Mary Younkin - The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook: Simple Family-Friendly Recipes for Everyday Home Cooking

For my boys:

Sean, Sam, Ben and Nate

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The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook is filled with recipes for tasty main dishes, flavorful side dishes and a sprinkling of sweet treats. The recipes in this book are made from scratch and categorized by the amount of time and effort required to make each dish. Cooking from scratch as simply as possible? Yes, please!

Looking for dinner in 15 minutes? Try and dinner will be ready when you are. Whatever your occasion, there is a recipe here to help you get a great-tasting meal on the table.

Youll find notes with each recipe providing side dish ideas for each main dish. Want a delicious dinner, ready to eat in about an hour, but you only have about a few minutes time to prep it? Try to serve for dessert.

Cooking from scratch doesnt need to be intimidating, and it doesnt take a culinary degree to put great food on the table for your family. When I married my husband, I loved to bake, but there were only about three dinner recipes that I could cook. We ate so much spaghetti; it became a running joke in my family that it was the only thing I ever served. Despite the fact that I had little experience cooking, I loved to eat good food. And that love of eating pushed me to learn to cook and experiment in the kitchen.

As I grew more comfortable in the kitchen, I found foods that we loved and eventually had over a dozen three-ring binders filled with our favorite recipes. These were dishes that guests would request the recipes for each time they visited. I started my blog, Barefeet in the Kitchen, to share those tried-and-true favorite recipes with my family and friends. After I had shared most of our favorites, I continued cooking and sharing recipes, whether they were new or old, original creations or favorites sent to me from family, friends and blog readers.

When I began sharing recipes, I had no idea how blogging would grow to be such a huge part of my life. There are now over 1,200 recipes in the Web site archives, from breakfasts to desserts and everything in between. With so many recipes on the blog, The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook is designed to be a simple, easy-to-use collection of brand-new recipes along with a handful of our all-time favoritesmeals that anyone can make, whether you have an hour to spend in the kitchen or just a few minutes. Ive grown to love cooking, and my favorite emails to receive are the ones from people making my recipes and discovering happiness by making great food in their own kitchens.

Sharing my love of food and cooking for others are two of my favorite things. My hope is that this book brings you more joy in the kitchen and many happy meals shared with family and friends.

Each recipe here will walk you through preparation to completion and provide ideas for simple sides, helping you put great-tasting meals on your table in less than 25 minutes.

Have less than 15 minutes? You can make are my boys favorite answer to What do you want for dinner? and theyd eat them every day if they could.

Cooking a truly delicious homemade meal and making it from scratch on even the busiest nights is incredibly satisfying. With a little planning and a few minutes work, you can have a healthy, delicious meal on the table.

Yield: 4 servings

Bite-size pieces of chicken are quickly cooked in a hot skillet and then coated in a tangy, sweet and spicy glaze. Serve this chicken with rice, . This is one of the tastiest (and fastest) main dishes I make. My kids eat crazy amounts of this chicken and ask for it frequently.

This recipe is lightning fast to cook; however, cutting the chicken into -inch (1.3-cm) pieces does require a few extra minutes. After making this recipe countless times, I can slice the chicken and have it cooked in 15 to 20 minutes without any rushing. Allow yourself a few extra minutes initially; after you are accustomed to slicing the chicken very small, youll find that it goes more quickly.

5 small boneless skinless chicken thighs, approximately 1 lb (680 g)

1 tbsp (15 ml) light-flavored olive oil, divided

2 tsp (5 g) cornstarch or arrowroot

tsp kosher salt

tsp smoked paprika

tsp New Mexico chile powder or plain chile powder

tsp cumin

tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder

tsp cayenne pepper

cup (60 ml) honey

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced

1 tsp (5 ml) adobo sauce

1 tbsp (15 ml) plain white vinegar

3 green onions, very thinly sliced, for topping

Cut the chicken into -inch (1.3-cm) pieces and place in a medium-size bowl. Drizzle with tablespoon (7.5 ml) of the oil and sprinkle with the cornstarch, salt, paprika, chile powder, cumin, garlic and cayenne. Stir or toss with your hands to coat. In a small glass measuring cup or bowl, stir together the honey, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce and vinegar.

Heat a large nonstick skillet or pan over medium-high heat. Set a plate next to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon (7.5 ml) oil to the pan. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken and toss with tongs or stir with a spatula to coat. Continue stirring and tossing the chicken until it is no longer pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Slide the chicken onto the waiting plate and add the honey chipotle sauce to the hot skillet.

Let the sauce simmer and reduce for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. When a spatula dragged through the sauce leaves a trail, add the chicken back into the skillet. Toss with the sauce and simmer for 1 minute longer. Serve immediately, sprinkled with the green onions, or transfer back to the plate to avoid overcooking in the hot pan.

Cooks Notes: Chicken breast can be substituted for the chicken thighs. Be extra careful not to overcook the chicken breast pieces, as white meat will be less forgiving than dark meat. When the chicken has finished cooking and has been tossed with the sauce, serve immediately or remove from the hot pan. The small bites of chicken will continue to cook if left in the hot pan.