7 Dinner Recipes to Cook This Week 24.11.23

Once a month we like to help you take the hassle out of meal planning and suggest ideas for your weeknight dinners. With the main meal of the day taken care of, planning easy breakfasts and leftovers for lunch is a total breeze!

If you find you often rely on the same few recipes that you know and love, our 7 dinner recipes to cook this week will inspire you to try a few new dishes. We’ve put together a menu of varied dinners that’ll have you looking forward to your evening meal all day!

Grab a pen and paper (or your Pinch of Nom Family Meal Planner) and add them straight into next week’s meal plan. 

This post contains affiliate links. Find out what this means.

Midweek meals that are ready in a flash

Don’t forget that our newest cookbook Pinch of Nom: Express is out on December 7th! It’s jam-packed with 100 recipes that help you make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen. 

Split into Quick Prep and Quick Cook sections, you’ll always be able to find a recipe that fits into your busiest days. You can find out more about Express and pre-order your copy here. 

 

Meat-free Monday

A Monday night is the perfect time to take a break from meat and fill yourself full of veggie goodness. As well as saving money on your weekly shopping bill, eating a couple of meat-free recipes each week is good for the environment, and good for you too!

With these Cajun-Style Bean Burgers stacked up on your plate, you won’t spare a second thought for meaty quarter pounders. Made from thrifty mixed beans, onion, sweetcorn and carrot, the veggie patties have a kick of fiery Cajun seasoning (and you can add as much or as little as suits you). 

Topped with a punchy salsa of creamy avocado and juicy tomatoes, every bite of burger is a party for your taste buds – just what you need after a long, grey November Monday!

Quick & Easy Tuesday

Full of protein and healthy fats, adding a serving of salmon into your weekly dinner rotation is always a good idea. When you don’t have much time to cook on a busy Tuesday afternoon, this Blackened Salmon and Zingy Salad is just the thing. 

On the table in 20 minutes, it’s every bit as fresh and zesty as the name suggests. The ‘blackened’ part of the recipe comes from the spice coating that gets added to the fish, and then charred until it forms a crispy crust. 

You might not think of serving salad on a chilly evening, but this one has plenty of veggies, feta cheese and red chillies in the mix, along with a zingy lime juice dressing – exactly what you need to keep the winter cold at bay!

One-pot Wednesday

On Wednesdays we say ‘no thanks!’ to piles of washing-up. Turning to a reliable one-pot wonder will guarantee fuss-free preparation, and cut down on pots and pans to clean after dinner. 

With Mediterranean-style flavours and a 5-minute prep time, midweek meals don’t come much better than our Chicken and Vegetable Traybake. It really is as effortless as banging everything onto a baking tray, and letting the oven work its magic. 

You can always add in extra vegetables that need using up, if you want to bulk the dish out even more. It goes well with potatoes, pasta, rice and couscous, so it’s easy to switch it up from week to week, or serve leftovers in different ways. 

You can freeze leftover portions of this recipe, as long as you have suitable freezer-proof containers and remember to add a label with the date that you froze the food (we’d recommend freezing before you add the feta cheese). 

Slow Cooker Thursday

Brrr…it’s getting cold out there, but this Slow Cooker Lamb and Lentil Stew will warm you right up! No matter what your day holds in store, you can set this to simmer low and slow, so you return to the best (and tastiest) welcome home you can imagine. 

A little bit of lamb goes a long way in this recipe, with protein-packed lentils and healthy veggies making sure every portion is balanced and filling. At 380 calories per serving, this wintery warmer is on repeat at our house – it’s the dream dinner on a wet and windy Thursday night. 

Psst…you can also make this recipe in an Instant Pot or in the oven. If you don’t already have one, an Instant Pot is a busy cook’s best friend. They often have multiple settings, and they can cook your meals in a fraction of the time. 

Fakeaway Friday

How about something new for Fakeaway Friday? We added this easy-peasy Prawn and Spinach Curry to our website at the end of October, and you lot have been loving it! There’s no long list of fancy ingredients for this one – you can build up bags of flavour, with just a few simple bits and bobs. 

The fragrant, coconutty sauce comes together in no time at all, and the prawns cook in minutes (we’re not kidding when we call this a curry in a hurry!). At just 146 calories per portion, you can add a generous spoonful of fluffy rice or any of your favourite Indian-inspired side dishes. 

Weekly Indulgence Saturday

Push the boat out for the weekend and splurge a few extra calories on a really special dinner. Our Chicken Milanese with Spaghetti Pomodoro might sound fancy, but there’s nothing complicated to worry about once you’re in the kitchen. 

A lighter version of an impressive Italian-style recipe, this dish pairs crispy, breaded chicken with spaghetti in a garlicky tomato sauce. Without using all the olive oil you’d find in the traditional recipe, we’ve cut the calories down to 473 per serving – perfect for a once-a-week treat. 

We might be biassed, but we reckon our slimming-friendly take gives the restaurant version a run for its money! 

Sunday Dinner

Instead of the usual roast, impress your friends and family with our (easier than you might think!) Beef Wellington next Sunday. To keep the cost and the calories down, we’ve made ours with lean medallion steaks, wrapped in ready-rolled shortcrust pastry. 

Served with some steamed veggies and a dollop of Curried Cauliflower Cheese, you’ll have a meal that’s dinner party-worthy and on the table in under an hour. 

Once you’ve realised how easy this Beef Wellington is, you’ll want to make it for almost every special occasion! Trust us, it works a treat as part of your festive spread at Christmas too…

What dinner recipes are you planning for next week?

We’d love a sneak peek at your meal plan! If you’re interested in more recipes you can plan your week around, you’ll find another 7 dinner ideas on this list. 

Pop on over to our Facebook group to let us know what’s going in your plan. If you’re not already a member, it’s so quick and easy to join. The group is the place to be for sharing photos, recipe tips, ideas and inspiration for your slimming journey.

You can always stop by our PON Gallery for recipe inspiration too; there’s no shortage of hints, tips, quotes and photos shared by our incredible community.

And, if you liked this article, you’ll love exploring our blog. Browse for recipe ideas, kitchen equipment recommendations, money-saving tips and LOADS more.