Actually getting dinner on the table, night after night after night?? It never stops. BUT it doesn’t have to be impossible! All you need are a few fast, easy, crowd-pleasing meals in your recipe binder. I gotchu.
You guys!! I’m so excited about this. I have dreamed about doing a challenge on The Food Charlatan for YEARS. It’s time! Huge bucket list item crossed off today!!
Our first ever Food Charlatan challenge is super simple. I want you to feel empowered to conquer DINNER. All you have to do is make the 3 challenge recipes in the month of April and share your pictures!
These recipes are fast (30 minutes!), they’re easy, and they’re so good. You will totally feel excited about making dinner again! IT’S GONNA HAPPEN PEOPLE!!
Sign up
Sign up for the challenge! Here is the form to enter. Lots more details down below!
How it works
- Make the 3 easy dinner recipes (Chicken Tacos, Fresh Veggie Sandwiches, and Korean Beef) in the month of April.
- Take pictures of your awesome dinners and share a photo of each meal on Instagram, on Facebook, (tagging @thefoodcharlatan) OR send me an email at challenge@thefoodcharlatan.com.
- For BONUS entries, leave a star rating and review for Chicken Tacos, Fresh Veggie Sandwiches, or Korean Beef! 3 additional chances to win 🤩
- Along the way, I’ll drop into your inbox with grocery lists, Soccer-mom-level-cheering, and tips for how to make these easy dinners even easier.
- I’ll also share details for how you can join me at LIVE events on Facebook and Instagram. That’s right, I’m actually going to be showing up on social media guys, it’s a miracle 😂 will you judge my eyebrows?? Probably.
- On May 1st I’ll randomly select from those who entered the challenge and made all 3 dinners to win a $100 gift card to Sur La Table! I literally drool when I walk through this store.
- Give back: For every person who joins the challenge, I’m donating $1 to Heifer International. This organization is amazing. They work to end hunger and poverty by providing animals like sheep and goats (plus training to care for them) for families in need around the world. How cool is that right?? Love their mission!
The Challenge Recipes
Recipes for Dinner
Best Chicken Tacos Recipe (Stovetop or Crockpot)
Healthy Dinner
Laura’s Fresh Veggie Sandwich
Quick and Easy Dinners
30 Minute Korean Beef Recipe
These 3 recipes are each done in 30 minutes. That’s half an hour guys. DoorDash isn’t that fast (and don’t get me started on drive thru lines, nuh uh).
The Best Chicken Tacos
First up we’ve got chicken tacos. The stovetop option takes 30 minutes, the crockpot version takes 3 hours, perfect for when it’s lunch time and you did NOT have it together at 8:00 in the morning. There’s nary a jar of salsa in sight. I live in California and I promise you, these are straight-from-the-taqueria amazing with so little work you won’t believe it.
Laura’s Fresh Veggie Sandwiches
Next we’re making veggie sandwiches. When my sister Laura told me about these I was like no way dude, where’s the bacon?? But I swear, with two creamy dreamy sauces and a buncha fresh veggies loaded on toasted sourdough bread you’ll never miss the meat (and neither will your kids, seriously it’s amazing how much of a crowd pleaser these are).
30 Minute Korean Beef
Last we have Korean beef. This is pretty much the sassiest lil pound o’ ground beef you’ll ever meet. She’s all dressed up with Asian spices and loaded into a bowl with crunchy fresh veggies and rice (regular type or cauliflower). I love it when your whole dinner is just one thing (side dishes are my kryptonite you guys).
Challenge FAQs
Snap a picture of your meal and share a photo of each one you make on Instagram, on Facebook, tagging @thefoodcharlatan so we can see it, OR send me an email at challenge@thefoodcharlatan.com. I would love to see photos as you take them. No need to wait til you’ve made all 3 to share with me! So if you make Korean Beef the first week, snap a photo and post it and tag me. Then the next week snap a photo of your Veggie Sandwich and email it, or post it. You choose! Photos must be shared before midnight EST on April 30, 2025.
Because I want you to feel like you’ve GOT THIS. Next time you go to make a menu plan, you will have THREE more options for easy 30 minute weeknight meals, that hopefully your family loves. We chose these recipes because they are huge crowd pleasers and they are fast and easy. If you only have time to make one or two, you will still be entered in the challenge :)
Real humans with email addresses! That’s right, NO robots or lizard people allowed. If you’re under 18, get permission from your parents :) You don’t have to live in the US or be an amazing cook or photographer (ugly photos were like, my whoooole thing back in the day).
$100 gift card to Sur La Table! They’ve got everything from napkin rings to Le Creuset casserole dishes and basically every superfluous kitchen item imaginable. HEAVEN, right??
Randomly. Look, I was a real fake in the kitchen when I started this blog (honestly, still am!) and this prize is for trying something new, not for impressing me with your culinary skills. The real prize is the recipes we learned to make along the way! (too cheesy?? sorrynotsorry). I told my dad about the challenge yesterday and he thought it was a contest. He was like, how will you know whose is the best?? I was like, oh, NOPE, everyone gets a participation trophy!! (don’t FedEx me your tacos so I can taste them plz.)
Welp, McDonalds has more than 41,000 locations worldwide. Ha! If you are not into this challenge, check back to see what the next one is. If baking is your jam, you can definitely expect to see cookies and cakes in the future! Yes please!
It’s totally okay to make substitutions! If you want to try making the Korean beef with a plant-based meat substitute, or leave the sprouts out of the veggie sandwiches, that’s cool. The challenge police will never find you.
YOU GUYS I’M SO EXCITED!! I do hope you will sign up, and come find me on Instagram and Facebook this month to say hi. I would love to hear how the challenge is going for you! Also, if you come to my LIVE events, it will almost be like we are actually cooking in the kitchen together—my dream of dreams!
