| Smart Cook |
| Smart Cook | My Recipes | Cooking Tips | Nutrition | Fun Stuff! |
|
Cooking Methods · Food Terms · Easy Meals |
 |
| Easy Meals |
I hope this section on easy meals will help to squelch that fear.
Spaghetti Sauce
This is one thing that is so flexible that you can make it with as many or with very little ingredients.
The basic ingredient is Pasta sauce. From there you can go crazy!!!!
Add cooked ground beef, vegetables such as celery, carrots, tomatoes (fresh or sun dried, onions, peppers(sweet or hot), broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, fresh herbs or dried basil, oregano, summer savory, thyme, pepper, Italian seasoning (usually instead of basil and oregano), and GARLIC !!! (can you tell that I use a lot of this?)
To make your sauce extra tasty, add a little bit of red wine (cooking or regular wine)
Simmer the sauce for at least 1 hour.
If you have a crock pot then put the ingredients together and just leave it to cook on low.
Chili
This is another one of those versatile meals!
All you need is cooked beans, and a tomato liquid of some sort, you can use pasta sauce, tomato juice, or tomato sauce.
From here, you can add cooked ground beef, vegetables such as zucchini, onions, tomatoes, green pepper, hot pepper, celery, carrots, and even more like broccoli, and cauliflower if you intend on making it a veggie chili. (this is a great way to cut the cost) You can add tomato paste to make it thicker, or canned stewed tomatoes.
As for spices you can add Italian seasoning, chili powder and ground cumin, pepper and garlic (minced or garlic powder) To make it really spicy you can add hot salsa, hot pepper sauce, hot pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or fresh hot pepper.
You should simmer Chili for atleast 1 hour in order for the flavors to blend.
Easy Cheese Dip
We have all been in this position! For whatever reason you have guests coming over and you feel that you should prepare something for them to eat. If you have cream cheese and one other kind of hard cheese such as cheddar in the refrigerator then you can whip a cheese spread up really quick!
Simply place the cheese in a bowl and with a fork work it in together. You can add some dill, caraway seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, ground nuts, a dash of hot sauce, salsa, soy sauce, and sesame oil! The list doesn't end here!
If you have tortilla chips and you would like to do something a bit different then salsa, then simply place in a small saucepan, some cream cheese, salsa, grated cheddar and a little bit of milk. Heat on medium heat, stirring until it is melted. It may not look all that thick but it will thicken as your guests munch!
Stir Frys
Stir frys are a great way to eat light and are a very easy way to make a tasty meal!
You can basically use any kind of meat you like or none at all. There are so many vegetables that work in stir fry's that I'm just going to list some that don't. Tomatoes (you can add them cold afterward), eggplant, squash (with the exception of zucchini)
If you want to do a stir-fry similar to what you would get in a chinese food restaurant, use vegetables like Bok Choy (a chinese cabbage), celery, broccoli, carrots, green and red pepper, white mushrooms-halved or quartered, green onions. Add a sprinkle of sesame oil, soy sauce, peeled and chopped ginger root, or a little ground ginger, garlic, lemon grass powder is always nice but not neccessary.
Salad Dressing
Bottled dressings are one of my pet peeves. They are often laden with a lot of useless calories, not to mention excessive amounts of salt! If you are single or even a family of two, or even just a family who doesn't eat a lot of salads, you may want to make your own salad dressing. It's easy!!!! My rule, which isn't everyone elses is to use I part oil and two-three parts vinegar, or lemon juice.
There are numerous combinations you could use, it's just a matter of being creative once you feel more comfortable with the concept. As for oils, I use extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, sesame oil, if you had any fancy oils you could definitely use them too. I will often combine the oils, always using flaxseed oil because it is so amazingly good for you! As for vinegars you could use just about any of them. My favorite is balsamic vinegar, but you can use white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or any of the flavored vinegars you can also buy in the supermarket. Just oil and vinegar you say? No way! The fun is just beginning!
Now you can add dijon mustard, ketchup, herbs and spices, honey, BBQ sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce. Have fun!!! That is really what cooking is all about. Don't worry about screwing up because the worst that can happen is that you learned something.
RE. no matter what dressing combination you chose, whisk or shake it well!
Easy and Elegant Chicken Parmesan
I made this very easy meat the other night. My husband told me twice how good it was!??! I was glad he liked it but it was so simple!!! I simply butterflied two boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Butterfly?? This is simply just slicing the breast in two, so it isn't so thick. I then coated the chicken piece in flour, followed by a beaten egg, I then coated the chicken in seasoned bread crumbs, to which I added 1 tbs. of parmesan cheese.
I then cooked up some spaghetti noodles, and had a can of herb and garlic pasta sauce simmering. In a pan, I used a nonstick pan because I like them, I placed a couple Tbs. olive oil and I cooked the chicken pieces until they were no longer pink inside. I then, just placed the cooked chicken on a plate, with a spoonful of spaghetti beside it, topped them with some pasta sauce and some grated parmesan cheese. I stuck this in the microwave for a minute to melt the cheese. Voila! Go figure something so simple could be such a hit.
You could also fancy this up with a green salad, garlic bread and some wine for a special meal for two!
Easy Batter
There are many ways to create a batter for chicken, vegetables or fish. Always remember to first put the item in flour first. You can use bread crumbs, seasoned or unseasoned. To the breadcrumbs you can add your own seasonings, or such things as parmesan cheese, wheat germ to add extra fiber. Instead of bread crumbs you can use crushed crackers or crushed tortilla chips. Tortilla chips make an extra crispy batter!