There was a stretch of about three years where I just accepted that weeknight chicken and rice was going to be dry. No matter what I did—baked it covered, added extra broth, checked the temp obsessively—the chicken came out stringy and the rice turned into a gluey mess at the bottom of the pan. I tried those boxed skillet dinners once or twice, and honestly, I still feel a little betrayed by the sodium content. I wanted something that tasted like the kind of dinner my grandma would pull out of the oven on a Sunday, but I needed it … Read more

My husband took one bite of this slow cooker ground beef and potato casserole, looked at me across the table, and said, “This is the kind of dinner I’d eat every single night if you let me.” No joke. That was a Tuesday night in late October, the sky already dark outside, and I had barely put any effort into this meal. I had thrown ground beef into the slow cooker that morning, layered it with sliced potatoes and a handful of pantry staples, and honestly forgot about it until the smell started drifting through the house around four o’clock. … Read more