to lazy that it will be a fried one. Garlic bread would work well with that. I’ll have to stock up on some. Avocado on garlic bread sounds yum.
Wow so many easy recipes am trying them all. Love to win the garlic bread.Thanks for the ideas..
This post has made me so hungry!!!
We love garlic bread with hummus. Paired with a salad and fruit smoothie, it would make a fab dinner! (I always bulk up simple meals with fruit smoothies, mainly because I love them hehe)
Savoury bread pudding with spinach, cheese, fresh herbs, chevre smoked ham, smoky roasted pepper sauce. Its tender and custardy on the bottom and crouton-crunchy on the top. The gorgeous and fragrant roasted red pepper sauce is the perfect finishing touch.
Egg net omelette stuffed with chicken/ vegetabless is our family’s favourite quick & easy dinner. It takes around 12 minutes to prepare a healthy dinner that is full of flavour.
For the stuffing simply stir fry vegetables of your choice (chopped lengthwise). Chicken can be added at this stage.
Beat 4 eggs ,pour into a ziplock pouch, remove all the air and seal properly.
Cut a hole in one corner of the zip lock pouch, pour the egg mixture slowly onto the hot skillet, forming a lacy pattern. When cooked properly – shift it to serving plate , fill with stir-fry mixture and fold over edges to make it into a nice roll. Everyone in the family loves this super quick dinner.
Thanks for the great ideas. Would be an awesome prize to win as my family of 6 all love garlic bread.
Oh yum. Those garlic pizza subs made my mouth water.
Our quickest and easiest, go-to, I-can’t-be-bothered-cooking meal is spaghetti with butter, peas and parmesan cheese. Everyone in the family likes it and it’s so quick. Otherwise poached eggs on toast usually doesn’t the trick.
My quick easy meal is to make bruschetta using the garlic bread… Its really tasty
I love garlic bread & now I have some great recipes to try ?
Mum of a very active 5 yo leaves me with little time for a fussy dinner but quick fix is scrambled herb and cheese eggs with baked beans on the side.
My kids would just eat garlic bread if I let them! But easy dinner for us pita bread pizza: tomato sauce, cheese and salami (or topping of choice) 15 min in the oven and that’s a dinner everyone will eat. For the health conscious just vary toppings. 20 min from walking in the door to eating
We like to top the garlic bread with stewed beef and vegetables and add a sprinkling of parmesan. The loaf soaks up all the juices and is so yummy to eat. We have garlic bread topped with cheese as a side to most dinners. Its my guilty pleasure
Great ideas!! Why haven\’t I been doing this for like, my whole life?? Haha. Our easy go to meal at the moment is omlettes or scrambled egg on toast. But… now you are making me think it would be even better on garlic toast. See what you\’ve done! :)
I hear you!
If I am struggling I go for non-food ideas to make it awesome. If the table is speccy they eat the most boring things (read: cereal, toasted sandwiches, veggie sticks and boiled eggs).
– We have some random straws that are in circles so they get pulled out and whacked in glasses.
– I put the chalkboard tablecloth on and let them draw their own place setting.
– Put all the food on a serving platter, give them a pair of tongs each and let them dish up whatever they will eat off the platter.
– Pull out the mini milk bottles to drink out of.
– Candles and lights off – soooo exciting!
Quesadillas make quick easy dinners and best part is as long as you have cheese the variety is only limited to the pantry and your imagination. Personally my favourites include spinach and cheese, tuna corn and cheese or BBQ chicken with mushrooms and cheese.