Throwing together quick weeknight dinner...

[luka82]

*flies to luka's house* :biggrin1:

LOL!
Trust me, there must always be food at my house! :smile:

 

[DaveyR]

Why not buy a slow cooker then you wouldn't need to throw something together?

We use our's all the time. We both work funny hours and on days where we both get in at 8pm the slow cooker is invaluable. Dinner is ready when we get home.:smile:

 

[ghb69]

Creamed chipped beef, SOS, shit on a shingle. Is a quick easy meal of a week night. you can serve it on toast, biscuts. or mashed potatoes. Add a salad and your meal is complete.

 

[luka82]

I stuffed 12 bell peppers yesterday, I hade guests and they were quite rich with the filling. I`m left with 4. I have just put them in a plastic bag, freezed them. And next time I wanna have them, I`ll cut the bag, and heat the fuckers. :biggrin1:

 

[concupisys]

"Concupisys, onions and garlic will not keep in the frig. They need to stay dry at room temperature. But they are excellent things to turn whatever you have into a meal. Your other tips are good too."

actually they do keep in the fridge.... but it's better to pre-chop garlic and ginger, divide them up in an ice tray (1tsp/cube), freeze, and then it's easy to just pop out a cube when you're ready to use it.... onions i keep in the fridge because cold onions don't make you cry when you chop them.... and don't worry: i don't keep them around long enough to go bad.... i put onions in almost everything i cook....

 

[Bockwurst]

What is your position on tofu? Or tempeh? They are easy to switch out for the eggs. One of my kids has trouble with his cholesterol, and began eating boiled eggs but skipping the yolks, feed them to our pets instead. The egg-beaters liquid product in a carton is also simply egg whites with a bit of yellow color, comparable in price to fresh eggs, for when you need to make a strata or a cake or similar.

I've never tried tempeh, is that some sort of soy product? I do eat tofu sometimes but it's always doctored up with something because it's so bland tasting. I fry it sometimes with soy sauce and sesame seeds. Eggs/omlets are great for quick meals, are cheap and I alway have them in the fridge. I hard boil the few that are left in the carton after 2 weeks.

@ the OP- I'll bring over the wine if you cook :biggrin:

Be forwarded I eat dinner sometimes standing over the kitchen sink.

Why not buy a slow cooker then you wouldn't need to throw something together?

We use our's all the time. We both work funny hours and on days where we both get in at 8pm the slow cooker is invaluable. Dinner is ready when we get home.:smile:

I do have a crock pot but honestly I feel so rushed in the morning it rarely gets used except for occassionally making chicken broth with the left over carcass. What do you make in the slow cooker?

 

[AlteredEgo]

I rely heavily on my slow-cooker. I make pot roast a lot. I poke holes in the roast, shove garlic in the holes, and rub a blend of spices and salt onto the meat. To the crock pot I add chunks of potatoes, mushrooms, baby carrots and a handful of flour with seasoning in it. I keep seasoned flour prepared just for this, and for breading. I throw in some beef stock and some red wine, and before adding the meat, I make sure it tastes good, and adjust as needed. I follow this same procedure to make beef stew, but with beef stew, when I come home, I toss in some frozen broccoli, peas, and corn for 20 minutes or so. Prep for beef stew is faster, because the meat does not have to be stuffed with garlic, and it can be dumped into a marinade the night before.

I also make sauces and marinades on the weekends, and keep them in labeled jars. Then, as I defrost things, I can just rub in a marinade, and when I am pressed for time, I can boil some rice or pasta, and reheat a sauce. You can just buy marinades and sauces instead. However, if you make your own, they will have less salt, less fat, and no unpronounceable ingredients.

My husband is puerto rican. His mother has taught me that keeping sofrito on hand is invaluable. I can't give you her formula, but it saves me from chopping onions garlic and bell peppers when I'm cooking, which saves a ton of time. I put it in ice cube trays and freeze it, or into Tupper in the fridge. It also makes the house very fragrant when I am cooking, and fills people with anticipation.

Sometimes I cook things in advance on the weekend, so I have less to do all week.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I rely heavily on my slow-cooker.

I always find what I cook in the crock pot a bit flat.
It's like there needs to be a bit of burning ... a little bit of carbon in a dish.
I use lots of spices, so that's not the problem.
What gives?

 

[AlteredEgo]

I always find what I cook in the crock pot a bit flat.
It's like there needs to be a bit of burning ... a little bit of carbon in a dish.
I use lots of spices, so that's not the problem.
What gives?

Brown your meat first.

That's a cardinal crock pot rule as far as I am concerned. Another is: Do not add any tomoato product to meat in a crock pot until the last 30 minutes. I think if you do those two things it is impossible to fail.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Brown your meat first.

That's a cardinal crock pot rule as far as I am concerned. Another is: Do not add any tomoato product to meat in a crock pot until the last 30 minutes. I think if you do those two things it is impossible to fail.

Okay, two good suggestions.
I do already (sometimes) brown the meat.
I've been throwing the tomoatoes in too early though.

 

[AlteredEgo]

Okay, two good suggestions.
I do already (sometimes) brown the meat.
I've been throwing the tomoatoes in too early though.

Tomatoes sometimes toughen the meat, and lose flavor when added too early.

 

[luka82]

Tomatoes sometimes toughen the meat, and lose flavor when added too early.

Yeah, I have noticed that too.
I generally avoid using tomatoes while cooking. I use them only if I make a sauce with tomatoes being the base of it.
But I believe we should post these thoughts/ideas in a thread created just for cooking tips. I`ll bump it.:biggrin1:
People can find tips easier then.

 

[AlteredEgo]

I toss frozen veggies (brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower,fresh baby carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, fresh sweet potato sometimes too) with oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. I put this in a sheet pan and roast at 450-475 degrees F. While those are roasting, I boil water for Uncle Ben's brown rice, the one that promises to be ready in 10 minutes (other brands of 10 minute brown rice come out mushy and weird). This is ready in 20 minutes, and goes perfectly with whatever leftover meat there is. Tomorrow, for example, I will be having this with leftover broiled churrasco.

Note: Because I married a Puerto Rican, rice is not permitted to just be boiled and served. In my house, sofrito or recaito is sauteed with tiny pieces of turkey bacon. Then a can of beans is added to the pot. My husband prefers gandules. I prefer black beans. Stock is added to the pot if more liquid is needed. While that comes to a boil, add adobo (make your own- store bought is too salty) and Sazon. Sazon has msg. Msg is just a salt. As long as you are not allergic to it, it won't hurt you. Taste the water, and add whatever you think it needs. It likely needs salt, unless you put salt in your adobo. When it boils, add rice, stir, and cook it like you normally cook rice. I like to throw in some green olives (with pimientos) and a splash of olive juice. I keep the olives whole. It's faster, and my husband likes to pick the olives out and feed them to me, anyway. It makes that easier. With black beans, I like to add a splash of cider vinegar, too. Keep these extra liquids in mind when deciding how much stock to add. Because I use 10 minute rice, the rice is done at about the same time as the veggies.

My pantry staples are bread, milk, eggs, coffee, onions, bell peppers, garlic, cilantro, dried herbs, Giant cans of crushed tomatoes, beans of all types, rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes, whole grain pasta, frozen veggies of all kinds, flour, bread crumbs, cooking spray, oil, lemons/limes/oranges, wine, balsamic/ white/ apple cider vinegar, and a freezer full of meats, poultry, fish, and shrimp. Running out of any of that is cause for a trip to the supermarket.

 

[nudeyorker]

In a pinch I boil pasta, add sun dried tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, artichoke hearts and grilled shredded chicken breasts and a light pesto sauce and crumple parmigiano reggiano on top. Meanwhile slice a baguette and butter add salt and paprika and sprinkle with more reggiano on top and throw under the broiler for about 45 seconds. Slice some tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Open a bottle of wine and voila... Dinner!

 

[silvertriumph2]

This morning I had a hankering for some falafel and tabouli...so I made the falafal this morning and this afternoon I made the
tabouli. I put the tabouli in the frig to let it get cold.

So, dinner tonight I warmed the falafel balls and then cut them in half, put them into pita pockets with thinly sliced tomatoes (a
friend brought me some from his garden), a little tabouli and a
drizzle of olive oil....and voila! A Super Supper!!
Washed it down with some iced green tea with fresh mint leaves.

Since it is so hot here in NYC, it was a very nice, cool meal...

 

[Bockwurst]

I love falafel balls. They are a good quick meal. I fry up a big batch and freeze them occassionally. You really need to eat them with hummus or some tahini dressing as they can be dry.

I should try freezing sofrito in ice cube trays. That's a great idea Altered Ego. I make Cuban black beans in the pressure cooker sometimes and that would save me some time.

Although freezing and microwaving is a timesaver, I dislike the taste and texture of frozen then microwaved food and try to eat as much FRESH produce as I can as it makes me physically feel better.

 

[silvertriumph2]

Your are right, Bockwurst...I forgot to add that I used a dressing...

This time I did not have anything so I made a quick one....made by mixing some Greek Yogurt (I use FAGE Total Zero Fat) with some chopped up cucumbers...

Sometimes I just use some Walden Farms Honey Dijon Vina/grette (fat free, sugar free, calorie free).

When I have the time I make a tahini dressing.

When I make the falafel balls, I make about 48 of them and
freeze them for later. I always defrost and heat them in the
oven. Defrosting and heating in the microwave makes them rubbery.

 

[Bockwurst]

Silver, that sounds yummy and quick. Do you know how to make that eggplant dip, babaganoush, to go with falafels?

 

[Natureman4u]

i like to make old fashioned meatloaf, baked potatoes, lima beens.... also i keep frozen boneless chix breast and hot italian sausage in the freezer for making a quick stir fry over rice......... lately i have also been making tuna casserol ( to save money) i keep cans of tuna pasta and cheese on hand.. sometimes instead of tuna i use crab meat

 

[D_Rosalind Mussell]

I'm a huge fan of slow cookers, you can do so much with them. You can throw the ingredients in the pot in the morning and come home to a fully cooked hot meal.