5 Weeknight Dinners I’ve Made a Hundred Times

Every Monday, our editors bring you Simply (Weeknight) Recipes, five quick and easy dinner recipes to make this week.

Feeding a finicky or picky child can stress out even the most laid-back parent. I describe it as a Dementor’s kiss—it sucks the life out of you. So, when my oldest son Ethan said this to me recently, it erased years of dinner-time trauma in one fell swoop:

“Remember how I made dinner for you guys during the pandemic with the online cooking classes? I’d feel really bad if you made not-nice comments about the food because I’m still a bad cook. So, I’m going to thank you even if I don’t like dinner and stop making faces… especially when you make mushrooms.”

I admire my tween for his self-awareness, and since I felt his love, I didn’t serve him as many mushrooms for dinner that night.

Here are five easy weeknight dinners I’ve made so many times that I know the recipes by memory, including helpful tips.