Kathy Brennan - The Dinner Plan: Simple Weeknight Recipes and Strategies

For James, Ava, Belle, and Conor, the real keepers in our lives

When we wrote our first cookbook, KEEPERS, our aim was to create a user-friendly, go-to resource for weeknight meals. Since its publication in 2013, weve had the gratifying experience of seeing this elemental guidewhat we like to call your best friend in the kitchenbecome a beloved resource for people of all ages.

The feedback we received from readers like you was tremendous and eye-opening, too. At the back of the book, we includedalmost as an afterthoughtan index in which main courses were categorized by their usefulness for particular situations. The categories included dishes that could be served at staggered intervals, made in a single vessel, and prepared really quickly. It turned out that people loved this feature almost as much as the recipes themselves. In fact, many told us that they wanted more of these categories and more recipes in each one.

It soon became clear that there was a glaring need for a cookbook devoted to what might be termed situational weeknight cooking. Whether youre feeding just yourself, a roommate, a spouse/partner, or an entire family, we are all insanely busy these days, and when were juggling work, after-school activities, sports commitments, erratic and/or mismatched schedules, and often bare refrigerators, there are all sorts of scenarios that can make weeknight cooking a singularly frustrating experience. After lots of debate (Were we ready to do another book? Were our families ready for us to? Did we have something more to say? Would our recipes hold up?), we decided we were up for the challenge. Our plan was to write a new and different cookbook devoted to navigating the various situations that the typical workweek throws at peoplewhile continuing to help them become more efficient, creative, and confident cooks in general. Because while there are obviously nights when you need to just get somethinganythingon the table, cooking ought to be pleasurable at least some of the time, and these skills will help you find that pleasure.

Once again, we drew from conversations with countless people, as well as our own everyday experiences, and came up with five categories of meals that address the biggest weeknight dinner hurdles that we all encounter and 135 simple recipes that work with them:

MAKE-AHEAD
STAGGERED
ONE-DISH
PANTRY
EXTRA-FAST

Although there are cookbooks that address some of these categories on a piecemeal basis, we havent come across one that features all of them in a comprehensive and (we think) engaging package.

One thing youll notice is that all the recipes are marked with color-coded tabs denoting which categories they fall under. Rather than organizing them by category, though, we grouped them by main ingredient/type of dish (fish, chicken, pasta, vegetables, etc.) because thats how people tend to decide what to cook on any given night. So for instance, Tarragon Chicken, which is a Staggered and Extra-Fast dish, is listed under Chicken. But we also included in the back of the book a list of all the recipes broken down by category in case you want to search for them that way, too.

Scattered throughout the recipes youll find lots of tips and advice on what five recipes are worth mastering; how to think of dinner beyond the veg-protein-starch rule of three; and which kitchen tools are game changers. We suggest what to cook on those possibly rare and probably cherished nights when you have the place to yourself; what to feed kids when they come home from school famished; and share some pointers on entertaining, even on a weeknight (it can be done and with minimum stress!). You can also count on the same practical approach to recipes that readers appreciated the first time around (no specialty/exotic/expensive ingredients; no meandering personal stories or extraneous headnotes; no intricate or lengthy processes; limited use of nuts, or we give nut substitutions).

One of the best parts of publishing KEEPERS was forming relationships with busy home cooks all over the country. With this book, we hope to build on those relationships, start new ones, and show once again that success and happiness in the kitchen are within everyones grasp, no matter what the week throws at you.

Happy Cooking!

Kathy & Caroline

When you have some spare time in the morning or the night before, getting a jump on dinner can mean the difference between a home-cooked meal and defaulting to take-out.

Dishes that can be made in advance are like money in the bank. A big problem with many so-called make-ahead recipes, though, is that theyre really prep-ahead. Theyll tell you that you can proceed to step 3 in advance and then do steps 4 through 6 before serving. But steps 4 through 6 may involve almost as much work and clean-up as the first three! We promise that every recipe will be truly make-ahead, requiring at most putting something straight in the oven ( you grab from the fridge to accompany a store-bought rotisserie chicken, these dishes will be a welcome sight at the end of a long day.

All of our versatile Lifesaver condiments can also be made ahead of time and kept for at least several days. From , these staples can be pulled out in a pinch and make almost anything taste better.

Ideal for those nights when people will be eating at different times, these dishes can be left on the back of the stove and reheated as needed or are also good served at room temperature or cold.

We recently polled seventy-five friends (mostly parents, but also couples without kids, singletons with roommates, and empty-nesters) about how many nights during the workweek they ate together. Guess what the most common answer was? One or none. In a typical household these days, the old 6 p.m. dinner ritual has been replaced with a revolving seat at the table, filled by whoever happens to be home, is hungry, and has a few minutes to eat, whether that be an eight-year-old headed to soccer; a high schooler juggling play rehearsal and homework; or a spouse who goes straight from work to coaching, volunteering, or shuttling around the kids. Despite all the reports and editorials on the importance of family dinner and all the food content geared toward families eating together, the truth is, for an ever-growing number of us, weeknight family meals are a complete fantasy.

The kids we spoke to agreed. A competitive gymnast explained that because his parents arent home from work when he leaves for practice, which runs most nights until 9 P.M., his sister makes him canned soup and grilled cheese beforehand, and afterward he hits Wendys for a second dinner. Other equally busy kids shared that they subsist mainly on fast food and whatever is microwavable, usually scarfed down alone and at odd hours. Either theres no actual dinner at home because no one knows what to make that will go the distance or whatever is left over is pretty unappetizing; think a wan pork chop on a plate with a lukewarm baked potato and limp green beans. How can that compete with a Hot Pocket?

Enter our Staggered recipes, which always work when everyone is scattered hither and yon and include information on storage and the best ways to reheat a dish. And we think they give that Hot Pocket a run for its money: , for which the components are set on the kitchen counter.

We want the household cook, whoever that is, to feel better knowing that everyone is eating something wholesome and homemade and off of a plate at the table rather than out of a microwave pouch or greasy fast-food bag in the car. And since said cook wont frantically be trying to rustle up a short-order meal for the latest arrival walking in the door or be fretting about how to deal with tomorrows crazy evening schedule, they might actually have the time and energy to sit there, too. Of course, we still think family dinners are lovely and importantand perhaps for your fam thats a pizza while watching a movie together on a Friday nightbut when they arent possible, a home-cooked staggered dinner is the next best thing.