Five fast dinner recipes and more giftsHere’s something I’ve never done until now: plan ahead for the holidays. (I once bought presents on the way to the airport on Dec. 23. Don’t be like that!) But just as I’ve taken to meal planning — or my own loose version of it — I’m evolving, emerging from my procrastination chrysalis as a butterfly who is already planning Christmas Eve dinner and buying cute cat paraphernalia for her children before we’ve even hit Thanksgiving. I figure that if you’re a busy person who still wants something good to eat, you may also be a busy person who wants to give good presents. I’ll point you directly toward The New York Times and Wirecutter 2025 holiday gift guide, which includes ideas from several Cooking and Food staff members with excellent taste. Another suggestion: our new cookbook, “Cookies”! (Bundle it with a few of Wirecutter’s essential baking tools.) Speaking of cookbooks, I’m chuffed to share that “Easy Weeknight Dinners” just won an award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, in the general cookbook category. The same brilliant recipe developers whose dishes are featured here every week are omnipresent in this book. Ideas? Requests? Write to me at dearemily@nytimes.com. I love to hear from you. I’m also makingOne-pot whole roasted chicken and rice; lemon layer cake with cream cheese frosting.
1. Creamy Butternut Squash and Coconut Noodle SoupSoup season is well underway; do not miss the chance to make Christian Reynoso’s coconut-squash soup, which can be ready in 40 minutes. Pretty much any egg noodle will do in this broth, but I think it’s screaming for a long noodle, for optimal slurping.
2. Oven-Roasted Chicken ShawarmaThis is a classic Sam Sifton recipe, clever and efficient and big-hearted — a dish to set out at a table with your loved ones chattering around it, passing the chicken, the pitas, the toppings. It’s good for a Sunday, but also easy to make on a Tuesday. (It would also make a nice not-turkey Thanksgiving main.) Once the chicken goes in the oven, you can quickly get everything else ready, chopping up tomatoes and cucumbers, warming up the bread, and so on.
3. Basil TofuHetty Lui McKinnon’s excellent new recipe was inspired by the Thai dish pad krapow, swapping out the meat for torn pieces of tofu. This dish is three-chile-peppers hot. If that’s your thing, then you’ve found your supper.
4. Shrimp and Bacon BurritasBurritas! These are lighter (but by no means dainty) burritos; you’ll find them filled with seafood in Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. This recipe from Paola Briseño-González is simple and perfect.
5. Sausage and Peppers Pasta With BroccoliKay Chun reimagines classic Italian sausage and peppers as a fast pasta dinner. The flavors here are spot-on, but it’s the textures that make it pure pleasure to eat: the softened, slippery peppers; the nubby browned sausage; the chewy rigatoni; the tender-crisp broccoli bites. For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. Thanks for reading and cooking with me. If you like the work we do at New York Times Cooking, please subscribe! (Or give a subscription as a gift!) You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, or follow me on Instagram. I’m dearemily@nytimes.com, and previous newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have any questions about your account. View all recipes in your weekly plan.
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