Meals on the run

[Akame]

Not that most of you care, but it was something I was discussing with someone the other day and I thought I’d put down a little compilation of a few menu’s I whip together in the week to share with the few that do care.

I’m often out of the house by 6:30 and not back till after 9pm and what little time I do have on weekday evenings I’d rather spend playing EQ than cooking. I generally set aside two time slots of one to one and a half hours for cooking, one over the weekend and one mid week. That way the food I eat isn’t leftover from 4-6 days ago at any point. I try to create meals that can go with me that I can just heat up at the office or when I come home from work.

I’ll leave out the simple stuff I do like sandwiches or having a cliff bar for breakfast instead of making anything; if you need a recipe for that, well, you need more help than I can give you :P and I’m sorry if you don’t have a farmers market just down the street like I do.


Menu:

Breakfast
Mushroom & Asparagus Frittata (You meat lovers can sub in sausage if you like)
Ham Egg n Cheese Muffin (or Bagel)

Lunch
Hummus & Portabello Wrap
Salads (With Homemade dressing)

Dinner
BBQ Chicken + Roast Broccoli + Garlic Buttered green beans
Sausage Spaghetti over Spaghetti Squash
Fried Porkchops + Cauliflower + Baked Potato


I’ll type out my recipes, and link the ones I stole directly from the internet.

Mushroom and Asparagus Frittata
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asparag...ta/detail.aspx
I generally slice it like a pie and individually baggy them so I can just grab and go from the fridge.

Mcmuffins without the mcdonalds
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Eng...and-Ham-162920
Same deal; make 3-4 to baggie and refrigerate, grab and go.

Hummus & Portabello Wrap
Sautee Portabello with butter for 3-5 minutes, then toss in sliced red pepper, cook another 3 minutes. Coat a pita or tortilla with hummus (flavor of your choice) toss contents on the wrap, fold and saran-wrap. Same deal as the above muffins, make a few, baggie for grab n go.

You can get as creative as you want for the salad but here is what I use for the dressings (because creamy dressings are ridiculous for calories and fat)

Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Pepper
Salt
Thyme
Basil
Optional: sprinkles of goat cheese

I usually like tomato, avocado, chicken breast and red pepper over romaine, raw baby spinach or red leaf lettuce, don’t get iceburg though, its craptastic. Prepare all the dry stuff first and container it, then just come home and throw the rest of the contents over it and add the dressing, it will keep really well so long as you don’t have veggies mixed with wet contents,



BBQ Chicken + Roast Broccoli + Garlic Buttered green beans
BBQ Chicken – Baking dish + Pack of Chicken drumsticks + BBQ Sauce + Chili Oil + Garlic – Toss it all in the oven at 375-400 for 45 minutes to an hour, it’s hard to screw this one up, just make sure the chicken isn’t pink at the bone when you take it out. You can nom off of that all week.

Roast Broccoli – Baking Dish + Broccoli + Olive Oil + Pepper
Roast at 350 for 45 minutes. Same rules apply for other roast veggies like Cauliflower, top with parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of lemon juice if you’re feeling fancy.

Greenbeans – Sauteed or pan fried (it’s really the same thing) with butter, garlic and pepper (toss on a bit of adobo if you think they seem bland) cook until al dente! Don’t overcook your veggies guys, soggy veggies are craptastic).





Sausage Spaghetti over Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti Sauce – Favorite jar of sauce + Spicy Italian Sausage + Oregano and Pepper
Mince up sausage and fry until cooked, then drain the oil, add the rest of the contents, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Spaghetti squash – It’s big and yellow and looks like something you might throw at someone, well don’t instead cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the middle contents, baste the inside with olive oil and garlic and then put it face down on a cookie tray and bake it at 375 for 40 minutes. When you take it out, scrape it with a fork to make the stringy spaghetti look. One squash makes a hell of a lot, so you’ll have plenty for the week.




Fried Pork chops + Cauliflower + Baked Potato
Baked potatoes are simple and we already covered how to roast veggies above, so we’ll cover just the pork chops.

Olive oil (sounding redundant yet? Stop cooking with crap oil) or Peanut Oil, + Adobo + Pepper. Pan fry over medium/high heat until no longer pink in the middle and at the bone.

Kitchen Cheats to keep on hand:
Minced Garlic
Olive Oil,
Pepper Grinder (Real grinders, they’re cheap)
Adobo (Spanish seasoning, good in place of salt)
Tony Satcheries (Cajun seasoning, good in place of salt and pepper)
Chili Oil
BBQ sauce made with SUGAR not High Fructose Corn Syrup!
Butter (The real kind, not the margarine that pretends to be butter and has more plastic than food content)
Optional if you like the flavors Peanut Oil + Sesame Oil

All the meals can be premade, shoved into Tupperware or baggies, eaten on the go and heated up in just a few minutes. And best of all? No pizza ordering, no blown food budget, no 1500 calorie meals at a fast food place.


That’s my quick snapshot, now post your recipes!

[Otto]

You have made me so hungry =(

[Shannacore]

Originally Posted by Akame [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hummus & Portabello Wrap
Sautee Portabello with butter for 3-5 minutes, then toss in sliced red pepper, cook another 3 minutes. Coat a pita or tortilla with hummus (flavor of your choice) toss contents on the wrap, fold and saran-wrap. Same deal as the above muffins, make a few, baggie for grab n go.

thissssssss

[Taxi]

If you like indian food, check out this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD9O-L2Xvzo

Its just a question of having the ingredients, then you make some kickass, fast meals that are as good as what you get from the restaurant. The first time i made this i was like WTF, i made this?! Its hard to miss with this guy doing right it in front of your face like that step by step.

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Something that i like to eat alot, is falafels:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
* 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
* 1 teaspoon coriander
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* 2 tablespoons flour
* Salt

Preparation:
Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans.

Drain chickpeas, and place in pan with fresh water, and bring to a boil.

Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low for about an hour.

Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour.

Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste.

Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.

Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).

Serve hot.

(not my recipe [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] , what i also do is put the uncooked balls in the freezer for 2 hours or so first so that they become more solid and easier to fry)
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Takes a bit more than an hour, but you can freeze the falafel balls. I just cut alot of carrots, tomatoes, onions, olives, peppers, salad/whatever veggies and put the mix in a plastic box with an hermetic seal. When im hungry, just bust out the balls, put in microwave or oven, spread hummus on a pita and throw some veggies at random on it.

[Shannacore]

Falafel is so fucking good. There's a place on campus/right next to my job that makes the best falafel EVAR.

i tried making it once and it was uber fail.

[Taxi]

Originally Posted by Shannacore [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Falafel is so fucking good. There's a place on campus/right next to my job that makes the best falafel EVAR.

i tried making it once and it was uber fail.

I have to admit my balls were kinda fail as well lol... It looks like a falafel from the restaurant following this recipe but the interior stays chewy, more like humus inside than what you can find out there. Still good though.

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I just had this meal:

Corn Tortillas with veggies

Ingredients: Garlic, Onions, Bell peppers, jalapenos (optional) mushrooms, cheese, Corn Tortillas

Seasoning for veggies (taco seasoning):

1 TaS chili - 1/4 TeS garlic powder - 1/4 TeS onion powder 1/4 TeS paprika
1+1/2 TeS Cumin powder - 1 TeS salt/pepper

You can just proportionally up the doses and seal that away for other meals

Throw some garlic to taste and onions with seasoning mix to taste, with a bit of oil to fry. Cook for a couple of minutes at medium heat, then add veggies (usually i put colored bell peppers, jalapenos, mushrooms)

Cook for a couple of minutes, then add cheese on top. Reduce heat.

Put Corn tortillas in a heating pan while this stuff finishes, then serve and put some fresh cilantro on top. You can also put yogourt/sour cream on top.

Side dishes you can add: Rice, guacamole, salsa, salad.

This takes like 10-15mins to cook and prepare!

(You can also cook beef and chicken and fish with this recipe, i guess cook that first with seasoning, put it aside and bring it back once its almost done)

[Shannacore]

Mine just totally fell apart. Pretty sure I the oil temp way off. and not enough of it.

[Taxi]

Have you ever heard of the royal clam? Heres a vid on how to prepare it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrtyIqSzoYI

(was in my inbox this morning)

[Shannacore]

Lolol, not the first thing I wanted to watch 10 minutes after waking up!

[Erasong]

Originally Posted by Shannacore [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Falafel is so fucking good. There's a place on campus/right next to my job that makes the best falafel EVAR.

i tried making it once and it was uber fail.

Downtown NYC has the best ever. step off