7 Best Tax Day Dinners

It’s Monday, and taxes are due tomorrow. Maybe, as a way of dealing, you recently indulged in a few Champagne cocktails in the sun, and hey, who can judge you?

But now you’re looking at your bank account and have decided not to leave home until those coffers fill back up. We’re right there with you. Here’s what to cook until you’re fiscally back on your feet.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

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Photo credit: StockFood, Condé Nast Collection.

Don’t turn up your nose at tuna noodle casserole. This is retro redux, done right. The basics are so simple—tuna from a can, some fat noodles—and mingled with mushrooms or bell peppers, artichoke hearts or panko to wonderful effect.

Beans and Rice

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Photo credit: Everyday Food 

Look to cheap proteins like black or red beans to keep you full. Then scrabble through the fridge for veggie odds and ends, and use them along with spices, garlic, and chicken or vegetable stock to turn those beans into something simple but substantial.

Lentil Soup 

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Photo credit: StockFood, Sporrer/Skowronek

Don’t underestimate lentils. When you use three colors’ worth of ‘em—plus those spices that are just hanging out in the pantry, waiting to be used—they are the base of a spectacular, earthy soup.

Frittata

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Photo credit: Food52

Thank goodness for eggs. Even when your fridge has only Sriracha and PBR (and looks like it judges you for your life decisions), eggs are usually there. And even if you don’t have a gorgeous curl of fiddlehead ferns on hand, almost anything can be frittata-ed.

Odds and Ends Soup

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Photo credit: Everyday Food

Got red wine? Got stale bread? Got chicken stock, and an onion? Great. You’re French. Make French onion soup. Got veggie stock and a bunch of about-to-go veggies? Make vegetable soup. Although we don’t recommend using the proverbial stone, nearly anything else can be turned into a satisfying soup.

Mac ‘n Cheese

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Photo credit: Everyday Food

You always have pasta in the cupboard, right? Now is the time to clear out that cheese drawer. When pasta is briefly boiled, spun with a milk-and-cheese or cream-and-cheese sauce, topped with buttery bread crumbs, and popped in the oven, it feels gourmet. (Especially when it comes in cute individual ramekins.) But it’s cheap!

Pancakes

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Photo credit: Stacy Ventura, StockFood

If ever there was a time when no one can judge you for eating pancakes for dinner, now is that time. Lots of syrup, thanks. Exhale. You made it. Good work.

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