Dairy

I really love grilled chicken salad as a go-to, no-brainer supper solution, but the Chicken Caesar is so over for me—I need a few years off! So here’s another fresh chicken salad idea; eat your heart out, Caesar!

When I made my annual Christmas Pasta for the holiday this year we discovered that both my mom and I had shopped for the ingredients, so we had lots of leftover hot and sweet sausage and ground beef in the fridge. The next day, this recipe was born.

I recently ate at a wonderful little bistro in Montreal called Chez L’Epicier, or “house of the grocer.” The menus are written on what look like grocery sacks. Well, supper here was so good, I went out and got a sack of my own groceries to make a 30-Minute Meal knock-off of their gourmet lamb shank served with “raw spaghetti,” which turned out to be pasta with raw sauce. Hey, Montreal is a favorite getaway of mine, but I can make this meal any night I like and my market’s a lot closer!

I make this one when I watch GoodFellas. Shave the garlic nice and thin, like Paulie would, but don’t use a razor blade like he does in the movie. A sharp knife is fine.

Italian-style Sloppy Joes—get it? Hah! I kill me! Funny! Well, I thought so, anyway . . .

Chicken and applesauce . . . sounds like hospital food, huh? Well, if that were the only way to get this elegant, savory supper, I’d check myself in!

Talk about flexible, this chicken is a cheerleader. Yes, it’s equally good steaming hot or icebox cold. Eat this dish four seasons of the year, hot or not, indoors or out. It’s G-R-E-A-T . . . great!

The French are notorious for their stuffy and particular attitudes . . . especially when it comes to food, but they’ve got nothing on the Sicilians. It takes a Sicilian ’tude to think one could improve on a French classic, especially in 30 minutes. Well, this Sicilian says “Bring it on.”

You have to buy a quart of buttermilk in order to get the 2 cups you need for this recipe, but I’ve got your back on the extra 2 cups: transfer it to a large resealable food storage bag and freeze it. Don’t forget to label the bag—if you’re like me, you have enough mystery items in your freezer already! Use the buttermilk to make this recipe again, or check out the recipe for Bacon and Creamy Ranch Chicken Burgers with Crispy Scallion “Sticks” on page 236.

This is a gut bustingly delicious twist on steak and bakers.

Here’s a killer dinner that even a charging Pamplona bull would brake for. Olé!

If you have a mini meatball in your house (or you’re just a kid at heart) this one will feed you well, stomach and soul!

This one reminds me of the California surfer scene. It’s a way-cool mega-rito, dude!

This sammy is so hearty you won’t think to ask “where’s the beef?”

Do you have trouble making up your mind? How does this sound: grilled meat, salad, take-out Thai food, and pizza, all in one meal? There are no special ingredients required; you can get them all in the regular market and have this pizza on the table in less time than it would take the delivery man to get to your door.

I love sandwiches because they are one-stop shopping: meat, salad, and cheese, all stuffed into bread. Oooooh-la-la, this is one fancy French grinder. Vive la Hoagie.

French bread pizza from Stouffer’s was my favorite frozen food as a kid. Now that I’m all grown up I make my own, because I can overstuff them. (My appetite grew, too.)

When you’re watching the big game it’s important to have some smashmouth, tough-guy food like this.

When they’re made with 99 percent lean ground turkey breast, these burgers are a figure-friendly way to enjoy a sausage sandwich.

Though I haven’t lived on Cape Code since I was eight, this dish proves I’m not just a Red Sox fan but a true New England Patriot. With Chowda and Mac ’n’ Cheese in one dinner, you can get to Massachusetts in 30 minutes or less, even if you live in Michigan.