The struggle is always real trying to fight the urge to go out to eat or to grab take out on the way home from work versus actually cooking something fresh at home.

You’re tired and you only know like four easy recipes, all of which you are sick of. And by “you” I mean me, but I’m going to go ahead and assume I’m not alone in this constant struggle to integrate more home-cooked meals into my life in order to take some strain off our wallets and let’s be real, maybe even our arteries or whatever.

I was getting really tired of our old stand-by recipes and decided to dig through all those yummy-looking pins over on my food board. Here are three I tried last week and absolutely loved.

And perk! These three recipes provided seven nights of dinner, plus some lunches!

I’ll make note of any adjustments or substitutes I made.

Spaghetti Aglio e Oilio e Salsiccia

aka: Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Sausage via Food52

Honestly, I could eat pasta every night, and this one was SO GOOD. The trick about how to cook your noodles and reserving some of the starchy water is an absolute game changer for me and I’ll always make pasta this way for the rest of my life and live happily ever after.

One note: I found the tablespoon of red pepper flakes to be a lot and super spicy, so I’d recommend dialing it back to a teaspoon. I also added a couple handfuls of halved cherry tomatoes!

I have to think that was a typo on their end because we did the full tablespoon and it full out cleared my sinuses in one bite, but was still so good we ate it for like three nights. You can always add more if you want more of a kick at the end, but you can’t take away, so just keep that in mind. Otherwise, I WILL ABSOLUTELY be making this again and again.

Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup (Vegetarian)

Can be made in the slow cooker or instant pot, from Gimme Some Oven

I’m trying to integrate more vegetarian meals into our rotation, but am generally disappointed with how hungry and unsatisfied I feel after many I’ve tried. That was not the case with this super hearty soup / stew!

One note: I will say, give yourself a solid 30 to 40 minutes for prep time (that 15 minutes is a joke and I want you to show me your knife skills personally if you can get it all chopped that quickly you monsters).

Otherwise, you can let it slow cook all day and step away! I had the day off when I made this, and that is what I did, but you could also prep and slow cook through the night while you sleep. There is a final step: you make a sauce and stir in the kale at the very end, so it’s not quite a “dump and cook” crock pot recipe, but that last step is the game-changer with this recipe and takes it to the next level.

This soup was the gift that kept on giving: I want to say we had this for at least 3 meals and I even took a heavy dose to lunch one day!

Lemon Basil Orzo with Chicken

via Blogger Bests

I will one thousand percent be making this again.

Note: I didn’t have orzo on hand so I used white rice and it was still phenomenal. I’m also pretty sure I used chicken thighs instead of breasts but can’t remember. 

In any case this was delicious and gave me an excuse to finish off a bottle of wine, so win-win.

Alright, so those are my three recs! I’m pretty sure I made all three meals for under $100, but definitely had some pantry staples on hand that I didn’t have to buy.

Let me know if you guys ending up trying any of these, and if you’ve got a good recipe you’ve been loving lately, DO SHARE.

To see what meal ideas I’m bookmarking, follow my main meals Pinterest board, or just follow along on all my Pinterest boards if you aren’t already 😉