Not really a low spoons food so much as a low spoons juice blend/ citrus/ anti-scurvy source? but one of the recipes in my little book of smoothies is impressively low-prep and handy for folks like me that Love That Citrus but hate how messy actually opening up/breaking down the fruit is (orange residue from peeling one takes forever to get off my fingers orz) two cups OJ, three tbsp lime juice, four tbsp lemon juice and then one 7 ounce little 'pudding cup' each of grapefruit segments and orange segments (they're quite easy to find in the refrigerated section of the produce area in all the grocery stores I've been to, fwiw) No prep involved besides measuring the OJ and lemon/lime, just dump them all in food processor/blender, blend, done. super tangy and tasty P:
Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup: 3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable) 1 can diced tomatoes 1 can black beans (drained) 2 cans pumpkin puree 1 tbsp curry powder 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 tsp cayenne or to taste 1/2 tbspn cumin course salt, to taste Dump everything but the spices into a pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the spices and cream. Simmer five minutes. Adjust spices. Eat! Additional Notes: the cream is optional but makes it have a nicer texture. You can garnish it with fresh chives, it's really nice that way this is also really good with toasted bread (we buy bags of unseasoned "stuffing bread" from the grocery store's bakery section and stir that in) If you have the spoons, dice a medium onion and sautee it with 2 tbsp olive oil in the base of the soup pot before you start anything
Today I learned that spaghetti squash is really nice--it has a veggie-ish crunch to it but it's not too crunchy or fibrous, and as far as I know it doesn't get mushy unless you overcook the living crap out of it. It's a lot like cauliflower in that it's bland enough that you can add pretty much almost anything you want to it and the squash taste doesn't interfere with the rest of your ingredients--it's barely there and blends well with other stuff. I just added a bit of butter to it and threw in some colby cheese and red pepper flakes on top and it turned out amazing. I am totally eating this with pesto later. :d What I also learned is that this is a pretty dang low spoons squash. It's easy to tell when it's ripe--it should be hard and yellow with no green or soft spots. Initially I was kind of intimidated because here's this big ol' hard yellow thing I have to somehow cook, but I have discovered that you can treat it like a giant baked potato and nuke it in the microwave if you don't feel up to messing with the oven and baking sheets and stuff--just stab some holes in it and microwave for about five minutes for every pound. (I eyeballed it and went with 10 minutes for mine and it turned out fine--I don't think you have to be terribly exact or anything.) It will be nice and soft when you take it out. When it's cool enough to slice in half, you will find largeish pumpkin-like seeds in the middle! Remove these and their surrounding membraneyness with a spoon, (they're more or less clustered together) and then rake a fork down the rest of the squash flesh--it'll come away from the peel part really easily. From there, refrigerate and heat up in the microwave when you want to use it. So far I've been dressing it up like you would pasta, but it looks like there's lots of stuff you can make with this--just be sure to squish some of the moisture out with a paper towel after you heat it up. From what I can tell, putting it in the oven doesn't look like it takes a lot of fuss either--just poke holes in it and go for approximately thirty to forty minutes at 400F, maybe longer if you picked a really big one. I haven't tried messing with it raw yet because my knife needs sharpening, so I have no idea if this thing is difficult to cut in half and scoop the seeds out while raw or not. It'll last about two weeks in the fridge. 8) Mine made roughly two cups of the stuff and I picked one of the smaller ones. I have a feeling this is a squash lots of people know way more about than I do, so feel free to add to this if I missed anything. But dang, this stuff's really good! :D
is anyone watching nadiya's time to eat on netflix? it's more geared at saving time than spoons but there are some really nice spoon savings tips as well. it's also just really really nice to see someone on a food show advocating for taking every possible spoon saving shortcut
I watched it when it was originally shown on the BBC and loved it then. I made her Beet and Garlic pasta sauce, it was delicious
How to make lump omelette or scrambled eggs in microwave - Take egg or eggs, crack and scramble in small bowle. Add things you like to flavour, whatever you can manage - pepper, chives, chopped mushroom, cheese. My fave is sun-dried tomato and cheese or whatever cold cut meat there is to hand. Put on microwave for 30 seconds. Check. If too soft, mix and put for another 30 seconds. Repeat until you either have nice soft scrambles or a Lump of Egg, which is good for instantly fooding some hot-ass protein into your mouth at 2am when you forgot to eat anything but chocolate and crisps today.
A packet of chicken noodle soup mix (eta: the "makes 4 servings" size, scale down if using single-serving packet in a mug) and as much water as directed Dissolve the weird dry mixture then add 1 cup instant rice + Dried chives/garlic Boil until its mostly cooked Add frozen riced broccoli + Whatever else you feel like Heat until frozen veg are good + Top with shredded cheddar hell yeah im eating this
Not sure if i shared this yet but: World's Fastest Cream Sauce: you make your noodles of choice as per usual For the sauce, for one portion: 2-3tbs cream cheese of your choice. Pick a brand and flavouring you like ~half a cup of liquid. can be wine, lemon juice, low sodium stock, water, whatever. Something that vibes with your cheese -seasoning you like optional: anything you want in your sauce like low-cooking time veg, smoked salmon/trout, nuts, you do you. What you do: while your noodles are going, put your cream cheese into a cooking dish of choice on low-medium heat. I often use a pan, just make sure it's big enough to also fit your pasta portion Add your liquid. Stir it together until the cream cheese is mostly dissolved into the liquid Add your seasonings (careful with the salt tho, this will reduce down and thus get saltier) When your noodles are almost done, add your extra stuff if you have any Cook until noodles are done and drained Dump noodles into your sauce dish, stir together. Put heat to high Reduce until sauce has a consistency you like, put it on a plate, and you're done! Usually this takes about ten minutes for me to make because the sauce needs about as long as the noodles do
Excellent mug cake recipe I have discovered in lockdown, very good if you're struggling to just meet your basic calorie requirements: 4 tbsp flour 2 tbsp sugar 1tbsp oil FOR COFFEE CAKE: 1 tbsp coffee (if you have a cold cup sitting around this is ideal), or for LEMON CAKE: 1 tbsp lemon juice Optional addition to coffee cake: a rough spoonful of chocolate mix or Ovaltine 1/4 teaspoon baking powder Mix in bowl or in mug. Microwave on high for 90ish seconds. It should rise into a relatively light and fluffy cake! Topping I've done a few times, when my brother got a packet of McVities: if made in a bowl, then once it is done, remove from the microwave and squeeze on enough honey to spread a thin layer over the entire surface of the cake with the back of a spoon. Then take a biscuit and crumble it gently all over. Use a spoon or fork to mix this around until you basically have a honey-crumble topping. Bon appetit!
Wal-Mart sells frozen broccoli that is just florets, which is nice and easy to heat up and dump butter+seasoning or salad dressing on. I'm picky, I don't like stems. Luckily I like raw broccoli too, and it's easier to dissect (I am SO picky about fruit and veg, thank gods for vitamin gummies) so that will be my Adult Veg Of Choice Kale shoved into a soup is good too. I dont like it raw as much.
I buy frozen spinach but only in the cubed rectangular packaging...if you buy it "loose" in a bag I've noticed there are more fibrous stem bits. No.
yeah I've really gotten hip to the swag of 'steam in bag' frozen veggies, several easily obtained brands do em o3o just toss in the microwave and there you go. Sometimes I just eat them as is, sometimes I mix them with cheap/quick pasta or rice.
Quaker instant oatmeal's good; to prevent it from erupting all over your microwave's insides, cook it for one minute, stir it briefly, then cook it for the second minute. Bioactive yoghurt comes in convenient pots and bottles which are just enough if you're feeling snack-y, and can help out with digestive health if that's one of the things decreasing your spoons.
I don't like yogurt but i want the probiotics so sometimes I'll buy a six pack of those weird fermented drinks that are the size of a 5 hour energy and have the english and Spanish or French wording? No idea what they're called but it says probiotics on it and it is a lot easier to get one of those down than a yogurt or regular sized yogurt drink. I really wish i liked yogurt more, there's so much variety these days :(
My sister's doctor put her on probiotics one time. Kombucha went down okay, but she wasn't happy about the kefir.
Kombucha and kefir are great for gut health, but can run quite expensive in my experience. For anyone who needs probiotic food, but can't afford to buy kombucha regularly, a jar of miso paste, while also on the expensive side, is a good probiotic source and good for many bowls of soup (just add water and seasoning). It can be used in other cooking, and may be a bit more cost effective? Not so much if you can't eat soy or don't like miso, though.
