What is you quick/easy/can't be bothered meal?

[helle]

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!!

[Arimeh]

Toasted cheese sangas or baked beans on toast..

[MrsFabuloso]

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.

[thepixie]

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).

[DaintreeDream]

Great suggestions, thankyou! I should have added that my husband will not eat anything from a microwave or a tin 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

ETA: Pixie that Lemon and Basil chicken sounds divine!

[MrsFabuloso]

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!

[Olive]

so no tinned tuna/salmon?

[DaintreeDream]

so no tinned tuna/salmon?

Nope

Although I love it!

[DaintreeDream]

That sounds delicious Kellie, must add some ingredients to my shopping list

[Cassius2]

tuna and potato bake!

apricot chicken

tomato salsa gnocci (the quickest by far!)

BBQ

[CrazyLady]

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

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

[ShootingStar]

Oven fish and chips lol... no preparation involved.. just shove it in, set the timer and voila!

[briggsy's girl]

Great suggestions, thankyou! I should have added that my husband will not eat anything from a microwave or a tin so re-heated meals or spaghetti/baked beans are out *sigh*

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

[CrazyLady]

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

I don't like the microwave reheats either. I would reheat with an oven if my oven worked

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

[sloane]

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.

[~Hestia~]

CheezelMonster - any chance you might like to share your recipe?

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