2011-11-01, 04:43 PM
Some of my easy staples:
Hardboiled eggs: keep in the fridge and add to salads or sandwiches (my favorite accompaniments to hardboiled eggs are avocado and tomatos), or just eat as is. ProTip: to prevent eggs from cracking while being boiled, make a small hole in the wide end with a thumbtack or sewing needle.
Scrambled eggs: break egg(s) into a small bowl, add a bit of salt, and beat with a fork until the yolk is mixed more or less evenly. Heat up a frying pan and coat its bottom with oil/butter/lard/Pam. Pour the eggs into the pan. Use a spoon to move cooked egg off the bottom and let the still raw egg take its place, until all the egg is as cooked as you like it.
Scrambled eggs are great plain, in a sandwich, or beside fresh veggies. But they are also great with all sorts of stuff mixed in, precooked if you like it that way (for example, I prefer fried onions, but some people like them raw). Pretty much anything you can put on pizza you can also put in scrambled eggs: cheese, sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, corn... and also some things like french fries or hash browns. Experiment.
Chicken: I don't know about where you are, but around here they have tons of different ready-made sauces and coatings, which require no more work than putting the chicken in a pan or cooking bag, adding the product, and baking/roasting for an hour or so.
Beef: I like keeping pre-cooked ground beef in the freezer in single-serving packages. Then I can thaw it out to quickly add to pizza, scrambled eggs, tomato sauce (and pasta?), rice, beans, or whatever else. Or even just eat it as is.
To pre-cook, I fry up chopped onions, add the beef, cook while stirring until the beef starts browning, and then add sweet Hungarian paprika, salt and black pepper. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes more, just to make sure it's thoroughly dead.
But you can make it with whatever spices, or lack thereof, you like. Or one of those prepared mixes.
Cooked vegetables: I'm not very big on those, preferring fresh, but when I do make them it's either steamed in the microwave and simply salted, or baked in the oven after a light coating in olive oil and sometimes rosemary or some other herb (my children don't like "green stuff" so usually it's nothing but the olive oil and some salt).
Starchy sides: microwave-baked potatos, mashed (boiled) potatos, rice or couscous or other grains cooked according to the instructions on the box/bag, and of course pasta, are all quick and easy.
Have fun.
Hardboiled eggs: keep in the fridge and add to salads or sandwiches (my favorite accompaniments to hardboiled eggs are avocado and tomatos), or just eat as is. ProTip: to prevent eggs from cracking while being boiled, make a small hole in the wide end with a thumbtack or sewing needle.
Scrambled eggs: break egg(s) into a small bowl, add a bit of salt, and beat with a fork until the yolk is mixed more or less evenly. Heat up a frying pan and coat its bottom with oil/butter/lard/Pam. Pour the eggs into the pan. Use a spoon to move cooked egg off the bottom and let the still raw egg take its place, until all the egg is as cooked as you like it.
Scrambled eggs are great plain, in a sandwich, or beside fresh veggies. But they are also great with all sorts of stuff mixed in, precooked if you like it that way (for example, I prefer fried onions, but some people like them raw). Pretty much anything you can put on pizza you can also put in scrambled eggs: cheese, sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, corn... and also some things like french fries or hash browns. Experiment.
Chicken: I don't know about where you are, but around here they have tons of different ready-made sauces and coatings, which require no more work than putting the chicken in a pan or cooking bag, adding the product, and baking/roasting for an hour or so.
Beef: I like keeping pre-cooked ground beef in the freezer in single-serving packages. Then I can thaw it out to quickly add to pizza, scrambled eggs, tomato sauce (and pasta?), rice, beans, or whatever else. Or even just eat it as is.
To pre-cook, I fry up chopped onions, add the beef, cook while stirring until the beef starts browning, and then add sweet Hungarian paprika, salt and black pepper. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes more, just to make sure it's thoroughly dead.
But you can make it with whatever spices, or lack thereof, you like. Or one of those prepared mixes.
Cooked vegetables: I'm not very big on those, preferring fresh, but when I do make them it's either steamed in the microwave and simply salted, or baked in the oven after a light coating in olive oil and sometimes rosemary or some other herb (my children don't like "green stuff" so usually it's nothing but the olive oil and some salt).
Starchy sides: microwave-baked potatos, mashed (boiled) potatos, rice or couscous or other grains cooked according to the instructions on the box/bag, and of course pasta, are all quick and easy.
Have fun.