Lazy Dinners You Don't Have To Feel Guilty About Serving

Browning sausage in a large skillet doesn't just help the meat develop flavor; it also leaves you with deliciously salty and meaty cooking fat that helps tame broccoli rabe's sometimes bitter taste. You can toss all of the dish's components together in the skillet and serve right out of the pan, or portion out the pasta onto individual plates and top it with the sausage, broccoli rabe and ricotta.

Get the recipe: Pasta with Walnut Pesto, Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

A baking staple is the unlikely ingredient that can give boneless, skinless chicken a golden crust, as this easy recipe shows. You simply dip each cutlet in flour, and then cook it in a skillet with some olive oil and butter. A quick pan sauce comes together from the cooking juices, wine and water, and in about 20 minutes you've got a dish that tastes as rich as if it had been cooking for hours.

Get the recipe: Chicken Cutlets with Quick Pan Sauce

We love a dish where one of the ingredients actually takes out a cooking step for us -- which is why spaghetti carbonara is so incredible. After you boil and drain the pasta , you transfer it to a serving bowl and pour in beaten eggs that you've seasoned with salt and pepper. The hot spaghetti cooks the eggs, creating a smooth and silky sauce.

Get the recipe: Tom Cruise's Spaghetti Carbonara

It's surprisingly fast -- and easy -- to roast tender, juicy pork tenderloin. This recipe has you coat the meat with a simple, wet rub of Asian ingredients. While the oven is heating up, you let the marinade work its magic on the pork, and then cook the tenderloin for about a half hour (though yours may be done even sooner; use a kitchen thermometer to check).

Get the recipe: Kitchen Workhorse Roast Pork Tenderloin with Asian Glaze

You know a recipe is going in the right direction when it starts with sautéing oil, butter, garlic and shallots. The addition of vodka, chicken stock and tomatoes doesn't hurt, either. But the best part about this company-worthy recipe is how uncomplicated it is; the fourth and final step (after boiling the pasta) is stirring in cream and then al dente penne or spaghetti.

Get the recipe: "You Won't Be Single for Long" Vodka Cream Pasta