Anyone with children knows the particular brand of anxiety that can take hold as soon as you’re tasked with feeding them on a school night. No matter how long you’ve been cooking, you can walk in the door, open the refrigerator and not have a single idea about what to make. This was especially common for me when my daughters were little, and the list of recipes that pleased everybody and scored high on the fast-easy-healthy scale was absurdly slim. So I started a back-to-school ritual, writing a short list of winners on a Post-it note for the nights paralysis struck.
The strategy worked well enough that it expanded to almost all the meals the school year demands: breakfasts on test days, breakfasts when you’re going to miss the bus, bagged lunches, school snacks, after-school snacks, pre-sports-practice snacks, car snacks, post-sports-practice dinners. I’m not sure it would all fit on a Post-it note anymore, but here’s a best-of list, including a few current favorites, that might help with back-to-school planning.
Breakfast
Breakfasts tend to fall into two categories in my family: when my two teenage daughters wake up on time, and when they don’t. Like most parents, I don’t have a firm grasp on what happens all day — with lunch or anything else — so I want to make sure that whatever they eat is going to fill them up for a while, whatever the morning looks like.
Smoothie Bowls
It’s amazing how much more appealing smoothies become for kids when you blend in less liquid. The base becomes thick and ice cream-like, ready to be served in a bowl and topped with Instagram-ready rows of banana and strawberry slices, coconut flakes and granola. (On our best days, that granola is Melissa Clark’s.) Frozen fruit is the key to the right consistency: Try blending together a cup of frozen strawberries, a half-cup of mangoes, a room temperature banana, and a half-cup of almond milk. (Thanks to every YouTuber and influencer for their help selling this one to a wary middle-schooler.)
Superhero Muffins
A few years ago, my older daughter and I discovered Shalane Flanagan’s book “Run Fast. Eat Slow.” Even more impressive than Ms. Flanagan’s splits are her famous carrot-nut-raisin-packed “superhero muffins.” They freeze beautifully and work well toasted on a busy morning or popped into my daughter’s cinch sack for the bus ride to a meet. (Bonus for the gluten-free set: They’re made with almond flour.)
Overnight Bircher Muesli
Our family fell in love with muesli after a vacation in Switzerland, and until we can figure out a from-scratch version, we’ve been doctoring store-bought muesli. (More often than not, it’s the European-style muesli from Bob’s Red Mill.) At night, add about a half-cup of muesli with milk (enough to cover but not submerge), then stir in a tablespoon of Greek yogurt and a squeeze of honey. In the morning, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can add a shredded apple, but more often than not, you can just hand the muesli to your kid with a spoon.
Lunch and Snacks
I miss many things about the early years of parenting, but packing lunches and snacks for my kids to take to school every day is decidedly not among them. Whenever possible I tried to make enough dinner so leftovers would be lunch, but when I didn’t, these were my go-tos.
Bruschetta
It sounds high-maintenance, but chopping mozzarella and tomatoes (and, hey, why not peaches with some balsamic?) and throwing them into a sealed reusable container with some baguette slices feels easier than dealing with the heavy dread of opening a lunchbox at the end of the day and finding an uneaten turkey-and-cheese on soggy bread. For something a bit more formal, Ali Slagle’s bruschetta fits the bill for a recipe that’s easily made in advance and gets even better with time.
Pancake Sandwiches
Hopefully you saved a few pancakes from breakfast (or froze leftovers from Sunday brunch?). They’re a little more exciting to use than bread in an almond butter and banana sandwich.
BLT Lettuce Wrap
Cooked bacon freezes remarkably well, and these wraps take moments to assemble when you have it on hand. For each wrap, roll one bibb lettuce leaf with a slice of bacon and a few chopped up grape tomatoes.
Deconstructed Nachos
Pack flax-studded tortilla chips with any of the following: a few slices of good Cheddar, grape tomatoes, an avocado that’s been sliced and sandwiched back together (to prevent browning), leftover meat or beans.
The Fourth Meal, a.k.a. ‘The Sneal’
Once your children get to a certain age, there’s a good chance you’ll be feeding them an extra meal every day. In our house, we call them “sneals,” something a little heavier than a snack, but not quite a meal that will fuel them through various scenarios: when they didn’t eat their actual lunch, when they need fuel for a late afternoon sports practice; second dinners when they come home from late activities or rehearsals. Note to parents of teenage boys: Double or triple everything mentioned.
Black Bean Tostadas
Inspired by the New York restaurant Tacombi, these are my favorite kind of meal: more assembling than cooking. Spread crispy tortillas with warmed refried black beans (spiked with Hatch chiles if you have them), and top them with avocado slices, queso fresco and pickled onions. Here’s a version from Martha Rose Shulman that calls for simmered beans, but you could certainly use canned.
Avocado Toasts
Everyone has a favorite version. Ours is sourdough toast spread with a thin layer of cream cheese, fork-smashed avocado, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of everything bagel seasoning. (If you’re looking for even more ideas, here’s Julia Moskin’s recipe for avocado toast.)
Green Pea Hummus and Pita
You can upgrade any supermarket hummus by folding in a few dollops of plain yogurt. Whirl in a handful of thawed frozen peas (a trick I stole from the restaurant ABCV in New York) and a squeeze of lemon juice to get a vegetable in there, and you can justify calling it a balanced meal.
Savory Tomato Smoothie
O.K., just kidding: It’s gazpacho! I’ve been making Julia Moskin’s gazpacho all summer, and it has all the hallmarks of a great sneal for me — easy, make-ahead, flexible, filling-but-still-healthy and stunningly delicious — at least while the tomatoes are good. (When they’re not, a spoonful of tomato paste helps.)
Tomato Sandwiches
Speaking of which, we have barely a week or two left to appreciate the joys of toasted white bread, a smear of mayo, a thick-cut juicy heirloom and a sprinkle of Maldon. Let’s make sure we do not waste a single second.
Dinner
The short list of go-to dinners from five or six years ago would look nothing like my list today. That’s because, like many people, we’ve significantly dialed back on eating meat, sticking to vegetarian eating on weeknights. Besides the occasional bean fatigue, it’s been way easier than I thought it would be. Here are some favorites.
Smoky Tofu Sandwiches
Give tofu the katsu treatment, dredging pressed slices with panko crumbs (and some smoked paprika) and stuffing into potato rolls piled high with a soy-sauce-and-rice-vinegar slaw.
Salad With Caesar Dressing
Something I figured out too late in the game: My kids will eat any salad if it’s drenched in Caesar dressing. Kale, tomatoes, corn, radishes coated in Caesar dressing and topped with seven-minute eggs will be met with actual cheers at the dinner table.
Buddha Bowls
It’s our catchall name for anything top of rice, and it’s different (and a small triumph) every time: coconut rice with avocado and brussels sprouts; black rice with steamed broccoli, spinach and peanut sauce; vinegary sushi rice with a Japanese omelet (whisk a few teaspoons of soy sauce into eggs and cook in sesame oil), green beans and a ginger-scallion sauce. For little ones who might resist any of these combinations, try serving the components individually, using the sauces as dips.
Crispy Chickpeas With Naan
While this dish’s days may be numbered in my home (“chickpeas again, Mom?”), I’m banking on the last Emma Chamberlain video to cast a glow on the humble garbanzo bean. (If anyone has more power in our house right now, it’s Emma.) Fry them in more oil than you think with cayenne, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Serve with naan or warmed pita, plain yogurt and sliced cucumbers.
Corn and Shells
Make pasta (shells are ideal because they catch the corn), drain, then in the same pot, add a slice of bacon (it’s only a single piece for four people, justifies the weekday vegetarian), shallots, corn kernels, salt and pepper. Toss the whole thing with your pasta and top with Parmesan and basil. It doesn’t call for shells — farfalle or orecchiette (another pasta-catcher) instead — but Melissa Clark has a similar recipe.
Loaded Japanese Sweet Potatoes
I can’t get anyone in my house to eat a candy-sweet orange sweet potatoes or yams, but these lighter-fleshed, skinnier ones are usually welcome. Roast for 45 minutes, then pile on gingery spinach (sautéed in coconut oil), scallions and red-pepper flakes.
Macaroni and Cheese
When we were transitioning the kids to vegetarian eating, it felt like we always had a dish of Alison Roman’s perfect Mac & Cheese on the table. It’s easy to commit to memory (which is, of course, the key to getting any recipe into regular rotation), and it works as a side dish or a main when no one touches the lentil burgers.
