Anything that answers one of these questions:
[ul]
[li]What do you make every week?[/li][li]What do you make that’s simple but tasty?[/li][li]What do you make when you can’t think of anything else?[/li][li]What do you make to use up stuff in your fridge?[/li][li]What do you make when your fridge is almost empty and you can’t get to the store?[/li][li]What do you make and your family says (or just thinks, if they’re polite) “Not again,” but eats it all anyway?[/li][li]What’s new to you but you think you’ll make it a lot from here on out?[/li][li]What do you make when you have guests coming on short notice?[/li][li]What do you make when you realize it’s 8:30 pm and you haven’t eaten yet?[/li][li]What do you make when you remember you promised to cook (or it’s your turn to cook) but you haven’t planned anything?[/li][li]What do you make that everyone likes?[/li][/ul]
Include recipes for extra awesome points.
My new one: quiche
[ul]
[li]4 eggs, beaten with[/li][li]1 1/2 cups half-and-half (which we ALWAYS have in the fridge for coffee)[/li][li]6 oz. cheese – mozzarella, swiss, cheddar, whatever – grated in our nifty new food processor[/li][li]whatever meat and vegetable add-ins I’ve got on hand, up to about 1.5 cups total (more makes it overflow) – pre-cooked or not as per flavor preference[/li][li]whatever spices seem like they’d go well with the add-ins-- usually at least pepper[/li][li]put into a refrigerated rolled pie crust[/li][/ul]
and cook 10 min. at 425°, then 40 min. at 350°.
A few of my wife’s standards (all of the recipes are her own - she’s been perfecting them for years):
- Pasta with a very basic tomato and goats cheese sauce.
- Pasta bolognese
- Pasta with cream, mushrooms, chestnuts and truffle oil
- Chicken curry (with pineapple)
- Stuffed bell peppers (rice, beef and raisins)
- Chili (with mung beans)
- Couscous with lentil soup
- Shakshuka with homemade focaccia bread
(We’re having the last one tonight).
Store cupboard go to:
Edible Tuna Casserole
put salted water on to boil
gather ingredients - canned tomatoes, canned tuna, dried pasta, shredded cheese.
open small can of diced tomatoes and put into a small oven proof saucepan and cook/reduce over medium heat.
Turn on oven to 350°
put 4oz short pasta (penne, rigatoni etc) into water, cook for three or four minutes.
drain pasta, take tomatoes off the heat, stir pasta and tuna into the tomatoes.
cover with cheese.
bake for 15-20 minutes.
This scales really easily, start to finish is just over 30 minutes and it only uses two pans.
Simple, Tasty and faster than going to McD’s.
Pasta with Smoked Salmon
8oz fresh pasta (spaghetti or tagliatelle etc)
3oz smoked salmon
3oz sour cream
2 tsp lime juice
handful of green peas.
Cook pasta for two minutes.
Drain
Stir in other ingredients.
Adding some Parmesan doesn’t hurt.
Eat.
Depends on the season and our energy level–we go through spurts of what we refer to as kabuki recipes, followed by spells of very basic, low-prep stuff.
This time of year, I tend to make a lot of soups. They’re easy, fairly fast, and are really really flexible so you can make a good one out of whatever odds and ends you have lying around. Granted, it helps to have certain things on hand pretty much all the time, like chicken broth or stock. Sometimes we have the real stuff, sometimes we have a box or can of Swanson’s, but a decent amount of the time I just snag a spoonful of chicken base out the jar in the fridge.
We do a pot of beans of some kind about every other week during cold weather–I’d do them a bit more often but there’s only 2 of us, so a pot of beans goes a long, long way. Red beans and rice, soup beans and cornbread, pasta e fagioli, lentil stew, whatever we haven’t had in a while. Like the soups, I tend to just throw whatever we have that looks good together in the beans rather than using a recipe. Except for the red beans and rice. I use a recipe from allrecipes.com for those.
It’s also a good time of year for my quick-n-dirty pastitso recipe (sort of like a Greek Hamburger Helper, out of my 30-minute Cook’s Illustrated book), some redneck chicken cordon bleu (use whatever cheese and coating material you have handy, I like cornflakes), or a roasted chicken with mashed potatoes.
Ooh, I haven’t made any chicken schnitzels on ages, I should make some of those this week. They’re stupid easy and fast. You cook a few strips of bacon, ideally with a touch of garlic oil if you have it. Pull the bacon and crumble it. Pound a few pieces of boneless chicken very, very thin and cook them a couple minutes on each side in the bacon fat, then pour in about half a cup of white wine and let it heat through for a minute or so. Plate it up, topping the chicken with your wine/drippings and some crumbled bacon.
Some form of pasta with protein and tomato sauce–stuffed shells, lasagna, or spaghetti with meat sauce. I’m never in a mood where I don’t want to eat that. Plus, these all make pretty big amounts (compared to just the two of us eating them) so we get two dinners and at least a lunch out of it. Throwing a bag of frozen spinach in the sauce makes it more nutritious.
In the summer my husband likes to smoke pork loins and shoulders. He pulls the meat, and we use it for various things–in soft tacos with green salsa, sour cream and cilantro… or with barbecue sauce… or in colder weather with potatoes and German red cabbage.
My husband is a carb fiend, and whenever he cooks he’ll make a curry of whatever beans we have + whatever veg we have, on top of rice. He just uses curry powder to make it, very simple. Plain whole-milk yogurt and some cilantro make it a real treat.
Our super-convenient last minute meal is ravioli sauteed with shredded zucchini, garlic, and lemon. Since we have a garden, we ALWAYS have zucchini. We keep a package of frozen ravioli on hand for this.
Since we often have leftover rice in the house (thanks to carb-fiend husband) I will often make bibimbop for lunch by frying eggs and putting them with rice, green onions, furikake, sa cha, soy, and sriracha.
I make a quick creamed spinach with 1 bag frozen spinach, 1 package frozen artichokes, cooking oil, garlic, 1/4 cup half and half, and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. I’m happy to eat just this on toast for any meal.
Our go to’s as the weather cools are meatloaf, baked ziti, goulash, and chicken with rice or chicken with stuffing. Of these, we have meatloaf once a week, served with steak fries, veggies, and rolls. It’s been TheKid’s favorite meal since she was a toddler.
The baked ziti is super simple: boil noodles, toss with sour cream and a tablespoon (or two) of parmesean. Spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the baking dish, add a layer of noodles, a layer of provolone cheese, sauce, rest of the noodles, a bit more sauce, then mozzarella. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or so.
If I have time, I’ll make the sauce. Usually, I don’t so I won’t.
I’m a recent crockpot convert, and usually make chicken thighs. Cook 4-6 thighs in a can of broth till the meat is falling off the bone, discard the skin and bones, shred the chicken back into the broth. Add flavoring (curry powder or chili powder, usually, or herbs) and beans (white or black) or veggies (corn, spinach, mushrooms, peas) or both and cook another half hour or so while making a pot of rice.
In warmer weather, my quick go-to is salmon patties. I always keep a can of pink salmon in the cupboard for this.
missred’s Salmon patties
1 can pink salmon
1 sleeve of whole wheat crackers
1 egg
Splash of milk
1 Tbs. of sesame seeds
Garlic to taste
1/2 small onion
Oil to fry (I like a mix of canola and sesame)
Mix everything except the oil in a bowl and form into patties. Fry patties in the oil until golden brown. Serves 4-6.
A quick toss salad or slaw, an ear of sweet corn or some sauteed summer squash and you have a meal.
For cooler weather, I do chicken and dumplings.
missred’s Mom’s chicken and dumplings
2 chicken leg quarters
4 c. chicken broth
2 ribs of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
3 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. shortening
Stew the chicken, broth and veggies with seasoning to taste. Use the remaining ingredients to make dumpling/biscuit dough. Cut biscuits out of half the dough and bake for 10-15 minutes @ 450F. After boning the chicken and putting the meat back into the broth, bring the stew mix to a rapid boil. Drop the remaining dough by spoonfuls onto the liquid, reduce to a simmer and cover for ~ ten minutes. Serves 4 with biscuits left over for breakfast.
This goes well with a salad and some fruit for dessert.
(Do get the awsome points? 
)
What is Shakshuka?
This title made both me and my husband giggle.
Us too. I just now winged an impromptu coconut-lentil soup, using whatever I could find – we’re overdue for a grocery restocking run. But the soup turned out pretty good.
Impromptu Coconut-Lentil Soup
[ul]
[li]a cup of de Puy lentils (the teeny black ones, aka “caviar lentils” – I love 'em and keep 'em on hand 'cause they cook so fast) washed and soaked for about an hour[/li][li]some fresh water (legume soaking water makes you fart!)[/li][li]a tablespoon of beef “Better than Bouillon” paste[/li][li]a can of lite coconut milk[/li][li]some coconut cream powder from an old opened packet at the back of the spice cupboard[/li][li]all the carrots we had left, grated[/li][li]1/4 cup dried sweet red pepper flakes[/li][li]2 tablespoons ginger juice[/li][li]garlic powder[/li][li]ground cinnamon[/li][li]a dab of ground cloves[/li][li]ground coriander seeds[/li][li]cayenne[/li][li]lemon pepper (aka “Sunny Spain seasoning”)[/li][/ul]
Simmered it all until the lentils were done (not long) and ate it over brown rice. I was vaguely aiming for a kind of Ethiopian wat flavor, but it came out more like something from South India. If I ever make it again, I’ll use two cans of non-lite coconut milk and try to think of more vegetables to add. Maybe cauliflower. And definitely sauteed onions.
Linky? Pretty please?
Ooh, that’s what a schnitzel is? Sounds decadent… What do you plate it up with – noodles, or potatoes, or anything?
What are those things?
That sounds pretty good. You just stir it all together? And how do you cook it?
What’s your meatloaf recipe? I’m not a big meatloaf fan, but my husband is, and I’ve tried to make it a couple of times with “meh” results.
Hayle yes! Six for each recipe. You and Tapioca Dextrin are tied.
Shakshuka. It’s basically eggs and tomatoes, with onions and bell peppers. It’s similar to huevos rancheros, although I presume the seasoning is different.
Traditionally, it’s a breakfast food, but we don’t limit ourselves to such conventions.
Roast vegetables (potatoes, onions, garlic and sometimes carrots and squashes) with grilled chicken or steak. It’s so cheap – the bulk of the meal is the vegetables, which can be had for about £2 for all of them – and easy, since all you have to do is slather everything in roasting fat, leave it in the oven for half an hour and then cook the meat for 10 minutes. And it’s delicious, especially in autumn/winter.
Our usual routine/recipe is:
Peel and cut potatoes and parboil them for 5 minutes
Cut onions, garlic and whatever else we’re putting in
Cover them in goose fat (usually) and rosemary, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven for 30 minutes
Fry steak, grill chicken or lamb, or whatever meat we’re having
On the hot pan, sauté a bit of spinach while spouse is putting everything else on plates (spinach takes about two minutes so it’s easy to do)
It’s half my favourite weeknight recipe because it’s so easy, and half because it’s so tasty.
It’s pretty boring - 1lb burger (I use the 92%), a packet of Lipton Golden Onion Soup mix, 1 large egg, 1/4 cu bread crumbs (or Panko), a tsp or two of Worstershire sauce, a squirt of BBQ sauce, a squirt of catsup, a tablespoon of tomato paste, maybe some carmelized onions and garlic, whatever random spices I feel like throwing in.
While I prefer tomato glaze on top, TheKid doesn’t. The weenie.
I also like Paula Deen’s meatloaf recipe in one of her Lady & Sons cookbook - I’ll have to dig it out. Very juicy, tomato-ey.
Yeah, schnitzel is just some sort of very thin cutlet that’s been pan-fried. Chicken, veal, pork, beef, lamb, whatever. I had duck schnitzel when we ate at Emeril’s a couple years ago. We serve it with whatever sounds good and doesn’t require an extra trip to the store, usually some garlicky mashed potatoes and green beans or a salad. I guess if you wanted it to be German-ish you could go with egg noodles or sauerkraut. At any rate, you’ll want some nice crusty bread to sop up any stray juices.
When I haven’t planned ahead for dinner (a rare occurrence, indeed), my go-to dinner is a very loose version of chicken cacciatore. I always have chicken pieces in the freezer; I always have onions, garlic, mushrooms, canned tomatoes, pasta, and parmesan cheese. I brown the chicken and remove to a plate, saute the veggies in the same pan, and add the tomatoes and some seasonings (s & p, dried italian seasoning blend, red pepper flakes); then put the chicken back in the pan to simmer for a bit while I boil the pasta. When everything is done, I put the pasta in a big bowl, pour the sauce over, add cheese and arrange the chicken pieces around the edges.
It’s not really a recipe, but I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve it to company with some bread and a salad.
My go-to fave when I’m alone for supper is scrambled eggs with cheese and a toasted English muffin.
I love high-protien spaghetti, Prego mushroom spaghetti sauce with a can of mushrooms, a heaping helping of canned grated parmesan and a bag of steam-in-bag frozen veggies. Garlic toast made out of stale “Italiano” bread too if I have it lying around.
Love this meal because it takes like 15 mins to make, and like Sattua said you can get a lot of meals out of it (I can get 4 servings for myself). And everything is from the cupboard or frozen so I can buy tons of the ingredients when they’re on sale and ALWAYS have the ingredients.
Fall-back:
Red Beans and Rice. I can get Alton Brown’s recipe up and going on the stove in about 20 minutes, and let it simmer for several hours while I get other things done. This happens…often. (I love RB&R - in my money’s tight days (before knowing who Alton was) I’d do an even skimpier version that I enjoyed and cost about 42 cents.)
Favorites:
Vodka Penne and Prosciutto. Also extremely easy to make, but comes out absolutely delicious. It’s the perfect “first night cooking for a new SO” meal.
Perennial:
I do a pot of chili the first weekend of November every year (and several more throughout the year - but November really kicks it off).
Cross Training:
During the summer, my fall-back perennial side dish is a plate of tomato slices with thinly sliced red onion, feta, fresh chopped basil and a homemade tzaziki sauce.
At least once a week I’ll roast veg. I use 3-5 of the following: Zucchini, red pepper, onions, asparagus, little tomatoes, garlic cloves (whatever combo is in the fridge). I chop every thing into roughly 1" pieces, toss with oil/vinegar (or salad dressing) and roast in a big pan until they’re caramelized and delicious. I eat some of them as a side dish, and the rest get used up in a multitude of ways:
[ul]
[li]Add it to risotto[/li][li]fill an omelette[/li][li]Turn it into a pasta sauce[/li][li]put 'em on sandwiches[/li][/ul]
Delicious!
Another staple in our house is steak frites - pepper a steak, pan sear and continue cooking in oven if required, tent with foil if not. Sliced shallots into the hot pan, cook until soft and a little browned, add red wine and cook until thickened and syrup-y. Serve over steak with fries and a green salad.
Some basic things that turn up a lot at our house are:
Stir fry- Nobody’s going to applaud for it and one child doesn’t like rice, but we have it approximately every other week.
Meatloaf- From memory, the recipe: One green pepper and one onion, chop and sauté, season with thyme and garlic salt and set aside to cool. Mix one pound of ground beef, two eggs, a quarter cup ketchup, a tablespoon of Worcestershire, and ¾ cup breadcrumbs. Mix in the cooled veggies, shape into a loaf, and bake about 45 minutes at 375 degrees in a lightly greased dish.
Spaghetti, of course. And two easy variations: Spaghetti noodles with pesto, chicken, and walnuts; or spaghetti with bacon, pepper, and two cans diced tomatoes.
Pizza- We buy the dough, use a simple sauce of tomato sauce + tomato paste + seasoning, and add mozzarella, ham, and pineapple. Or whatever’s lying around loose.
This recipe for pasta primavera is probably the most popular thing I make. Cheap, easy, fast, nutritious, delicious.
Bibimbop = Korean for “leftovers on rice”
Sa cha = a savory fermented fish sauce. Sounds gross, but it’s heavenly
Furikake = Japanese rice seasoning; it’s a shaker of dried seaweed, sesame seeds, salt and sugar. Yum. Adds good minerals too.
For the creamed spinach, I heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet, fry 2 cloves of garlic (pressed) for a few seconds, then dump in the spinach and artichokes and cover till they’re melted. Then add the cheese and half & half, salt and pepper to taste, and call it done. It thickens up after a few minutes. The 1/4 cup measurements are dieting rations btw; if you aren’t worried about calories use a bit more.