Easy main course

[cesy]

Does anyone have a favourite easy main course, to cook when you're short of spoons for anything fancy? I'd like to learn more things that are nearly as easy as a ready meal, while not being a ready meal.

Comments

[randomling]

Hm. Mostly my easy-to-make meals are best described as Thing On Toast. Not necessarily so much of a "meal", although some are quite tasty.

Are you veggie/dairy-free/gluten-free/any restrictions? 'Cause I can share a few quick-n-easy things.

[cesy]

Nope, no restrictions.

[randomling]

I'll give you some recipes when I'm home from work! :)

[gwen]

Mac and Cheese with little hotdogs. To make it a little zesty I put in cheese queso dip along with cheddar cheese chunks. It gives it a little bite you wouldn't expect.

[cesy]

How do you do that?

[gwen]

I cheat a little, I follow the directions on the box of mac and cheese. Then when the noodles are done I leave them in the strainer. I put the pot on warm, I add 1 table spoon of butter and 1/2 of cubes of cheese I cut up while the noodles were boiling. Then I add 1/3 cup of milk. Let it warm up a tad. It's just to make it creamy and make it seem homemade. Then I put in the noodles and let the cheese melt, add the packet of cheese the mac and cheese comes with. Then I add 1Tsp of Tostitos Salsa Con Queso Dip. It's to taste, if you put too much in it pretty much tastes like you are eating dip. It's better to put in too little, it just adds a little kick.

If you want the hot dogs add it with the butter and let it coat. I've found if you do that your noodles don't end up tasting like hotdogs.

[cesy]

I'm assuming mac and cheese is as in McDonald's. Do you mean they sell packets of it in the supermarket near you? I don't think I've ever seen that.

[azurelunatic]

Macaroni noodles.

[gwen]

I'm so sorry, I didn't look to see where you were from before I started using American terms. My fault. I mean Kraft Macaroni and cheese. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3346141914_e28a594a89_o.jpg

[cesy]

Ah, macaroni cheese makes more sense. I shall try that out sometime. Thank you.

[damned_colonial]

Late reply but I came back here and read through comments again...

I'm non-USian (though I live here currently) and, lacking packaged M&C mixes, I used to make it from scratch. Basically I'd make a roux with a knob of butter and a bit of flour, add milk slowly til I got a white sauce, then add grated cheese. This would take about as long as it took macaroni/elbow noodles to cook. Then I'd strain the noodles and mix them with the cheese. I don't know quite what your spoon limit is, but I offer it just as an option if you don't have the packaged kind.

Related: I like mixing cauliflower with cheese sauce, topping with breadcrumbs and cheese, and baking it in the oven. If I'm feeling lazy *and* healthy simultaneously, I skip the cheese sauce and just bake cauliflower with breadcrumbs and cheese. Or just cheese. It's especially good with parmesan, and honestly, I can make a meal of it. Takes 5 mins to set up, then ignore it in the oven for a 45 mins, then take it out and eat.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I want to try this! Thanks for sharing! By 1/2 of cubes of cheese do you mean half a cup?

Rice!

[azurelunatic]

This does require specialized equipment to do easily. A rice steamer needn't be expensive, but OMG, I would not cook rice without one; I would not even know where to begin. I had to have two things when moving out of my parents' house: a laptop and a rice cooker.

Take rice. Get any/all rocks out. Add rice to pot of steamer. Rinse until water runs clear (or near enough). Fill with water until water is about 1/4" over the top of the rice. Put into rice cooker on cook setting; allow to sit on warm setting an additional 10-15 minutes before eating.

Serve with protein of choice; soy sauce and/or rice vinegar are optional. I like grated cheddar cheese.

My aunt likes to cut up chicken-apple sausages and steam those along with the rice. That is pretty tasty.

Re: Rice!

[cesy]

I shall investigate this. Do I need to bear anything in mind about what type of rice steamer to get? Do they come in different types?

Re: Rice!

[azurelunatic]

I am sure that they come in bells-and-whistles and just plain standard. I have the just plain standard type (a bit like a crock pot, with an aluminum pot for the rice to go in, a glass lid, and an optional vegetable steamer tray that you can put on top between the pot and the lid, which is not standard but not terribly frilly) and it is really right spiffy.

You might even be able to get one used at a thrift store; it is not like there is much on them that could be screwed up by a previous owner.

Re: Rice!

[damned_colonial]

They come in many different types, but any/all of them, including the cheapest available, will probably work for your purposes. The better ones are larger (for big families) and have the ability to keep rice warm without it drying out, so you can just leave it on the counter with rice in it all day. If you aren't a family of Asian people, you probably don't need that.

The features I'd recommend are:

* non-stick
* auto-off

You should be able to get a small one for around $20.

A few selected favorites:

[passerine]

- Veggie omelette. One of the easiest low-spoons things if you have access to a good non-stick pan and easily crumbled/torn or pre-cut veggies. I combine one whole egg, 2-3 egg whites, and up to 1 cup of veggies (mushrooms are my favorite but tomatoes, spinach, onions and/or peppers are all good too) in a dish. I heat up the frying pan with a little bit of oil (olive, peanut, or sunflower are my favorites to cook with) - just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. I pour in the egg mixture, and then use a pancake turner to flip it over once it looks like the bottom is solid enough. The whole production takes about 5 minutes, maybe a little more or less depending on your veggie situation and how comfortable you are with doing this.

- Add a bag of frozen veggies (peas work best in my experience) along with the macaroni from a box of macaroni and cheese dinner, then continue preparing the macaroni and cheese as normal. This stretches it into enough food for more people and gets some vegetables down you.

- Sausage apples: take a 12-oz pack of lean sausages (hot dogs work too) and 3-4 apples and cut them into bite-sized pieces. If your sausage is really lean, melt a little butter in the skillet first; otherwise, just throw everything in. If it is too dry, add water or apple juice 1/2 c. at a time. Cook until the apples start getting soft and everything is heated through. Add cinnamon to taste.

- "Rabbit food", which is a little bit fussier but was kind of my salvation in college: Per reasonably hungry person, put 1/3 c lentils or split peas, 1/3 c brown rice (important - it MUST be brown rice or this does not work properly), and 2 c water in a saucepan on low-medium heat. Let it simmer until the lentils and rice are no longer crunchy, which can take anywhere from 25-45 minutes. Meanwhile, per person, grate 1 large or 2 small carrots and 2 oz whatever cheese you have on hand. Add the grated bits to the bits in the saucepan and mix thoroughly. This also works well as a make-ahead-and-reheat dish.

Re: A few selected favorites:

[damned_colonial]

Mine fall into three categories: 1) things that you can cook from ingredients in ~15 minutes, 2) things that take a long time but very little effort, and 3) things you can cook at some other time, and easily freeze for subsequent reheating.

Cook in 15 mins or less:

* Cheesey bread, cheese on toast, grilled cheese sandwich, quesadilla (variations on a theme)
* Eggs, various ways, with toast (my favourite: fried egg chilli chutney sandwich, which I picked up from Lister on Red Dwarf)
* Pasta with random tomato-based sauce
* Asian noodle soups
* Stir-fried tofu and greens over noodles
* Salad with protein and/or carbs built in (variations on a theme)

Slow-cooking but doesn't need your attention/energy:

* Roasted/baked veggies (eg. baked potato with toppings)
* Pot of beans (cooks in 1-2 hours, use it all week in various ways, or freeze -- many variations possible)

Cook in advance, re-use/re-heat/recycle:

* Soup, frozen in single servings
* Lasagne, frozen in single servings

Tell me which ones you'd like more detail about, and I'll post recipes/instructions.

Re: A few selected favorites:

[angelikitten]

(my favourite: fried egg chilli chutney sandwich, which I picked up from Lister on Red Dwarf)

I'm sorry, but I think I may have just fallen in love with you!

Re: A few selected favorites:

[damned_colonial]

Hee!

[boosette.livejournal.com]

My go-to "today sucked" meal is half a pint of ice cream with chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Outside of that,

+ Quesadillas. Dump some pre-shredded cheese, salsa and meat-bits (leftover steak/hamburger/chicken? good.) on a large flour tortilla and heat in a dry nonstick skillet until the tortilla is golden brown and delicious and the cheese is melted. Fold the quesadilla in half and eat with more salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole.

+ Mac and peas. Cook a box of macaroni, add half a bag of thawed frozen peas (run them under cold water in a colander until they're thawed.). This is also tasty with salsa and a can of black beans.

+ Chicken soup, if you have a couple spoons to spare - cut an onion in half, a couple carrots and a couple celery stalks in thirds, and a couple garlic cloves in half. In a pot of water or stock, add some boneless skinless chicken breasts (quartered, if you want), the vegetation, a teaspoon or so of salt and italian seasoning, half a teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for an hour. Use bone-in-skin-on chicken and/or slice the vegetation smaller if you have enough spoons.

+ Chicken in foil. Coat a bone-in-skin-on chicken breast in paprika, salt and pepper. Wrap it in foil. Stick it in a 400• oven along side a baking potato (or sweet potato) (pricked with a fork) for an hour. Serve with salad from a bag or microwave veg with cheese.

++ Microwave veg with cheese: In a large cereal bowl, slice/break the florets off a piece of broccoli or cauliflower. Add a couple teaspoons of water to the bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Remove, toss, microwave for another 30 seconds. Drain off the water, add shredded cheddar cheese, microwave for 30 seconds, remove, toss, microwave for 15 seconds. Or skip the cheese and use soy sauce or Bragg's or Spike instead.

[rainbow]

I'm always short on spoons *g*

Soup. I do 2 kinds. One is *very* simple for days I can't stand up long at all. The other takes a bit more oomph, but not much.
1: 2 cups water, seasoned with salt, pepper, any other herbs or spices you like. 1/4+ cup of some kind of protein. I use ground beef, but whatever works for you and is easy. 1/4-1/2 cup dry noodles. I use Tinkyada brown rice noodles, but any kind would work. Frozen veg. Boil water. Add meat, in small, bite size pieces, and noodles. Stir and cook til noodles are almost done. Add veg. Cook until done, adjust seasonings.
2: 2 cups water, a big clove of garlic put thru a garlic press, some grated ginger (I keep it in the freezer and grate it still frozen), soy/teriyaki/miso, fermented chil bean sauce. Mix those to taste, add protein and noodles and cook til noodles are done. The plain white rice noodles that come in wads like ramen but without seasoning work really well with this, but any noodles will work if you don't have them. I get them at the local Asian grocery store.

Seasoned garbanzos/chickpeas -- canned beans seasoned to taste with cumin, smooshed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper. Can be served hot or cold.

Scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese (tortillas optional)

(very late reply)

[dame_grise]

I like the idea of grating the ginger frozen, but I want to know what you do with the skin? Do you keep it?

Re: (very late reply)

[rainbow]

I wipe the ginger clean before freezing, then grate it without peeling. With my grater the thinner, tender skin grates along with the insides but the tougher skin stays intact (as do the tougher fibers if the ginger is older).

I have a small hand grater with a handle by KitchenAid. It's the kind with very small holes for grating hard cheeses, I think.

[alittlebirdy]

http://www.howtobakeapotato.com/ then add some toppings like grated cheese and broccoli, or a spaghetti bolagnaise beef sauce with peas and corn.

[jedsa]

Easy meal: teriyaki cod....

Ingredients:
Cod (or haddock, scrod, or similar fish) (half a pound per person)
Mushrooms (baby portobello or button mushrooms work well-no need for fancy wild mushrooms for this application)
Bottled teriyaki sauce
Non-stick oil spray

Method:
-Preheat oven to 400˚F..
-Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
-Lightly spray foil with non-stick oil spray.
-Place mushrooms on baking sheet to form a bed that you can place the fish on.
-Put fish on top of the mushrooms.
-Pour teriyaki on sauce of the fish to coat it.
-Put in oven for 12-20 minutes, or until opaque and flaky.
-Eat. I like to serve it with asparagus, brocolli, and/or a baked potato, but really, anything works.