10 easy and fresh post-vacation dinner recipes

No groceries in the house? No problem! A quick stop at the store yields everything you need (three cheers for rotisserie chicken!) for these light and simple salad rolls. Task the kids with rolling their own while you do those 10 million other things that come with the returning home from vacay. Get the recipe: Vietnamese Roast Chicken and Salad Rolls

Pasta is always easy. This one stars zucchini noodles and light pesto to make up for all the greens you didn’t get enough of on holiday. Get the recipe: Spaghetti with Pesto and Zucchini Threads

Lettuce wraps are easy to make and keep dinner fun—which you’ll need as you get back to reality. Get the recipe: Pork Lettuce Wraps

Here’s rotisserie chicken saving the day again. Shred it up in your fave pasta and add some frozen peas. Ease back into real life, would ya? Get the recipe: Farfalle with Roast Chicken, Spring Veggies and Parmesan

Post-vacation let-down is tough, so bring a little colour to dinner. The edamame gives this hash a protein boost, but if you’re after more, it pairs nicely with some mild Italian sausage. Get the recipe: Corn and Squash Succotash

Don’t be intimidated by tofu. Sure, it looks like a weird sponge—and because of that it absorbs whatever marinade you toss it in, then crisps up nicely. These tofu croutons truly take the dish from OK to HOLY YES GIVE ME THIS EVERY DAY! Get the recipe: Shaved Carrot, Fennel and Bok Choy Salad

Because after all that decadent eating you did on vacation, sometimes a simple soup is just what you want. It’s fresh, it’s delicious and it had us at crumbled feta. Get the recipe: Fresh Pea and Edamame Soup with Mint and Feta

Trust us, even meat eaters will be all about these sticky-sweet skewers. Simple is the name of the game here: This meal comes together in 40 min, but 20 min of that is completely inactive—soaking skewers and heating the grill. No sweat. Get the recipe: Miso-Maple Tofu Kebabs

This light, veg-based room-temperature dish is very nearly no cook: Soba noodles (made from buckwheat and deliciously nutty) boil up in 4 min—you can’t even whisk the dressing that fast. Get the recipe: Cold Sesame Soba Noodle Dish

Here’s the beauty of this sandwich: Anything goes. Not too meat or cheese-heavy, crisp veggies like green beans and lettuce and slivers of apple make up the beauteous bulk here. Get the recipe: Ham and Cheese Muffaletta

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