An early Motzaei Shabbos often means a long evening of entertaining and feeding the home crew. Do you find yourself tinkering in the kitchen in that snacking mood, preparing meals that just scream, “Cozy evenings indoors!”? Here’s what we like to serve on these long nights.

Noodles and Quesadillas

Every Motzaei Shabbos, my 17-year–old, Chaim, makes noodles. Some of us like it with cheese melted in the microwave (pet peeve alert, the worst thing to clean. Why can’t they at least soak it when they put it in the sink???). Some like it with sauce and cheese, and some mother in the house insists she doesn’t want any noodles after a Shabbos heavy on food, and then capitulates and takes a bowl with her favorite topping: salt. Don’t judge.

Lately, my friend started a Melaveh Malkah initiative as a zechus for someone, inspiring me to wash. So flour tortilla quesadillas with Estee Kafra’s chocolate sesame butter and Marshmallow Fluff is my contribution to the cause. What did you expect? Gourmet? I just cleaned the kitchen!

—Chaia Frishman, columnist

Homemade Pizza

With no local pizza shop, we often make pizza. For a while I’ve been searching for a real pizza dough recipe. The homemade ones are good, but we find them very bread-y and puffy. I finally found one that’s closer to the taste and texture of a real pizza shop dough — crust and all. Here it is:

Mix 3 cups flour, 1¹⁄₂Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp yeast. Add 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp warm water and mix until just combined. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1¹⁄₂ tsp salt (that’s the official amount, we add a bit more salt). Mix until the dough forms a ball. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and knead for about a minute with lightly oiled hands. Form it into a ball again, drizzle some olive oil on it, and wrap in plastic wrap. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a day. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before using.

When you’re ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Top with sauce and cheese and vegetables if you’d like, and bake for 20 minutes.

—Rachel Bachrach, associate editor

Razzles

We often throw together a razzle or smoothie in the blender, usually consisting of some or all of the following: crushed ice, ice cream, coffee, crushed cookies, Rice Krispies, peanut butter, chocolate, milk, and vanilla. If I’m in the mood of being healthy (which is usually not what my kids are in the mood of), we use Greek yogurt in place of some of the milk.

We also do the fruity version: yogurt, granola, coconut, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, milk, vanilla, and orange juice.

There’s no real recipe, just a hodgepodge of pouring and whirring!

—Faigy Grossman, recipe columnist

Baguettes with Cheese Sauce

We do par-baked mini French baguettes with homemade cheese sauce (and a fun family game, of course!). Here’s our cheese sauce recipe.

• 3–4 slices American cheese
• a few handfuls of any other shredded cheese you have on hand
• ½ cup milk
• flour or cornstarch, to thicken

Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer as the mixture thickens. Dip the freshly baked baguettes into it.

—Chaya Perel Nojowitz, graphics

Zoodles with Sauce

After the heavy Shabbos meals, we usually do some version of zoodles (zucchini noodles) with pesto or marinara and cheese, or nachos.

—Chanie Apfelbaum, recipe columnist

Simple but Fun

We usually keep things very simple and either dress up frozen pizza with different toppings or make hot dogs and put them on skewers for the kids.

—Sarina Laghaei, ad design