Quick & Easy recipes! I want yours!!

trouts mom

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I am feeling motivated to start cooking more! My problem is, I need very easy and quick recipes or I just won't do it at all.

Tell me what you love to make that is quick and easy! (Don't worry about what I like or don't like, I can just evolve the recipe if I don't like an ingredient)

Thanks guys!
 

babyharley

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First question- do you have a crockpot? Because if you do, you can make awesome meals that only involve throwing things in there & cooking them all day and you'll get a yummy meal!
 
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trouts mom

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Originally Posted by babyharley

First question- do you have a crockpot? Because if you do, you can make awesome meals that only involve throwing things in there & cooking them all day and you'll get a yummy meal!
YES! I do!
 

stacyd1987

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Tuna pasta salad with peas! It's pretty easy and as my Dad always said, it's got your meat, potatoes and veggies all in one. Shell pasta, peas, tuna and mayo, that's it!
It was the first real meal that I learned how to make, mac and cheese didn't count.
 

sham

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I occasionally make a really simple beef stew in the crockpot by adding a pound or 2 of precut stew meat, 2 cans of presliced potatos, and 2 packages of McCormick beef stew seasoning along with water (about twice the recommended on the package). If you like more vegetables someone said just get a package of frozen mixed vegetables and add that after the meat finishes cooking. It does have to sit around and cook for hours though.

Soups are fairly easy. I'm a horrible cook and I can put together a soup. I love olive garden soup and found this recipe: http://www.tuscanrecipes.com/recipes...a-toscana.html
After making it a little easier and cutting off about a half hour of preparation by substituting garlic powder for puree, imitation bacon bits for the bacon, and using presliced canned potatos it didn't take much effort and tasted exactly the same to me. A little more attention required than crockpot recipes but it was done sooner than most of those. Most difficult thing was slicing the onion because the rest was mostly just dump in another ingredient to cook approximately every 15mins until I ran out of ingredients.
 

rapunzel47

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If you like tomatoes and pasta, here's a little winner that I do often. Any pasta is fine, but I think filled ones or shapes work better than long pasta.

While your pasta is cooking, make this little sauce: Cut up tomatoes in bite sized pieces, about a half cup (more if you like) per serving. I prefer the little Campari tomatoes on the vine, when available, but Romas work fine too. Sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and sugar -- no salt. In a large skillet melt two or three tablespoons of butter over fairly high heat, and sautee the tomatoes until the juice begins to reduce. If your pasta is not ready, turn the heat (under the tomatoes) way down until it is. When the pasta is al dente, turn the heat back up under the tomatoes to about medium, drain the pasta and add it to the tomatoes, along with a good handful of fresh basil coarsely chopped, and a few tablespoons of grated parmesan. Toss together and serve, garnished with a little more parmesan and a small sprig of basil.

And if you made too much, leftovers are excellent -- I just finished the leftovers from last night.
 

forensic

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My mother makes this one:

You need: a pan for the oven, instant rice, cream of mushroom or chicken soup (or both or any other cream soup you like), water.

Pour rice in to cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Add can of soup and twice as much water as asked for. Put chicken on top. Cook in oven until chicken is done.

Eat!


(Actually, I rarely make it with the chicken... I just cook the soup and dump in the rice and the nuke it until the rice is done, since the rice is my favorite part!
)

I made up this one:
You need: A frying pan, chicken (cubed), Catalina (or french) dressing, garlic (the chopped stuff in the little jars works nicely, else you can chop your own), cooked white rice, touch of oil.

Put oil in pan, cook garlic until brownish, add chicken, cook until done, pour in dressing until chicken is coated, cook down until it all bubbles. Add more garlic (or onion if you chose) to taste, serve over rice.

 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

If you like tomatoes and pasta, here's a little winner that I do often. Any pasta is fine, but I think filled ones or shapes work better than long pasta.

While your pasta is cooking, make this little sauce: Cut up tomatoes in bite sized pieces, about a half cup (more if you like) per serving. I prefer the little Campari tomatoes on the vine, when available, but Romas work fine too. Sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and sugar -- no salt. In a large skillet melt two or three tablespoons of butter over fairly high heat, and sautee the tomatoes until the juice begins to reduce. If your pasta is not ready, turn the heat (under the tomatoes) way down until it is. When the pasta is al dente, turn the heat back up under the tomatoes to about medium, drain the pasta and add it to the tomatoes, along with a good handful of fresh basil coarsely chopped, and a few tablespoons of grated parmesan. Toss together and serve, garnished with a little more parmesan and a small sprig of basil.

And if you made too much, leftovers are excellent -- I just finished the leftovers from last night.
This is a favourite at our house as well. Nothing like fresh tomato and basil sauce. I also will add some fresh broccoli to the pasta just before it is finished cooking and it is delicious with the fresh sauce. I also sometimes make the sauce a bit ahead of time to let it simmer and the flavours marry then do angel hair pasta with fresh green beans to have with the sauce. You need to do the beans first in that instance and add the pasta for the last few minutes of cooking.

Our neighbour gave us a bunch of tomatoes this summer and they were starting to get overripe - I blanched and peeled them and did up this sauce to avoid wasting them and we got to enjoy them immensely.
 

conbrio

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Kool-Aid Pie

1 10oz can of evaporated milk
1 8 or 9 inch gharam cracker crust.
1 cup sugar (I sometime use 3/4 cup sugar)
1 packet of kool-aid. any flavor you wish. (this is the small packet that are like 20 cents apiece)

Equipment
Mixer (hand mixer works but the stand mixers work best)
Mixing beaters
bowl (metal is preferred but any kind will do)

Chill evaporated milk and bowl and beaters in fridge for 5 hours or overnight. Or you can chill in freezer for 2-3 hours. Once chilled pour evaporated milk in bowl and beat until frothy. Add sugar and mix well. Add kool-aid packet and mix well. Pour mixture into pie crust and freeze at least five hours.

Enjoy
 
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trouts mom

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Originally Posted by conbrio

Kool-Aid Pie

1 10oz can of evaporated milk
1 8 or 9 inch gharam cracker crust.
1 cup sugar (I sometime use 3/4 cup sugar)
1 packet of kool-aid. any flavor you wish. (this is the small packet that are like 20 cents apiece)

Equipment
Mixer (hand mixer works but the stand mixers work best)
Mixing beaters
bowl (metal is preferred but any kind will do)

Chill evaporated milk and bowl and beaters in fridge for 5 hours or overnight. Or you can chill in freezer for 2-3 hours. Once chilled pour evaporated milk in bowl and beat until frothy. Add sugar and mix well. Add kool-aid packet and mix well. Pour mixture into pie crust and freeze at least five hours.

Enjoy
Awww, that sounds really yummy..I'll be sure to make that one for dinner sometime
 

MoochNNoodles

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I get lots of recipes off bettycrocker.com. They have ones specified "Quick and Easy" and "cooking for 2" so the portions are smaller. They just re-did their website and it's really easy to navigate now.
 

lunasmom

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Take some salmon (also good with Tilapia).

Place fish in tin foil, smother with Italian dressing and bake for 20-30 at 400* (F) degrees.

Viola! You're done. Also goes great with garlic bread


I may make some tonight!

EDIT: 425* for 30 minutes if you buy frozen
 
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trouts mom

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These are great guys! Please keep them coming
I am bookmarking this thread!
 

momofmany

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I've posted this before and will repeat it. It's a crockpot recipe (I made it for dinner yesterday):

3-4 lb beef
1 can cheap beer
1 jar pepperocini peppers (buy them pre diced)
1 package au ju
Optional: sliced onions and sliced green peppers

Put the beef, beer and pepperocini peppers in a crock pot on high for about 5 hours. Pull the meat from the pot and shred it into chunks with a fork and return it to the pot. Add the package of au ju, and optionally the onions and green peppers. Cook another hour then serve this over crusty rolls or crusty french bread.
 

forensic

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Got more, I guess.

Not mine- from a friend.
Tortellini Salad
1 7-ounce package cheese tortellini
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup fresh parsley
6oz marinated artichoke hearts
2 green onions
1/2 cup Italian dressing
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh basil
Parmesan cheese
cherry tomatoes

Cook tortellini according to package, drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again (cool it down).
Chop up the broccoli (only use the florets), parsley, green onions and basil.
Slice the tomatoes in half.
Drain the artichoke hearts

Put the tortellini, broccoli, parsley, artichokes, and green onions. Toss it up to mix. Pour salad dressing over mixture and add basil. Toss again.

Chill if you aren't ready to eat.

When ready to eat 'em up, toss again, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and put some tomatoes on top
 

litterboxqueen

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Mmmm, that sounds absulotely delicious, forensic! I will definately have to make that sometime this week. Just got to pick up a few ingredients.
 

renovia

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I've got the BEST soup for you, you can eat it hot or cold and I'm the QUEEN of easy easy

1lb butternut squash
1lb sweetpotatoe (you could do 2lbs of just butternut squash)
3 green apples
1 large onion

cut up in to chunks
toss with oil, salt and pepper
bake at 400 until done (apples will be done first but just keep cooking)
blend ingredients in batches in a processor until it's a smooth consistency, I add water to make it more 'soupy'
once done, add some chopped garlic and chili powder

YUM

Also,

Veggie Casserole

This is the BEST casserole ever, I could eat it all myself

3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 sweet potatoe, peeled and chopped
1 regular potatoe, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
toss with oil, salt and pepper in a baking dish

cut 2-3 zucchini length wise and layer on top of other veggies
Cut onion (red or yellow) in disks, lay on top of zucchini
Cut 2 tomatoes into disks and layer on top of onions
mix about 2 cups of breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and parmesean cheese

Bake at 400 until done,

YUM!
 

capt_jordi

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Take a no bake cheesecake and prepare it like normal but add in some pumpkin pie spice while mixing. And viola simple and very good pumpkin cheesecake! And for added effect let the family think you made it from scratch
 
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