In Honor of Single People and Fast Good Meals!

[PA Dancer]

Hey PA Dancer There is something called Lean Cuisine

I tried going back to some of those frozen foods. I really like the idea if some of those stir-frys in a bag and just add chicken.
I remember Stoufers makes an awesome lasagna, even a single person size portion. But the salt content in everything that comes in those freezer cases are out of this world!

It's been about 8 years since I ate anything besides my own cooking. Aside from a tray of pizza once and awhile. I'm just affraid to.

 

[Smithy]

This thread is making me hungry

Some good ideas here, which I'll be trying out even though I have a significant other!

 

[lindylady]

Quick Meatball Stew

Mama Lucia frozen meatballs
low-sodium beef broth
package frozen stew vegetables
can tomato sauce
pasta (rotini, ziti, or farfalle)
Italian seasoning
red pepper flakes (optional)


In large saucepan, combine broth and tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and add meatballs. Sprinkle in Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes to taste. Once meatballs are heated through (about five minutes), add pasta and allow to cook. Add stew vegetables vegetables last and heat through. Spoon into bowl and enjoy!

 

[ITG]

Totinos.

Actually, I doctor them up with real bacon, extra pepperoni and cheese.



Man, am I pathetic.lol

Yum, Worchestershire sauce added on there is good too with the canadian bacon variety. I used to bake those all the time in college and fix a bowl of rice to eat on the side. MMMM!

I made something the other night in the slow cooker.
Place chicken breasts, about 12 oz can of tomato paste, half a cup of water, and a envelope/packet of enchilada sauce mix into a slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours. I had about 5-6 large chicken breast in there. Really easy.

Then we like to do a variety on the Sloppy Joe. Cook one pound of ground beef and add a can of Sloppy Joe mix just like you would normally. But instead of eating with hamburger buns, use white corn tortillas, and it is like a taco. I'm not sure how it'd be with flour tortillas but all we use at the house are white corn tortillas. MMMM good and easy.

There's also a wonderful cookbook called the 4-ingredient Cookbook (there are other variety cookbooks out there with 5 or 6 ingredients too).

Oh and another recipe...
Cooked pasta, mixed with Ricotta cheese, and a jar of pesto, add pepper/salt for flavoring.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Really quick meal:
Open Top Ramen package, toss flavor packet in trash.
Place brick of noodles in small pan and cover with water. Include the noodle chips in the package.
Bring to a boil.
Open jar of favorite spaghetti sauce and microwave it.
Remove sauce from 'wave machine.
Make note to cover sauce next time you 'wave it to reduce clean-up time.
Drain noodles and dump into bowl.
Pour sauce over noodles.
Add garlic salt, grated cheese or whatever turns your stomach least, to taste.
Replace lid on sauce and refrigerate again.
Enjoy.
Cooking time: five minutes.

My sister used to make the following. She called it, Nursury Slop (she worked in one for a while):

Elbow macaroni cooked properly.
Brown some ground beef.
Add spaghetti sauce and whatever spices you like to the beef.
Drain macaroni.
Mix macaroni and sauce together.
Serve.
Cooking time: ten to fifteen minutes.

A favorite quickie:

Pour rice, frozen vegetables and a frozen, boneless chicken breast into steamer.
Turn on steamer.
Turn off steamer and add water.
Turn steamer back on.
Set timer for . . . if you have a timer, set timer for forty minutes.
Enjoy.
Cooking time: Didn't you just read that?

For much, much, much better meal ideas, there are a couple books that Men's Health Magazine has published in the, "A Man, A Can" series, by David Joachim. Fifty (per book) very easy, healthy meal ideas for the single man (but single ladies like them, too.) There's also one for the microwave and another for tailgate parties.

If you want a very involved recipe that takes a little more than an hour, Martin Yan has one for Marbled Tea Eggs in his book, Everybody's Wokking. I made them once and they were good.
Cooking time: up to two days.


Lee

 

[Tamamiko]

These are all really good ideas...

unfortunatly I can neither cook ahead for the week or use frozen meals....because *cough* am freezer impaired and only have a dorm size fridge at the moment (insert long sad tale of woe here).....so I have to actually cook stuff daily and only make enough for two.....

I will have to look in my 'slow cooker for 2 recipes'....was the only slow cooker/crock pot book where every recipe didnt say 'serves a family of 6' becase I cannot stand eating the same thing for 4 days straight!

My default type of stuff is toasted cheese sandwiches (not grilled cheese with butter and crud, its open face bread with cheese stuck under broiler) and salads...or pastas..

Cheese toast!!! I grew up on that.
Another thing that's really good if you want to keep it simple is Tuna Cheese Melts. Same concept with Tuna added.

 

[Ecuador Jim]

I was in a restaurant (Palo Alto Joe's) and they had a dish called Lomo Saltato. It's a skillet and saucepan meal, farily easy to clean up from. I modified it a bit

1 medium red onion, chopped
3 Italian plum tomatoes, quartered
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, 1 inch pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/3 C balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
red pepper flake, to taste

Put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, medium hi heat. Saute the chicken until brown, then add the onion. Add the garlic, and reduce the heat to medium. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

 

[pigeon toe]

As a college student, I'm the queen of ramen. If you don't have to worry about your sodium intake, you can make really delish meals out of them!

I usually use the "Oriental" variety, but they make a ton of different flavors now, like picante chicken, that are really good. I make it as usual, with the flavor packet, but also toss in onions, carrots, tofu, celery (basically any veggies in the fridge that are on their deathbed), and sometimes an egg (let it cook before you dive in, though!).

The secret ingredient that I add to make it extra tasty is freshly cracked black pepper. It's key!

 

[skwerl-hat]

i only have one rule towards eating,

Anything that ends up in my fridge is game. Some nights its a few pieces of bread and a apple, two bananas or a head of lettuce. Anything goes :-D

 

[Harp]

For the meatloaf lovers amongst us, try this:

Slightly cook 1 lb of bacon* (until about the halfway point). Drain the fat (or put on top of paper towels to absorb the grease). Dice/chop into reasonably small pieces. Add to your raw meatloaf and mix.

Trust me, you'll not leave the table until the meatloaf has been entirely consumed.


*I prefer thick, applewood but turkey bacon works, too.

I'll give this a try tomorrow.

 

[vitanola]

Then there is always Stroganoff, which was originally a very elegant way to serve that boring Filet Mignion.

my recipe returns the dish to it's origins, and is quick, delicious, and not terribly expensive:

(serves two)
1 round of Filet (4-6 oz.), julienned
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 lb. Button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup cheap Scotch (Clan MacGregor or Grand Macnish will suffice)
1 oz beef tallow or lard
1 pint sour cream
1/2 lb egg noodles, cooked, buttered and parsleyed

Take told very cold Fillet out of the ice box, or even the freezer.
Julienne the Filet, dust with flour. Note that frozen filet cuts well with a very sharp serrated knife.
Frozen fillet is also much easier to brown whilst leaving the interior rare and tender.
Take a large iron skillet, melt the fat in it, get the skillet smoking hot.
Rapidly throw the filet into the very hot fat.
Sauté the filet until browned on the outside only. Note that the inside of the meat should be red and, perhaps, even cool.
Remove the meat form the pan, reserve.
Sauté the mushrooms and onions until cooked through. The mushrooms should be tender and a bit dark, and the onions almost
caramelized.
Add the Scotch and de-glaze the pan, dissolving all of the delicious brown bits to make a sauce. Cook until the alcohol has evaporated
Fold in the pint of sour cream.
Heat whilst stirring until the cream sauce is just bubbling.
Return the meat to the pan, stir until just heated through
Serve over the noodles.

This entire dish can be prepared in just about the time that it takes to cook the noodles, about 11 1/2 minutes.

Cost is about $6.00/ very generous serving. Much less if your butcher has some filet that is about to expire (which ours always does).