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As the title suggests I am after quick/easy meals.
DH and I work from home and at the moment we are busy busy busy and DH 'needs' alot of food to keep going so I need some meals (lunch & dinner) that are quick and easy as we are both interrupted alot throughout the day.
So please tell me, what is your favorite 'can't be bothered meal?
Grilled chicken wraps with salad and dressing! MMMMMM!
Healthy and takes about 2 minutes!
Cold meat and salad, no cooking involved at all unless you want an egg with it.
Toasted sandwhiches.
Spag Bol is my ultimate favourite meal anytime, make it as basic as you like, takes only minutes really.
Toasted cheese sandwiches with can spag :lol: or a potato in jacket done microwave style :D just thought of pumpkin soup too 20 mins no worries
Apricot chicken.
Sachet of French onion simmer soup mixed with apricot juice, warm it on a pot til simmering to help thicken (literally takes two mins) then pour over chicken cut of your choice in a casserole dish, put it in the oven on 180 and forget about it for 40-60 minutes.
Have it with those ten minute maggi rice stuff, salad, steam veg etc..
It's not quick to cook, but prep is super quick and easy.
Nom nom nom.
I second spag bog. Not only is it easy but you can seriously throw so many vegies in it too. Carrot, spinach, zucchini... If I can grate it, it goes in spag bog!!
Toasted cheese sangas or baked beans on toast.. :lol:
Chicken teriaki, sweet and sour chicken (both from scratch but soooo easy)
Pasta bakes.
pasta- carton of thickened cream, pasta, frozen vegies, tomato paste and diced ham/bacon or a tin of tuna. also great if you forget to take meat out of the freezer!
usually my "I can't be bothered tonight" ends in takeaway :lol:
Gawd, I think all our meals are can't be bothered meals!
I do a lovely creamy potato bake that takes about two minutes to prepare, then an hour(ish) in the oven and we eat it out of the aluminium containers I cook it in... Tacos are also fun...
Besides the usual baked beans, canned soup with toast sambos or baked potatos :D I have a slice recipe that is basically eggs, zucchini, cheese, ham & carrots all thrown together. If we feel like it we'll also have chips or more veggies with it but it's quite filling on it's own!
I just had an omelette with chives, cheese and tuna and it was so quick and easy and YUM!
burritos
nachos/wedges made with left over burrito mix lol
salad wrap made with cold chicken (this is staple lunch on work days - we just change the "flavour" of the chicken we have the night before)
pasties
home made pizza
stir fry (cheat and grab noodles and packaged veg in the supermarket, throw it in with whatever meat and sauce you want - if you want meat of course!)
chicken kievs and veg
bubble and squeak
when we're going through a phase like this we tend to cook in advance (slow cooker or other bulk means) and then just put it in the freezer in meal sized portions to either heat in the micro or bake in the oven...
We do baked beans/tinned spag on toast or ham/cheese/tomato toasties, tinned soups with buttered bread
But for a quick 'whole' meal:
Quick omlette, add what ever you like- ham, chopped left over/bbq chicken, corn, mushies, chopped tomato/capsicum, grated cheese, asparagus......the list is endless. Add a garden salad if you want a bigger meal. If you have tuna/ham/cold chicken/bbq chicken, make a salad plate, with beetroot, tinned corn/asparagus, cucumber, lettuce, tomato.....
Mince Chow Mein
500gms mince
1 grated carrot (I often add grated zucchini too)
beans (I use frozen baby beans)
about 1-2 cups shredded cabbage
2 min chicken noodles (I usually use 2 packets)
curry powder (to your liking, I use 2 tbsp or so)
I usually also add 1-2 chicken stock cubes
About 2-3 cups water
Cook mince, then add carrot, cabbage 1-2 cups of the water and the curry and stock. Cook until veggies soft. Add noodles and flavouring sachets, add water as needed while noodles cook (you want it to be a bit watery/saucy, but not drowned!) and in about 10mins, you have a relatively healthy yummy meal ('cept for the salt!), my kids love it and I cook it about 1/fortnight.
Erm... most of them!
Barbecued anything and salad....
if you can find time to make a big batch of bolognaise sauce, freeze it in tubs and defrost as required, for an easy no-think pasta meal (DD eats this for dinner 90% of the time!)
Pasta is easy to do with a quick creamy sauce - I like to fry some bacon or ham, throw in some leeks, sweat down for a few minutes then add cream and gorgonzola cheese or just plain grated cheddar is also fine - the sauce takes about as long to make as the pasta does to cook. I do these for DD as the Bear is on low carb so no pasta dinners for us.
Other quick meals - lemon and basil chicken - throw a jointed chicken in a roasting dish, season with salt and pepper, pour in a glug of olive oil, the juice of a lemon, the lemon shells and a couple of whole cloves of garlic, cook at 180-200 for 45 mins to 1 hour (depending on your oven) pull out and chuck on some torn basil leaves, cook for another 15 mins then put on the stove top and pour in a glug of white wine, let it bubble over the heat for about 2 mins and serve with nice fresh salad leaves (no dressing required as the sauce is lovely).
Great suggestions, thankyou! I should have added that my husband will not eat anything from a microwave or a tin :lol: so re-heated meals or spaghetti/baked beans are out *sigh*
You have given me some good ideas though...
CheezelMonster - any chance you might like to share your recipe?
We quiet often have steamed vegies, rice and a meat but I am sooooo over rump steak! I am not a big meat eater.
I think I may need to utilise my slow cooker more, at least the prep time is quick and easy, I don't mind that it takes ages to cook, the prep time is the key for me.
Ohhh and omlettes, quiches etc are a great idea as we have so many eggs now our chooks are steadily laying :D
ETA: Pixie that Lemon and Basil chicken sounds divine!
This is an all time fave in our house too, cooked probably 1/wk eaten with salad and corn on the cob in summer, or mash and steamed veg in winter...
Slow Cooker Chicken with BBQ sauce
1-1.5kg Chicken (whole or legs)
1 onion
4 tbsp Tomato sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp mango chutney chopped
1 tsp french mustard
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp worstershire sauce
Brown the chicken in a frypan with some oil. Transfer to the slow cooker. Add the other ingredients to the frypan and bring to the boil. Pour over the chicken and cook on high for 4 1/2-5hrs, basting occaisionally.
**I don't put any of it into the fry pan. It all goes into the slow cooker straight away. I have also made it without the chutney, sometimes replacing it with some orange marmelaide, or not replacing at all. I haven't made it with a whole chicken, I use legs all the time, they turn out really yum!
so no tinned tuna/salmon?
That sounds delicious Kellie, must add some ingredients to my shopping list :D
Nope :lol::
Although I love it!
i don't "do" micro reheats either (it never seems quite right!) - but i have no drama dropping food that needs to be reheated (pasta and a sauce, rice with excess sauce) in a casserole dish or even a disposable tin tray, throwing it in the oven and letting it heat that way - it's NOTHING like micro reheating food - so much nicer IMO - and still convenient:
It's a Nigel Slater recipe, he has dozens of really quick low fuss meals so it might be worth googling him or getting hold of one of his cook books.:
ETA: Pixie that Lemon and Basil chicken sounds divine!
As for spaghetti bolognaise - no microwave required, just take it out of the freezer the night before to defrost, and reheat the sauce on the stove top.... and tell hubby you cooked it fresh :lol:
:rofl: I should, shouldn't I.:
I have reheated pasta bakes in the oven before and he ate that, I think I just need a mind refresh really.
Want to know the really silly thing? He used to buy chicken rolls and potato cakes from the lunch/tasty truck at his old work!
Off to google Nigel Slater now :D
tuna and potato bake!
apricot chicken
tomato salsa gnocci (the quickest by far!)
BBQ
I do spag bog, pasta bakes, sweet and sour pork etc. I dont do difficult meals
DH used to love Marco Polo Gnocci from our old local pasta place but I have never been able to find a nice Gnocci in store, what brand do you use? Any chance you would like to share the recipe?
Oooh just thought of another super quick easy meal that we can't eat due to low carb diet :wall: - slice some sausages, fry in a pan. Throw in some gnocchi and fry until lightly golden, chuck in a handful of spinach, some salt and pepper (and maybe a dash of worcestershire sauce or similar) stir it all around, pop the lid on for a few minutes till spinach is wilted and serve. Takes under ten minutes from go to woah.
One of my faves we jokingly call "3 can surprise"... Cook some shell pasta (recipe says 1 cup cooked but I have been known to do a whole 500g pack uncooked...)...
While it's cooking, mix a can of tuna, a can of Cream of Mushroom soup and a can of Reduced Fat cream (yes a can of cream... It's with the condensed milk in the supermarket...). Add the pasta once cooked and drained, mix together and throw some breadcrumbs and cheese on top. Stick in oven to warm through and brown on top.
Yum yum. I have also been known to add some peas and corn for some extra Vegas!
Sure thing!:
CARROT & ZUCCHINI SLICE
2 medium carrots, peeled & grated
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
100g sliced leg ham, finely chopped
2 garlic gloves, crushed
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease an 18cm x 28cm slice pan. Combine carrot, zucchini, onion, ham, garlic, cheese, flour & parsley in a bowl. Season with salt & pepper. Stir in egg, milk & oil.
2. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until firm to touch. Set aside to cool. Cut into squares. Serve warm or cold.
Yum! Even Moo loves it :D
I get jar of the mushroom and red wine raguletto, throw about 8ish extra mushrooms chopped up in, 250gm of chicken mince and 1/4 of a block of the frozen spinach. serve with pasta and chop with cheese. most of the prep time is just simmerng time. I add the extra veg to pretend it's healthy :lol:
I make awesome omelettes with chopped sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, a little defrosted frozen spinach and a little shredded chicken in. instead of folding them in half i whip them under the grill for a few minutes to set the top! YUM
Fritatta:
Saute oinion, garlic and fresh chopped/frozen veg and whatever herbs you want
Cover with egg and milk mix
When semi-set transfer to under the grill.
Done!
(TO make vegan, use tofu and soy instead of eggs and milk)
Pasta:
While pasta is boiling, saute onion, whatever veg you have/want, herbs in olive oil.
Toss hot drained pasta through veg
Sprinkle with parmesan to serve.
All over in 10 minutes!
Or...
Takeaway.
For the kids:
Baked beans mixed with the small diced brands of frozen veg, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, toast and fruit.
Chicken/Tofu and Shroom Casserole - super fast:
Diced/strips of chicken or tofu
Veggies of choice (Optional, but I put veg in bloody everything)
Onion
Garlic
Cream
Flour, Arrowroot or thickener of choice
Mustard
Seasoning to taste
Really quick one-pot dish.
Serve with bread and butter to sop up the sauce.
Tin or Chickpeas/3 bean mix/whatever....straight from can or warmed on the stove with some evoo and herbs for a warm salad. Serve on toast.
I don't like the microwave reheats either. I would reheat with an oven if my oven worked :lol::
I thought of another recipe. It's the beef stroganoff recipe on the back of the Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. So fast and even DD eats it. I use mince instead of beef strips if I'm running behind
fried rice. well, probably more a savoury rice but i call it fried rice & just put in whatever i have. usually some chicken, bacon, peas, corn & red pepper.
Tacos. They are the boys favourite so it's win-win ;) I don't like using the pre-mix stuff as it's full of salt and preservatives so we make our own. It is so quick and easy:
- chop up tomato, lettuce etc to put on top also get out some grated cheese and spicy sauce if you like it
- chop up onion and fry for a couple of minutes
- add mince meat
- add 1 teaspoon of garlic granules (or 1 clove of crushed garlic), 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cumin, paprika and chilli powder
- cook until meat is browned, drain if there is liquid
- heat tortillas or taco shells and serve
Yum!
The more I read the more I realise how fussy my DH is... but I will eat almost anything and it all sounds delicious!
Thankyou for the recipe CM, looks yummy!
MR thankyou so much for posting your taco recipe, we much prefer home prepared meals, we don't really like to use packets/jars where possible so this is great!
Oven fish and chips lol... no preparation involved.. just shove it in, set the timer and voila! :lol:
You might be interested in this thread... lots of good recipes in there!