I'm not sure if there is such an option, but I'd say that most programs do have this functionality built into them. For example if you use LibreOffice, you have that option under the "File" menu:
For recent Documents, You can find that in Nautilus (the File Manager generally named ''Files''). Open it and on the left Side look at the first Entry and click on it:
For recent Programs, there would be a Possibility: When you would use instead of the Zorin StartMenu the Gnome Extension ArcMenu, there You can add this. Unfortunately this isn't available in the Zorin StartMenu.