Last week we talked about slow cooked recipes which I adore but they require a few hours for preparation and cooking.

I often get asked what’s the secret for creating fast and stress-free week day meals? The answer is meal planning and choosing the right dishes to cook.

There are so many benefits to meal planning and it can all be done on the Italian Spoon website. My Meal Plan is free and available exclusively to Italian Spoon members. Using My Meal Plan takes the stress out of the question ‘What’s for dinner?’ It will also save you time and money.

I want to share my secret and hopefully it will work for you too. Every Friday I update My Meal Plan with meals I want to cook for the week. I create an automatic shopping list by selecting ‘Add to Shopping List’ on the My Meal Plan page of the Italian Spoon website. On a Saturday morning, I access My Shopping List from My Account and mark off the items as I shop. Alternatively, I email myself the shopping list. I have never been so organised to shop for food – I highly recommend this process.

Here are my favourite quick and easy week day meals to get you started. Try cooking these recipes which are just as delicious and take only 30 minutes or less to cook. Read these recipes and add them to My favourites or My Meal Plan today.

1. Fusilli pasta ‘con pomodorini e basilico’ (with cherry tomatoes and basil)

2. Chicken and capsicum (peppers) in ‘salsa agrodolce’ (sweet and sour sauce)

3. Costolette di agnello impanate e fritte (fried crumbed lamb cutlets)

4. Chicken alla pizzaiola

5. Veal Saltimbocca alla Romana

6. Sword fish alla Siciliana

7. The real spaghetti carbonara

Buon Appetito from Italian Spoon!

Quick and easy weekday meals – top 7 dishes you can prepare in less than 30 minutes blog authored by Vanessa Bottaro.

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Vanessa Bottaro

Author, Founder and Creative Director at Italian Spoon

In my eyes, Italian cuisine is love on a plate.

Vanessa is Creative Director of the Italian Spoon website and Author of The Italian entertaining cookbook, a collection of home-style Italian recipes and tips for entertaining in true Italian-style. In addition to cooking and taking photographs, Vanessa writes the recipes and blogs to bring the love of Italian cooking to life! The collection of recipes and blogs on the website have been inspired by travels to Italy and desire to share what she has learnt from the great ‘Mamma’s and ‘Nonna’s in her life!

Vanessa is an entrepreneur and wife to husband Simone and the mother of two beautiful kids Dante and Mia. Even so she was born and lives in Melbourne Australia, Vanessa has a deep connection to Italy. Perhaps it is the food, or maybe it is because it is the place where Vanessa met the love of her life, Simone to whom she has been happily married for so many years.

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