Jenny Rosenstrach

A textbook example of a back-pocket recipe, these zucchini fritters can be made quickly with what you have on hand—and they’ll impress every time.

Slather bone-in thighs with a Dijon-thyme butter, coat in breadcrumbs, and sidle onto a baking sheet for an effortlessly crispy roast chicken dinner.

Merguez, a lamb sausage spiced with cumin and chiles, is exceptional in this easy grain bowl, but any sausage you like will work just as well.

Cover a just-baked, garlic-scented pizza crust with a crisp salad of Bibb lettuce, blue cheese, prosciutto, and pickled onions, plus plenty of red wine vinaigrette.

This easy taco dinner has lots of quick tricks: like cooking the pineapple and shrimp on one sheet pan, and then tossing the filling with the same dressing you used to quick-pickle the onions.

This crispy chicken is a weeknight dinner MVP.

Not a big fan of chorizo? This chili recipe can also be made with chicken, turkey, or Italian sweet or spicy sausage.

This dressing is also great as a dip, and most of the vegetables listed here can be left in bigger pieces and treated as crudités instead.

Not just for salads: Drizzle over roast potatoes, serve alongside rotisserie chicken, or spoon over a sandwich.

Tomato paste adds sweetness and will help the dressing emulsify.

Far less sweet than the bottled version, but equally delicious whether on a salad or tossed with some soba noodles.

I love Jim Lahey's crust because it's thin, crispy, and so very reliable. I can't ever remember a night where it didn't work. When we're feeling healthy, we replace the white flour with whole wheat flour-if you want to be sneaky about it with the kids, you can start by just replacing half with whole wheat flour. We usually use one ball of dough for one dinner and then freeze the extra for another dinner later. To thaw, remove from freezer about two to three hours before using and work it with your hands if it's still stiff.

This chicken takes about 10 minutes to pull together and then about a half hour of mostly hands-off time in the oven. In theory, you could time things so the chicken is ready as soon as the kids go to sleep. But if you can't for the life of you figure out a way to steal the few minutes needed for prep while the kids are awake, then just take care of step 1: Preheat the oven.

To achieve pillow-light gnocchi, choose potatoes that are roughly the same size and be careful not to overcook them.

This recipe is adapted from April Bloomfield’s version in A Girl and Her Greens. For a dippable version of the ranch spread, sub sour cream for the buttermilk and serve with crudités.

Play around with different herbs in this lobster salad recipe, such as parsley or mint, and other citrus, like grapefruit in place of orange.

So easy a kid could do it. No, really, let your kid do it.