Favorite meal with minimal cooking

You can do a lot with a crockpot that's pretty minimal for prep time, and it's ready to serve when you get home. Or do most of the prep the night before and just toss it together in the morning. There are all sorts of freezer-bag recipes out there on places like Pinterest, as well. Spend a day assembling a bunch, then pull them out of the freezer as needed.

Yesterday I made a whole chicken that took literally only five minutes to pull together before work, and the crockpot did the rest. Can't get any faster or easier.

A staple in our house is to quickly pan fry a fish filet or salmon steak and steam vegetables in the microwave. Scrambled eggs and toast is even faster.

The crock pot is definitely the busy person's friend. I also like to make a stir fry using a lean protein, frozen asian veggies and soy sauce, granulated onion and garlic. I start the rice first, brown the protein, throw in the veggies and let it cook until everything is hot. The rice needs no attention once you set it to simmer until it's done 15 minutes later.

Slow cooker burritos:

Chicken or pork (1-3 lbs)
Jar of really good salsa (don't buy crappy stuff, get something really flavorful) If you're using a lot of meat, get two jars.

Combine in a slow cooker/Crockpot and cook on low overnight.

The next day, shred quickly with two forks, put a nice scoop on a tortilla with whatever fixin's you want, and you have tasty, healthy burritos.

Rotisserie chicken is awesome for quick meals. You can carve it up and eat it with a veggie, or pull the meat and toss with a salad, pasta, rice, sandwich, tortilla, whatever.

Morningstar Farms has lots of veggie burgers that are quite tasty, like roasted garlic chickpea or spicy black bean.

Bagged freezer meals that you cook for 10 minutes in a skillet are often fairly low in calories (although still high in sodium). Chili's now makes them, and this one is especially tasty for 300 cals per serving:




And this is good at 450 cals:

I really like café steamers (chicken marinera is my favorite), and the prepackaged "café bowl' salads at Safeway--- and they just added little wrap bowls! Two small tortillas and yummy spicy sauce. So those are good for lunches!

LOVE the steamer bags of vegetables too, that can go in the microwave. And the little brown rice cups or bags that can be microwaved. Then all you need is you protein.

I live alone and so I've made an art form out of quick, easy meals. I love to cook, but a lot of times when I get home from work I just don't feel like putting the effort in. Some of my go-to's:

- I buy the Tyson refrigerated chicken Fajita strips, brown them in a skillet with olive oil (which takes about 5 minutes) and slap them on a tortilla with whatever I have around that sounds good, like sour cream, guacamole, peppers, etc. I also do this with ground beef (with some taco seasoning added), although it takes a few minutes longer to cook.
- Baked tilapia. I usually season it with lemon pepper (premade from the spice aisle) and put it in a foil packet with a little butter. About 20-25 minutes at 350 in the oven and it's done.
- Scrambled eggs and half an English muffin with honey or cream cheese is great for weekday breakfast. It only take about 5 minutes to scramble eggs. Sometimes I have this for dinner even if I'm feeling lazy.
- Spaghetti. Boil noodles. Throw some store bought sauce in pan over medium heat and add onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and basil to taste. Let it cook down until the noodles are done (12 minutes) and the extra spices make it actually pretty good for a store bought sauce.
- Ranch pork chops. Take a boneless pork chop and coat it with dry hidden valley ranch dip mix. Bake it at 400 for about 25-30 minutes.
- Ranch burger. Add dry hidden valley ranch mix to some ground beef and fry it up. I usually put a little A1 or blue cheese dressing on it. Sometimes I don't even bother with a bun.
- Salsa pork chop or chicken. Put whichever you like in a skillet and let it cook a little on both sides. After about 10 minutes, drain off any fat and add 1/4C of salsa on top. Let it cook down until the salsa isn't runny anymore and the meat is done through. Usually this take less than 20 minutes total.
- Greek chicken w/ rice pilaf. Cut up a chicken breast and roll the pieces around in greek spices (I usually mix together some thyme, oregano, garlic powder, dried minced onion, etc) and brown in a skillet with some olive oil over medium heat. When it's done, add some feta cheese and put it over some rice pilaf. I make the rice pilaf by buying the uncle ben's rice pilaf in a bag that only takes two minutes or so in the microwave. It's pretty high in sodium, but I only eat this once in a while so I don't worry about it. Takes about 20 minutes from prep to eating.
- "Pretend" Chinese food. Cut up chicken or pork into cubes and brown in a skillet over medium heat with canola or peanut oil. While you're doing that, throw a bag of steamer veggies in the microwave. When both are done, put it all on the skillet together and add some sauce (I usually get sweet & sour or general Tzoa's from the store) and leave it on the heat until the sauce is hot. For the rice, you can also get the uncle ben's microwave rice that takes about two minutes if you don't feel like messing with a rice cooker. Takes about 20 minutes from prep to eating.

Also, if you have more time on the weekends it's always great to make soup, chili, or whatever and then freeze it in single serving containers. That way you can just pull one out to thaw if you need a last minute lunch or feel a lazy spell coming on.

Citris lime chicken
1/4 cup of Orange Juice
Juice from 1-2 limes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 Teaspoon red pepper
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro (dried is fine)
Salt+Pepper to taste

Mix in a bowl, add the mixture with two chicken breasts into a plastic zip-lock bag and sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Fry in a skillet and cover while cooking, then nom nom. Super easy to make, anyone can do it. takes about 20-30 minutes to cook in the skillet.

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Baked Pesto and Mozzarella Chicken:

4 Chicken breasts
1 Mozzrella ball
2 - 3 tbsp Green pesto

Spread 1 tbsp pesto on the bottom of an oven proof dish.
Lay chicken breasts on top.
Spread 1 - 2 tbsp pesto over chicken.
Cover dish with tin foil and bake in oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 20 - 25 minutes.
Slice cheese up.
Remove tin foil and place the cheese evenly over the chicken.
Return to oven (uncovered) and cook for another 10 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to go brown.

You easily double up this recipe for plenty of leftovers. I serve it with green beans and cous cous, but it goes great with a salad.

various sandwiches or toasted seed bread with cream cheese and either smoked fish or prosciutto with tomatoes and capers.

Some of the stuff you named is my favorite, actually!

But another quickie household staple is frozen vegetable dumplings (Assi Vege) from the Asian supermarket along with baby bok choy. So delicious...chop 1-2 heads of baby bok choy and toss in a little water (like 1/4") with 7-10 little dumplings in a microwave safe container. Keep the lid slightly open. Heat 3 min. Steamed to perfection.

I usually mix up some sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey & soy sauce (sesame seeds optional) in a container to use for several times. It's really good with just a little poured into the bowl on top of the dumplings & veggies, and the mixture lasts fine in the fridge for a week to two weeks.

I'm not sure if this counts in your book as "minimal" cooking, but I LOVE my cheesy chicken rice casserole. It's so easy, and the only real cooking is the rice, which, if you have a $15 rice cooker, is really no cooking for you at all.

Cooked white rice (about 4 cups)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1-2 cans chicken packed in water
however much shredded cheese you like, whatever kind
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together while rice is still hot, and enjoy the hot, gooey, comforting mess. It's so good.

I sometimes swap out the canned chicken for canned tuna, and the can of cream of chicken for cream of mushroom. It results in a different tasting dish, but just as delicious and easy.

I personally love frozen tilapia. Sea Best is my favorite. I put in foil pack with slices of lemon and seasonings. Serve with pasta or rice. Maybe steamed vegetables. I preferably like orzo pasta with broccoli added when pasta is close to done. I find it good with the lemon fish.

Also, another favorite is eggplant parmesan. I slice eggplant or zucchini. Roast in oven with little olive oil and seasoning. At end, add a marinara sauce and cheese.

Wonton cups are also great. Put wonton wrappers in muffin tin, fill with different veggies and cheese. Mexican is good. Fill with corn, black beans, etc. Top with cheese. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Just some ideas.

Baked haddock. almost zero effort/prep and can be on the table in under 20 minutes

2 lbs haddock - have your fishmonger skin it.
- 1 c bread crumbs
- 1/2 stick butter

Preheat oven to 425 - 450
melt butter and mix with bread crumbs
lay fish in pan, cover with bread crumbs
put in preheated oven for 15 minutes, 18 mins max.