3 Quick and Healthy Recipes for Busy Nights

How busy has your week been, or will it be? Currently, I am my mother's caregiver, as well as a single mother of two humans and a fur baby. My days have literally started to blend together lately between doctor appointments, PTO Meetings, and school functions where you can generally find me volunteering with the PTO.

Sometimes when we get busy, we either go for take-out nights, something that is a quick prepare, or leftovers; you can never go wrong with leftovers! However, our leftovers nights are very few and far between as whenever I cook everything is just gone within minutes. If you are a member of our community, you receive our weekly newsletter which always has five different recipes. Fun fact: in six months we have never repeated a recipe/recipe link ONCE! Some of these recipes include meal prep, high protein, vegan/vegetarian, budget-friendly, and even quick prep.

Today, I am going to share three recipes that are easy, budget-friendly, can be broken down for meal prep, and two of the three can be made in about 30 minutes. Before we talk about them, I will warn you that they all have a general theme: Dungeons and Dragons. I've mentioned my nerdiness before, but normally keep it to my Harry Potter fandom. Now, we're going to teleport to another realm entirely! I will not take any credit for creating these, so I want to shout out now to the Unofficial Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook, and to the TikTok account Quincy's Tavern (@quincylk) for the other two that have become very quick favourites in our house! He has even released a cookbook called The Lucky Gryphon, which you better believe will be added to this household's collection! Peppers & Pennies

This recipe is amazing! We edit ours a bit because I can't eat jalapeño seeds, so we cut ours into bits instead of rounds, but it is delicious none-the-less! It has the added bonus of being a one-pot dish, so it's also a quick clean up. This is one of Quincy's recipes.

Ingredients

12-14 oz Andouille sausage, cut into "pennies"

4oz cream cheese

8oz uncooked pasta

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 Tbs of chicken bouillon (optional)

2 Tbs olive oil

15 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup water

1/2 cup sliced jalapeños

Directions

• Place olive oil, onions, and sausage into a pot and cook on medium-high for 5-6 minutes.

• Add tomato sauce, water, jalapeños, and bouillon then stir and bring to a boil.

• Once mixture has been brought to a boil, add uncooked pasta and mix into mixture thoroughly.

• Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender.

• Mix in cream cheese, then season to taste and serve.

Dragon Salmon

I LOVE this recipe! I have made it several times, and if you are in our Community Group, this recipe is familiar to you as I have shared it before. It's great for being budget-friendly because I can spend $16-21 and literally feed 4-5 people with it. Also, I personally like to use a cast-iron skillet with this recipe because the cast iron holds some of the flavours in it. This recipe is brought to you by the Unofficial D&D Cookbook. Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds skin-on salmon fillet, pinbones removed if needed and cut into 4 equal parts

Salt and Pepper

2 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil (such as vegetable, canola, safflower, or grapeseed)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

2/3 cup fruity, medium-bodied red wine (such as Pinot Noir or Zinfandel)

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

Directions

• Preheat oven to 200°F with a rack in the middle of the oven.

• Sprinkle the salmon lightly with salt and pepper.

• In a large non stick skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until shimmering. Add the salmon flesh-down, leaving at least 1/4 in of space around the pieces, and cook undisturbed until the bottoms of the fillets start to turn opaque; about 3 to 4 minutes but no more than six depending on the thickness of the fillet. Gently flip the fillets skin-side down and repeat cooking undisturbed until they are no longer translucent on the exterior and are firm when gently pressed. Transfer the salmon to a heat-proof plate, tent loosely with foil, and place it in the oven to keep warm.

• Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel, add 1 tablespoon of the butter, and melt it over medium-low heat. Add the shallot, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring constantly until it softens; about 1 minute. Add the wine and broth, adjust the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer; occasionally stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen and dissolve any browned bits. Continue simmering until reduced by about 2/3 (6-8 minutes) and add any accumulated juices from the salmon midway through. Adjust to low heat, add the remaining butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir constantly while the butter melts to incorporate it into the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Pour or spoon sauce over or around salmon, sprinkle with chives and serve while still warm.

Thieves' Stew

This is another from Quincy, and a huge favourite with my kids. This is a slow cooker recipe, so if you know you're not going to be home most the day, you can set it before you leave and do the final touches when you get home. I have experimented with shitake mushrooms that were grown locally that I got from my local Farmer's Market, and I love the edit. However, if you want it done faster we also one time (accidentally) used an already cooked piece of beef and had it done in time for lunch.

Ingredients

1-2 pounds beef (raw)

1/2 onion, chopped

4 mushrooms, sliced

Salt and Pepper

8oz uncooked pasta

2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup

4 cups of Beef Broth

Directions

• Place beef, salt, pepper, Cream of Mushroom soup, mushrooms, onion, and beef broth in slow cooker. Stir ingredients together well so that it covers the beef brisket. Cook on high for 8 hours, then shred beef with forks.

• Add pasta and stir mixture to coat noodles. Cook until noodles are cooked through.

• Once noodles are cooked, bowl and serve.

If you have cooked these and are not member of the Marcevolution Community, feel free to join and tell us any change ups or substitutions you made! Please enjoy these out of this realm dishes!

As always, my friends; stay safe, stay motivated, and stay hydrated!