Last time I was here we talked about that dreaded dinner dilemma, which rears its ugly head nightly at homes the world over.

Now I'm back to dish out more, much later than I planned. Lately it seems I'm too busy for much of anything — with two kids' crazy summer schedules, a needy dog and training for a half marathon, I've been migraine-level busy. (Perhaps those 400 cupcakes I volunteered to make for an event wasn't a great call after all). 

I know my story isn't unique. My guess is you're not at home twiddling your thumbs either. Instead of offering up one knight-and-shining dish this time, I'm here to share five streamlined-yet-superb go-to's. All of these kid-friendly, one-dish recipes are winners because, while they're simple, they're also interesting. By putting a twist on a classic, you've found something brand new. My hope is that these will help all of us out in the next few weeks. I, for one, plan to make each recipe at least once (and not one single cupcake). 


Five Fast Recipes

1) Turkey-Pesto Calzone: Count 'em up, only four ingredients, but the combination is really filling and fantastic. This recipe has become the dinnertime life raft of every girlfriend I know, and they've all thanked me countless times over. Skip the pesto and use marinara if your kids are like mine and don't "do" green.

2) Simple Tomato Sauce: As Katzen's review states, you'll never buy jarred sauce again. I know making sauce from scratch sounds counter-intuitive as we are trying to hurry things up, but there are very few ingredients and it's ready in 20 minutes. This will be your new red sauce for noodles, meatballs, lasagna — you'll get rave reviews, I promise. My tip: add a little sugar with the salt to temper the tart flavor of the tomatoes.

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