This is a very good thread. It makes me happy. I would like to share with you a favorite pasta sauce recipe for when I want to pretend I'm fancy and know how to cook but without all the standing and chopping: tomato sauce with onion and butter. Cooking anything at all is a pretty big spoon expenditure for me, but the low number of ingredients and simple preparation make this doable. Time commitment: high Dirty dishes: medium Ingredients: 3, not including the pasta (I am forcibly removed from the kitchen.) Prep steps: so blessedly few It calls for a 28 ounce can of tomatoes, 5 tbsp of butter, and an onion. Cut the onion in half and peel away the outermost layer to remove The Dirt. Dump everything (tomato can contents, butter, onion halves) in a saucepan and let simmer for 45 minutes or until it's a pleasing sauce consistency in your opinion. Fish sad onion halves out of your sauce and garbage them. (Try not to feel too bad about it, they are biodegradable and died for a good cause.) Shovel onto pasta. Ta da! This recipe is not your number one source of nutrition unless your diet is specifically lacking in tomato related nutrients, but the flavor is quite amazing. Apparently canning allows for letting the tomatoes ripen longer before harvesting, rather than having to pick them early so they survive the grocery shuffle before going bad. Between that and the onion, I feel the flavor is strong enough that this recipe requires no spices or cheese or anything except maybe salt. Also pepper because I will put that on absolutely anything including orange juice. I usually use diced tomatoes, which cuts the cook time a bit. Then I sometimes go over them with a potato masher for good measure because my family uses a dishwasher so I can afford to dirty an extra utensil, and I like the texture better that way. I am a heathen who cuts up her spaghetti before eating it, so I usually make everything easier for myself by breaking all the spaghetti in half before cooking (carefully, because it tends to snap and send little pieces flying), which enables me to cook it in the tiniest saucepan with much less water. Very great speed improvement. One of my friends does even better by replacing all spaghetti with smaller pasta such as macaroni, and she is an astonishing speed demon at the stove.
I just tried a pomegranate the other day. I was hesitant because I don't like pomegranate juice/pomegranate flavored things. But I discovered that the seeds themselves don't have an especially strong flavor. If they weren't on the expensive side they would be my go-to snack. They are seeds so they cronch.
the good news is that you get a lot of seeds for what you pay and they can last a while. I like to put them on top of cottage cheese.
I did some experimenting with the instant curry noodles you can see higher up, and I've found a thing that makes them taste much better: once you're done cooking the noodles, drain the water, add the flavor packet, and a bit of cream. It's still insanely salty, but the texture is much better.
For me instant meal kits are medium end levels of spoons, but if anyone hasn't tried past-a-roni, it's definitely my favorite quick pasta meal. They generally only take five minutes of boiling and though their sauces tend towards a bit bland I find just adding a few of your own spices to taste makes them excellent >u> they never thicken right for me but I also put more milk and water in than you're supposed to because I prefer my pasta as close to soup as possible
OK so here's one that's become a staple for me. for this you need a can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas. don't use the low-sodium ones, trying to put salt on top of unsalted chickpeas results in sadness. also you need olive oil. you might also want to have a pepper grinder but that's optional FAST INSTRUCTIONS - open and drain can of chickpeas - pour in about a tablespoon of olive oil - optionally, add pepper to taste DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS - open can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas. leave the metal circle of top-of-can inside the can, don't throw it away yet - press this metal circle against the contents of the can and hold upside-down over a sink to drain. the top of can circle will keep all the contents in while you drain the liquid, minimizing both hassle and dish-cleaning. - now you can throw the metal circle away. - pour in some olive oil. my usual measurement of how much is "one second of pouring at full blast". definitely don't fill the can more than 1/4, you just drained it in a previous step and refilling it would be counterproductive. (if you use too much oil you can still eat it but you'll be wasting oil) - optionally, crank pepper on top. if you add pepper, stir it in a bit with your eating spoon - maybe halfway down the can is fine, you can add more later - so that you're not eating 10% pepper-crusted chickpeas and 90% unpeppered chickpeas. - eat with spoon edit: you can also use this can circle trick for other things that are canned solid object(s) packed in liquid, such as other beans, or tuna (press the circle down firmly to squeeze out the extra moisture, with tuna)
Potatoes hint: Most of the things you want to do with potatoes work perfectly well if the potatoes are already cooked (boiled, unpeeled) and they are much easier to peel that way. I often eat potatoes, because I like them; but I can't eat the skins -- why do restaurants ruin perfectly nice mashed potatoes by leaving the peels in? -- and I have some neurological damage in my hands, so using a regular potato peeler is rather arduous. I boil several and put them in the fridge unpeeled. They keep quite a while that way (I don't know how long but I've eaten some after a couple of weeks that weren't spoiled), and when I want one the skin separates easily from the edible part. They're easy to slice, being soft (I can even slice them with one of those wire egg-slicers). And you don't have to wait for them to cook, you already did that.
Black bean tacos 3-5 six inch tortillas 1 can black beans Mexican seasoning (I use Adobo) Whatever else you want to go with tacos (shredded cheese is good, I like avocado and sour cream) Drain black beans as much as you can. Heat up and add a generous amount of Mexican seasoning. Transfer into a Tupperware because you'll have leftovers. Heat up your tortillas so they're flexible - 30 seconds in the microwave or ten seconds a side in a pan. Put all your ingredients on a plate and build your tacos - line everything up in the middle and leave space to pinch your tortilla together. Edit: if you have leftover or canned meat you can definitely use that instead of beans, beans are just the lowest spoons option for me. I've done this with leftover Chinese takeout (minus the Mexican seasoning) and enjoyed it.
Finally got out of bed to eat: Coffee flavoured milk (milk + java syrup mixed in a rootbeer can that i fidnt bother to recycle last night. Ayyy no washing it gets rinsed and recycled and i can avoid dishes) Apple sauce 2 peperettes (p r o t e i n) And i have edamame in the freezer at work so heyyy more protein, and washing things at work can take less spoons sometimes
in eight inch square pan or cake pan or similar sized pan, put enough tater tots to cover bottom, bake for seven to ten minutes at 350, idk, i don't really time things ever scramble eggs ( four to six) and seasoning, pour over partly-cooked tots, layer with cheese or mix the cheese into the eggs before pouring. return to oven till eggs aren't wiggly in the middle recipe also works with chopped up leftover baked potato. if i'm making baked potatoes i try and make one or two extra just for this scoop out, stuff in face making happy noises. serves fourish but tends to make three meals for us remember to turn the oven off when you're done, thats important and took me a while to make a habit I'm too tired to do even that, right now, so I'm just shoving tater tots in my face edit: this is a Bad Plan for washing the pan afterwards, but as long as i soak it first i don't mind baked-on egg pans
I made something easy when I came home from Zumba Ingredients: 400 gr can of lentils 400 gr can of chopped tomatoes 100 gr or there abouts of salami 1 onion chopped (All times approximated) Chop salami in bite size pieces. Fry in frying pan without oil 3-4 minutes. Add onion. Fry 2 minutes. Meanwhile drain and rinse lentils. Add lentils to pan, stir. Add tomatoes. Stir again. Bring to boil. Turn down heat. Warm through appr. 5 minutes. Eat with bread or spoon. Whichever is easier. Makes around two portions but I was hungry.
Delicious evening meal I just enjoyed: the least wilted bits of spinach I could find in the carton, eaten by the handful dipped in vinegar because adding oil to make actual salad dressing is too hard, followed by two and a half pieces of purple funfetti cake
The supermarket that delivers my groceries (I don't drive) carries Tasty Bite,a line of Indian (and some other Asian) dishes that require no literal spoons to prepare. Come in a pouch that stands upright; cut partway open, pour in one cup of water, microwave one minute. I've had the pad thai and will order it again; one package ($3.69) is enough for a meal (Amazon has six-packs for $18.54). That item is vegan. All I've looked at are vegetarian, some are gluten-free. The side dishes are much cheaper at Amazon than at the supermarket.
I think I've had their red lentil and kidney bean side dish (before I got sick and beans became a no-go). It was really tasty! Good over rice and with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. Will give you a good dose of protein and fiber and all you need is a microwave. I've also eaten it straight out of the pouch before when I was really exhausted; no need to even clean a bowl.
Rice and pasta in general are so good. You can add them to anything you make and instantly have twice as many meals as you had before. One tv dinner becomes two tv dinners. One can of soup becomes three lunches. It's wonderful.
