The Guest Editor: Anna

"My husband is a pescatarian, so we don’t do much meat. I make a lot of pasta with veggies, roasted fish, pitas stuffed with hummus, veggies, feta, herbs, and big pots of lentil soup for dinners. Remy generally eats whatever we eat, but deconstructed or simplified. Sometimes when I have a lot of veggies at the end of the week I’ll do summer rolls with peanut sauce."

"I’ve been doing a fun throwdown meal on Saturdays for “date night,” but otherwise, I’ve been keeping things simple during the week. I love these recipes because they are very easy, very good and rely on pantry staples I always have on hand. You can put them on and forget about them for a while, giving you time to get other things prepped."

"Remy and I are doing a lot of cooking and baking, going on walks in the woods, digging in the dirt in our little garden, chalk drawing, and of course, watching Daniel Tiger :) She’s also into water play or “water painting,” aka using water instead of paint, filling a plastic storage box with water and bath toys, and playing in the sink."

"Moms! You are amazing! Show yourself some loving kindness every day and let yourself marinate in even really small victories. Remember that everyone’s just doing the best they can given their circumstances – it’s okay to not feel okay! Listen to podcasts in the background when your brain feels numb. And try to take some time for yourself every day, even if that means letting go of something else."

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

sea saltblack pepper

paprika, curry powder, or other spices (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the chickpeas on a kitchen towel and pat them dry. Remove any loose skins. Transfer the dried chickpeas to the baking sheet and toss them with a drizzle of olive oil and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Roast the chickpeas for 40 minutes, or until crispy. Ovens can vary, if your chickpeas are not crisp, roast them for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and, while the chickpeas are still warm, toss with pinches of your favorite spices, if using. Store roasted chickpeas in a loosely-covered container at room temperature. They are best used within a few days.

Tomato Sauce with Onions and Butter

Serves: 6 | By Marcella Hazan

This is the simplest of all sauces to make, and none has a purer, more irresistibly sweet tomato taste. I have known people to skip the pasta and eat the sauce directly out of the pot with a spoon. Reprinted with permission from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Copyright 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Published by Knopf.

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and roughly chopped, OR 2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice

5 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half salt

1 to 1 1/2 pounds pastafreshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Instructions

Puteither the prepared fresh tomatoes or the canned in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato. Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in the pan with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta. Serve with grated parmesan.

Notes

May be frozen when done. Discard the onion before freezing. Recommended pasta: This is an unsurpassed sauce for Potato Gnocchi, but it is also delicious with spaghetti, penne, or rigatoni.