Okay so I am not a cook by any means. During “normal’ times, I cook a few times a week, but a lot of that is just boiling pasta or making breakfast for dinner. I will try to plan ahead and do some things in the instant pot or a lasagna, or when its warm we will grill. However, because we are usually just running from one activity to the next at night, or my husband is coaching or working, its hard and usually pointless to try and plan elaborate meals. Take out and pizza is more often our thing, and it makes life easier.

Fast forward to now, when we are ALL home ALL the time, and eating ALL of our meals at home. I feel compelled to step up my game, but I still don’t really enjoy cooking or meal planning. Side note – I love baking. I could bake cakes and cookies all day. Is that weird? Its a shame it isn’t acceptable to just feed these goodies as the main course.

Anyways, to help us all, I am sharing what I find to be the EASIEST recipes to help you meal plan if you are like me and struggling to find things that your family will make at that are easy to cook. Now, I know its not like people can just run out and buy these ingredients on a whim right now; but maybe you add them to your next grocery run, or pickup, or maybe you already have them. Bonus – I am linking this recipe for Flourless M&M Chocolate Chip bars that are to DIE FOR. No joke. Make them when you can and they will give you new life during quarantine. Also, because of the amount of peanut butter and oats in them, they seem to actually fill me up in a way a normal cookie would not.

So here are the recipes, in no particular order, that we have been living off of:

1. Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls: This recipe, from Together as Family, is so so so so easy! Literally, you put all the ingredients in the instant pot, set it, and voila! No pre-cooking, no sauteing, no browning. Just dump and voila! you have a delicious burrito bowl. I do want to tell everyone that I used BROWN RICE in this recipe, not the long grain or basmati rice that the recipe calls for and it came out delicious! I topped with hot sauce, avocados and cheese. One of the three children will eat this recipe, I just cook the other two nacho chips topped with cheese when I make this for us.
   
2. Instant Pot Egg Roll in a Bowl – So the positives of this recipe from Carrie Elle is that it is not only tasty, but healthy. It is also quick – not a dump and go, but you just have to brown the turkey in the instant pot and then it cooks quickly. You could easily sub in any type of meet you want. My kids like this, my husband likes this. I eat it on lettuce wraps or alone, my husband eats it with rice or won tons.
   
3. Instant Pot Turkey Chili – Okay, full disclosure here, the kids will not eat this. But its delicious, quick and easy chili and I will eat it for every meal so its still worth making. It also freezes well. This recipe is from Recipe Teacher.
   
   
   
4. Chicken Enchiladas – I have only made these chicken enchiladas once from MakeandTake.com, once, but it was so easy! You can also make them with corn or wheat tortillas, so perfect for those who are gluten free. I used a mild red sauce for these, and the kids loved them. To make the recipe even easier, I made the chicken in the instant pot.
   
   
5. Walking Tacos – So there is no official recipe for this, but it is one of the few things my very picky son will eat. Just make tacos. Any kind – put them on top of crumbled up Doritos and add your choice of topping. You eat these with a spoon, and they are delicious.
   
6. Broccoli and Sausage Pasta – This is one of my favorite recipes EVER. All kids eat it, and the husband eats it, so it is a winner in my book. Here is my link to it – you can make it with gluten free pasta, regular pasta, split it up, whatever you want! It is super yummy and easy!
   
   
7. Healthy Flourless Chocolate Chip Muffins – I am obsessed with these, and the kids love them. I have adapted the recipe on this post. I like to whip up a batch for breakfast and snacking when I am craving something sweet!
   
   
8. Chocolate Chip M&M Flourless Cookie Bars – Okay, these bars from Together as Family are the most amazing things ever.
   
   
   
   First, they are gluten free (if you use the gluten free oats). If you are gluten free, having any type of cookie that tastes good is nothing short of a miracle. These taste sooooooo good! Second, they are filled with oats and peanut butter so they are actually filling. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from having a difficult time not eating these all day long. Also – important note, I used quick oats for this recipe and they came out delicious. The recipe calls for old fashioned oats, but I didn’t have any.
   
   
9. Coconut Flour Banana Bread – I was craving banana bread last week, and found this recipe from Eating Bird Food that satisfied this craving. Note – I used butter instead of coconut oil, and it was still delicious. My kids liked it, and we finished it in two days! Great if you are looking for a gluten free option!
   
   
   
   
   
   

So there you have it. This is what has gotten me through dinners so far during quarantine. We have also had our fair share of frozen pizzas, boxed mac ‘n cheese, and breakfast for dinner but I think being able to share some decent meals as a family has been good or us! Let me know what you guys are eating or what recipes you have tried and loved!