I have a few dishes in regular rotation that I lean on in moments of desperation or when life gets too busy. Meals that feel like a relief: “wow, we’re fed, and that was so easy.” My criteria for inclusion here is simply: would I want to make this and clean it up by myself after I get home from work? If no, I didn’t include it. (Mostly, this means the list has a lot of soups and stews.)

These are my perfect pumpkin cookie: soft but not a muffin top, heavy on the fall spices, and finally (classic me): made in one bowl with no mixer. They’re heavily studded with chocolate chunks and caramel sea salt chips.

A pretzel crust is perfect to layer a sweet mixture of cream cheese and Cool Whip on, and the whole thing is topped with a pound of strawberries and strawberry Jell-O.

I wanted a vegetarian pasta bake that felt indulgent but not heavy, and I wanted to lean into my love of jammy zucchini. One of my personal favorite flavor combinations is balsamic and dill, and I’m leaning fully into that with a probably-sacrilegious version of a bechamel sauce that incorporates either white wine or balsamic, depending on your preference.

I’m sharing some of the best vegetarian recipes in my cookbook. It’s easy enough to eat vegetarian by simply omitting meat from recipes or eating cereal for dinner, but I’m far more interested in having meals that make me forget I ever ate meat to begin with. I want to feel satisfied at the end of the meal! I want protein and umami!

This soup is such a great choice for a night when you want a bowl of something warm, but also healthy and nourishing. Sweet potatoes! Ginger! Curry powder! What’s not to love? I’ll admit that I tend to throw frozen spinach into just about everything (sneaky greens are my favorite greens), but it works so well here.

This recipe came to me as I considered the best way to use the extra cheese sitting in the fridge after I made my cheesy broccoli casserole. I’m not sure there’s a better way to dispose of spare cheese than these scones, my friends. They are towering and savory, perfect all on their own or with a runny egg and some bacon.

After a few rounds of tweaking, I’ve arrived at this: my ideal enchilada-ish soup. It’s cozy, deeply flavored, full of pantry staples, and ready well under an hour (yes, even with prep work). Bonus: it’s even better the next day.

It’s simple: we’re going to make chili, and then we’re going to top it with a layer of cheese and bake the cornbread right on top of it. That’s it. Chili is best topped with cornbread anyway, and this way you get it all in one bite. You’ll love it, I promise.

Fall is here, which means I’m once again rifling through my recipe book for cozy dinners full of fall squash and sweet potatoes. This one definitely fits the bill and is perfect for weeknights: cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash, cooked with ginger, onions, and Thai red curry paste for a fragrant, nutritious dinner.

Everyone has their own idea of a perfect chocolate chip cookie. Mine is one that’s chewy, bakery-size, and cooked until just golden. I prefer dark chocolate, which is a little less sweet, and chunks over chips, because I want to bite into pockets of chocolate.

I wanted a miso soup that felt like a whole meal. I also didn’t want to work very hard. We always keep ramen in our pantry in case of extreme laziness - we’ve been known to dump some peas and carrots into the ramen pot and pretend that counts as eating our vegetables. So… miso ramen?

Last spring as everyone else was making sourdough and I was finishing unboxing my kitchen, I saw Smitten Kitchen’s Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Cabbage on Instagram. She swore it was easy, she used a small chicken, and for the first time in my life, I thought “I could do that. I should do that.”

I love chicken noodle soup, but it doesn’t really satisfy as a meal. This take swaps the noodles for pearled barley, which is high in fiber and has a slightly chewy texture that makes it a great sub for noodles. The recipe is packed with good-for-you aromatics like garlic, ginger, and turmeric. The carrots and celery turn the recipe into a little bit of a cuisine mashup, but I think it really works.

We’ve all been there: busy days, no motivation, and you’re trying to figure out how to turn a fridge full of half-bad food into a half-decent meal. I’ve cracked the code. For me, all it took was Pinterest, a binder, and a custom shopping list. Let’s talk!

Fun fact: a few years ago, this chili won me second place at an office chili cook-off. There were more than twenty entries… it’s that good!

Every region and family has their own favorite chili, and this is mine: a thick consistency, a little sweet, heavy on the meat and beans.

That top layer of cheese gets golden and slightly crispy in the oven. Every bite here is a cheesy, broccoli-filled dream. You’re going to love this.

We have arrived at the season in which even the least enthusiastic home cooks will be entering their kitchens with the intent to make something from scratch… let’s save a little spot on the plate for something more produce-forward, shall we?

At this point in 2020, we all need a cookie. This cookie, specifically, because you only need one mixing bowl and the handful of spices you’ve already probably gathered for your holiday baking.

This is a foolproof, flexible recipe that will give you meal after meal of delicious carnitas… The options are endless, which is why this recipe is a meal-prepper’s dream.

The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity. There is something magical about a pile of chopped vegetables and broth turning into something so delicious with just a few seasonings and some half and half.

I love (and am comforted by) chicken and dumplings so much that this is the dinner I made the night I took the practicum of my NCIDQ exam. After months of studying and hours of testing, all I wanted was to reward myself with a bowl of this deliciousness.

This recipe was the result of summer longing and a whole lot of leftover wedding lavender, though I find I like them just as much in November as I do in June. The floral lavender, the bright lemon, and the juicy berries really sing. I think you’ll love these.