Melissa d'Arabian: Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

This sweet/savory chicken dish was really easy, although it did dirty a saute pan, a ceramic dish for the oven and a cutting board. However, the dishes were totally worth it, because this was delicious and turned out exactly as promised - a sweet, sticky and citrus-y glaze over really moist chicken. My husband kept stopping while he was eating to tell me how good it was, if that tells you anything. I believe we'll be having it again in very short order.

I served it with roasted broccoli (toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and stick under the broiler for 10 minutes) and brown rice cooked in our handy-dandy new rice cooker.

Giada De Laurentiis: Stracoto w/ Porcini Mushrooms

Otherwise known as fancy Italian pot roast, this recipe is amazing. It takes a long time to cook, but it's very hands off. This is a great recipe if you've got people coming over for dinner and you don't have a lot of time during the day to get something going.

I always add some carrots and potatoes for the last hour of cooking time in the oven, and then it becomes a true one-pot meal (other than the blender, which is totally an optional step, although the sauce it makes is pretty amazing).

Barefoot Contessa: Turkey Meatloaf

I tried for years to figure out a way to make turkey meatloaf that wasn't too dry, didn't have that creepy "cakey" texture and didn't require you to use dark meat turkey to give it some flavor. I should have just gone directly to Ina Garten.

This turkey meatloaf recipe is perfect. I have made it four or five times, and it has been consistently great. Moist but not loose, substantial but not dense - perfect.

It's not the most elegant-looking meal, but it's a crowd pleaser for sure. The only suggestion I would make is to use Manwich sauce instead of ketchup on top to up the flavor-factor, but that's a very minor quibble.

Cooking Light: Spicy Beef and Barley Soup

If you're looking for an easy, healthy and YUMMY weeknight recipe, I highly recommend this spicy beef barley soup, conveniently made in a crock pot. It takes just a few minutes to throw all the ingredients together in the morning, and when you get home, your house smells great, and after you heat up a little crusty bread to go with this (you'll want it to soak up the broth), you've got a hearty, healthy dinner.

I actually don't have any commentary on how to improve this recipe, because it's great as-is. I cut this out of a Cooking Light in 2007, and we still pull it out and make it fairly regularly. That's when you know a recipe is great :)

***I posted this awhile back, and recently I tried it without doing any of the browning/sauteeing that is in the directions. I just threw everything raw in the crock pot together. Guess what? The recipe was every bit as good! Woo hoo! Makes an easy recipe even easier.