Looking for a good side to pair with this soup? Try my homemade breadsticks, buttery garlic bread, or arugula salad.

Homemade Mini Meatball Soup

This meatball soup is a comforting soup reminiscent of spaghetti and meatballs but in homestyle, sip-able soup form! It's an excellent thing to prepare to warm up with after a long chilly day and it pairs beautifully with salad or bread.

For a meatball vegetable soup it can be modified to reduce the carbs and replace the pasta with more vegetables. There are also options to replace the ground beef with ground turkey or ground chicken, or use other various types of pasta (all these ideas addressed in the variations and questions below).

Just keep in mind if you plan on having extra servings you may want to consider cooking the pasta separately if you are like me and hate soggy pasta (just reduce the broth by 1 cup if doing so).

Happy fall and welcome to sweater weather and soup season!

So Much to Love About Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Veggies

Welcome to your new go-to weeknight dinner staple recipe! This simple recipe is made with shelf stable gnocchi yet it doesn't even need to be cooked beforehand.

Everything is just tossed together with olive oil on one big baking sheet, then oven roasted and finished with parmesan. Dinner really doesn't get any easier than this!

It's such a fresh tasting, flavorful dinner highlighted with herby, garlicky, parmesan goodness. It's a very hands off meal with such a simple prep and you can have it ready in under 30 minutes. It's adaptable too and you can use up other vegetables you have on hand (ideas listed below).

Plus it's a dish everyone can agree on. There are just so many things to love about this gnocchi, zucchini and tomato sheet pan dinner!

Pair it with chicken, steak or salmon to round out the meal, or just keep it vegetarian and serve it with a side salad.

Wondering what to do with that hearty bread that's getting stale on the counter? One of the best options is to make this refreshing, summery, and brightly colorful panzanella salad! Homemade croutons will blow your mind.

Classic Panzanella is a rustic salad that was originally created by the farmers of the central Italian countryside who made it as a way to use up day-old bread and their abundance of fresh homegrown vegetables.

It comes together quickly and it's the perfect side dish to various grilled meats. It's also such a versatile salad with options to swap in other vegetables, use various cheeses, try it with a protein, or add beans.

This is a great base and guide to get you started from there you can adjust it to your heart's content!

Red Skin Potato Salad

This is a comfort food classic made with hearty, creamy red potatoes, dotted with the typical celery and pickles, and finished with a rich herby dressing to coat it all. The fresh lemon is a highlight here and the use of both mayonnaise and sour cream keeps it from feeling too heavy.

It's a simple to prepare side dish that keeps well in the fridge for several days and it's an ideal dish to serve on a hot day (trade in those baked potatoes for this!).

You can also adapt it to include other various mix-ins such as cooked bacon or hard boiled eggs (more ideas below), or just keep it simple without an extras. Either way this red potato salad is a summertime must!

Summery Grilled Chicken Salad

This ultimate grilled chicken salad is piled high with all the best ingredients, each one adding to it's well balanced fusion of flavors and satisfying variety of textures.

And I think you'll appreciate that the dressing also doubles as a chicken marinade so you won't need to make a separate seasoning for the grilled chicken.

This salad is a perfectly filling, ideal entree for a lunch get together but it also makes for an exceptional dinner salad as well.

You can also easily adjust it to use up what you have by substituting different vegetables or create a new flavor profile by using different fresh herbs in the dressing (basil or cilantro would be welcomed options).

If you are looking for a salad people will remember this is it! It includes that trio people just can't get enough of - chicken, bacon and avocado.

And here everything is highlighted by an unapologetically lemony dressing to really make it sing. It will get compliments all around!

Chilled and Refreshing Cold Pea Salad

Who doesn't love that bacon, cheddar, ranch combo? Even here in this pea salad it works wonders and really builds a basic salad into a memorable side dish.

It's an excellent option for an Easter dinner to serve with a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, and the best homemade dinner rolls. Then for dessert carrot cake of course!

This pea salad is a much tastier option than serving those frozen peas plain, it's worth the bit of extra effort especially for a holiday celebration or weekend dinner.

It has a tempting blend of textures and well rounded flavor with it's sweet pea freshness, salty bacon, toasty almonds, the depth from the cheese, and a rich creamy dressing to polish it off. It's a salad fit for a feast!

Healthy Chicken Salad with No Mayo

Avocado chicken salad is an excellent go-to lunch option. It can be made with leftover cooked chicken breast or rotisserie chicken, and just includes a quick mashup of dressing.

You can pile it high between slices of whole grain bread or serve it low carb as lettuce wraps.

It's incredibly easy to make and it's so supremely good it could even pass as a refreshing simple dinner.

The flavor of this version is almost like guacamole met chicken salad and it will leave you craving it time and time again! It's so good you would be happy to eat it plain on it's own no bread required.

Possible Variations

• A simple swap for some textural variation, that contrasting satisfying crunch is to use celery in place of tomatoes.
• You could garnish this option with sliced almonds, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds for a light layer of nutty flavor and a fine, flaky crunch.
• For some indulgence serve with crumbled bacon atop.
• If it's grilling season try this with chopped grilled chicken in place of shredded chicken for a hint of charred smoky flavor.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Avgolemono soup is one of the quickest, easiest and freshest tasting soups you can make! It's a humble soup made with basic ingredients yet it packs so much bright flavor thanks to all the fresh lemon in it.

It has a nice light herbiness to it and it gets it's creaminess from the starches of the rice and the use of eggs blended into the broth.

We love it paired with a side salad and fresh made pita bread, but fresh rustic bread drizzled with good olive oil is also another tasty pairing option for a basic yet delicious, hearty and carby, get feeling better meal.

Looking for more ways to make meatballs? Also try my super popular Italian Meatballs and the healthier Turkey Meatballs.

Greek Keftedes

Keftedes are a popular Greek dish made with ground beef, lamb or pork, bread crumbs (dried or fresh) with a liquid to soak, egg to bind, and to flavor they include onion and fresh herbs such as mint and parsley. Traditionally they are pan fried in oil but for a healthier alternative they can be oven baked (I've included both methods in the recipe).

They have delicious rich meaty flavor paired with fresh herby notes, they are beautifully browned, and you'll find them to be incredibly hearty and filling (5 meatballs may not seem like much but it's quite a generous serving).

These can be served bowl style as a main dish combining them with other sides, or stuffed in a sandwich, or you can opt to serve them as of an appetizer on a mezze platter. See serving suggestions below.

Greek Chicken Bowl

I've shared Greek chicken bowls before but they called for marinated and grilled chicken. I wanted a simpler weeknight and winter friendly version that was just as delicious, so created this stovetop variation.

They are still brimming with flavor, abundant in fresh goodness, and it's all about those sauces (they include both tzatziki and hummus and it makes all the difference).

It's a one bowl meal you can feel great about serving as it includes a whole grain, a complete protein, healthy fats (olive oil and avocado), and a tons of vegetables. And of course we throw some cheese in there because feta adds so much flavor.

Also try the other variations I've shared below (you can swap out things like quinoa for rice, avocado for olives, and parsley for mint). It's a versatile Greek bowl that's sure to satisfy without leaving you feeling weighed down.