Cooking dinner is hard. Even if you have impeccable skills, it isn’t always simple to keep variety and creativity flowing. I know everyone has fallback foods. It’s what you make when you can’t think of anything better. Picture Mary Tyler Moore, if you are old and grizzled enough, tossing the meat into her grocery cart all whatevs, dude.

I thought I’d share a list of what we’ve made for dinner recently. I include links to the recipes because many of my finds are from other blogs and recipe sites.

1. Nacho Macaroni and Cheese. Don’t let the name fool you. This is a high-brow, but easy, baked macaroni and cheese from Bon Appetit. It has fantastic depth of flavor and everyone in our family yums it up.

2. Crockpot Posole. I’ve made this many times, including last week. It’s fantastic. Here’s what I did:

2 pounds of bite-sized diced pork roast (I used fresh pork for stir fry, already diced by the store)
1 28oz. can of hominy/posole, drained (found in the Mexican food aisle)
32 oz. carton of chicken broth
8 oz. diced green chiles (mild, medium, hot—whatever your family will tolerate)
1 can of diced Mexican-style tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced

Garnish: Fresh cilantro, sour cream, sliced avocado, shredded sharp cheddar or pepper jack cheeses

First, lightly brown the pork in a frying pan greased with about a tbsp of oil. It creates umami. The rest could not be easier: Put everything except the garnish into a large crockpot set on low. Stir. Cook for 8-10 hours. Garnish at will. Warmed flour tortillas on the side are a nice touch and yummy when dipped in the broth.

3. Huevos Divorciados. My husband likes to make this for dinner. He sort of does his own thing. Breaking it into a traditional recipe is proving to be hard, so the link I shared will give you the basic idea. It’s a breakfast-for-dinner style of entree with fried eggs, tortillas, chorizo, potatoes, red and green salsas. Cheese. Cheese! Guacamole. And I feel I must add that you don’t have to have fried eggs. I find them gross, so I always request scrambled eggs and it tastes just as yummy.

4. If all else fails, go to your favorite local Mexican restaurant. Our favorite is Santiago’s, which is literally a shack in a strip mall parking lot. It’s drive-thru only and it rocks as evidenced by the long, long line of cars every time we drive by. My standing order is carnitas-stuffed sopapilla with green chile and guacamole.

5. I’m hoping you’ll share your Mexican-inspired recipe with me. Right here, right now.