On a rather heated day at this forum, I write with a post that will sound mundane, but perhaps it's suited for some spare moments at the end of summer :-)

I vaguely remember something similar to this earlier and of course the net is overflowing with these, but have you got any quick tips, handy hints (all the cliches here), anything to do with food for people who are lazy, forgetful while grocery shopping, miserable at proper cooking, yet love (and need) to eat?

Stuff for which you need just a pan perhaps or just once a week shopping? Or stuff that's good in the store cupboard as keep-for-long ingredients?

Not asking for recipes (although these most welcome), just asking if there's anything for two main moments in my day that leave me flustered:

1) evening time hunger for something quick and savoury :-)

2) Returning at night, dog tired, and want the simplest of hot dinners with minimal kitchen time...

Dont kill me if this thread looks too stupid...

Bug

======= Date Modified 12 Aug 2009 22:19:25 =======
The problem is - do you want stodgy food, as things like casseroles/stews are great as a big pan to pick at over a few days? If not, I'm a big fan of bean salads with some grilled fish... but then I end up eating cheese later on

Hi sleepy, anything really....i have an ambition of making a nice casserole that will stay for a few days, but somehow the stuff i cook ends up tasting like mud or similar... it's just like boiled mulch with salt and pepper and well, it just tastes weird...

Cheese is what I have been surviving on now ... form the cheapest of Tesco singles to the smelliest (!) sometimes...ha ha..

But your fish thing sounds interesting... with beans did you say? Care to share a recipe (pl dont if busy with work..)

Tx

Hi Bug, this is my family's recipe for scouse, (my mum wrote this recipe) it sounds to me as if it's just what you need! It lasts for days and days, is cheap, really easy and DELICIOUS. There's me going on with the cliches too...

We love to eat Maeve's mum's scouse

Ingredients (to feed 5-6, all quantities approximate)

1½ lb of lamb neck fillets or of stewing beef

1 large onion

4-5 carrots, cut in large chunks

1 small swede, cut in smaller chunks

2-3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into walnut-sized pieces

Small tin of tomatoes

Salt & pepper

Dollop of HP Sauce

Scouse is the deliciously gloopy mush from which Liverpudlians take their nickname. Its origins lie in lobskaus, a Norwegian seamen's dish made of whatever was left in ship's stores at the end of the voyage.

Before the advent of pre-prepared baby foods, most of us were weaned on teaspoonsful of "juice off the scouse". A cup of the same ambrosial liquid was a treat when we came in shivering from school on a winter's afternoon.

Almost every family in our street on Merseyside had its own version of the wonderful stuff. I learned this one from my mum over 50 years ago, and I still make it regularly.

Place all ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed pan, adding water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for at least two hours while you go shopping, watch the telly, or get on with writing your novel. Long cooking improves scouse as the potatoes collapse into the liquid and thicken it.

If unexpected visitors turn up, you can add extra potatoes and veg up to half an hour before serving, but don't forget to adjust the seasoning.

Serve with pickled cabbage, beetroot or more HP sauce and the best white bread you can find. Any leftovers - a rare event in our house - can be topped with short pastry and baked at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes to make that other great Liverpool classic, scouse pie.

P.s. I cook mine for about 4 hours - it's good to get a pan on after lunch if working at home, then dinner is ready with no prep - for a good few days.

I also like home made humous with various crudites and bread - it's really easy if you have a hand blender, but you must make sure you use dried chick peas (canned don't work so well), that they've been soaked over night and have been boiled for the recommended time - usually about an hour. You can use sesame oil instead of tahini, which makes the whole thing much easier.

Enjoy the scouse, it's wonderful! Love Eska

Falafel is always good if you've got a blender handy (and don't mind a pan full of boiling fat.) I always think that ou can add so much to a meal by making the basics - pasta, breads, etc. Pasta is as easy as peeing against a tree, it's just one large egg for 100g strong flour and a lot of kneeding and rolling. Bread takes a bit of effort but if you make a basic dough (300g strong flour, about 200-150ml warm water, 7g fast-action yeast, tsp sugar, tsp salt) and leave it to rise for an hour/&a half and then roll it flat, brush it with butter and stick it under a very hot grill (turning and brushing) you can get some damn tasty naan bread.

I suppose that's not really low effort (I like to cook) but a really quick and easy dish I like is Mushroom arabbiata. Serve with pasta, recipe for 1 is something like "1 clove garlic, chopped, 1/4tsp chilli flakes, butter, oil" (chuck that all in together on a low heat so the garlic cooks) then chuck in 1 or 2 finely chopped mushrooms to cook down a bit and then throw in some tomatoes - bit of puree and water works a treat when cooking for one. Season and use whatever herbs you fancy (Basil, oregano, etc.) Spicy, hot, quick, good.

I realise that using the words chuck and throw doesn't disguise it takes a little bit more skill than I suggest.

Oh I love cooking! Great to come home after a horrible day at my desk and russle up something tasty! I always have a few staples in the cupboard - pasta, rice, risotto rice (Arborio or similar), tins of chopped tomatoes. One of my favourite dishes to cook is a chicken dish with rice and veg - it's great because it's all done in one pan (so minimal washing up!), and you can leave it to cook and go and do something else. Can also be eaten the next day (although watch that it's thoroughly reheated).

1 chicken breast per person/serving, diced (or buy ready diced)
tin of chopped tomatoes
various chopped veg - I use red pepper, tomato, carrot, peas
stock cube
rice (about 1.5oz per person)

Method: put chicken in non-stick pan and stir until browned. Add tin of chopped tomatoes (maybe not the whole tin if only making one portion), chopped veg, stock cube, rice and boiling water - you don't want too much liquid (you can always add more later), but the rice will absorb quite a lot of it. Stir, bring to the boil, then turn heat down and simmer for about 30 mins or so until rice is tender. (I usually stick the pan in the oven instead of leaving it on the hob, but this only works if the pan is oven-proof (a casserole-type thing) and doesn't have a handle!). Whichever way you do it, stir after about 15-20 mins and add more water if necessary.

I often add some sort of spice too if you like that sort of thing. A bit of onion or garlic would be good too.

Another easy thing is any type of risotto - I do one with tinned tomatoes, pepper, peas...there are so many variations. Only downside is that you need to keep an eye on it to make sure all the liquid doesn't get absorbed, otherwise you end up with a burnt mess!

======= Date Modified 13 Aug 2009 09:30:10 =======
ooh, I tend to make a big lasagne which tends to last at least 3 nights during the week of hubby and I eating! My secret for that is grate carrot and parsnip into the meat sauce - (I hate veg, so its a way of getting my 5 a day in without noticing).



A great thing I have found for 'can't be bothered' nights is this rissotto thing - its mushroom rissotto and comes in a yellow pack, usually near the rest of the proper rissotto rice in the supermarket. You just shove some boiling water on it, and simmer for 12 mins and then its done! - sometimes I add chicken in too cos I do actually hate mushrooms, but again, as long as they are cut up small enough I can cope!



My fav recipe is my mums chicken and bacon mustard casserole (and yes, I hate mustard, but in this I can stand it)



1. fry chopped onion, garlic and mushroom until a lil brown - then pop it in the bottom of a casserole dish



2. Get chicken breasts and wrap with bacon



3. put in a jug:

1 tspn grainy mustard

1 tspn non-grainy mustard

Chicken stock cube (or real stock if you are posh lol)

1 tablespoon of plain flour (or more to thicken)

black pepper

squeeze of lemon juice.



4. Chuck the chicken in the casserole pot, and pour on the liquid (you should have enough liquid to just about cover most of the chicken)



5. Pop in an oven on 200 C or gas mark 6 for about 40 mins



Serve with a stodgy baked potato!

Oh you guys! Thanks so much :-) These sound delicious and I shall try them out one by one.... I think I shall start with the chicken-rice thing or the scouse/skouse (forgotten the spelling!) and then move on to rissotto and lasagne and the others....

When i am a pro, I shall bake my own bread :-)

PS Sneaks: i hate veggies like veggies were the source of all evil ever...and these sound like damn good self-cheat techniques!

I find the grate technique works in most foods - I often grate the entire vegetable aisle into spaggetti bolognase (sp) and don't notice. Also hearty winter soups all whizzed up are a good way of cramming in five-a day. I also have a strange thing in that I hate cold food, I just can't stand it, so much prefer hot stewed apple, to cold horrible fruit!

======= Date Modified 13 Aug 2009 10:53:03 =======

O we are so similar in our fruit-veg lack of prefs! I have actually spent long minutes just *looking* at stuff like pears and carrots at the supermarket feeling guilty and then walked away to pick up something from the meat section..

My mom's conversation with me usually consist of the following questions: how are you? how's work? are you eating plenty of fresh fruits, lots of yogurt and drinking plenty of water?

And then when I respond to this with my usual irritated retort, she thinks she can trick me by saying stuff like- fresh fruits will give you such good skin..


Arrrgh.

And the worst is to come: If say, YES, I am eating lots of fresh veggies and fruits, she says this: make sure you wash them properly before eating unless they are ready washed.

And then we dont speak on the phone for some days for I am mad and need time to cool down.

Well I am living with my mother in law - beat that! who regularly accuses me of 'fattening' by husband up by not providing him with freshly cut fruit in the morning.

1) he is a grown man and can cut his own fruit if he wants it!!!!

2) he has lost weight recently!!!! and isn't exactly obese - about half a stone overweight which is falling off due to him actually working now, rather than playing call of duty while pretending to do his PhD!

MILS (mums in law) have a universal thing with DILS (dots in law). Ignore, and continue to grate carrots :-)

You can tell that we're all working incredibly hard this morning! Perhaps I could add some recipes to my thesis... :-)

PS, bug, can I have a star? Pretty please? I feel very jealous of all of you with nice shiny stars. And I promise I'll do some work now ;)

Hi i am clicking on your stars but no light is coming up :-( promise will figure out after I get to school (yes I work at school and I am sitting in my night clothes at nearing noon)

truly, I am a very hardworking, organised, ambitious and focused researcher with a brilliant future ahead of me. You use the recipes in your thesis Squiggles, and I will give you a star :-)