I cannot cook under these conditions - please help!

Cafe Society
1

CS is the right place for cooking threads, right?

I’ve Googled already, but even sites billing themselves as having plenty of “quick and easy” recipes required much more in the way of prep space, equipment, time, and ingredients than I am currently capable of providing.

Here’s my situation:

  1. I am not, even under ideal conditions, an experienced cook. I don’t have much background knowledge to fall back on.

  2. My kitchenette is so tiny that it barely even qualifies as that. I have a small fridge (like a dorm fridge), a microwave, a sink, and a single burner. My only counter space is a few inches between the sink and burner. I do not have an oven. I do not have a table. I usually eat while sitting on my bed.

  3. I’m “half vegetarian” (no red meat). I’d consider changing if it seemed necessary, but since meat is expensive here and I have little in the way of storage space I don’t think it would help.

I’ve been living on fruit, cold cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, and instant noodles for months now. I don’t know if I can go on like this much longer. Please Dopers, I beg of you, if you know of any truly quick and easy recipes or websites containing listings of such, speak up! My stomach will thank you!

2

Since you have only one burner, consider what I call “skillet breakfast.” The last time I fixed one of these (in a big skillet incidentally), I chopped up some boiled potatoes, onions and broccoli and began sauteeing the ingredients in melted butter. I then added some Gorgonzola cheese and canned chicken and ham (some of those little cheap containers you can buy), and when I judged the veggies were near completion, I threw in some in frozen jalapeno peppers (grew them in my garden last summer). I then used a spatula to shove these off to the side and broke three eggs to fry. While the eggs were frying, I covered them with small strips of Mozzerall cheese (the cheese had pretty much melted by the time the eggs were done). It made a very filling meal with a couple slices of good rye bread, as I didn’t need to eat for 10 hours. You can vary the ingredients as you please.

Here is my recipe for salmon paste: Drain one can of salmon (if you have a cat, it will love the juice) and smash up with a fork in a mixing bowl. Add 2 1/2 spoons of sweet pickle relish and four spoons of mayonnaise. I mean regular spoons, too; not tablespoons. Add some chopped onion and salt to taste. Then use the fork to swirl the ingredients around until you get something with the consistency of tuna salad. Add more mayonnaise if necessary to achieve this. Salmon paste is delicious on bread, but if you’re going to take it in to work for lunch, I recommend placing it in a separate container and using saltines.

Apologize for any spelling errors, but I am in a hurry.

3

Can you afford to get a crockpot? I can give you many good suggestions for one.

Black bean tortillas- drain a can of black beans. Fry/heat them up with a teaspoon of chili powder and half a teaspoon of cumin. Spoon onto tortilla. Top with cheese and sour cream and salsa, if you have any of those items. You can put an awful lot of things in tortillas, and most of them require only a frying pan. Scrambled eggs are good. So is fried potato with somecurry powder in it. Chicken or ham would be okay, too.

Get a loaf of french bread. Buy some roasted peppers or lettuce or something. Make cheese sauce- saute (on medium heat) a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter together, for a minute. Add a cup of milk, and turn the heat down to med-low. Stir and cook until it thickens. Add a half-cup grated or sliced cheese of your preference (cheddar is good), salt, and pepper. Cook until the cheese melts. Slice the bread, tear pieces off, and dip them. It’s a low-class cheese fondue! Eat with the vegetation on the side.

I’ll think of more.

4

Pasta alfredo: Boil water and cook pasta. Drain in a collander or strainer. Put pot back on burner and add milk, butter, and cheese (parmesian is good, but whatever you like). You can experiment to find the best combination. Heat gently until butter and cheese is melted (don’t let the milk boil). Put pasta on a plate and pour sauce over it.

Good and filling.

5

Another thing that you can do is separate the prep process from the cooking process. I am envisioning a series of those small semi-disposable plastic food containers (I think Glad or Ziplock make them). What you can do is take a few hours one day and pre prepare some vegetables (sliced carrot, broccoli, green and red peppers, what have you). You should then be able to put them in a series of these small containers and then stack them in the little fridge. When you are ready to eat, pull them out and stir-fry them. You can also cook pasta and rice before hand and toss a portion in the microwave wile you cook the vegetables before hand.

When I worked at a small café we would have prep kits of vegetables that would keep for days so that if someone wanted a stir-fry we would just whip one up. This will also work for omelets.

Counter space will be a problem for you, but because you are separating the cooking process from the prep process you should be able to set a cutting board on the burner while you chop, or perhaps over the sink if the cutting board is large enough.

The crock-pot is another excellent idea, although you may wind up with more food than you want, given the limited storage space that you have.

6

Try “The Starving Students Cookbook” or “Cheap and Easy Cooking: The Survival Guide for College Students.” The Starving Students book has vegetarian recipes and a section on microwave cooking, so that might fit the bill for you. Also, there’s “A Man, A Can, A Plan,” which has very simple recipes, but it might be too meat-oriented for your taste.

7

There’s always the classic red beans and rice. You can get the beans canned for dirt cheap. Not the most exciting meal, but it’s dirt cheap and tastes pretty good for what it costs.

8

Have you tried a rice cooker? Mine has become my best friend. It’s the one kitchen gadgety-type thing that I actually use several times a week. It’s great, because it takes up minimal space and requires virtually no attention. Put in the rice and water, turn it on, and let it take care of the rest.

And you can do a lot with rice. Rice & beans; rice & mixed vegetables & a little cheese; rice & stir-fried veggies . . .

9

Another option to consider is a toaster oven. Or even a small George Foreman type grill. Fish and Chicken are very easy to cook in either of these things. When I had a kitchen set up similiar to yours I used my toaster oven to make little pizzas and cheese bread all the time.

10

Asiany Cabbage & Noodles:

Cook noodles & drain. Udon is good; spaghetti will work fine, too.

PUt some oil in a pan and heat up. Crush in some garlic; grate in some ginger.

Add the pre-chopped carrots and onions and cook for a minute or two.

Add the pre-chopped cabbage (sliced into long thin strips) and cook for a minute or two.

Add some soy sauce and some rice wine and maybe some rice vinegar and some hot pepper flakes and cook for a minute.

Crack an egg or two, scramble in a bowl, and pour over the veggies. Cook until the egg is mostly done.

Add the noodles back in. If they’re cold by now, put them in the microwave for a minute first. Swirl them around until they’re nice and hot and thoroughly mixed with everything else.

This is a very forgiving recipe, as long as you don’t overcook anything, and it’s low-fat and high in veggies, with a bit of protein for good measure. Plus it’s not bad as leftovers.

Daniel

11

I actually used to cook, but two babies have made me completely unwilling to devote much time to cooking or cleaning up afterwards, so everything I do is quick, easy and effecient.

I second the george forman grill idea. the smallest size is really quite cheap. A toaster oven will increase your options even more, tho’.

  1. Thin spaghetti. Boil it, butter it. (real butter). Bottled sauce- Newman’s Own is nice if you’re living large, but plain Hunt’s in little cans are 3 for a dollar, and I think plain tomato sauce is delicious. You don’t even have to heat it up, the hot spaghetti takes care of it. Parmesan cheese.

  2. Instant brown rice- cooks in 10 minutes and is good for you. I learned to eat it with canned black beans, chopped tomatos and onions and sour cream when I lived in Austin, TX and I still eat it about once a week. Green salad on the side.

  3. Mash feta cheese with olive oil. Spread it on a toasted english muffin or french bread. Top with a slice of tomato.

  4. Good french bread. Good cheddar cheese. Fruit. Wine if you like it.

  5. Need a toaster oven for this one. 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey. Mix in 1 egg, 3 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs marjoram, 1 tbs basil, 1/4 tsp pepper. Form into patties and broil for 10 min., flipping once. Brown rice, green salad.

  6. Buy whatever fish fillets or steaks that look fresh and good. Cook in a covered frying pan with a little broth or butter with a dash of water and dill over medium heat untill center is flaky and opaque, or broil in toaster oven.

12

A few ideas…
Get yourself a large clean board bigger than the sink that will cover the sink. You can use this to prepare food on and make some space available.
A pan with a steamer on top can make good use of the single burner, cook potatoes in the pan, vegies and fish in the steamer above, warm sauce of cheese milk and herbs in microwave, to go with it.
If you have money to use, replace microwave with combined microwave/oven. A microwave/oven can be used as microwave for convinience, and conventional oven for usefullness.
If adventurous, get a wok from local chinese store, get dry noodles, oyster sauce, soy sauce, vegies, tofu (if you like it), chicken or vegitable broth, and cooking oil. Heat water in microwave to boiling, soften noodles in that water. Fry the vegies in hot oil, add soy sauce, oyster sauce and chopped tofu. Then add half tin broth and bring to boil. When boiling add the softened noodles (don’t add the water the noodles were softened in). Cook for 5 minutes and serve in soup bowl, add chilli if you like spice.

13

I like the ideas of the big cutting board and the crock pot. Those are very useful items.

You might also consider one of those little food processors/choppers like you can get at Walmart/Tatget type stores for around $25 or so. A blender would be useful, too.

You might be running out of space and/or money by now, though.

One of the funnest things about teaching yourself to cook is the experimenting. Even with things like microwave meals and other prepackaged stuff, you can alter them, liven them up, with spices and trying other vegetable combinations. Start with what you know you like. If you know you like red beans and rice, adding a can of diced tomatoes and peppers kicks it up a notch. Like chicken breasts? Marinate with lime juice, salt, and garlic before pan frying in olive oil. Then lay it on top of some boil in the bag brown rice. Put a small can of mixed vegetable in your rice.

Experiment. Start small, with what you know you like. Then, expand. Ask other people what spices they use. Then, start combining.

14

You can make very good chicken with a verticle rotisserie, even a cheap one

15

I was gonna suggest a cutting board across the sink to double as counter space, but Bippy beat me to it!

Since refrigerator space and freezer space are severely limited, consider some canned meats (chicken, turkey, tuna). These will keep indefinitely, and can be used cold (for salads) or added into chicken. A turkey tetrazzini recipe that should not tax your confines too much:
boil egg noodles and drain
add canned turkey
peas (frozen are best, but canned will do)
butter
a little milk
grated parmesan cheese.

You can sprinkle crushed potato chips on top, if you like, but I never do.

16

Now all of these are going to have to be halved or quartered in order to make just enough, since you don’t have the storage space

One Pot Pasta

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup sliced onion
1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 ounces macaroni

1 Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add oil, and heat over a medium flame. Add onion and mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender.
2 Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, sugar, and spices to skillet. When mixture begins to boil, stir in pasta. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 20 minutes. Stir mixture every 4 to 5 minutes while cooking.

Makes 4 servings
One Pot Tuna Casserole

1 (16 ounce) package egg noodles
1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup butter
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
1/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, adding peas for the final 3 minutes of cooking; drain.
2 Melt the butter in the same pot over medium heat. Add the mushroom soup, tuna, milk, and Cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted, and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the pasta and peas until evenly coated.

Serves 8.
Vegan Chunky Chili

1/2 cup dry kidney beans, soaked overnight
1/2 cup dry white beans, soaked overnight
1/2 cup dry brown lentils, soaked overnight
6 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
6 cups water
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh green beans
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
3/4 cup extra firm tofu, drained, crumbled
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
onion powder to taste
garlic powder to taste
chili powder to taste

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1 Drain and rinse kidney beans, white beans and lentils. Combine in a large pot and cover with water; boil over medium-high to high heat for 1 hour, or until tender.
2 Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over high heat, combine tomatoes and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until tomatoes are broken down.
3 Stir the tomatoes into the beans and add mushrooms, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, green beans, celery, onions and tofu. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and chili powder to taste. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until desired consistency is reached.

Makes 12 servings

and as a treat:

One and One Half minute cookies:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats

1 Bring margarine, sugar, milk and cocoa to boil. Let boil for exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds.
2 Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Then stir in oats.
3 Quickly drop by large tablespoon onto wax paper laid on top of newpaper. Let cool, peel from paper and turn over to finish drying.

Makes 8 servings

All of these were found at Allreceipes.com by indexing either one pot or one skillet. They have a very extensive Quick and Easy receipe section also. Good luck and “Happy Cooking”

17

It’s all about sauces. Seriously. It’s a great way to cheat: someone else has already mixed the seasoning for you! They take up a bit of space, but they’re small and you will get so much enjoyment out of them it will be worth it.

for starters:

  • soy sauce
  • sweet chili sauce (manna from heaven; if you haven’t tried it, do so immediately)
  • brown sauce
  • peanut sauce
  • teriyaki sauce
  • hot sauce
  • pesto (not really a sauce, but good enough)
  • vinagrette salad dressing (likewise)
  • curry paste (many varieties)
    … and so on, ad nauseum. Go into different grocery stores and revel in the wonderful varieties of sauces that are available!

Salad dressing is underrated but I use it all the time, because it’s basically oil, vinegar and seasonings, all things which are nice with most of what I cook.

You can fry up onions, broccoli, carrots and peppers every night, put a different combination of sauces on them, and it will be like a different meal each time. (Mix the sauces up together first and dump on when the veggies are nearly cooked, don’t forget to taste it before you add it!)

Boil some pasta with chopped veggies, drain the whole shebang at once, mix in some salad dressing and/or pesto, (plus olives/roasted red peppers/any other condiment-y things) and you’ve got a great meal that will keep well in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

You can make a nice marinade for tofu as well, and then use the sauce for the veggies.

mmm … sauce …

18

It’s all about sauces. Seriously. It’s a great way to cheat: someone else has already mixed the seasoning for you! They take up a bit of space, but they’re small and you will get so much enjoyment out of them it will be worth it.

for starters:

  • soy sauce
  • sweet chili sauce (manna from heaven; if you haven’t tried it, do so immediately)
  • brown sauce
  • peanut sauce
  • teriyaki sauce
  • hot sauce
  • pesto (not really a sauce, but good enough)
  • vinagrette salad dressing (likewise)
  • curry paste (many varieties)
    … and so on, ad nauseum. Go into different grocery stores (esp. in Chinatown) and revel in the wonderful varieties of sauces that are available!

Salad dressing is underrated but I use it all the time, because it’s basically oil, vinegar and seasonings, all things which are nice with most of what I cook.

You can fry up onions, broccoli, carrots and peppers every night, put a different combination of sauces on them, and it will be like a different meal each time. (Mix the sauces up together first and dump on when the veggies are nearly cooked, don’t forget to taste it before you add it!)

Boil some pasta with chopped veggies, drain the whole shebang at once, mix in some salad dressing and/or pesto, (plus olives/roasted red peppers/any other condiment-y things) and you’ve got a great meal that will keep well in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

You can make a nice marinade for tofu as well, and then use the sauce for the veggies.

mmm … sauce …

19

Sorry, thats Allrecipes.com. They also have a large selection of Microwave meals, I think you could be utilizing your microwave more often, most of us just use them to warm things up and you really can cook in them.

BTW I love the large cutting board idea too. My kitchen is tiny I only have two counters, one for the dish rack, the other is work space. I often pull out my cutlery draws and place flat cook sheets on them to make more space, but I like the board idea better.

20

You might want to look at the book French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane.