Post by CMI'm actually pretty broad-ranging in my tastes, as are my boys (my 6-year
old loves sushi, for example). I'd like to have a meal plan that's healthy
and not to hard to whip up, but pretty much all cuisines are welcome.
Great that you narrowed the field. Here are a couple of off the top of
the head ideas. You'll look at it and say, "Wah, too much trouble-la!"
I can do each of these meals in 20 minutes, save for the bean soaking
time. And it is all fresh, wholesome food.
Black Beans, rice and salad (okay, any other veggie).
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Feel brave? Get a pack of dried beans, soak them in water (two cups of
beans) for three or four hours, dump them in a pot, cover them with
water and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down so that it is still
bubbling just a touch, and cook them for two hours.
Or open two 14oz cans of black beans, plus two cans of chopped tomatoes.
Chop up one onion.
Grab some garlic and peel the outer skin off. Make sure you have a
garlic press (they are real cheap, and so handy - we go through a head
of garlic a night).
Toss a pan on the stove, throw in some oil (olive oil really preferred,
but whatever). How much oil. Take the bottle, turn it upside down,
count to about three (okay maybe four) and that should be enough. Turn
on the heat. Throw in the onion. Simmer that (in other words ... just
keep the heat low). After a couple of minutes (you'll smell the onions
cooking), dump in the tomatoes (oh, btw, you can simply chop up about
five fresh ones too, but canned tomatoes are equally as good -
especially for guys - tomatoes are really important). Dump in the black
beans (either or). And let them cook over a low heat for a while (while
= 15 to 25 minutes - don't le it get too dry ... just add a touch of
water if it does).
Make salad. Lettuce, shredded. A tomatoe, chopped up. And dressing
(don't buy it .. make it): A little more red wine vinegar than olive oil
(say, 60/40). Couple of cloves of garlic, mashed up (buy a garlic
press). Cumin? Dump some in. If you have rosemary, or thyme (both
spices) add some. Voila.
Rice? Rice cooker or not, take one cup rice with two cups of water (you
and x kids? I'd do at least two cups of rice ... probably three). In a
rice cooker, dump them all in and let it happen. In a pan? Dump the
water in, bring it to a boil, and then dump the rice in. Reduce heat to
a low boil (i.e., just kind of bubbling a little), and cook. If you
use white rice, it's about 20 minutes. If you use brown rice
(recommended), it's about 40 minutes. Why brown rice? It is better for
you, more nutritious, and it will fill your kids up better. That and it
is fibre which makes them poo better.
Pizza
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Homemade from scratch, but takes a little planning.
Two cups of white flour (2.5 actually) and two cups of whole wheat flour
(again, 2.5). Get some dried yeast. Cup you hand and pour in a bunch
... a good bunch. Dump it in a bowl. Mix in some brown sugar (about
half the amount of the yeast). Add some warm water (warm where you hand
goes, "ooh, that's warm.") Dump some salt in the flour (a couple of
finger fulls). dump in half the water. Mix. Dump in the rest. Know
what you've got? Bread dough. Mix it in the bowl until the water is
kinda absorbed (this is about seven minutes of activity thus far) and
the ndump everything on a counter. You knead the dough (i.e. plunk it
down, stretch it out in a couple of directions, fold it back on itself,
and stretch it again. All you are trying to do is stretch the dough so
that it will rise. They'll say 15 minutes of this ... I do about five,
but I really stretch it. Then form it into a ball, give it a light
coating of oil, and place it back in the bowl with a damp cloth over it.
You've now made pizza dough (and bread as well, actually). Just let
it sit there for an hour or two.
Turn the oven on it's highest setting. Let it really heat up (20
minutes or so).
The pizza itself. Couple cans of tomatos in a pot, with some onions
makes a sauce (or buy spaghetti sauce).
Put the pizaa together. Take the dough (after an hour of just sitting
there or so) and divide it in half. Roll it out into a circle (you'll
need to have a couple of flat, round pans). Once there, dump some of
the sauce on it and then add whatever you want on top. We made pizza
tonight (which is why I recall the recipe so easy I guess.) Simple
Spinach, Mozzarella, anchovy or sardine and voila. We've done bacon and
egg, Thai curry, veggie, pepperoni ... you name it. with the base and
the sauce ... the sky's the limit.
Asian stir fry
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Hell, I live in Asia. If I can't do this then I am sunk.
Grap some chicken fillets (you can get them frozen or fresh). Chop them
up into bite sized pieces. Dump them in a bowl. Dump some soy sauce,
honey, crushed garlic (remember that garlic press?), some chopped up
ginger root (peel the skin off first) and let it sit. What should you
do if you can't find one of those ingredients? I would kill myself of
course, but in truth, because I don't do that, I just ignore the
ingredient I am missing.
Take a frying pan, or heck a wok if you have one, dump some oil in
(*not* olive oil) - how much? Turn the bottle over, count "1" and then
stop - you want a tablespoon ladies. Put it on high heat, heat the oil,
and dump the mixture in and flip it around with a spatula, spoon, or
your pinky, though careful of the heat. Want to change it? WE add about
four chopped up Thai chillies (it's spicy folks) or add black bean sauce
or something else.
Cook the rice.
Veggies? Take some cabbage, chop it up, dump a tablespoon of oil into
the wok or frying pan, heat it, dump the cabbage in, sprinkle it with
sou sauce and cook it for two or three minutes, constantly stiring. I
do both the meat and the veggie in the same pan, one after the other.
Pasta
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The most simple pasta is a garlic pasta (you need to like garlic).
Take a large pot of water and bring it to the boil (no salt).
Six or so little/large cloves of garlic. Crush them up with that press.
Pour some olive oil into a shallow bowl (about a four or five count -
which is between four and six tablespoons). Dump in the garlic and stir
it around.
Once the water is boiling, dump a package of pasta in. Let it boil
again and turn off the heat as soon as it has. Cover it and let it sit
there for about six minutes. You can grab a strand out to see if it is
too crunchy for you. If it is, leave it in for another minute.
Dump the water out of the pasta (you need a colander, or at least one is
helpful). Dump it into the bowl. Mix it up. Take a block of Parmesan
cheese and a cheese grater and grate a healthy helping of parmesan over
the pasta. Or buy pre grated.
Remember that salad and bread dough? Both go well
Pork with pesto
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This is a Jamie Oliver recipe (kind of).
Take a bunch of pork chops. Squeeze lemon juice all over them.
Sprinkle them with thyme, and a touch of salt and pepper. Let them sit
while you do homework or a bath for the kids.
A frying pan, or if you have it , a grill. For the frying pan, high
heat and a touch of oil, dump the pork chops in and cook them for maye
two minutes or three a side. Same for the grill pan.
When the pork chops are done (don't over cook pork as it gets really
tough), through a spoonful of pesto from the bottle you bought from the
store (intermediate lesson is one where you make your own, and the
advanced lesson is where you grow your own basil to make your own).
Veggies? Well, steaming is always healthy, so take some broccoli and
cut it up into bite sized chunks and steam it (buy a steamer).
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Tons of shortcuts, but, with a little time, you can get each of these on
the table with about 15 to 20 minutes of time in the kitchen. Yes, the
bread needs to rise, but you can be screwing your girlfriend while that
happens.
Rambler