Three small business owners share their favorite quick and easy recipes

So many people are newly inspired in the kitchen. I love that, but I’m not.

As far as I’m concerned, quick and easy recipes are the only recipes that exist.

So, as I like to do, I’ve reached out to folks who regularly prepare mouthwatering food for their favorite quickie dishes du jour. Today’s offerings are from three small-business owners.

Renee Hastings is a holistic health coach. She and I used to do TV cooking segments together when I was on the news in Springfield, Mass. She counsels mostly women (remotely, of course) to help reignite energy and broadly improve health. She’s also a mom, and while fancier cooking used to be her jam, she now says “real and ideal” is her motto, and she balances shortcuts with meals that are super healthy and homemade. It’s a mix.

See Hastings’ roasted butternut squash and almond butter toast recipes below. Her website is healthykitchennutrition.com.

Marina Montalvo is a baker who, by necessity, specializes in keto and gluten-free desserts.

“I wanted to be able to have something sweet, but a healthier version … now I don’t feel as guilty,” she says.

Montalvo has been selling baked goods since her teens and now operates mainly through word of mouth and social media. She makes all the basics: cakes for any celebration, chocolate-covered fruits, pies, sugar cookies, etc., but her keto/gluten-free cheesecake, flan, cookies and brownies stand out. Her cheesecake recipe below is surprisingly easy, but she’ll happily make it for you, too. See “Baked by Marina” on Facebook and Instagram.

Stacie Zollars is the creator of Sugarface Bakes (sugarfacebakes.com), a gorgeous food blog that’s all about healthy meals and sinful desserts.

Zollars hosts online cooking classes. Last month, she held a kid-friendly class that shared her famous 5-minute, no-bake dessert balls (which are also the subject of an e-book available on her website). All of her creations will make you drool. They’re beautiful, creative and consistently geared toward folks like me, who want homemade food but don’t want a hassle. Case in point, her almond biscuit recipe, below.