Stay-at-home recipes mean – you guessed it – staying at home. It may be hard to put the phone down and not spend another night eating delicious takeout, but there’s only so much pizza you can eat before delivery fees threaten your budget. Don’t worry, cooking for yourself might seem intimidating, but these easy recipes are here to help. You can whip one of these up in a snap and then pat yourself on the back for being a domestic goddess.
Learning how to bake bread is about more than just tradition, it’s about convenience. A bread maker is sure to come in handy during times like these where grocery stores sell out of essentials quick. But, assuming you do not have one, you can make bread in your oven just as easily. You’ll need active dry yeast, warm water, sugar, salt, canola oil, and bread flour. These combine to create a soft dough you can knead with your hands until smooth, and then let it rise for about one hour. After that, toss that bad boy into the oven at 375° for half an hour. This recipe is worth it just for the mouthwatering scent that fills your home.
This makes a perfect side dish for any and all stay-at-home recipes. Butter, parmesan cheese, and potatoes are all this recipe calls for. You can add seasonings and herbs of your preference, but even by themselves, these potatoes are delish. Simply chop up about eight potatoes, pour melted butter and parmesan cheese into a baking pan, and then layer the potatoes on top. They will bake into the cheese and butter until they are nothing but a juicy, simmering mess of savory deliciousness. Leave the potato skins on for extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
These are a special treat you can dote upon. Cook a pound of ground beef in a skillet and then add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce for the perfect cheeseburger sauce. This is literally the hardest part of this recipe. After this step, it couldn’t be any easier. While the meat is cooking, you can squeeze refrigerated biscuits into a muffin tin. When it is done, ladle the ground beef into each biscuit and top it with cheese. For recipes like this, Velveeta cubes will work perfectly. Bake them at 400° for about fifteen minutes. You can add diced onion to the hamburger meat and chives for extra flavor.
One of the quickest, healthiest stay-at-home recipes you’ll find is this meal, which uses rice noodles, chicken breasts, unsalted cashews, and a mixture of oils from Asian cuisine that make for a delicious dinner. If you’re a fan of Asian recipes like me, you’ll probably already have half-empty bottles of peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sweet chili sauce on hand. While the noodles are cooking, combine the sauces. When everything is done toss them into a skillet. This is where you add your cashews and optional garnish, like toasted sesame seeds or an egg.
Shepherd’s Pie is one of those comfort food, stay-at-home recipes that is sure to warm you up from the inside, while also being simple to throw together. You can make the mashed potatoes yourself or use a refrigerated tub of the premade kind. Cook ground beef and onion in a skillet until the meat is cooked through, and then add your veggies of choice, like corn and peas. Ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, cornstarch, bouillon, and sour cream make an excellent base for this filling. You can add water if it is too thick. Once the filling is cooked, spread your mashed potatoes on top and garnish with a handful of cheese (or a bagful – I won’t judge you).
Here is a quick and easy way to make lasagna without the extra time spent meticulously layering everything. On a busy night, stay-at-home recipes like this are a godsend. In a skillet, brown beef with seasoning, garlic, and onion, and then add your spaghetti sauce and cook until it simmers. Pour cooked spiral noodles (or any other preferred noodle) into the sauce. After letting them cook together, dump the entire thing into a casserole dish, and blanket it with cottage and mozzarella cheese. Bake for twenty-five minutes or until the cheese is bubbling. Bon appétit!
This is just like a traditional meatloaf recipe except the smaller loaves cook quicker than one large one. Take ground beef, eggs, tomato juice, and oats, and combine them into a bowl for your meat mixture. Add onions and salt to taste, or whatever secret ingredients your momma would use to make a fantastic meal. They will be coated in tangy ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and nutmeg sauce. The key is to shape the mixture into six “miniature” loaves. Dinner will be done in a blink – just enough time to cut up some potatoes!
Stay-at-home recipes aren’t complete without some form of chicken pot pie. This is a genius take on it. Pie crust is swapped for a skillet and refrigerated biscuits layered on top, almost like dumplings. You can shred a rotisserie chicken or cook chicken and shred it yourself (whatever works, right?). Start off by browning onions in a buttered-up skillet. Then mix flour, broth, milk, and pepper in a separate bowl for the gravy (you can also use a packet of gravy just as well). Cook the gravy mixture until thick and smooth. Add the chicken, mixed vegetables and raw biscuits, and then toss the whole skillet in the oven for twenty minutes. You’ll be happy you did.
This is the easiest thing since sliced bread. Jambalaya Mix, smoked sausage, shrimp, green onions, cheddar cheese, and Pico de Gallo combine to make a scrumptious feast that can be made entirely in one pot. Spicy sausage plays well with the Pico de Gallo here. For an extra kick, trade cheddar cheese for pepper jack. If you are more of a mild than hot type, a dollop of sour cream goes a long way in bringing down the temperature. Don’t worry about cooking the shrimp beforehand – it will be added to the pot along with the sausage during the last five minutes of cooking.
By the time you have finished eating this masterpiece, you won’t bother using the sauce in pasta ever again (maybe). This recipe uses angel hair pasta, fresh spinach, sausage, two cans of chicken broth, flour, and heavy cream. It is a simple broth but packed with flavor. The result is a creamy, hearty pasta that takes just as much time as spaghetti but is loaded with much more goodness.
Your favorite college food staple enjoys a renaissance here with shrimp, carrots, green onions, and soy sauce. Simple, quick, and cost-effective. The best part is it only takes about ten minutes to throw a whole dinner together. Take the recipe a step further by garnishing it with an egg.
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