Your Step-by-Step Guide to the Perfect Family Dinner

It’s officially back to school season and everyone’s calendars are filling up fast. Gathering the entire family together for dinner can be challenging during this busy time of year. As your trusted kitchen ally, we’ve created the ultimate guide to the perfect family dinner. Our menu and shopping list will save you hours on planning so you can focus on that hard-earned, quality family time. The recipes in this meal are a combination of hearty and warm seasonal flavors, simple to make and easy to share. Plus, each dish is naturally vegetarian and can be easily modified to be gluten friendly!

Before you get started with your tasty home-cooked meal, stop by your favorite grocery store and grab the following ingredients. Click here for a print-ready shopping list to bring with you to the store.

In addition to the ingredients listed above, make sure you have the following kitchen equipment on hand:

• Electronic or stovetop pressure cooker
• 12 x 16-inch pan or large cast-iron skillet
• 9 x 13-inch baking pan
• Rimmed baking sheet
• Parchment paper

Menu

Main

Pressure Cooker Mexican Chocolate Three Bean Chili

Cooking for the whole family doesn’t have to mean spending the whole day in the kitchen. This balanced, delicious three bean chili comes together in half an hour and is entirely vegan. Adding a dash of our Pure Chocolate Extract builds a rich flavor that compliments the herbs and spices in this pressure cooker dish.

Sides

Vanilla Cardamom Roasted Acorn Squash

Roasting is a flavorful and effortless way to enjoy one of our favorite fall squashes. Fragrant cardamom joins the creamy, full flavor of Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans alongside roasted acorn squash to create the ultimate combination of seasonal produce and seasonal flavors.

Rich Cornbread with Vanilla Honey Butter

Where we’re from, cornbread and chili are an inseparable combo, so we just had to include our rich cornbread recipe in this dinner menu. The sweetness of the corn is enhanced by our Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract. Spread on a generous portion of vanilla honey butter to complete this side dish.

Need to make this recipe gluten-friendly? Substitute cornmeal for gluten-free yellow cornmeal.

Dessert

Vanilla Apple Pudding

This wholesome meal finishes with a big scoop of our Vanilla Apple Pudding. This delectable dessert is a crossover between bread pudding and apple pie, the best of both worlds. You can toss the pudding into the oven just before sitting down to eat, so it will be ready to serve by the end of dinner.

Need to make this recipe gluten-friendly? Substitute all-purpose flour for 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour.

Cooking Timeline

Are your groceries and kitchen equipment at the ready? If so, you’re more than halfway there.

Follow this optimized cooking timeline to knock out your dinner in just over an hour:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Start the Pressure Cooker Mexican Chocolate Three Bean Chili.
3. While the chili is cooking, start the Rich Cornbread.
4. Once the cornbread is in the oven, start the Vanilla Cardamom Roasted Acorn Squash.
5. When the acorn squash is roasting, make the Vanilla Honey Butter.
6. When cornbread is done baking, raise the oven temperature to 400°F (205°C) so the acorn squash can finish roasting.
7. Prep the Vanilla Apple Pudding while the acorn squash finishes roasting.
8. Right before sitting down with the family, place the pudding in the oven to cook. Remove the pudding when everyone is finished eating (or after 40 minutes) and enjoy a cozy, warm dessert.

Was your family dinner a hit? Show us a photo of your dinner table using #NielsenMasseyInspires.

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