If you can't stand up any more, peanut butter on toast. If you can stand up a few minutes more and really want to give yourself a present for all your hard work- Pasta Carbonara.
Oatmeal (the real kind, not quick cooking) and cheesy scrambled eggs. You need the slow cooking oats (er, 10 minute?) because then you have time to make the eggs.
Sometimes I make Oyakodon or Tanindon when I'm feeling less than inspired to cook. It always turns out well and I almost always have either chicken or beef and eggs in the fridge.
Fish fillets are so quick to fix, even from frozen. When I buy fish I often get extras and freeze each fillet separately. I'll unwrap the number I need and put them -- still frozen -- on a foil broiler pan. Sprinkle with herbs of choice, salt and pepper and spritz with lemon juice. They cook in a matter of minutes under the broiler. Add a quick saute of zucchini or some such easy and quick veggie, and we haven't blown the diet just because I didn't feel like cooking. Oh, and a glass of white wine. :)
Rice bowls - make up some rice and then serve it with a bunch of different toppings - can go the mexican route with beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, tomato, etc or asian route with chopped nori, edamame, cukes, soy sauce. Both can have diced meat (chicken, pork or beef) avocado and other veggies available too. Asian style is also good with leftover fish on it - sometimes we have a bit of salmon from last night's dinner that we use. Family members can pick the toppings that work for them. It's kind of a variation on the baked potato bar, or taco night - but with rice as the base.
Often when it's just me for dinner, I make some plain rice, mix it up with a bit of soy and sesame oil, toss in some chopped scallions, if on hand, and whatever leftover vegetables lurk in the fridge (anything from grating a carrot carrot, to slivered cabbage, to peas, to....) - and eat the whole thing with a fried egg on top. A little chili-garlic paste on the side. Besides the rice cooking, it takes like five minutes - and I seriously look forward to night's I can eat just this.
I also do omelets. There's always something around to use as a filling, even when there appears to be nothing. Like the egg version of Stone Soup.
Pasta (butter + cheese or red sauce), breakfast for dinner (cereal, eggs) toast & jam, hummus & crackers, salad - basically scraps from fridge. I hear ya with this question!
Extra-large baked potato w/ choice of fillings including some of the following: salsa,grated cheddar, chickpea salad (made from lemon, olive oil, minced parsley, salt, pepper, optional cumin, minced white onion or scallion), yogurt or sour cream, diced Scotch-smoked salmon, chives. Green salad on the side.
Another very simple supper dish that uses ingredients you are likely to have on hand is a potato frittata (idea from the late great Laurie Colwin). Cook up some sliced onions and potatoes until soft, add seasoned beaten eggs with a little milk and bake at 350F until puffed up. Obviously with more work this would become a Spanish tortilla. You can add what ever you have to hand, herbs, cheese, red or green peppers etc. And with a green salad, this makes a simple but satisfying supper.
I like some sort of bruschetta made with whatever I have on hand plus a simple salad of arugula and parm with a lemon or Dijon vinaigrette. Clean, simple, healthy, delicious.
Keep a good assortment of leftovers in your refrigerator and freezer. Let some of it be basics -- unseasoned rice, beans, etc. Scour the fridge for orphaned bits of vegetables, sauces that you liked but didn't finish. Pull out things that sort of go together and start mix-and-matching. Use the model of fried rice, or just heat things up, and finish with the appropriate sauce. Your refrigerator shelves will thank you and you will eat well.
Sometimes I think we set our expectations too high for day to day cooking. We're bombarded with images of perfectly plated dishes, exotic ingredients, professional chefs that whip up a perfect supposedly simple dishes with ease.
Short cuts are derided and frowned upon by food enthusiasts. That grinds you down.
This doesn't mean you go to the taco-bell and bring home a bag-o-crap and call it a day.
Go back to ONE cook book. Something like joy of cooking, or one of the "Better Homes and Gardens" cook books, and explore more basic recipes to refresh yourself.
Turn a box of "Popeyes" chicken nuggets into a stir fry.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/10/use-popeyes-chicken-nuggets-to-make-awesome-homemade-chinese-american-food.html
I love making homemade from scratch. But the chicken part can be the biggest pain...(cutting it in cubes, 'velveting' it with cornstarch and egg white, frying it, using lots of oil and removing the oil..etc).
The veggie element is so quick and easy hardly worth mentioning.
Good question! I'm working on a recipe for Food52 that requires a lot of prep time, and I have to meet the deadline. So meanwhile, eggs are always good. An omelet, spaghetti carbonara, cesaer salad, something like that.
Bacon + Eggs. Oven cook the bacon on parchment. Scramble Eggs in a non-stick skillet with some of the bacon fat. This is my go-to dinner when I don't want to cook anything. Cooking the bacon on parchment or in the same pan you cook the eggs leaves very little clean up as an added bonus. Some toast and jam would not hurt.
32 Comments
Sometimes I make Oyakodon or Tanindon when I'm feeling less than inspired to cook. It always turns out well and I almost always have either chicken or beef and eggs in the fridge.
I also do omelets. There's always something around to use as a filling, even when there appears to be nothing. Like the egg version of Stone Soup.
Extra-large baked potato w/ choice of fillings including some of the following: salsa,grated cheddar, chickpea salad (made from lemon, olive oil, minced parsley, salt, pepper, optional cumin, minced white onion or scallion), yogurt or sour cream, diced Scotch-smoked salmon, chives. Green salad on the side.
Voted the Best Reply!
One of the recipes started with "Have the Maid Make a Roux".
Short cuts are derided and frowned upon by food enthusiasts. That grinds you down.
This doesn't mean you go to the taco-bell and bring home a bag-o-crap and call it a day.
Go back to ONE cook book. Something like joy of cooking, or one of the "Better Homes and Gardens" cook books, and explore more basic recipes to refresh yourself.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/10/use-popeyes-chicken-nuggets-to-make-awesome-homemade-chinese-american-food.html
I love making homemade from scratch. But the chicken part can be the biggest pain...(cutting it in cubes, 'velveting' it with cornstarch and egg white, frying it, using lots of oil and removing the oil..etc).
The veggie element is so quick and easy hardly worth mentioning.
Boil some water add salt put some spaghetti/or whatever pasta you have, drain, mix in some butter, pepper, and parmiggiano... Good to go.