5 Meals to Sustain You Through Daylight Savings

This week calls for endurance and truly simple, comforting meals that take no time to put together: an easy pasta, baked potatoes topped with curried chickpeas, and Sloppy Joes.

By
Myo Quinn
Myo Quinn
Myo Quinn
Myo's recipes, writing, and food styling can be found on King Arthur Baking, Food Network, Delish, Food52, and more. She collaborated on the cookbook Delish Vegan Dinners and trained at Gramercy Tavern and Untitled at the Whitney Museum.
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Published November 01, 2021
Myo Quinn
5 Meals to Sustain You Through Daylight Savings Time

Sunday is the end of daylight savings time—we get to push our clocks back one hour. For parents of young children, like my husband and I, “falling back” doesn’t translate to an extra hour in bed. We’re up earlier and we’ve lost all our steam by dinnertime. 

I’m not here to give you sanity-saving strategies for families dealing with daylight savings time, but close. These are five weeknight recipes that feel doable even under dire (is it bedtime yet?) circumstances. 

None of these weeknight meals require more than 15 minutes of active prep time, and they rely on pantry items with easy swaps if you’re not stocked. No one should have to make an extra stop at the grocery store this week. 

When I sat down to pick dinner recipes for this week, a theme emerged: carbs. If your version of self-care looks like a simple pasta with buttery tomatoes, we’ve got just the recipe. If your brand of self-care includes a more colorful spectrum, we support you too.

  • Buttery Tomato Pasta

    Buttery Tomato Pasta
    Elise Bauer

    While you cook the pasta, simmer canned tomatoes with a little butter, a little sugar, salt, and black pepper. That's it! The recipe calls for canned whole tomatoes, but diced or crushed tomatoes would work. Tomato sauce, purée, or stewed tomatoes would not—they often have added water or seasonings.

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  • Classic English Toad-in-the-Hole

    Overhead view of toad in the hole in a baking dish with a blue striped linen underneath.
    Michelle Becker

    The one-bowl batter rests for 30 minutes while the casserole dish preheats in the oven with the oven. This gives me just enough time to run the bath for the kids. This may cause folks across the pond to shake their fists in the air: I don’t brown the sausages before pouring in the batter. It saves me 5 minutes and a dirty pan. They always turn out perfectly cooked and golden brown on top.

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  • Curry Chickpea-Loaded Baked Potato

    Baked Potatoes with Chickpeas
    Erin Alderson

    Curry and chickpeas are a celestial pairing. Although I love to serve it over basmati rice, this week I appreciate not having to nurse stovetop rice—these curried chickpeas are served over potatoes that are halved (read: cooks faster) and roasted until golden and tender. 

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  • BBQ Chicken Sheet Pan Pizza

    BBQ Chicken Pizza
    Aaron Hutcherson

    There is no shame in frozen pizza, but this low-lift homemade version can be ready in 30 minutes. Lean on store-bought pizza dough, pre-cooked chicken, jarred BBQ sauce, and bagged shredded mozzarella. It’s low effort, high reward. 

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    Continue to 5 of 6 below.

  • Best Ever Sloppy Joes

    Sloppy Joe
    Elise Bauer

    This is a humble sandwich with a sweet, tangy, and meaty filling that can be made in one pot. The recipe calls for carrots, onions, and celery, but you could also use bell peppers too. Go ahead. Reach for the bagged potato chips and jarred pickles.

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  • Weekend Baker: Yogurt Cake

    Side view of a sliced Simple Yogurt Cake on a wooden paddle.
    Lori Rice

    This is a one-bowl loaf cake that’s better on day two and three. It’s tender, sweet, and a little tangy from the yogurt—great for snacking and even better as a blank canvas to celebrate surviving a seemingly small but mighty time change. I’m topping mine with Vanilla Roasted Strawberries.

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