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Easy Supermarket Dinners

October 04, 2017
Photo: Grant Cornett
We took prepared supermarket foods and cleverly transformed them into fast, satisfying meals. With the help of prechopped vegetables, cans of beans, rotisserie chicken, and other shortcut ingredients, we slash cooking time for quicker weeknight dinners.
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Hyperspeed Your Suppers

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Spinach-Artichoke Pasta with Vegetables

Make the leap from the usual to the ingenious by taking prepared supermarket foods and creating something amazing.

Our first hyperspeed dinner is Spinach-Artichoke Pasta with Vegetables. An appetizer favorite becomes a silky, creamy sauce for this quick weeknight pasta dinner full of cheesy, veggie, nutty goodness.

Shortcut Ingredients: frozen spinach-and-artichoke cheese dip, precut asparagus, precut yellow bell pepper

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Cauliflower Korma

Photo: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: Cauliflower Korma

Korma is a creamy, mild curry and a great way to introduce complex and fragrant spices to your cooking to make meatless mains more satisfying. Blend some of the hot cooking liquid with the yogurt first so it won't separate in the finished dish. Look for prechopped onion and cauliflower florets in the prepared produce section. Frozen peas and precooked brown rice are ready in minutes; keep these staples stocked.

Shortcut Ingredients: prechopped onion and cauiflower, frozen peas, precooked brown rice

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15-Minute Chicken Shawarma Bowls

Photo: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: 15-Minute Chicken Shawarma Bowls

This Middle Eastern-inspired bowl is all about big flavor with minimal effort. A garlicky, tahini-spiked yogurt brings all the elements together and takes just minutes to make. Assemble a few bowls at the beginnings of the week for easy make-ahead lunches.

Shortcut Ingredients: rotisserie chicken, canned chickpeas, precooked farro

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Easy Ravioli Lasagna

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Easy Ravioli Lasagna

With ricotta cheese and spinach already tucked inside each ravioli, this is a shortcut way to a well-rounded lasagna. Classic meat sauce makes it über family-friendly.

Shortcut Ingredients: lower-sodium marinara sauce, bag frozen whole-wheat spinach and cheese ravioli

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Chicken and Pierogi Dumplings

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Chicken and Pierogi Dumplings

The browned veggies lend color and flavor to the sauce; be sure to keep them moving in the pan so they don't get too brown.

Shortcut Ingredient: frozen potato and cheddar mini pierogies

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Hummus-and-Rice Fritters with Mediterranean Salad

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Hummus-and-Rice Fritters with Mediterranean Salad

When using flour as a binder for things that are not baked, such as these pan-seared fritters, the finer grade of cake flour yields a creamier texture in the cooked product. If you don't have it, don't sweat it: You can just use all-purpose.

Shortcut Ingredients: precooked packaged brown rice, prepared traditional hummus

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Fish Stick Tacos

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Fish Stick Tacos

To get an extra-crispy crust on the fish, we bake the sticks at a higher temperature than called for on the box.

Shortcut Ingredient: chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce, packaged cabbage-and-carrot coleslaw, sustainable frozen fish sticks

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Herbed Parmesan Potato Soup

Photo: Grant Cornett
View Recipe: Herbed Parmesan Potato Soup

Prepared mashed potatoes tend to come packed with a lot of sodium—too much for a side dish. Here we stretch them out into an entrée-sized soup that's creamy, cheesy, and brightened with fresh herbs.

Shortcut Ingredients: prepared traditional mashed potatoes

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