The Veggie top 20

I was reading Serious Eats this morning and oh wow she had a good post.

"If you were going to cook regularly for friends and/or family, 5 nights a week, you would basically need 20 recipes to get your through a month. This allows for dining out, and pizza night once a week as an example.

What 20 dishes, should every home cook know? i have some thoughts here, with a decided italian slant. In no particular order, but am struggling to complete 20 dishes that most people would not mind having 12 times a year."

... and then she lists her 20. But it got me thinking about my monthly menu, and how many times I serve a staple just because I can. Not very adventurous or creative, no? And as much as they love a good mac n chz, do I really need to serve it once a week? Probably not. Not when they could be having pesto linguine or spaghetti with fall veggies or mushroom manicotti or florentine ravioli instead. So, I am going to think a bit while my girls are schooling today.... put it on the backburner, as it were. Going to try to come up with a monthly menu of 20 meals. A new staple. A better staple. ANYTHING for a change, right?

And while I'm here, how about instead of 20 dishes everyone should know, what about 20 BASICS everyone should know. For vegetarians the list is a little different. We don't necessarily need to know how to broast and braise. Rather, we should know how to blanche and can and stew and grill and stuff and create. We should know methods rather than recipes. We should know our ingredients and learn how to use them to their best savor. So, I'll be thinking on that as well.

But, in the meantime, I am interested in your 20 dishes, your 20 basics. What are your suggestions?