Easy weeknight dinners

[Anonymous]

What are your favorite dinners that involve very minimal (15-20 min) prep?

Included the time because sometimes people post things that involve 30-45 min prep, which is totally fine but I’m looking more for the dinners you make when you’re a tired working mom of two young kids. I like cooking a lot and like making a fresh meal for the kids (meals that repurpose leftovers are also great!). Would appreciate variety and inspiration.

[Anonymous]

My best suggestion is setting theme nights so you don't have to devote mental energy to this task. I also tend to get faster when I make things repeatedly. Here is what I do. Kids are 4 and 6.

Sunday: double batch of a meal that takes more effort: homemade pasta sauce, chicken and dumplings, soup, fish on the grill, kebabs with rice and salad, enchiladas

Monday: fish - we usually do a sheet pan salmon or cod recipe with roasted veggies

I like this -- https://cafedelites.com/sheet-pan-garlic-butter-baked-salmon/

Also very good -- https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020454-one-pan-roasted-fish-with-cherry-tomatoes

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday - I will make ground beef or turkey and whatever taco shell the kids want. Will generally throw it over a salad for me and DH.

Wednesday: We run around a lot on Wednesday so I usually do pasta or the leftovers from Sunday.

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner

Friday: Take out or make your own pizzas

[Anonymous]

Budget bytes is one of my go tos for easy/quick/cheap recipe ideas. Most of them are 15-30 minutes total including cooking time. Beyond that I’m big on just throwing starch/protein/veg in a bowl and baking it a meal. Some examples of the latter: couscous cooked in broth, lentils, peas; pasta, avocado, tomatoes, Parmesan; rice, pan-friend shrimp or salmon, raw carrots, peanut sauce; toast, fried or scrambled eggs, tomatoes; chickpeas, tomatoes, raw onions (optional; I have them my kids don’t), feta, drizzle of olive oil in a pita; tofu and broccoli stir fry on rice. I also make cauldrons of any stew-like substance on the weekends sometimes and freeze most of it, so things like spaghetti sauce, beef stew, split pea soup, curry, etc are as quick as defrosting.