10 Actually Easy Dinners
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.)
Zucchini, Mushroom + Dill Pasta Bake
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.
10 Meatless Weeknight Dinners
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!
Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice
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.
Chicken Enchilada Soup
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.
Slow Cooker Carnitas
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.
Chicken and Dumplings
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.