5 Easy Dinner Recipes Your Whole Family Will Love

These are the simplest weeknight dinners you can cook this week.

Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Lindsey Lower

Every Monday, our editors bring you Simply (Weeknight) Recipes, five quick and easy dinner recipes to make this week.

I've found that the worst thing about being a trained chef and food editor is that people rarely cook for me. They're intimidated (I've asked), as if the food won't be good enough. Even when I get invited for dinner, there's usually an explanation: "I should work on my knife skills. It usually turns out better. I'm so sorry!" It's a curse because I love being fed more than I like feeding others.

I don't like food writing that burbles about how cooking is love, but the truth is that when you feed people something you made with your hands, they feel it. Once, a friend mashed boiled eggs with mayo and plopped it on a slice of white bread. She folded it in half, and I ate it in three bites. That was over 20 years ago, but I still recall the feeling.

Try to remember this when you make dinner for your family this week. It isn't always fun and games—it's hard work cooking every day—but knowing that you're doing sacred labor helps.

Here are five weeknight-friendly recipes I'm making for my family this week, including smart tips to help you along.

Chicken Marsala

Simply Recipes / Photo by Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne

Get Recipe: This Is *Definitely* the Best Chicken Recipe You’ll Make This Year

If you don't feel like pounding the chicken, buy tenderloins or cut the chicken breasts in half horizontally. They'll cook up just fine as long as they're mostly the same thickness.

Cheesy Tortellini Casserole

Elise Bauer

Get Recipe: Cheesy Tortellini Casserole

My kids won't touch Swiss chard with a 10-foot pole, so I use baby spinach, which has a milder flavor. I also use meat-filled tortellini for a boost of protein.

Salisbury Ground Beef

Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Lindsey Lower

Get Recipe: Salisbury Ground Beef

If your beef broth is salted or you use salted butter, reduce the kosher salt to 1 teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon if using table or sea salt). Taking salt out is impossible, so wait until the end to add.

Sheet Pan Gnocchi With Mushrooms, Sausage, and Kale

Simply Recipes / Alison Bickel

Get Recipe: Sheet Pan Gnocchi With Mushrooms, Sausage, and Kale

Recipe developer Katie Morford recommends: "Use a large sheet pan, like a jelly roll or half sheet pan. The ingredients can be close together in this recipe, but if food is piled up, everything won’t cook evenly or brown nicely. Use two sheet pans if what you have is on the smaller side."

Microwave Red Curry Poached Salmon

Simply Recipes / Tara Omidvar

Get Recipe: Microwave Red Curry Poached Salmon

This recipe was developed and tested in a 1,000- and 1,250-watt microwave. You may need to cook the salmon for less or longer, in one-minute intervals, depending on the power of your microwave and how you like your salmon cooked.

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