Once upon a Chef: Weeknight/Weekend: 70 Quick-Fix Weeknight Dinners + 30 Luscious Weekend Recipes

“Sometimes we cook because we have to and sometimes because we love to, but either way, the reward is the same,” writes Segal in this resourceful roundup of the best recipes from her Once Upon a Chef blog. Segal’s a realist at heart (“Much as I love to cook,” she writes, “I don’t harbor any romantic notions about weeknight cooking”), and that comes through in the no-nonsense, flavor-filled recipes she dishes up on busy nights as much as it does in her slow-cooked weekend meals to linger over. Various cuisines are on offer during the week, such as soba chicken noodle salad with ginger peanut dressing, blackened fish tacos with pickled onions and lime crema, and dinnertime breakfast burritos. Segal’s beginner-friendly instructions will motivate novice home cooks into recreating well-loved dishes—such as creamy potato soup and chicken marsala—and leisurely weekend recipes, “for when you have a few hours to putter around the kitchen,” including her chicken chili and cornbread pie and a beef stew that’s been a big hit on her website. Throughout, Segal provides helpful make-ahead tips and informative ingredient blurbs (“Tarragon, with its sweet, anise-like flavor, is an essential herb in French cooking,” she notes in the pan-seared halibut recipe). Those craving more variety in their cooking routines should take a look. (Sept.)