Easy Dinners For Busy Days

September is here and with it the start of busy days and weekends. Is there time to cook a tasty and nutritious dishes? Yes! There are many easy recipes out there that work for you and your family.

Regular contributor Emily Weinstein wrote this must keep article in today's  Wednesday New York Times Food section. She is no stranger to creating long lists of recipes. last year she created a list of one hundred (!) recipes. Some are in today's paper but they and the others can be found on line. This is not just for this month. The months ahead will be crazy busy with everything from holiday shopping to holiday cooking. The recipes are great for home chefs starting dinner at a later hour due to work or personal business. They're also great for leftovers too, lasting for two days instead of one.Families will love the skillet only chicken with mushrooms and caramelized onions.It's giving a French onion soup vibe but has much more, Vegans ans vegetarians will love the lentil cacciatore. It can be varied with white beans ot brown lentils.Its a flavorful dish thanks to the tomato paste, garlic and capers. Carrots are added to get rid of that sometimes overpowering tomato tang.Kids will love dumpling soup. Frozen dumplings are used along with very thin rice , dried wheat or egg noodles. Broccoli florets and baby bok choy give it that nutritional boost while miso supplies a flavor boost.

Kids will love any of the next recipes.There's a sticky miso salmon bowl, not unlike those takeout bowls many restaurants offer. Kids can add such toppings as nori, kimchi, chili crisp and slices of cucumber avocado and radishes. The salmons get a rich flavor thanks to it being  first marinated in a lime ,honey and oil marinade and then broiled on a sheet pan. Smash burgers are always a must on any menu rotation. Ms Weinstein gives sausage smash burgers. Loose pork , whether mild or spicy  is used for the burgers .They're topped with a sauteed mix of any color bell peppers onions and garlic. The burgers are fried after these and served on toasted brioche or buns. Oregano can be added to this. Of course everyone will love the peanut butter noodles.Two kids favorite spaghetti and peanut butter are combined along with butter,Parmesan cheese  and soy sauce to form an Asian influenced dish. Top with more Parmesan if you want. Another meat free dish is eggplant adobo, eggplant is cubed and sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper first, This is placed in a bowl to make room for cooking the adobo.The sauce is coconut milk,soy sauce ,vinegar and sugar cooked in the same pan as the eggplant in the oil. The eggplant is added back in an d cooked for ten more minutes. Add rice to it for a heartier dish

These are easy dishes for busy nights ahead. Make them for a quick dinner that the family can enjoy. They're a simple cook - perfect for the non stop days ahead.