Quick and Easy Cuisine

[Loim]

So, as mentioned in the Getting to know you thread I'm starting this off. I am a big fan of easy ingredient/quick to make food. Since I live alone I don't have to please anyone but myself.

 

I eat a lot of rice and veggies. I also love doctoring up cheap Ramen. One of my favorite additives is pickled cabbage. For starters I will share one of my favorite quick recipes.

 

Tuna Casserole:

1x Can of Condensed Cream of Soup (I prefer Mushroom or Celery)

1x Box of Macaroni and Cheese Dinner (Kraft Dinner, Velveta Shells and Cheese, whatever you prefer)

1x Can of Tuna

 

Prepare the Mac n' Cheese as per directions. Mix in the tuna and soup (no water). Add in seasoning to taste. 

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

In a similar vein to the above recipe (meat, pasta, soup)  I present Awesome Wife's family version of American Chop Suey:

 

1lb of ground beef browed and drained

1lb of macaroni boiled to desired doneness.

2 cans of tomato soup

Grated parmesan

 

Mix ground beef, macaroni and soup (do not add water) and desired amount of parmesan.  Serve.  

 

I regularly double the batch for my family of 5 and it will make 10-15 servings (depending on what you consider a serving size).

 

 

[Thoramel]

I like this idea. Here's a relatively quick and easy recipe I make about once a week. The whole meal takes about 50 minutes, 10 for prep and 40 to roast,  and can feed a family of four...

• Pre heat oven to 425F
• cover a large baking pan in parchment paper
• cut into small pieces a pound each of carrots and potatoes and put in a large mixing bowl
• add about a pound of green beans to those carrots and potatoes
• season to taste with salt, pepper, and rosemary (add a bit of curry powder or cayenne pepper if you like it spicy) and mix together with about a tablespoon of olive oil
• space out 4 sausages on your paper lined sheet and then dump your veg/potato on there as well and fill in the gaps between the sausages
• Bake for 20 minutes and then stir and put back in the oven for another 10 to 20 minutes
• everything is ready when you can easily stab the potatoes and carrots with a fork

For those of you who don't cook here are some tips:

• go ahead and taste the carrots when you think it might be done, they take a bit longer to cook and should be tender all the way through
• You can actually leave out the oil if you are counting calories
• when I say sausage I mean something the size of a bratwurst or kielbasa, I like chicken sausages 
• you can sub out the green beans for just about anything else you can roast, if its something less dense, like broccoli or mushrooms, add them in around the 20 minute mark 

It's pretty healthy, depending on the sausages you choose. Cheers!

[VitM]

Instead of a specific recipe, I'm going to recommend two sources. 

 

The first source is a book I have called Dump Soups.  This is a cookbook with 50-60 soup recipes that only use a single pot, take 5 to 15 minutes to prep, and 15 minutes to 1 hour to cook.  I've made 5-6 of the recipes for myself and friends since getting this book over the holidays, and only 1 turned out sort of bland (to me) made as written.  The rest were filling and tasty and, for those counting calories, tend to come in around 2-300 calories per serving.

 

The second source is the website Minimalist Baker.  All of their recipes are at least 1 of the following qualities: 30 minutes or less prep, 1 bowl, or 10 or less ingredients.  They also have a lot of information about substitutions for people with allergies, dietary restrictions, or who are vegan/vegetarian.  If the stuff I've made from the Dump Soups book gets a response of "this is pretty good", the stuff I make from Minimalist Baker gets responses of "OMG this is amazing!"  

 

Given that I've only discovered an enjoyment of cooking in the past 2-3 years, and still barely know what I'm doing, these two resources have been very helpful in helping me expand my comfort level in the kitchen.

[CashWiley]

Going off my previous post on the topic: I condense my weeknight menu to a lean protein, veg, and whole grain. Use that as a template, slot in whatever fits. Making the template the usual means you can swerve off nicely, every now and again we go for fattier cuts like a rib steak or chicken thigh. 

 

Lean protein: Whatever is fresh and a good cut. Fish, turkey cutlets, chicken breast, pork chops, beef strip. I use a cast iron skillet over gas in the winter, pre-heat while prepping ingredients/seasoning meat (salt & pepper is all most meat needs, but Weber/McCormick blends are nice, Beer Can Chicken is a favorite). The time it takes to cook most steak/cutlet thickness cuts works well with the next two entries (veg and rice). For three seasons, I grill most of my protein and I open up the options to larger beef cuts that I break down after grilling, more burgers (I grind my own, it's quick, easy, and you can get a better grind on it, as well as custom blends, like good old chuck/brisket).

 

Veg. Frozen veg is usually the freshest option for many. No canned veg! Eww. Buy fresh if it's in season in your region, otherwise better to get frozen imo. I buy a variety of steam-in-bag. These take 5-7 minutes in the microwave.  In season I'll add corn, onions, peppers, etc to the grill menu, they're awesome. Grilled yellow onion is so sweet it's like candy. Eat your veg! Load that plate, fill up on veg!

 

Whole grain. Usually rice. I used to be a lot snobbier about rice, but convenience is a thing, and that's the topic here. Uncle Ben's steam-in-bag is an option. Long grain and wild is my favorite, but we keep a few kinds for variety. If I'm cooking for myself, I go with a custom blend that is much nuttier and flavorful, but the fiancee prefers Ben's (at least she eats some rice!). I eat a LOT of rice, never noticed until I spent some time caring for the fiancee in the hospital and her mom remarked on it...I realized I eat at least a cup of rice a day, and when it's an option, I'll eat it at both lunch and dinner. I love rice, subsisted on it for many years. Ben's rice is 90 seconds in the microwave! No cleanup!

I don't really eat processed food, or fast food. When I can make a decent meal in 15 minutes or less, heck, with one pan to clean (and cleaning cast iron is extremely simple and fast), it doesn't make sense to drive 10 minutes to get fast food or be unsatisfied with a processed microwave solution (like a hot pocket or whatever). Summer grilling is slightly longer, due to heating the grill (even a gas grill like mine...again, convenience is important!), but still under 30 minutes for a fresh meal.

[Loim]

Good stuff so far. I also eat a lot of rice. I almost always add it to my soups. 

 

Last night I made my version of brown beans and rice. The recipe works equally well on the stove top or in a crock pot. It's not particularly quick, but it's super easy.

 

Quick soak 1lb of pinto beans. Add the beans to your crockpot or stock pot. Add in chicken stock, some polish sausage or kielbasa, carrots, celery, and peppers ( I usually use bell or sweet peppers). Season to taste with cajun seasoning, cracked black pepper, and cayenne. I also usually add in a bit of tiger sauce. Wait until done to add in the rice then cook until rice is tender. 

[paintybeard]

Toad in the Hole:

 

Brown the desired number of sausages in a pan. While this is going on put a little oil in an oven proof pan and heat this in an oven at 220. (This stops the batter from sticking.)

 

The Batter: 4 oz self-raising Flour, half a pint of milk, Half teaspoon of Baking soda, an egg and a pinch of salt. Mix it all up thoroughly.

 

Once the sausages are decently cooked throw them in the pre-heated pan and pour in the batter. Put them back in the 220 oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180 for about another 20 minutes. (Or until the batter is a nice golden-brown.)

 

For variety caramelise some onions and include them. Or add a little mustard or horseradish to the batter.

Edited March 16, 2020 by paintybeard

[redambrosia]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly-Sandwich%3famp=1
 

[Thoramel]

So what I was talking about earlier? Here it is with kale instead of green beans. 

 

 

Normally I wouldn't use kale, but my wife bought a giant bag of it recently and it needs to get eaten. 

[Inarah]

Here's something you can do with one of those cans of beans you stockpiled. (plain canned beans, not BBQ or baked beans)

 

Chop up about a fist full each of carrot, celery and onion. Cook it in a pan with a little butter or oil for a few minutes until it starts to look a little soft.  Add canned beans (and at least one can of broth or equivalent bullion cubes and water). 

 

Bring to a simmer. That is little bubbles not big ones.  Stir and cook until the beans start to break down and the soup thickens. You can help it along by mashing the beans a little. 

 

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with bread. 

 

Edit: a little chopped tomato is a good addition, fresh or canned.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Inarah

[lowlylowlycook]

Sausage and Grapes:  

Cook some fresh (Italian but brats would work)  sausages.  Prick them with a fork to make sure you get some nice fat out of them then remove from pan.

Add grapes (seedless) to the pan and cook.   Slice sausages and add back to the grapes when they are done.

 

Hummus:

 

1 can garbanzo beans.

1/4  cup Tahini

1/4 cup Olive oil

1/4 cup water

1 clove garlic

lemon juice

salt

pepper

cumin

 

Blend until smooth

 

 

[Citrine]

This is a recipe for those that find rice a bit bland. 

 

I always cook my rice in chicken broth with with a tablespoon of fat added (margarine, butter or olive oil).  My son calls this awesome rice.

 

In general I always use chicken or beef broth in any recipe that calls for water, the flavor boost is amazing. 

[Cranky Dog]

1 hour ago, Citrine said:

This is a recipe for those that find rice a bit bland. 

 

I always cook my rice in chicken broth with with a tablespoon of fat added (margarine, butter or olive oil).  My son calls this awesome rice.

 

In general I always use chicken or beef broth in any recipe that calls for water, the flavor boost is amazing. 

That has been my mother's recipe since... forever!

 

It's also the secondary reason we bought whole chickens. To make broth out of the leftover bones.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Cranky Dog

[Doug Sundseth]

One that we eat regularly (including leftovers for me for lunch today):

 

Slice spicy sausage (use more than one type for more complex flavor) to a thickness of about 1/4" - 1/2" (6mm - 12mm).

Slice bell peppers (again, use more than one type if available) and onion into strips.

Sautee in oil and seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic, ....) until the structure of the onion starts to break down.

 

Eat.

 

It's quick and really easy to make and very tasty.

[lowlylowlycook]

Shredded meat for tacos:

 

Brown either chicken thighs or country style ribs in a pan.  Add some salsa verde until the meat is half covered.  Cook at a simmer until meat is easily shredded, stirring occasionally.   Shred.