7. Rely on Hot Plates

More than half of the meals we eat every week are Hot Plates: Meals we build spontaneously from raw materials like grilled chicken, browned ground meat, steam-sautéed veggies, and sauces. Our pre-dinner conversation usually goes like this:

• Me: Are you in the mood for Chinese, Middle Eastern, Mexican, or Italian?
• Dave: Mmmm... Mexican!
• Me: Beef or chicken?
• Dave: Beef!

Then I pull the containers of ground beef and steam-sautéed peppers and cabbage from the fridge. While they’re warming up in the pan with a little fat, I turn homemade mayo into Southwestern Cumin-Lime Dressing to drizzle on top of our Mexican Hot Plate, and we’re eating dinner in about 10 minutes from fridge to table.