These are easily just as good as what you'd find in any Mexican restaurant but you get to enjoy them at a fraction of the price in the comfort of your own home.

What are Carnitas Anyway?

If you haven't had Carnitas you are probably trying to figure out exactly what "Carnitas" means. It's a spanish word meaning "little meats."  It's a Mexican dish and generally it's made by braising or roasting pork then shredding it and simmering in lard or vegetable oil until crispy.

But here we switch that up and use the slow cooker and cook for 8 hours or use a pressure cooker and cook for 1 hour. And the pork carnitas are broiled it instead of sautéing it in oil to get that same crispy effect. Broiling it takes less time, creates less mess, and requires less oil.

And I go for semi-crispy. I like the ends of the meat to be nice and crispy but I recommend that you don't overdue it. You don't want to dry the meat.

With this simple recipe you end with tempting, crispy little pieces of pork that you won't be able to stop "taste testing."

Throw the finished carnitas into warmed corn or flour tortillas, add some cilantro and diced onion and voila. Such a simple, satisfying dinner that everyone will love!

This skillet seared chicken with creamy dijon sauce is richly flavorful, with a touch of gourmet. It's indeed an upgrade on otherwise bland and boring chicken breast. And the best part is it's made with a handful of staple ingredients you likely already have on hand.

Its simple dijon mustard infused sauce is something that you can use on other proteins like ham, pork or salmon, side vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli and potatoes, and breakfast dishes like eggs benedict and stratas. Basically you'll want to add to just about everything else in your fridge so you may as well double it up so you have extra.

Impress everyone with this creamy mustard sauce chicken, it may likely even become one of your favorite chicken dinners!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

This healthy crockpot chicken tortilla soup is a perfectly hearty, feel good soup. After a tiring, busy day it's just what you'll look forward to coming home to!

The recipe has been revisited and improved recently for increased flavor. I also personally prefer it with chicken thighs now for the better texture (and also more flavor).

The prep for this crockpot soup couldn't be easier, you simply layer and pour everything into a slow cooker without pre-cooking required. No chopping or searing meat first, or sautéing vegetables beforehand. It's one of those lazy, throw it together and turn on the power dinner meals.

I love to load it up with toppings but even without them you'd still have a completely satisfying soup. Tasty toppings additions include all those classics - tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado or guacamole, cilantro, and some hot sauce if you want it spicy.

It's also a highly adaptable soup. For recipe variations you can trade out vegetables for others, increase spices, try other chilies, and even use other types of protein (such as cooked ground beef or seared pieces of stew meat).

Start with this base recipe the first time around then after that change it up to your hearts content or using up what you have on hand.

Looking for a tomato-y meatball soup? Try my comforting homemade Meatball Soup recipe, likely to be another family fav!

A Dependable Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

I used to be intimidated to make Italian Wedding Soup. I have no Italian lineage and my mom never made it growing up, so for whatever reason it seemed easy to mess up.

But I’m here to tell you it is so easy to make, and following this simple recipe and this foolproof step by step guide people may likely think it was passed down from an Italian Grandmother.

Everyone will be thoroughly impressed and completely satisfied with this homestyle soup! And people will be raving about those homemade, herb flecked, bite size meatballs. They may be a bit of rolling to get so many, but so worth it.

This quickly became a reader favorite recipe, try for yourself and see why!

Don't let this soups simplicity fool you, it will have you saying, "who knew bean soup could be so good?" It's brimming with flavor yet it's a breeze to make, and it's a soup you can feel good about eating.

It's a great meatless option for lunch or a simple dinner and it pairs well with some artisan whole grain bread for dipping. Or if you really want to pack greens into the meal serve it with a side salad.

Something I think you'll really love about this soup is it's light creaminess without the use of any cream. That is thanks to blitzing a portion of the beans and stirring that puree right into the soup.

It's bright welcome flavors come from a little lemon, a fair sprinkle of parmesan and a rounded spoonful of garlic. Always a delicious trio.

How to Make the Soup Vegetarian and Vegan

To make the recipe vegetarian simply use vegetable broth. To make it vegan use vegetable broth and omit the parmesan rind and the parmesan, in it's place you can use two tablespoons of nutritional yeast.

Chicken Gravy with a Carton of Broth

This is a simple yet completely delicious diner style gravy that doesn't require any roasted chicken drippings. So you can make mashed potatoes with gravy anytime the cravings strike without having to cook a whole chicken. In fact we most often serve it with a store-bought rotisserie chicken for a quick dinner.

You'll just need a good chicken base and packaged chicken stock along with a few other everyday ingredients.

And the best part is that you can have it ready in under 15 minutes! Plus you'll have the option to make it a creamy gravy with extra richness by adding just a little bit of cream.

It's a comforting, cozy, humble recipe with rich chicken flavor in each bite. There's just so much simple goodness to anticipate for dinner with this easy, must have chicken gravy recipe!

Traditional Coq au Vin is a centuries old dish and a staple in French cuisine. It's an incredibly hearty and comforting dish built with a bit of time and layer upon layer of flavor.

The foundational ingredients are all browned in batches first, then red wine and seasoned broth are added while scraping up that flavorful fond (the browned bits at the bottom of the pan), then it's all slowly braised over a low heat until everything is tender and infused with rich flavor. From there the sauce is thickened with a roux (flour and butter mixture), and the bacon is added back at the end to maintain its crispness.

It's such a memorable dish with full bodied flavor. There's a reason it's become a world renowned dish!

Serve it with one of the many options listed below. I would say you can never go wrong with mashed potatoes to complement its rustic, homestyle goodness.

Love these types of easy dinners? Also try my one pan Ground Beef Stroganoff and American style Goulash.

This hearty, cheesy taco pasta is two homestyle dishes combined into one and people of all ages love it! It's a simple one pan dinner that you can have ready in just over 30 minutes.

If you aren't familiar with this dish it may sound strange but trust me it's actually such a super satisfying, completely enjoyable dinner. It's like those pasta dishes from the 90's that maybe started with a box, but this is 100 times better!

It's a very adaptable recipe too. You can add different mix-ins to use up ingredients you may already have, or try swapping out the protein or pasta. Just stick with the base and seasonings used, and always add cheese because it's truly a main highlight of the dish.

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Looking for a good side to pair with this soup? Try my homemade breadsticks, buttery garlic bread, or arugula salad.

Homemade Mini Meatball Soup

This meatball soup is a comforting soup reminiscent of spaghetti and meatballs but in homestyle, sip-able soup form! It's an excellent thing to prepare to warm up with after a long chilly day and it pairs beautifully with salad or bread.

For a meatball vegetable soup it can be modified to reduce the carbs and replace the pasta with more vegetables. There are also options to replace the ground beef with ground turkey or ground chicken, or use other various types of pasta (all these ideas addressed in the variations and questions below).

Just keep in mind if you plan on having extra servings you may want to consider cooking the pasta separately if you are like me and hate soggy pasta (just reduce the broth by 1 cup if doing so).

Happy fall and welcome to sweater weather and soup season!

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It's delicious filling for sandwiches or doubles as a topping over potatoes, rice or pasta.

Homestyle Sausage with Peppers and Onions

Sausage and peppers is a simple Italian style dish that's packed with bright fresh ingredients an abundance of comforting, satisfying flavor. It's an enjoyable lunch or dinner entree that is easy to make and it's fun to serve a variety of ways.

It begins with rich sausages that are beautifully browned, then they simmer briefly nestled with the sautéed peppers and onions, while the sauce simmers down and lightly thickens for a nice base. To finish the sausages are sliced into bite size coins and it's all coated with a fair sprinkle of parmesan, because why not? It adds that last touch of perfectly enhancing flavor.

There's so much crave-able goodness in every bite. Truly you'll want to use bakery fresh hoagies only (no stale hoagies buns from the shelf) for something this delicious!

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