ThePrep: Fast & Simple 5-Ingredient Dinners for Spring

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I love a good shortcut dinner. Whether I have 10 minutes to get something on the table or an hour, I always like keeping things easy. And this week of easy 5-ingredient dinners is as simple as it gets. These flavorful recipes use five ingredients or less (not including basics you probably already have in your kitchen, like salt, pepper and oil) and prove that you don't need much to make a great meal.

Your Meal Plan

We kick off this week of 5-ingredient dinners with easy Cabbage Roll Chicken Enchiladas. In this recipe, all you do is combine chicken (I like buying a rotisserie bird to keep things simple), cheese, refried beans and enchilada sauce together in a bowl and then tuck the mixture into cabbage leaves—yum! These flavorful, ready-to-use ingredients really help to add deliciousness to these dinners while keeping the ingredient count low.

You'll see plenty of other shortcut ingredients in this week's dinners, like the quick-cooking gnocchi (I always keep a bag in my freezer) in Monday's Cauliflower Gnocchi Caprese and boxed butternut squash soup (a pantry staple in my house) in Wednesday's Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Halloumi. Another recipe I'm really excited for this week is Tuesday's Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes & Basil. It's my favorite way to make salmon in the warmer months. Enjoy!

Sunday: Cabbage Roll Chicken Enchiladas

Monday: Cauliflower Gnocchi Caprese

Tuesday: Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes & Basil with grilled zucchini

Wednesday: Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Halloumi

Thursday: Creamy Chicken & Mushrooms over cooked egg noodles

Friday: Black Bean Fajita Skillet

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Big Batch Snack

This recipe is a riff on our oh-so-popular Baked Banana-Nut Oatmeal Cups but with the addition of fresh, juicy blueberries. This warm, nutty muffin is just the thing to get me out of bed in the morning and makes for the best afternoon snack. And thanks to all those oats, there's a nice little fiber boost.

Get the Recipe: Baked Blueberry & Banana-Nut Oatmeal Cups

Treat Yourself

Just like how you don't need a long list of ingredients to make a tasty dinner, the same applies to cocktails. This Lavender Bee's Knees uses just 4 ingredients—two of which are honey and lemon—to create a simple yet sophisticated sipper. I look forward to enjoying a glass (or two) this weekend.

Get the Recipe: ​​Lavender Bee's Knees