These Chicken Kabobs are the perfect summer night dinner. The homemade BBQ sauce is full of bright flavors like mango, jalapeno, and tomato, balanced with the deep smoky flavor of chili powder and smoked paprika. All those flavors pair perfectly with the warm charcoal grilled chicken.
It's summer. It's 90 degrees. The kids have been in the pool for hours, and the last thing you want to do is head home and spend an hour in the kitchen. I've been there-and I know I'm not the only one. On those hot, exhausting days when everyone's hungry and no one has the energy to cook, that's exactly when you need this Easy Meatball Sub recipe.
This isn't a fancy, from-scratch dinner. It's a real-life solution that's quick and satisfying. I'm giving you full permission to use frozen meatballs and jarred marinara (perfect excuse to grab that half-empty jar from the fridge) to make a delicious dinner without the fuss. Add a few spices, melt the cheese, and pile it all onto buns. These Meatball Subs are flexible, foolproof, and 100% approved by tired parents and hungry kids everywhere.
[feast_advanced_jump_to]So, again, super flexible with the meatballs in this “recipe”. It just calls for store-bought frozen meatballs, just like this Instant Pot Spaghetti with Frozen Meatballs. You can use turkey, chicken, sausage, or beef meatballs. Whatever your family likes!
If you are a fan of Costco like we are, then you should definitely check out these Italian Beef Meatballs. They are our favorite:
These are the meatballs that I choose to use in my Easy Meatball Subs. They are seasoned to perfection and have an almost grilled flavor in the background.
But if you really want to make your own meatballs, these are delicious, easy and quick recipes for Instant Pot Italian Meatballs and Instant Pot Turkey Meatballs. Or you can check out these Baked Italian Meatballs or Chicken Meatballs.
As you have read previously, this recipe is super flexible! There are lots of ways you can customize Easy Meatball Subs to suit your family:
This is a great casual dinner that comes together quickly. So plan on side dishes that also come together quickly with very little effort. Some of my favorites are frozen green beans popped in the oven with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper, a big store-bought caesar salad, or pan sauteed zucchini with garlic and parmesan.
If you need it to be really easy, open a bag of kettle chips and grab some baby carrots out of the fridge. #reallife
If you like this recipe, here are some other easy dinner recipes on Mom’s Dinner:
If you made this recipe let me know how it turned out! Comment below, drop me a line, rate the recipe, or share it on social media. The buttons at the top of the page make it super easy to share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.
I hope you give this “recipe” for Easy Meatball Subs a try in your kitchen.
Love- Susie
Summer…sweet, sweet summer! I love the long days at the pool, bronzed sun kissed skin, warm nights, dinner on the grill, lazy schedules, and lots of time with friends.
I’m looking forward to a fun-filled summer!
Here are a few moments of gratitude from the past week:
I have written in other gratitude posts about how lucky and fortunate I feel to have found an amazing group of friends in my community. Most of which are other Moms in my daughters grade. One of those friends is an amazing woman who can bring together a community and plan an event like you have never seen before.
[Read more…]This Pineapple Side Dish is SO good with ANY Mexican or BBQ dinner! Fresh cut pineapple is marinated in a sweet citrus cilantro marinade. The flavors combine perfectly, making a fresh and bright side dish!
This is a pretty simple recipe. You only need 5 ingredients.
Here are 4 pro tips to help you pick the sweetest, ripest pineapple at the store:
If you have fresh pineapple leftover you can pop it in the freezer and make these amazing Frozen Pineapple Margaritas!
Start by cutting your fresh pineapple, you can also watch the video in the recipe card:
Now make the glaze by whisking together the honey, orange juice, lime zest and juice, and finely chopped cilantro.
Place the pineapple in a large bowl and pour the glaze over top. Toss it all together.
Place in the fridge to marinate for at least 6 hours, up to 24 hours. I recommend you stir it once or twice through the marinating process.
Throw together an amazing Mexican Dinner with these dishes and a side of Fresh Cilantro Pineapple!
Barbecue Chicken in Parchment with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers is a fast and easy dinner full of nutrition and flavor! It is ready in just over 30 minutes with very little prep.
When you cook chicken in a parchment paper packet it comes out tender and juicy. The sweet potatoes cook to perfection, the onions and peppers soften just the right amount, and the barbecue sauce melts over the chicken into a delicious vinegary, sweet & spicy sauce.
RELATED: BBQ Grilled Pork Tenderloin
You will need 2 sheet pans to make 4 packets (4 chicken breasts).
Cut 4 pieces of parchment, about 15 x 20 each. Fold them in half so it is now 15 x 10.
Lay your folded pieces of parchment paper on the sheet pans. Overlap 4 to 5 slices of sweet potato on each paper. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Top the potatoes with the fresh chicken breast. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried basil (optional red pepper flakes).
Measure out about ยผ cup of your favorite BBQ sauce for each packet. Pour that over the chicken breast.
Now, lay the sliced onions and peppers on top.
Time to close up the packet!
Fold the top half of the parchment over the sweet potato & chicken stack. Then, starting in one corner make a small fold, then continue to make small folds all the way around the packet until you have made it all the way around and it is enclosed. See the step by step photos below:
Tuck the last fold into the one above it to secure it closed.
Pop the sheet pans in the oven for 25 minutes.
Be careful when you cut the packets open to serve. The steam that escapes is HOT!
An all-in-one dinner recipe for the win!! There is nothing better than a delicious dinner that you can wrap up in one package, cook on one pan, and have ready in just over 30 minutes!
Since this dinner contains your protein, starch and veggie I usually do not make any additional side dishes. However, when summer corn is ripe & sweet I will make a few ears to have with this dinner.
A big green crisp lettuce salad would be a great side dish too. Or if you are in the mood for a little comfort food, the Skillet Mac & Cheese would be amazing!
Now, when we have this for dinner I have two picky kids that are not interested in eating sweet potatoes or onions. But, they will eat plain, cut up chicken dipped in ketchup or mustard… yuck!
So, for the kids, I simply cook a plain chicken breast alongside the Barbecue Chicken in Parchment. This way everyone is happy!
If you liked this recipe, here are some other chicken recipes to check out from Mom’s Dinner:
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I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
Does anyone else feel like May is busier than December!? It seems like in December we create our own chaos by trying to find the best gift and make it the most magical Christmas yet! But in May it feels like all the chaos comes from outside sources: end of year parties, graduations, weddings, camp sign ups, spring planting, summer planning, vacation planning, birthday parties…. it goes on and on!
I am ready for lazy summer days. But I’m not sure this summer is going to be “lazy”!
No Churn Mango Ice Cream only requires 4 ingredients, comes together in minutes, and there’sย no special ice cream making equipment required!ย These are all things I can get behind in a dessert recipe.
This Mango Ice Cream comes out smooth and creamy, with chunks of deliciously sweet mangos, and an ice cream base that has perfectly balanced flavors of vanilla and mango.
Another no churn ice cream recipe we love is this Key Lime Cookies and Cream Ice Cream recipe!!! Or, if you happen to have clean fresh snow pop over to this Snow Ice Cream recipe!
No Churn means that you do not have to have special ice cream making equipment to make this ice cream.
Traditional ice cream recipes require you to have an ice cream maker to churn the ice cream before it goes in the freezer. A lot of recipes also call for you to make an egg custard before you freeze the mixture, but not with no-churn ice cream.
Here are the 4 easy ingredients you need to get this recipe started:
I always love a recipe that has a simple ingredient list. Especially if all those ingredients are right in my normal grocery store. I do not have time to be hunting down special ingredients like Madagascar vanilla, people!
Y’all I can’t even! Canned Diced Mangos are a REAL thing. You do not need to peel, slice and dice a mango (which is really hard if you have never done it before!).
You would need to prep about 4 ripe mangos to equal the amount that is in the can.
This Mango Ice Cream recipe comes together SO quickly. The only hard part is waiting for it to freeze!
Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer with a whisk attachment, whip cold heavy whipping cream on medium high speed until you reach firm peaks, that should be about 3-4 minutes.
Pro Tip: Firm peaks is when you pull the whisk out of the whipped cream and it forms a peak with a sharp tip, and holds its shape.
Turn the mixer to medium low speed and mix in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until it is well incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Drain the liquid (reserving the liquid) from the Del Monte Canned Diced Mangos.
With the mixer on medium low speed add ยฝ cup of the reserved mango juice to the cream mixture.
Now, by hand, fold in all the diced mangos until they are incorporated evenly thru the cream. You can also reserve a few pieces of mango to decorate the top of the ice cream. See the picture below:
Scrape the Mango Ice Cream mixture into a freezer safe pan. I like to use my metal loaf pan. It freezes well and holds just about all the ice cream mixture. I think I had about โ cup left in the bowl. You know I couldn’t resist and ate the leftover with a spoon! It is DELICIOUS pre-frozen too!
Cover the container of Mango Ice Cream with some plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 6+ hours.
Pro Tip: Put a rubber band around the edge of the pan to keep the plastic wrap in place.
Here are some great topping options for this Mango Ice Cream:
If your kids are anything like mine then they love helping in the kitchen! Especially if we are making a dessert. Here are some jobs the kids can do to help make this ice cream:
I had to take a minute from my gratitude post last week. It was a super busy week…. Anyone else find the month of May to be one of the busiest of the year? Sometimes I feel like it is busier than December!
I also needed to recalibrate my mind towards feeling grateful for the little things. I have gotten so busy with my part time job, my web site, and life in general that I am not allowing myself time to slow down and smell the roses once in a while. I need to remember to build that time into my day. At 5:00 it is ok to close the computer, put my phone down, sit for 10 minutes and then spend some time with my family.
Here are some moments from the past two weeks that I did find gratitude in: [Read more…]
“Restaurant Style” Salsa is a quick and easy salsa recipe to make right at home! It has the perfect mix of restaurant salsa flavors like tomatoes, fresh cilantro, white onion, garlic, fresh lime juice, salt and a pinch of sugar. It comes together right in your blender or food processor in about 5 minutes!
If it is a party then add some guacamole, queso, and margaritas, or a pitcher of margaritas!
Now, if you want more of a chunky style fresh salsa then check out this Pico de Gallo recipe! Or for a verde salsa pop over to this Fresh Tomatillo Salsa recipe or grilled tomatillo salsa.
If you love to watch cooking shows you can also watch Susie make this Restaurant Style Salsa Recipe in a 30 minute Pin TV Episode!
Add the cilantro, lime juice, onion, chopped garlic, black pepper, sugar, salt, and a ยฝ cup of the tomatoes to a powerful blender or food processor. Pulse until there are no big chunks of onion or garlic remaining, about 20-30 pulses.
You may need to scrape the bowl or blender sides down to make sure all the pieces get processed.
Now add the remaining tomatoes to the mixture. If you are using a food processor, pulse the mixture 4-6 times, so that some small chunks still remain in the salsa. If you are using a blender just do a very quick blend, about 4 seconds, so you retain some of the tomato texture.
Serve the salsa right away or store it in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.
The salsa does get better with time, like a lot of tomato recipes do (ie. chili). If you have time to make it ahead and let it sit in the fridge overnight, do. If not, do not worry, it will still be delish!
If you like your salsa super spicy add a little chipotle in adobo, fresh jalapeno, or cayenne pepper to the first blending.
If you want it CRAZY HOT add all 3! Note that the chipotle in adobo will also add a very smoky flavor.
Having Mexican food for dinner is one of our favorites at Mom’s Dinner! Here are a couple of my recipes that are on heavy rotation here:
Restaurant style salsa is usually referring to a type of salsa that would be served in a Mexican Restaurant. They usually have a fresher flavor that the store-bought salsas. Including flavors like fresh cilantro, fresh onion, and lime. It will have a low to medium chunky texture. Generally restaurant style salsas are made with good quality canned tomatoes.
Salsa is definitely a raw food. There is no need to cook any of the ingredients, unless you want a “roasted style salsa”, then you will charr the veggies before blending.
If you decide to use fresh tomatoes for your salsa they can turn pink instead of red when they are blended, they may also foam around the edges. That is why I actually recommend that you use good quality canned tomatoes for your salsa! Leave the fresh tomatoes for making Pico de Gallo.
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I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream…..especially if it is Cookies and Cream Key Lime Ice Cream! It is the perfect dessert for adults and kids alike!
This is a super delicious dessert. It is full of refreshing citrus lime mixed with sweet cream, a touch of sugar and chunks of crushed vanilla cream cookies. A perfect summer twist on traditional cookies and cream ice cream.
Best part is that you do NOT need ice cream churning equipment to get the job done. Yet you still get the creamy sweet goodness of traditional ice cream. All you need is a stand mixer or hand held mixer with a whisk attachment, and a freezer.
This is a great dessert to serve after a delicious Mexican Dinner! Pairs perfectly with margaritas, chips and salsa and enchiladas!
Now I KNOW that I used the words “key lime” in the title of this dessert, yet it doesn’t call for key limes specifically. It is really just to convey the flavor of traditional key lime pie.
Key limes are not something I am interested in chasing down. Especially when this dessert is just as delish with regular old limes.
However, if you are able to find Key Limes, by all means use them. But don’t beat yourself up if you have to use a standard lime! It’s what I use and everyone loves itโฅย
Whisk the heavy whipping cream with a stand mixer or hand held mixer with the whisk attachment, on medium high speed, until you have stiff peaks.
Stiff peaks is when you pull the beater out of the cream and the mound that pulls out holds its shape and has a sharp tip.
Lower the blender speed to medium low and sprinkle in the powdered sugar, drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk, pour in the lime juice, and the lime zest. Once it is all incorporated stop whisking.
In a large plastic baggie, crush the cookies until you have smaller bite size pieces. Do not crush it to dust, you will want some cookie chunks in your ice cream. A rolling pin, smooth meat mallet, or small frying panย will all work great to pound the cookies into pieces.
With a spatula fold the cookies into the cream mixture.
Pour the mixture into a glass or metal loaf pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer.
Freeze for 6+ hours.
Done!
Here are six options for topping your Key Lime Ice Cream:
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Instant Pot Burrito Bowls are perfuming my kitchen, like a savory potpourri. I wish I could scoop you all up and put you in my kitchen right now.
I just popped the vent open on my Instant Pot and my whole kitchen smells like heaven with scents of steak, chili powder, cumin, onion, and sweet carrot. What a delicious blend!
If you love Mexican food, burrito bowls, and your Instant Pot like I do, then this recipe for Instant Pot Burrito Bowls is the perfect recipe for your dinner this week.
These burrito bowls are full of fork tender steak, seasoned with flavors of cumin, chili powder, garlic and onions, mixed with a sweet, salty, & spicy blender sauce. Served with corn and black beans, over a bed of rice flavored with chili powder, tomatoes and green chilies.
Squeeze a few wedges of lime over top and scoop in a generous portion of spicy pickled jalapenos and you have a drool worthy dinner!
[Read more…]Happy Friday everyone! It is a beautiful day here is KC. The sky is blue and the sun is shining. Both the kids are at school and I am on the back porch with my computer, a cup of coffee and a great podcast playing in the background. All things to be grateful for, for sure. What a great day!
Here are a few more moments of gratitude from this past week: [Read more…]
