Political Crossfire Forums

Alright, looks like a few of you here have some talents such as cooking so I need help. I am a student and I eat mostly Trader Joe's and I'm pretty sick of it. I'm looking for a few quick recipes that taste good and that I won't get bored of (ie. can make it several times a week and that's my subsistence diet).

To give you an example, I made a curry rice. Basically fried up an onion, garlic and ginger, then put in some chicken let it cook a little, then threw in some salt and a teaspoon of a specialty curry powder for every cup of rice, then dumped in the rice and put in one cup water and one cup of coconut milk for every cup of rice. It actually came out okay. So if you can post recipes (with slightly more specific instructions) that are equivalent in terms of difficulty, that would make my day. And I might even post the picture results if it turns out.

Rice recipes would be good, I like spicy rice dishes like Jambalaya. Someone once recommended to me stew as well. But again, nothing too complicated (also tools: pot, wooden spoon, knife, cutting board).

Also, any quick lunch ideas? My staple has been turkey and avocado sandwich, but also looking for a little more variety.

Well, with rice you might try different kinds of risotto. Mine usually ends up with parm and thyme involved somehow, but I don't think it would be hard at all to adapt it to spicy, maybe with some andouille. Rice is just 10 times better if made with stock in any case. Also, since its cheap and fast and customizable, try different couscous dishes.

Honestly, the best thing in the world for student food is a crock pot. You pile everything into in the morning, turn it on and leave. When you come home, your bowl of awesome is already done. You can throw an entire chicken into a crockpot over a bed of potatoes and carrots. We're talking 10 minutes of prep time and its waiting for you when you get home.

Like one of those bang-maids we've been hearing about up in the general discussion.

make tacos.

tacos can be anything you like sauteed together in a pan until pure deliciousness is reached.

meatloaf

just throw in stuff you think would be good along with beef, bread, and eggs and mash it together. i always make sure to put in brown sugar, bbq sauce, worchester, and more brown sugar. also ketchup. and then i just pick random things i have laying around and throw it in there. bake until whenever it's done at whatever temperature

The trick is to make a bottle of AJi sauce, a bottle of coca Cola bbq sauce, a bottle of concentrated chicken broth made with chicken bouillon. And just mix them up when you cook.

My chicken recipe (makes meals for a few days)

1 lb boneless chicken
Half yellow bell pepper, half red bell pepper
2 jalapenos/poblanos
half yellow onion
Zesty Italian dressing
Italian Cheese mix (or just mozzarella)
Italian seasoning mix
Salt
2 cups instant rice (2 large instant bags)

Prep:
Cube the chicken and put it in a large ziplock bag with enough Zesty Italian dressing to marinade. Marinade at least 30 minutes but the longer the better. Dice the peppers and onion.

Cook:
Preheat a large skillet on medium heat. Pour chicken and some of the marinade (or all if you put just enough to cover the chicken) into the skillet. Cook the chicken, stirring often, until it turns white all over on the outside (partially cooked but still a little raw in the middle). Add in the diced peppers and onion and add salt to taste. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens, stirring every few minutes. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the rice and cook (takes rice about 10 mins).

When rice has about 3 minutes left, add about 2 table spoons of Italian seasoning mix (or more) to the chicken and stir. Replace the cover. After rice is done, remove from heat, drain the water, and leave the rice in the pot (take rice out of bag if you use the instant bags). Remove the chicken from the heat, uncover, and pour the contents of the skillet into the pot of rice. Stir the rice and chicken until well mixed. Add in a couple handfuls of Italian cheese mix (or to taste). The rice/chicken mixture should be pretty sticky.

You can eat it as is, or put it in a pita or tortilla. Stuff is even better warmed up the day after for lunch/dinner.

Pics:

Chicken/veggies while simmering (sans yellow peppers):


Finished (again sans yellow peppers):

Spider - he asks for simple and easy recipes and you give him risotto, one of the easiest things to screw up?


Is this lunch on the go? Or at your place? At your place can be a million different types of sandwiches, including grilled cheese and quesadillas which are easy to make. If it's away from the home, then just take leftovers and eat it cold or nuke it if possible. TBH, if I ever ate lunch at school, I made myself a sandwich. The key is to vary the bread and the meats/cheeses so it's not boring.


Here's a quick and easy chicken recipe. This is nothing special, just a very simple chicken dish to make fast without thinking about it.

boneless chicken breast.
season with salt, pepper, thyme, paprika, garlic salt/powder, chili flakes, and any other spices you'd like
medium-high oil in frying pan. Toss it in.
Toss in some split garlic, onion half moons, and diced shrooms and toss it in.

Cook it til it's done. I dunno how long, but you'll know when to flip and then when it's done.

This is the most basic dish you can cook. Rice, potatoes, whatever you want on the side. I always tell people this if they don't really know how to cook. It's simple and an easy way to get used to cooking.

You can also split the breasts and bread the chicken. egg (seasoned with S+p+g), flour, breadcrumbs, cook. Or you can marinate it in lemon and make lemon-herb chicken.


Spaghetti is another easy dish. If meatballs are too much work, toss ground beef (1/2 lb or a bit less if by yourself) in a frying pan (no oil) and break it up with a fork as it cooks. Make sure it is cooked, dump the fat, put back on stove and add in spaghetti sauce you bought and cook for a short time. Cook the pasta per box requirements. Done. Add basil and parm if you want.

You can do the above and make sloppy Joes instead of using spaghetti sauce.

Meatloaf is pretty easy. Just need the dish, really. Any internet recipe would suffice.

Do you like salmon? One easy dish I make is just broiling salmon filet with salt, pepper, lemon zest, and paprika on it and some cilantro. broil like 5-8 minutes and its done. If it has skin, you can fry it in the pan, too, skin side down.

These are things I make when I don't feel like exerting real energy cooking but are easy without much work. Side dishes are simple.

When I have to eat "on the go" I'm typically grabbing a piece of fruit and a granola bar, or throwing together a quick sandwich. Even your "quick and easy" recipes seem like they'd take at least half an hour.

Maybe I need to start making more time for cooking.