Thread: Easy to Make Meals

Here's a very simple Paella recipe. Paella is a Spanish and South American dish of rice, seafood, tomatoes, and sausage.

Ingredients:

* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 1 green pepper, finely chopped
* 2 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped
* 1 stalk of celery, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cooked shrimp or prawns
* a can of smoked oysters (with the oil)
* 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped cooked sausage - any type will do, breakfast sausage, Polish, Bratwurst, Italian, country etc.
* 1 1/2 cups of rice
* 2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
* 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
* salt to taste
* two 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
* optional: frozen peas, left over sliced chicken, chopped cooked carrots, cayenne pepper, hot sauce

Cook the rice:
Put the rice in a pot. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil using medium high heat. Cover the rice with a tight fitting lid and reduce the temperature to low for 15-20 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID, you'll let out the steam. Turn off the heat after 15-20 minutes BUT DO NOT REMOVE THE LID. Let the pot sit there for another 10 minutes. Carry over heat will continue steaming the rice. If you remove the lid, you'll let the steam out ... so don't touch the rice unless you smell something burning.

While the rice is cooking, slow cook the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil until they're just turning golden brown. Remove the onions and their liquid.

Cook the green peppers and celery in a pot with some olive oil over high heat for about 30 seconds. They won't take long to cook but keep stirring them or they'll burn. Add the can of tomato sauce. Add the chopped tomatoes. Add the can of oysters, the shrimp, and the sausage. Add the ground cumin along with any optional ingredients. Season to taste with salt. Add more ground cumin if you'd like.

After the sauce begins to bubble, lower the heat and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes. Mix the rice into the sauce. Adjust the seasoning for salt as necessary.

I love any dish where onions are caramelized, especially the plain omelet where you just add the whisked eggs into onions when they are done.
However, there are two problems:
1) it takes millions of years for onions to reach the point when they are done (I think actually 30+ minutes). I don't know if I am using the wrong type of onions, or maybe the wrong quantity of oil.
2) the smell permeates everything: clothes, hair etc. and somebody always finds that exact moment to call me to come quickly… grr…

Originally Posted by David Chin

too short of a day.... quick and easy dinner recipes Cook the onions in the olive oil over low heat until they're golden brown. Reserve the onions and their cooked juices.
The Lebanese eat this dish with pickles ... but Arab pickles are salty, not sweet and sour.

Our pickles are just sour.

Oh MY! As delicious as it sounds, when I think easy, I think quick and ingredients I usually have around! My favorite quick and easy is just about anything to do with a crock pot. Throw it in before I go to school and come home to dinner.

Pot Roast - onion soup, potatoes, carrots

Pot Roast or chicken - BBQ Sauce

Pork Roast or Chicken - a can of chunk pineapple and lite soy sauce

Pork Roast with sweet/sour red cabbage

Sauerkraut, chunked sausage, brown sugar and sliced apple (only four hours on low)

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Chicken wraps - fajita strips and stir fry veggies wrapped in a tortilla. We sometimes add a little ranch dressing to it.

mini pizzas - tortilla with pizza sauce, shredded cheese, veggies and occasionally some turkey pepperoni. Bake for 10 minutes in 450 oven.

Soup - leftover chicken and veggies, chicken broth, salsa

That paella recipe sounds HEAVENLY!

I love the dish anyway, and your recipe makes my mouth water.

I'm kinda like Wag though, quick & easy means crockpot to me!

Mmm, food, my favourite subject!

Vaguely Mexican Layered Bean Casserole

Mash up (or whirl in a food processor) a can of drained, rinsed black beans. Mix in 2 or 3 tbsp of salsa. Make it into a fairly thick paste. Fry in a small amount of oil until it seems rather dry. Spread it on the bottom of a flat casserole dish. Grate some cheese on top--I use monterey jack or jalapeno havarti but I'm sure cheddar would work too. Coarsely chop the following (about 3/4 inch cubes) and add as layers on top of the cheese: onion, mushrooms, sweet pepper, zucchini. Finely chop the following and add in layers: jalapeno pepper (use your judgment as to how hot you want to make it), cilantro. Grate some more cheese on top. Bake at 400 for 20 -30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes or so. Serve with guacamole, salsa, yogurt (or sour cream) and corn chips. We use the corn chips to scoop it up. We love this dinner and have it at least 3 times a month.

8)

My favorite "fast food' at the moment are:

Chicken Quesadillas

Brown Chappati (or similar) in frying pan
Spread around a table spoon of chutney (I like Mango chutney)
Add some onion, cheese, chicken
Stick another chapati on top. Cook for a minute. Turn. Cook for another minute
Eat. Mmmm




Fish and pasta

Cook pasta according to packet - be careful I discovered you CAN burn water!
Once al dente, pour out pasta water
Add (in the pot! Even better! no dishes!!!) lemon zest, squirt of lemon juice, tin of lemon tuna, handful of grated herbs.
Stir until mixed
Eat



Yummmmm



Tonight I am having comfort food. Fresh pasta with carbonara sauce (doh! Forgot to buy it at foodtown!) Bacon, mushroom and more cheese

Mmmmmm

we love paella here too.

Easy meals to me means picking up a pizza from Dominoes on my Educators Discount card.

We eat alot of tacos around here. Thats quick and easy for us. Also alot of quesadillas and stuff that can be done in the steamer or crock pot.

my easy meal is a piece of meat and a salad and/or veggie. Clean up is easy too

Ooh! My mum bought me "George Forman's Fat Free Grill" (or whatever he wants to call it) The food in that is soooooooo good. I call it my "Gorilla". I love to squish stuff in it. Mushrooms and courgettes are awesome. Plus I get a really sick thrill from watching the fat ooze out of the meat. The best thing abotu it though is that I get professoinal looking "lines" on all my steak etc now! Wooh!