Recipes for when you have precisely one brain cell available to think about what to cook

We seem stressed, team. We good?

Hello, chefs.

I asked y’all on Instagram what you wanted to cook this weekend and wow, there’s some stuff to dig into here. We have friends visiting from Malaysia (fun!), seven-year anniversaries (nice work fam), and olympic-level training schedules that require precise kCal intake (sorry, I can’t help you there). Most of you, though, just want easy meals that are reasonably healthy, easy to prep and clean, and seem a bit more indulgent than they really are.

I feel you. After about four months of a full-on sprint in just about every area of my life, I’m hitting a slower period. I don’t know if things in my life are actually slowing down (the revolving door of dump trucks and delivery vans in my driveway would suggest otherwise) or if my nervous system just hit her max capacity and said, “you know what, bitch, take a seat.”

Either way, I’m enjoying my Stress Sabbatical. I’m drinking water, eating greens, going for hot girl walks, crushing books, showing up to my workouts, and spending 50% less time in a mental fetal position whispering “why did I sign up for this.” It’s divine.

When it’s Stress Season, though, I rarely remember that it’s part of a cyclical slowing-down and speeding-up of life—not an inescapable sink hole of despair. But it is, and the slow part is coming, I promise. If you’re in a slow part right now, use it to gift yourself tools for how to deal with the fast parts later.

Yes, one tool is a stockpile of easy, healthy recipes for when you don’t have the energy or will to find them yourself.

But another—maybe less obvious—is learning to use your cooking time as a mental transition between wherever your brain just was and wherever it needs to be next. Usually, for me, this is the end of the workday when I need to turn off work and meaningfully engage with my friends and family. Cooking a meal is the neutral space between the two. I find that if this time spent cooking is stressing me out, it’s usually because I’m trying to keep one foot in whatever I was just doing—keeping Slack open, responding to texts, ruminating on a problem. If you give cooking your full attention, though, you might find some peace in it.

Anyway…let’s get to the food.

This week:

I’m all for prep-ahead, ready-when-you-are meals that index high on simplicity and nutritional value. But here’s what I don’t like:

• (Most) crockpot meals—mushy and over-cooked just isn’t for me 🤷🏻‍♀️

• Make-ahead meals that are delicious the first night but taste like the inside of your microwave the other four

Instead, how about a few quick-prep meal ideas that pull from basically the same ingredient list which can all (basically) be prepped in advance?

-Faith

---

If you’re making all of these meals this week , here’s your shopping list:

• 1 head green cabbage

• 1 head bok choi

• 1 small bunch broccoli

• 1 bunch green onions

• 1 bunch parsley or dill

• 2 red onions

• 1 quart chicken stock

• Jasmine rice

• Salmon (1 filet per person you’re feeding)

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

• 16 oz frozen dumplings

And some pantry items you should have on hand:

• Neutral oil, salt, pepper, sugar (c’mon guys)

• Minced garlic (yep, the stuff in the jar)

• Minced ginger (yep, the squeeze kind)

• Course mustard

• Apple cider vinegar

• Soy sauce

• Rice vinegar

• Sesame oil

• Capers

• Coriander and cumin

---

Salmon and rice with cabbage salad

Prep your salmon: Sprinkle with a bit of salt and sugar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes while you prep your rice and dressing (below). Then, rinse it off and dry it with a paper towel. When you’re ready, give it a quick sear in a pan over med-high heat with a drizzle of neutral cooking oil. Mine takes about 4 minutes on each side depending on how thick your filets are.

Prep your rice: You’ll want leftovers, so prep enough for 4-6 servings. For Dan and I, this would be 2 cups rice, 4 cups water. Add a dash of salt and a spoonful each of minced garlic and ginger. Simmer, covered, until your liquid is absorbed.

Prep your dressing: Slice your green onions and add to a small bowl (or tupperware container so you can save some) with 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp ginger, and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Prep your cabbage: You’re gonna use a bunch of cabbage if you’re making the things below, so to make your life easier this week, just slice up the whole head into thin ribbons. Store it in a big lidded bowl.

Put it all together: Rice, a handful of sliced fresh cabbage, and a salmon filet on a plate or shallow bowl. Drizzle it all with your dressing. Done.

Looks sad and beige, tastes bright and delicious. Promise.

---

Sheet pan roast chicken with glazed cabbage

Full recipe linked here, but here’s my adaptation:

Heat the oven to 425.

Make your dressing: 1/2 cup oil, 2 heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tsp cumin, salt and pepper.

Prep your baking sheet: Lay down a layer of sliced cabbage (you have some in your fridge, right?) and brush with the dressing. Slice your red onions and intersperse them with your cabbage. Sprinkle with capers (I like lots). Lay your chicken thighs on top (skin side up). Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with your leftover rice and sprinkle with chopped parsley or dill.

Save your extra chicken (slice it off the bone before you refrigerate to make your life easier) for some dumpling noodle soup ⬇️

---

Dumpling noodle soup

Full recipe linked here, but here’s my adaptation:

Prep your broth: In a large-ish stock pot, drizzle in some sesame oil and a few spoonfuls each of garlic and ginger. Cook over medium until fragrant. Pour in your chicken stock plus two cups of water, add a sprinkle of salt, cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium.

Prep your fixings: Slice your broccoli and bok choi into bite-sized pieces.

Put it all together: Remove the lid and add a few glugs of soy sauce and your frozen dumplings. When the dumplings float to the top, add your broccoli and bok choi and any leftover sliced chicken you have. Let it cook for about 2 minutes before serving.

You can serve it with a cabbage salad using any leftover dressing from the salmon.

---

Leftover cabbage and rice? Make a variation of the TikTok baked salad

This is the video (I’ve shared it before), and you could easily do it with just the baked cabbage. Sub out quinoa for rice—it’ll crisp up similarly.

---