More often than not, summer recipes mean no-cook meals, crunchy salads, and other dishes that deserve the label refreshing. That’s all well and good, but after a long, hard day at work, sometimes you need to tuck into something a little more comforting. These are the times when it’s OK to turn on the oven and add something creamy or cheesy to your summer produce, or bake a juicy fruit cobbler that’s begging for a big scoop of ice cream.

Here are the 50 best summer comfort food recipes to relish, no matter what the temperature is outside.

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This week’s meal plan is doing double duty as both dinners for this week and as fodder for the freezer for the busy weeks of September ahead. As you can imagine, with two little kids at home it’s pretty rare that there’s a whole day each weekend to cook and prep, but this sneaky method — cooking once and eating twice — means I’ve got some meal prep waiting in the deep freeze when I need it.

These big-batch dinners mostly rely on the slow cooker and will make enough to feed my family of four this week and still freeze four servings for future use with some leftovers for lunch this week.

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Mercury is no longerretrograde, finally, and we are celebrating the only way we know how: by eating everything in sight. A new month means it’s time to match your zodiac sign with a recipe sent straight from the heavens. Prepare to settle into a new routine and cook something a little out of your comfort zone, now that the lazy, hazy days of summer are coming to an end. Here are our suggestions.

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Happy Labor Day Weekend! While everyone else online (and social media) laments about summer being over, we want to use this time to remind you that you probably have a bonus day off on Monday. That’s a free day to do whatever you want! You can use it to do something fun, or something productive, or something fun and then something productive!

What to do? We’ve got some suggestions.

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So maybe you don’t have a summer vacation to France on the books — that’s OK! Instead, head to the farmers market, load up on the juiciest tomatoes you can find, and take a trip to France through your kitchen. These seven recipes are both classic and inspired, and they all taste perfectly of the season — no matter where you are.

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Costco’s return policy is famously generous. If you’re not happy with something, they’ll take it back. That’s one of the perks of membership, but a lot of people take that lenient return policy way too far. People have been spotted returning dead Christmas trees in January, seven-year-old dog beds, half-eaten food, and even a used litter box, still full of kitty litter. Now, however, it sounds like it might actually be possible to take return-policy abuse too far, because one customer says Costco revoked her membership for abusing the return policy.

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Ah, Target; what a beautiful, beautiful place. Where else can you buy clothes, furniture, greeting cards, deodorant, and a fresh latte in one fell swoop? Exactly.

We know we’re not the only ones who are obsessed with Target. In fact, plenty of professional designers shop there for both business and pleasure. So, the next time you’re there, keep an eye out for these items designers can’t stop buying. Because, as you well know, you never go to Target and buy just one thing.

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If you meal prep just one thing over the weekend, my best (and favorite) advice is to always make a sauce. I’m a strong believer that a simple, flavorful sauce is the single thing that will take any meal from good to great. And the more simple, the better.

You truly don’t need a lot of ingredients or effort to pull together a really good sauce, and these 10 recipes prove it. Start with three ingredients (and a little salt and pepper, if you like) and you’ve got all you need.

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No one can become a devout minimalist — or purge their entire life and home of all unnecessary belongings — in just 15 minutes. But everyone can take a few minutes out of their day to do a few small tasks that could you get you traveling down the road toward living a more minimal life.

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There are two goals most of us strive for when packing lunch: to save money and eat something healthy. By healthy, we mean something that’s full of feel-good ingredients like vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Sometimes it can feel hard to accomplish both at the same time, but these 10 recipes prove that it’s actually quite easy. Hearty grain bowls, pantry frittatas, and freezer-friendly wraps are wholesome lunch ideas that don’t require you to dig deep into your wallet.

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