I recently had some friends staying with me during the holidays. They have a son who attends the same college as my son, Kyle. Both boys are living off campus this year and so did not “come home” for their holiday break. The college closes for the two week break which meant they could not eat on campus as they would normally. So they joined us for dinner on more than one occasion over the two-week period. One night I decided to make an easy dessert I knew they would like. Brownies was the obvious solution.

Finding quick weeknight meals continues to challenge me. Why is that? I have all the “make these meals in 20 minutes or less” cookbooks. I just struggle to pair my grocery shopping with easy recipes.

If there is one thing my dad has instilled in me since I was little, it is the love of football. Of course he has taught me many other important things, but football is high on the list. Football games have always revolved around a couple of things for me: fun times with family and friends, team pride and of course… food.

A sandwich is sometimes a “taken-for-granted” quick lunch. It seems you can make a sandwich by either spreading two slices of bread with a tasty filling or by layering some deli meat or cheese between two slices of bread. At this point that’s what you have – a simple sandwich.

I love meal planning and grocery shopping, but last week I was just plain worn out. I asked the kids to pick out something for dinner that was easy and quick. Zoey went to landolakes.com and returned with her recommendation: Ham, Mac & Cheese Soup. Of course!

Rushing around from work to family events and social functions is hard enough without the snowy Minnesota weather slowing traffic down. But put all of these together, and you’ll find me on any given night - arriving home late, flustered and with absolutely no plans for dinner.

Now that it’s January, my slow cooker has become my best friend. Our house is chilly and I find myself wearing a scarf and felted wool slippers. This new recipe for African Chicken Peanut Stew seemed just right for a chilly Minnesota weeknight. I was working from home for the day and this stew only needed 4 hours in the slow cooker, so I made it mid-day. I love the feeling that dinner is already done!

Grandpa Pat was visiting for a few days and we had only a few hours in the morning before we had to drive him to the airport. I wanted his final breakfast with us to be special, but I just hate getting up early on the weekend! Crunchy Snickerdoodle French Toast was a perfect fit. It is made the night before and baked crunchy in the oven in the morning.