More than any other time of the year, this one feels the most chaotic, an endless stream of end-of-year school parties, graduations, field days, ice cream socials, weekend tournaments, and moving-up ceremonies … to high school! 😢. When I bump into friends dashing through the grocery store, I get the sense the feeling is shared.

Often I leave the house at 3:45 in the afternoon and don’t return till 8, and if I haven’t planned dinner before departing, it will mean Jersey Mike’s or Chipotle for dinner. It could be worse, but it’s not ideal either.

Determined to make it through this week without serving a single dinner in the car, I took some time over the weekend to prep: I made a batch of these slow-cooker chickpeas (no soaking, so good), and I whisked up a batch of this Italian dressing. Twice this week, I prepped the ingredients for a big chopped salad and pulled the dressing from the fridge before heading out for afternoon activities. Upon returning home, I tossed everything together, and dinner was served.

It was such a reminder that a little prep goes a long way and more specifically: Is there anything better than having a batch of homemade salad dressing on hand? It feels like such a godsend at the dinner hour.

This Italian dressing recipe and the salad pictured above come from my cookbook Pizza Night. The dressing is similar to this 5-Ingredient Greek Salad Dressing recipe in that it’s an emulsion of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and extra-virgin olive oil but this one also includes some fresh lemon juice, a little oregano, and garlic. It’s slightly thinner and sharper than the Greek dressing, but still palatable for the youngins. My children, who don’t love very sharp dressings, love this chopped salad.

The dressing yields enough for three if not more large salads, which I find satisfying and filling, and everything I want to eat right now. I hope you’ll agree.

Italian Dressing + Chopped Salad