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Weeknight Meals Made Easy

Planning makes perfect when it comes to feeding your family on busy nights during the holidays

With the hustle of the holidays pulling us in every direction, from attending parties and performances to shopping for items on your gift list, it’s tempting to grab take-out for dinner at the end of a busy day. But with a little planning, you can have an easy, healthy and homemade meal on the table in minutes.

East Valley resident Lauren Allen and her twin sister, Liz Haslem, share delicious, family friendly recipes – from the everyday to the exceptional – on their popular site TastesBetterfromScratch.com. We first met up with them in the beautiful kitchens at Tri Pointe Homes in Gilbert to capture their new cookbook, “Tastes Better from Scratch.”

“It was always a dream of mine to write a cookbook,” says Lauren. “I wanted it to be a legacy of all our favorite recipes – the best chocolate chip cookies and homemade bread, along with great meals for dinner.”

The approachable recipes in the book and on the site help home cooks create magnificent meals with ease. Lauren shares the key to making meals around the holidays is two-fold.

“I meal plan ahead of time, and I make sure I have the ingredients on hand so that my husband and kids can help,” she says. “I’m always going to my 30-minute meals or doubling a recipe from a Sunday night that I can put in the freezer to eat in a couple of weeks.”

Here, Lauren shares a one-dish recipe for even the busiest of nights, and it’s easy as (taco) pie.

Taste Better from Scratch’s Easy Taco Pie

Servings: 6

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

·       10 corn tortillas

·       1 can cream of chicken soup (or homemade)

·       1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies

·       15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

·       1/2 green bell pepper, diced

·       1 packet taco seasoning

·       3 cups cooked chicken, chopped (rotisserie chicken works great)

·       1 1/2 cups Mexican blend cheese

For topping:

·       Sour cream

·       Freshly chopped cilantro

·       Chopped avocado

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish.

2.     In a large bowl, combine the chicken soup, diced tomatoes with green chilies, black beans, green bell pepper, taco seasoning and chicken. Set aside.

3.     Tear five corn tortillas and line them on the bottom of the pie dish.

4.     Spread half of the chicken mixture over the tortillas. Top with ¾ cup of cheese.

5.     Tear remaining five corn tortillas and place on top. Add remaining filling, then top with remaining cheese.

6.     Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and mixture is warmed through. Serve topped with sour cream, chopped cilantro and avocado.

To substitute ground beef: Replace chicken with one pound of lean ground beef, cooked and crumbled, then taco seasoning and ½ cup of water added to ground beef mixture. Replace cream of chicken soup with ½ cup of sour cream, added to the filling mixture.

Freezing instructions: Assemble taco pie in a freezer-safe pie dish and cover tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then bake as directed, or bake from frozen for 1 hour, then remove foil and continue baking for 20-40 minutes or until warm and bubbly.

TastesBetterFromScratch.com | @tastesbetterfromscratch

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