What should we make for dinner?
That’s a question I’m sure you and I have asked ourselves or families hundreds of times, and completely underestimated how often we would get caught of the perpetual loop of figuring out dinner.
Over the past year and a half, I’ve cracked the code on that. Seriously. Between solo nights when my husband is working and our oldest is with friends, to cooking with a new baby, to making dinner when everyone is home — I haven’t struggled with figuring out what to make for dinner a single time and always have things on deck that I know everyone likes.
How?
- Organized weekly meal plans
- Grocery shopping once a week based on those meal plans
- Building those meal plans from tried-and-true recipe sources
I want to focus heavily on my sources for recipe inspiration. I love trying new things, and often build that in to the meal plan. But, more often than not I’m pulling from a list I’ve curated over time full of meals we love to eat and I love to make.
So here’s all the places I pull recipes from to make a what’s-for-dinner-less life possible:
1. Taste of Home
Words can’t describe how much I love this brand. I’m subscribed to their seasonal magazine which I eagerly anticipate every issue of, and am also signed up to their email lists. The Taste of Home website is a treasure trove of recipe goodness. I regularly pour over the website and magazine finding all sorts of new things to try and bake. I build a list of all that I want to try, and from there, build one or two new things in to each weekly meal plan.
2. Magnolia Table
Joanna Gaines knocked it out of the park with the Magnolia Table recipe books, in which I adore all three and refer to them regularly (like her biscuit recipe in the first one!) My personal favorite is the very first one, but you can’t go wrong with any:
3. Half Baked Harvest
If you want rich, flavorful, savory, decadent… this blog is your one stop shop for all of the above. Not only is Teighan’s blog filled to the brim with mouth-watering recipes, her hard copy books are just as great. There are too many good book options to count! Get your hand on one if you can, and check out her site too.
4. The Mediterranean Dish
My husband and I go through phases where we jump on a modified version of the Mediterranean diet, and this blog has been such a source of inspiration. Many of the dishes shared have made it in to our regular rotation. Also! If you sign up for Suzy’s newsletter a weekly meal plan is sent to you!
http://www.themediterraneandish.com
5. Family Recipes
I’m fortunate enough to have many of my mom and grandmother’s old cookbooks, as well as a book of recipes compiled by the parishioners of the church I grew up in, and I sincerely enjoy making meals and desserts that help me feel close to family.
6. Notion
I’ve compiled my own database of recipes using Notion as a host. I live and breathe by Notion in nearly every area of life, and meal planning a recipe organization is no different. If we have a meal that we like, I save it there. So not only do we have a personally-curated database of only things we love, I’ve also got the perfect place to build a quick meal plan if I don’t have time to hunt for things to make anywhere else!
Notes on homemaking, faith, and daily rhythms. 
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