5 Recipes for Small Victories

This gets its meatiness from roasted cauliflower and cooked lentils. It’s one of the more time-intensive this week, so plan for the rest of the meal to be simple, like a green salad.

These salmon filets don’t even need to marinate. Just make the jerk mixture, slap it on, and slide the fish under the broiler. This is tasty with crunchy slaw and coconut rice and beans.

Skirt steak makes a flexible dinner—it’s a quick flash in the pan and you get crusty, juicy slices to top a salad, a grain bowl, or to tuck into warm tortillas. Or just have it with steamed broccoli and baked potatoes.

A fresh salad is a cheerful sight in the dead of winter. This has all kinds of vibrant flavors: citrus, fennel bulb, and miso. Cook your own chicken breasts or use meat from a rotisserie bird to save time.

Sear tenderloins on the stovetop and finish them in the oven with apple slices and a little wine to make savory drippings. Mashed potatoes and red cabbage make it a meal.

This wholesome snack cake is plenty fine as-is, but it’ll get devoured if you slather it with dreamy cream cheese frosting.