I work FT. DD is a demon when hungry so meals need to be fast, or have cheese and crackers available to snack on while I cook.
Fajitas - slice chicken, throw in pan. Slice peppers and an onion (veggies). Squeeze a lime. Find the seasoning packet. Grate the cheese, slice the lettuce and tomato. Add seasoning and lime juice to pan. Keep a tablespoon lime juice for guacamole. Stir, add veggies, stir again. Peel and mash avocado, peel and crush 1 clove garlic, sprinkle cayenne pepper and grind of salt, add rest of lime juice, stir to combine. Take salsa, crème fraiche from fridge. Put wraps into microwave, transfer fixings and plates/glasses to table, transfer wraps on a plate and meat still in the pan to table. Sit, eat. About 12 minutes.
Chicken and mushrooms takes longer as longer cooking time. I diced the chicken last night (when I already had a chicken'y board and knife with fajitas), and will throw that into a pan. Then slice an onion, and add that early to let it slowly cook down with chick. Boil kettle and get pasta on to cook. Slice garlic and mushrooms, add those once chick is cooked. Sauce is generally throwing in some white wine (and/or some decent chicken stock) - maybe a cup, reduce it by half, add a glug of double cream, season S/P and a good pinch of chopped tarragon if I have any. Drain pasta, serve. About 18 minutes. Perhaps some garlic bread toasties if I have some in - throw those in the grill about the same time as I start to reduce the sauce.
I often leave potatoes already peeled in pots, soaking in water, ready to boil a kettle, replace the cold water with hot and start boiling as soon as I get in. And might have them chopped small.
Curries are better the day after you make them, so I often do batches of different curries and have some the following day and the rest gets frozen. I have a fast recipe for pilau rice if we want something less ordinary, and it is quick to chop tomatoes and onions for a cooking salsa on the side while the rice cooks and curry reheats. Puppodums already cooked from a pack. And a decent jar of chutney from the fridge.
Sometimes meals are literally what's already served on the plate. Sometimes the pot goes in the middle of the table for people to serve themselves (eg mac'n'cheese). And other days, there are lots of bits to choose from (curry, fajitas, burger nights etc) but I don't tend to do a lot of "making" of those on the night, a bit of slicing/grating, and a fair amount of grabbing jars and packets.