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Low Budget Cooking for the Average Geek
actifblue
Registered User
Registered User
Pretty self explanitory eh? This is for all of us who don't live at home, or can't boil water even in a microwave. We are not responsibe if you blwo up your kitchen or poison your dinner guests.
If it's not a recipe I don't want to see it here, got it?
it's basically prefered that:
but not necessarily so, you can post stuff that takes longer, stuff for dates, or any cool ideas you've ever had.
and credit to BlazeMonkey for the title
edit: this thread makes me hungry
bone edit: pruned 12/14/03
If it's not a recipe I don't want to see it here, got it?
it's basically prefered that:
matthasaproblem wrote:Ask people to post their easiest recipes, stuff that takes under 3 or 4 ingredients and you can make in less time than watching the Simpsons.
but not necessarily so, you can post stuff that takes longer, stuff for dates, or any cool ideas you've ever had.
and credit to BlazeMonkey for the title
edit: this thread makes me hungry
bone edit: pruned 12/14/03
actifblue on
Posts
Requires:
1) Bag o' Pasta
2) 1/2 Pound ground beef
3) Jar of sauce
1) Boil Water
2) Cook beef in a pot, nice and brown. Drain it.
3) Add pasta to water
4) Add sauce to meat pot, allow it to simmer.
5) Remove pasta and drain.
6) Combine sauce and pasta in giant tupperware. Will last several days depending on your appetiate.
Roast Pork
Requires:
1) Pork Loin (you can use a shoulder roast too (cheaper), but loins are tastier)
2) Beer
3) Saurkraut
4) Apple
5) Roasting pan
Do this:
1) Place pork in pan, fat side up
2) Pour beer all over it
3) Pour saurkraut all over that
4) Slice up the apple and toss it in. (prevents extreme bitterness)
5) Roast at 350 degrees for several hours (use a thermometer to ensure doneness)
6) Slice and serve.
As a student cooking for herself I like to make the following quick meals:
Spicy tomato sauce, good for sausages in particular:
Tin of chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons of honey
2 teaspoons of mustard
Liberal dash of vinegar
Mixed spice
Mix altogether (I just use my all-purpose non-stick frying pan). If it doesn't taste sweet/spicy enough add more of one or other of the ingredients. I buy a couple of jars of honey and mustard at once and then those will last several weeks.
Once you've grilled the sausages, chop them up and let them simmer in the sauce for a bit.
Here's another generic sauce it is important to know, it's used for lasagnes and all sorts of bakes:
White sauce
Melt some butter in a saucepan (about 2oz). Once it's melted, take it off the heat and mix in plain flour until it forms a golden ball, which comes away from the sides easily. Put it back on the heat and slowly stir in milk, until a thick white sauce is formed.
White sauce can be added to anything; apart from lasagnes I commonly do:
Tin of tuna & 2 chopped leeks (can be bought ready washed) fried in butter in a frying pan, until the leeks are soft and limp. Add some white sauce, pasta, and a bit of mixed spice.
Pancakes (the french kind) are very, very cheap and very quick to make. I use the following ingredients:
4 oz plain flour
1/2 pint of milk
1 egg
Mix together all ingredients well. Heat a non-stick frying pan on the highest temperature until it is very very hot. Melt some butter or add a drop of oil to the pan. (The heat is there to help stop the mixture sticking). Pour in the pancake batter until it covers the frying pan in a thin layer. Flip, and then turn onto a plate. I prefer lemon and sugar or chocolate to top pancakes with.
That mixture will do about 6 pancakes, and it keeps well in the fridge (I have some in there now).
This one isn't much of a recipe but it's not to be overrated:
Cheese and tomato on toast (like a cheap variation on pizza
Grill slices of bread until crisp on one side. Turn over, and spoon chopped tomatoes (I like the tinned chopped tomatoes with garlic added) onto the bread. Slice some cheese and lay over the top of the tomatoes. Place back under the grill. Wait until the cheese has fully melted and then eat.
Other tips:
If you don't have a sauce for your chicken, cook the chicken in some cheap white wine instead of oil. It tastes really good served with noodles mixed with mushroom soup.
I hope that's the sort of thing you meant, actifblue ^_^
EDIT: Cooking those types of meals, I can quite easily live off £15 a week, often less. The main expense comes in one go - i.e. a couple of loaves of bread, 4 pints of milk, a few tins of chopped tomatoes, a dozen eggs - but then I find I don't need to go shopping for another two weeks or so. I tend not to buy much meat, just because meat is a big expense. Frozen meats are often cheaper.
My favorite (not so quick) snack, but it's low on the item count and actually pretty good for you:
Ingredients:
Bread (any kind of bread-typed substance will do)
Cheese (same, hopefully still good)
Tomato Sauce
Chicken Breast, Frozen
Onion (just a bit)
Various spices
Louisiana hot sauce (don't know why I even have this)
Thaw the chicken breast, fry it up with the onions and some pepper if you can. Dump in the tomato sauce, add some water and spices and a couple dashes of hot sauce. Let it simmer for as long as you afford (at least long enough to thicken the sauce to something more like paste again).
Slice the bread-typed object and the cheese. Place the latter on the former. Place your thickened sauce on top of this, and you have THE BEST sandwich you will ever have. Guaranteed.
Blend 1/2 cup flour with two eggs (preferably with a whisk, but what the hell--just make sure it's not lumpy when you're done).
Add a spoonful of vanilla extract and sugar each and a dash of cinammon to flavor (optional).
Add flour slowly until mixture is almost a stiff paste.
Thin with milk until batter is desired thickness.
Mix well.
Cook in frying pan over medium heat.
If you're adding anything like chocolate chips or fruit bits, you will want the batter thicker so the additives don't burn. If you want something closer to a crepe, make the batter thinner. For fluffy pancakes, add 1-2 teaspoons of baking powder.
*For optimal cost-effectiveness, do not use natural syrup with fluffy pancakes. The pancakes will soak it up like a sponge and make your pancreas kill you in your sleep.
Bananas
Bread
Peanut Butter
Butter
Slice that bread nice and decently thin. Peanut butter both sides (not too much) and place sliced bananas between. Grill like you would a grilled cheese sandwich.
Eat with something to drink, or you will die of thirst.
Saute chopped garlic and spices of your choosing (scallions are popular) to taste (generally one clove) in just enough olive oil or butter to coat the garlic. The garlic will be done when it smells slightly nutty and is beginning to turn brown. Add cream and bring to simmer. Add parmesan cheese and reduce heat. Stir over low heat until cheese is well-melted. Add any meat desired and allow to simmer for a few more minutes, stirring continuously. Serve immediately over drained pasta.
I live by myself so if I buy a whole lot of bread it gets moldy and gross after a week right? Toss it in the freezer and then when you want some you can nuke it. Also, buy frozen/canned fruit and vegetables when you can so you won't be wasting food. Soy milk is a good idea if you can't drink a whole lot of milk in a week and cheese is a great thing to have around for snacks because it too lasts forever.
so helpful food advice is okay here too
Tortillas
Tomato Sauce
Grated Cheese
Any other toppings you want (Pepperoni or lunchmeat is good)
Grab a pan, and if you have some Pam or something similar, spray it down. Turn the oven on Broil, and wait a minute for it to heat up. While you're waiting, take the tortilla, put your sauce and toppings on it, then throw it in the oven. Watch carefully, because this will burn if you don't keep an eye on it. When the cheese is melted, and the crust is starting to get really brown on the edges, take it out and eat.
EDIT: Forgot my staple food: Rice.
Go to Wal-Mart, and see if they have a microwaveable rice cooker. Buy that, and go get a big plastic container. Buy some rice (rice is dirt cheap), and throw that in the container. Rice will not go bad unless it gets wet. Rice does not get stale, either. When you want it, throw however much you need in the cooker, add water and nuke according to the directions. Get some frozen vegetables, some soy sauce, and after the rice is done cooking (let it sit for 5 minutes after the buzzer goes off), get yourself a skillet and have some stir-fry.
SteamID : Harbinger EVE-O: Jarek Dryayen
YES. Great idea. Meats and bread you can always buy in bulk and freeze.
NO. Canned veggies have tons and tons of added salt and crap. Stick with fresh or frozen.
Most hard cheeses freeze well, too. Especially shredded stuff. Thawes in a jiff, too.
That depends on the veg, tinned tomatoes don't have any added ingredients (not the ones I buy, I'm very cautious about added sugar or salt. I occasionally buy the ones with added garlic though).
Check the tin first.
Fresh veg that are easy to cook, and can also be used as stir-fry instead of chicken:
Peppers
Celery
Leeks
Onions
Mushrooms
Beansprouts
Cabbage
Spinach is also my favourite veg; very easy to cook, takes about 2 minutes. Steam in a small amount of water (spinach shrinks a lot) and then drain over a bowl. Lovely served with butter.
I agree with the tinned tomatos. I've bought 'em before and it was just tinned tomatos, no additives or nothin. They break apart great in soups and stews, which is what I usually use them for.
That's great and all if you're in a hurry, but if you really want good stir-fry, you've gotta go fresh. Seriously, I few months ago, I made stir-fry with fresh vegetables, and after that brocoli, I'm never going back to frozen. Jesus christ that was good.
Another good stri-frying tip is to take a package of oriental style ramen (oriental because I'm a vegetarian and if you get the right brand, oriental has no beef stock), boil up the noodles and throw them into the stir-fry. Then add the seasonings to the pool of sauce you should have in the pan. Goddamn.
I've just been preferring fresh vegetables a lot, overall, lately. I slice my own mushrooms for my pizza, I use fresh peppers and brocolli in my stir-fry. You can honestly taste the difference.
Anyway, my standard stir-fry setup:
Carrots
Onions
Green peppers
Water chestnuts*
Baby corn (the long kind, not the shorter, more cut-up kind)*
Bean Sprouts*
Brocolli (oh jesus I love brocolli)
Mushrooms
Teriyaki sauce
Soy sauce
That ramen trick I mentioned earlier
(*-canned)
No, no tofu. I haven't gotten around to learning to cook it without it turning to nasty mush.
your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
It doesn't really qualify as having few ingredients, but it is really good
ingredients:
1 - 2 lbs of steak (whatever quality you prefer, I usually just go cheap)
3 small cans or 1 large can of mushroom soup
rice (I don't recall how much.. I usually just use the largest serving size on the box)
worcester(sp) sauce
1 box-thing of mushrooms (I get the whole ones, but you're going to slice them up if you want the pre-sliced ones)
1 onion, chopped ( or minced onions)
garlic salt
procedure:
cut the steak into strips or cubes, throw it in a large pot with a little butter. While the steak is browning, start the water boiling for rice(in a smaller pot). Now, cut the mushrooms up into slices (I prefer thick slices) and add them to the meat.
Once the steak is browned a bit, pour around a cup of Worcester sauce in and let it simmer until the meat is cooked. Drain the liquid from the meat. Whenever the small pot with water is ready for the rice, add it. In the larger pot with the meat, add the mushroom soup with however much water the can says (usually a 1:1 ratio of 'cans') and bring it to a boil, stirring to get rid of lumps. Mix in worcester sauce (I never measured how much, I usually just add until it's nice and brown, and then, to taste). Toss in some garlic salt and minced/chopped onions.
Keep it simmering for like 10 mins, mixing it so it doesn't stick on the bottom. After that, whenever the rice is done, just serve the meat with sauce over the rice. Or, if you have space in the pot, you can just mix the rice in.
It makes quite a bit, and it refrigerates very well (it even tastes great cold). Shouldn't take more than about 20-25 mins.
Meet Barack Obama
1 loaf French or Italian Bread
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Crushed/Powdered Oregano
Butter
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Cut the bread any way you wish. Spread a decent layer of butter on it. Sprinkle onion, garlic, and oregano. Note: Oregano is strong, don't use too much. Sprinkle parmesan cheese. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Stick in either a toaster oven or regular oven on a cookie sheet or pizza pan at 350 degrees for about 5-7 mins. To make this into easy pizza, substitute spaghetti sauce for the butter.
Garlic Pepper Chicken
1 Pound Boneless Skinless Chicken (about 3 or 4 pieces)
Garlic Pepper blend (find this in the supermarket, in the spice aisle).
Olive Oil
Coat chicken with a light amount of olive oil. In a non-stick pan (if not non-stick, put enough oil in the pan to coat the bottom of it) Sautee the chicken on medium heat, flipping occasionally, until white and firm. 7-10 mins should be enough, if it starts getting brown it should be done.
Easy Chicken Caesar Salad
1 Box Banquet or Tyson breaded chicken patties
1 Bunch Romaine Lettuce (dark green, tall, not a head of lettuce)
1 Box Croutons
Parmesan cheese
Italian/Caesar dressing (Newman's Own, Ken's Steak House both good)
Place however many chicken patties you want on a cookie sheet/pizza pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook patties for 14-16 minutes at 425 degrees. Strip lettuce into bite size pieces. Cut cooked patties into strips/chunks, put on lettuce with croutons, parmesan, and dressing.
Also, look on the spice/seasoning aisle in your supermarket. Find a package of seasoning for meat you like, and read the back. Most have recipes on them, which usually consist of "brown the meat, dump water and seasoning on meat, mix up, eat".
Ingredients:
Pizza sauce
Bread
Cheese
Meat (Optional)
Herbs and Spices (Optional)
1)Put however many pieces of bread into the toaster (one piece makes one pizza)
2)When toasted, spread the pizza sauce on the bread, then add meat, and cover it with cheese (Meat is optional, tastes just as good without it)
3)If you have herbs and spices, you can add some of those
4)Heat in microwave until cheese is melted
(best to make 4 pieces)
2 large tortillas
Grated cheese
Salsa
Cream Cheese (whipped)
Chicken or sliced steak - optional, you must cook it first
Pesto sauce - optional
Guacamole - optional
Spray a large frying pan with Pam and let it heat to medium.
While the pan is heating take one tortilla and spread it with a thin layer of cream cheese. If you want to use pesto sauce or guacamole, mix it with the cream cheese before spreading. Be sure to spread to the edges, the cream cheese acts as glue. Pour some salsa on top and spread it out.
Add a decent amount of cheese and the precooked meat if desired, making sure to not spread these as far as the cream cheese. Put the other tortilla on top and press down around the edges.
Put the whole thing in the pan and let it cook for 5 minutes, give or take. Check it occasionally and when it's golden brown, flip and repeat. Once it's done let it cool and harden for 5 minutes, then cut it in 1/4s or 1/8s. A pizza slicer makes this easier.
In all this takes about 15 minutes max and is really good.
The process is know as making a rue, and is the basis for almost all cream/cheese sauces. The normal rule of thumb is that one uses equal amounts fat(in this case butter) and flour.
Now, cause little miss moddie pants wants recipies here is a quick one for welsh rarbit. it is kinda like fondu but backwards
Make a rue with about 2tbs flour/butter. Add in a goodly amount of beer. Add in a bunch of chesse(cheder, swiss or anything reasonably firm and sharp will work) Pour beer/cheese sause over crusty bread broken up into peices. works beter is indiviual servings are prepared. If you want to kick it up a bit you can add either ground mustard seeds or a small amount of a good brown mustard. It gives it an extra little something.
when I get time, I will be back to update this with actual mesurements and mabey a bit of history. It is pretty quick to prepare and is damn taste.
Click here for a horrible H/A thread with details.
I package butterfly pasta [bowties, whatever]
pepper
crushed red pepper
salt
breadcrumbs
olive oil
2 cans chickpeas
cook the pasta according to the instructions on the back. drain the cans of chickpeas, put them in a saucepan with olive oil [not a lot], salt and peppers to taste, a canful of water. cook on medium heat until the water is cooked away, then add the pasta. in a seperate small frying pan, fry the breadcrumbs in oil. add to pasta. serve. tasty-yum.
couldn't find it... here i go again
Ingrediants
Fresh tomatos (probobly the most expensive part of the dish... 4-5 is good... more is better, i like the kind still on the vine)
canned tomatos (filler, bulks up your sauce to make it cheaper while not taking away the fresh tomato flavor)
1 Onion med-small dice
garlic to taste (i like a whole lot but this varies on how much tomato you use)
herbs/spices (should include bay leaves, basil, and black pepper and salt.. .oragano and parsly are also good)
EV olive oil... try and get a good olive oil... store brands suck
cooking
quarter the tomatos place in a walled pan (hold in juices) drizzle olive oil herbs and spices (minus the bay) over the tomatos and roast at 350 or so until soft and aromatic.
meanwhile put some EVOO, garlic and onions in your sauce pot, sweat the onions (cook untill clear) when they are clear add the can of tomatos and crush all the pieces with your wooden spoon. When the fresh tomatos are done roasting them either peal and toss them in or toss them into a blender/food processor to pulverize the skin... or use an immersion blender (hand blender) to pulverize them in the sauce pot... be sure to get those lovely juices into the sauce too
and bay leaves now, after you use the blender, you don't want bits of bay in your food they are not for eating just for flavor.
add more herbs and spices to taste, simmer for a while to get the flavors melding and you are done.
REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES
a nice sized pot of that + a couple 99 cent boxes of pasta will feed you for a week easy
if you want meat brown and drain with the onions or use premade sauce as if it were canned by browning and drianing some meat then adding sauce. I personally like it w/o meat.
also makes good english muffin pizzas or pizza pockets if you have a sandwhich maker (one of the greatest inventions ever)
Cook about 8-10 ounces of hamburger until lightly browned. Drain excess grease, and add 1/2 c. water, 4 ounces of tomato paste, a dash of basil, one chopped beefsteak tomato (medium size'll do), and garlic to taste. Simmer over medium-low heat while you boil the noodles.
Boil 6-8 lasagne noodles (broken in half) in salted water with a splash of olive oil. When the noodles are cooked, you'll need to rinse them and set them aside. Make sure they're separated, or you'll wind up with a wad of starchy death.
Mix about 3/4 c. ricotta cheese, 1/4 c. grated parmesan, and one egg with a fork. Either wait until you're ready to use it to do this, or stick it back in the fridge until you need it.
Put everything together in a medium sized casserole dish or one of those really deep pie plates. Half the pasta on the bottom, then four ounces of shredded mozzerella, then half the ricotta mix, then half the meat, the rest of the pasta, another four ounces of mozzerella, the rest of the ricotta, the rest of the meat.
Bake at 350 for 1:00 or 1:15. The top should be crispy but not burnt. Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving. Refrigerates well.
*For veggie or semi-veggie, switch green or red peppers or seafood/chicken for the hamburger and use another 1/4 c. parmesan instead of the egg.
It also helps if you know a few basic rules of thumb about how to modify a recipe from omnivore-friendly to veggie-friendly. I believe some meat substitutes were already mentioned on the previous page, though. Mushrooms and bell peppers are always good for adding substance to sauces.
ya... you'll notice my recipe is vegitarian with instructions to make it not so tacked on... i used to live with more veggies thant meat eaters... i love meat but in italian i have come to perfer just the sacue/cheese combo
Chocolate up and over pudding
4oz margarine
4oz granulated sugar
2 eggs
3oz self-raising flour
1oz chocolate powder or 1tblsp of cocoa
Sauce
1 tblsp cocoa
1 1/2 oz chopped nuts
4oz demarara sugar
1/2 pt strong coffee
Grease a 2 pt oven dish
Sieve flour and chocolate powder into bowl and add other ingredients
Mix and beat well
Tip mixture into dish and level
Sauce:
Mix cocoa, nuts and 2 oz of the sugar and sprinkle over the pudding
Sweeten hot coffee with remaining sugar and pour over pudding
Bake at 180 degrees C for about 50 mins.
This recipe isn't mine, but it's really good so worth a mention
Catering for allergies doesn't have to be problematic; for people with wheat intolerances, I use corn flour instead of ordinary flour, and for people with refined sugar intolerances I use maple syrup. For milk I use goat's milk or soy milk. The only problem you will find is your cakes don't rise as well.
Chocolate mousse - the ultimate recipe, as rich as they get:
4 oz dark (plain) chocolate
1 egg
Separate the egg yolk and white.
Gently melt the chocolate (place it in a bowl over some hot water) and, once it is fully melted, mix in the egg yolk.
Whisk the egg white until it is stiff and forms a peak.
Gently fold (using a fork is best) the egg white into the chocolate/yolk. (forms the bubbles)
Place in a bowl and then set in the fridge.
If you ever have a fresh salmon steak, the nicest thing is to steam it. Boil some carrots and new potatoes in a saucepan, and then place a plate over the top of the saucepan. Place a generous slab of butter (about 2oz) on the plate, and then place the salmon on the butter. Let it sit there until the salmon is fully cooked, and then serve with the veg you've cooked.
For vegetable lasagne, I fry leeks, onion, mushrooms, carrots and peppers (can add more) in plenty of butter, make a white sauce, place the veg in a large dish, and then lay a layer of pasta sheets and white sauce over this, taking care that the pasta sheets don't overlap. Cheese on top, or an extra layer of lasagne sheets and white sauce, is optional. Takes about half an hour to then cook in a medium-hot oven.
for best results us a CLEAN metal bowl. Put it in the frezer for a while(because heat will cause the proten to break down and it not work as well).Oh, and fresh eqqs work beter than older ones.
Oh and it is pretty typical to mix like 1/4-1/2 of the egg whites with the hot chocolate/egg yoke. This is refred to as tempering and will cause it to keep more of its volume.
and now for a recipe.
Victory Onion soup.
slice about 8 onions, sweat(cook until transucent) in a largish pot with about enough butter or oil to coat them. Add 2-3 tbs of flour mix well. Continue cooking until golden brown. Add 4 cans(14oz) of beef stock. Bring to a full boil then let simmer(covered at a low boil) for about 20mins.
Slice up some crusty bread, coat lightly with olive oil(if you want to spread a little roasted garlic on it to that works well) bake in a over on low for like 5 or some minutes until toasty.
In a ramekin(or any bowl that will tolerate being in an oven) add a piece of the bread. Then the soup. Top with cheese(I use 50/50 swiss and monteray jack or white chedar) pop in a 350 degree oven till golden brown on top.
Click here for a horrible H/A thread with details.
this is a cheap and easy way to cook up some pork.. it requires very little work and very few ingredients.
Ingred.
1 pound of Pork (chops, or otherwise, cut up into slices of about 1/2 thickness)
2 cups of crackers (any kind will do really)
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
Hot Sauce
Mustard
Olive Oil
Cut up the pork into the slices. You could also do chunks if you want.. just make sure that they aren't too thick.
Mix the eggs and milk with some salt, pepper, hot sauce, and mustard. Whip it up good.. use a blender or a whisk.. just make sure the egg is mixxed well.
Put the crackers in a ziplock bag and crush them until they are a fine powder. Mix in some salt and pepper to taste.
Dip the pork pieces in the egg mixture and then put it all in the ziplock bag with the cracker crumbs. Shake it up until the pork is covered in crackers..
Now, on medium heat, warm up the olive oil until it sizzles when water is spritzed on it. Drop the pork into the oil and fry away.. turn it often so the crackers don't burn. You will know when its ready because it will be delicious (or about 10 - 15 minutes)
If you want you can add some white wine to the pork and throw some garlic in.. if you do this, let it simmer until the wine is gone and the pork starts to crisp up again.
You can serve this with rice, or with egg noodles.. its quick and dirty and costs something like $5 depending on the cut of pork used.
ingrediants
puff pastry (in the freezer section of you local grocery store)
apples
lemon juice
butter
sugar (white or brown are both fine)
flour
nutmeg
cinnimon
1 egg
cooking
peal and slice apples into small thin peices (keep them in water with lemon juice to prevent browning
let your puff pastry thaw just enought so you can unfold it, if it gets to close to room temprature it is bad and messy
roll it gently with a rolling pin to clean up the seams
cut the sheet into 4 equal square
place a small pile of apples on one side of each square (remember you will close them on the diagnal and need room to seal)
splash a tiny amount of lemon juice on the pile (like 1/8 a teaspoon or less)
spread a small amount of flour over the apples to thicken any juices released in cooking (just a pinch to dust it all a little)
add cinnimon and nutmeg
cover apples in sugar
place a small pat of butter on top
beat the egg in a small bowl then brush it around the edges where you want the turnover to seal
fold the other half over top the apples and pinch it shut all the way around (a fork works well)
poke holes in the top to let steam escape
bake at 350 until golden brown
serve with icecream
pretty simple, and extremly tasty.... not the cheapest but far from expensive, generally impressive to the oppisite sex.
Hamburger Helper makes excellent fillings for tacos/sandwiches/pot pies, etc. Get creative and those boxed meals can be made into 3 course dinners.
A vegetarian favorite of mine is getting Garden Burger "Chik'n Grills," which are like skinless grilled chicken patties. Proceed with microwaving that, and then chop it up and throw it on some lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, onions, etc, and you've got a great vegetarian grilled chicken salad.
Tofu can be made well, but you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO leave it wrapped in papertowels, with a weight on top of is for 12 hours. It gets all the water out and it gets nice a firm so you can marinade or fry it without it getting mushy. After you drain it like this, cut it into strips, then dip the strips in egg yolk, flour, egg yolk again, and then bread crumbs. Heat some oil in a really hot pan and fry them. They'll come out with the same consistency as mozzarella sticks, and they'll be great with some ketchup or marinara sauce.
Oven fries are also quick and easy, not to mention tastier and healthier than dead fried ones. Just slice a couple of potatoes into strips. Spray the stips with PAM and generously sprinkle on chives, parsley, basil, oregano, kosher salt, and pepper. Throw them in the oven and wait 45 minutes, and they'll kick ass.
Also, when making pasta, pour about 2-3 tablespoons of salt in the water AFTER it starts boiling, but before you put the pasta in.
Your best friend is www.foodtv.com They have a metric fuckton of easy recipies. Check out Alton Brown, and Rachael Ray's recipies in particular.
Blend 1 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Add and blend 1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (over-ripe ones work better and mash more easily than not-quite-ripe ones), 1/4 c. very soft or melted butter, 2 tablespoons orange juice (optional--brings out the flavor better), and 1 egg. 1/4-1/2 c. nuts and/or raisins also work well.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Either use an electric mixer at medium speed on the batter for three minutes or use melted butter in the recipe and mix the ever-living hell out of the batter by hand for at least five.
Bake at 325 for 1:00-1:20. Use the standard knife-in-the-center method to test whether it's done or not.
I cannot stress enough that you must 1. leave the pan on a cooling rack until it's more or less cool and 2. remove it from the pan to cool the rest of the way before storing it. If you try to take it out of the pan too soon, the center will pop out of the exterior like an egg out of a shell. If you don't let it cure before popping it into a zipplock, it'll get squishy and nasty much more quickly. None of which matter if you're going to be eating it right away, but both matter if you're going to be eating it for the rest of the week.
Chicken Stew -- food for one for a week
ingredients:
4 big boneless-skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 big can cambell's cream of chicken condensed soup
1 big can of water (because it's condensed, dummy)
1 medium-box or big can of chicken broth
1 big potato, unskinned, chopped into pieces
half an onion, chopped into pieces
garlic powder
crushed red pepper
salt and pepper
add half an hour before finishing:
2 bags frozen noodles+vegetables (bonus points for garlic flavor)
Okay dump all the things from the first list into a slow cooker set on medium. Let it do its thing for six hours or whatever. Then half an hour or so before finishing, dump the bags of frozen noodles and veggies into the mix. The reason you wait on this is because the noodles need to cook for a half hour: any more than that and they turn to mush.
Absolutely delicious, nutricious, and feeds you for a week. And for complete godlike fulfillment, get some pillsbury or generic dinner rolls -- the ones in the can, that you just toss in the oven for eight minutes. My god, throw in a beer, and I wouldn't trade dinners with anyone.
This is a very quick, easy way to make a hamburger helper-like substance. Good for finals week:
Ingredients:
1) Two packets Easy Mac
2) One packet Boca ground beef (not real beef, it's actually soy, however, it's much easier to cook, and not likely to get you sick).
Instructions:
1) Make Easy Mac (see back of package; generally requires a microwave and water).
2) Heat Boca Ground Beef in microwave for one minute.
3) Mix Boca with Easy Mac.
We're talking like a five minute prep time, loads of protein, and only a bowl and a fork to clean up. And it tastes pretty good. Plus, it's vegetarian.
You can do it with left overs, if you get like a whole chicken. Dark meat is also cheaper and is good for soup.
Click here for a horrible H/A thread with details.
I take the remains of a whole chicken, and simmer them along with a couple of onions, a couple of fresh sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper, for about an hour. I usually add some carrot too. Once its done I sieve the mixture and keep it ready for use in a soup.