I am no cook, but I'm trying to find things that reheat well. It's hard to cook for just one person! Here are a few meals/items that work well for a single gal. Please let me know if you have any good ideas!! I own a crock pot but have never used it. I guess it's because I don't like to cook my veggies, meat and potatoes together. I'm kinda still a kid and don't like all my food to touch. Any suggestions? Do I need to just get over this?
Banana Bread
Blend: 1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
dash salt
Add: 3 large bananas (4 small)
2 eggs
Add: ½ cup boiling water
Combine and add: 1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
2 cups flour
Grease and flour loaf pan.
Bake 350, 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool 10-15 min. before taking out of pan.
Cinnamon Rolls
3 ¾ cup warm water or milk 1 T salt
2 T yeast 6 T melted shortening
6 T sugar ~9 cups bread flour
Add and mix in order 1st five ingredients. Add 4 cups flour.
Slowly add and knead in the remaining flour for a soft dough.
Let rise until double (about an hour).
Divide dough in half or thirds and shape into crescent rolls
For cinnamon bread or cinnamon rolls:
Add melted butter, cinnamon, brown sugar
Bake 375, 10 min for rolls, 25-30 min for cinnamon bread or rolls.
Potato Soup
Simmer together for 20 minutes:
1 ½ cup water ¼ cup finely chopped onion
4 cups diced potatoes 2 chicken bouillon cubes
½ cup celery
Add and heat: 1 cup milk
Combine:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 T flour
Slowly add to soup. Do not boil.
Optional: add 1 T chopped chives
I really like the "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: 700 Great Slow Cooker Recipes" book. One fun thing to make in the crock pot is lasagna. Another book that I checked out from the library is "Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking" which chronicles the author's vow to cook everything in the slow cooker for one year.
ReplyDeleteI just found this website with a few good ideas about leftovers:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/04/i-hate-leftovers-fighting-the-battle-with-recycled-food-and-winning/
An Ecuadorian potato soup I make is as follows. It's cheap and great with a salad. And you can make as small amount as you need.
ReplyDeletePotatoes, peeled and cup up
Lots of onion, cut fine
Lots of garlic, minced
LOTS AND LOTS of Cumin
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Chicken Broth
Avocado
Saute the onion and garlic in a small amount of oil. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until potatoes are cooked but not mushy. Serve with fresh chucks of avocado. The cumin adds a unique flavor but you must use quite a bit to get the flavor. It's an authentic recipe from our Ecuadorian friend, hence the reason for no amounts. Enjoy!
My daughter, Kendra, who's a "poor college student", developed this site for such folks. You might enjoy it.
ReplyDeletehttp://kurbyskitchen.tumblr.com/
Also, a dish we made in college is Chicken and Peppers.
Cut up 2-4 chicken breasts (or can use dark meat as it's cheaper)
Cut up 1-2 Peppers into chunks
Cut up 1 onion into chunks
Marinate the meat in 1/2-1 package of dried onion soup mix and 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce for about 15 minutes or overnight. Saute the vegetables in a small amount of oil. Remove from the veggies from the pan. Add a small amount of oil and cook the meat until done. Add the veggies back to the pan with a little more soy sauce and sugar to taste. Heat and serve over rice. Delicious.
Thanks, Pam!! I love the website! Thank Kendra for me!
ReplyDeleteI tend to like recipes with "Easy" in the name, and so I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites. (On a side note, I've made a number of recipes from the Italian cookbook, and they're all fantastic.)
ReplyDeleteEasy Lasagna, adapted from Favorite Brand Name Country Italian
1 lb. lean ground beef
26 1/2 oz. jar meatless spaghetti sauce
16 oz. container of cottage cheese
8 oz. container of sour cream
10 uncooked lasagna noodles
2 packages mozzarella cheese (or whatever is required to get to 18 slices)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. water
Brown beef and drain. Add spaghetti sauce and heat thoroughly over low heat. Preheat oven to 350. Combine cottage cheese and sour cream in a medium bowl, blending well. In a 13 x 9 baking dish, add about 1/3 of the meat sauce (about 1 1/2 cups), 5 lasagna noodles (I break a few inches off the 5th and lay it perpendicular to the other 4 at the one end), 1/2 of the cheese mixture, 6 slices of mozzarella, half of the remaining meat sauce, and about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Start this sequence over, beginning at the noodles, then finish with six more slices of cheese. Pour the water around the edges of the dish, and then cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes. Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes or so before trying to serve.
NOTE: I typically use reduced- or no-fat alternatives for the dairy products in this recipe wherever possible.
Extra Easy Chili, adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It, 5-Ingrdient Favorites
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 envelope dry chili seasoning mix
16 oz. can of chili beans in sauce
2 x 28 oz. cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, garlic and onion variety
1 onion
2 c. package of shredded cheddar
Crumble meat in the bottom of a 4 quart or larger slow cooker. Add all other ingredients and stir together. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 6-8 hours, stirring once about halfway through the cooking time. This makes quite a bit for one person, but would work well for a small potluck event. If I have it several nights in a week, I’ll alternately serve it over white rice or spaghetti, then top it with some chopped onion and some of the cheddar.
Why don't you just freeze stuff? Save some leftovers for the fridge and some for the freezer - then you don't have to eat the same meal very long. I do this all the time because I love to cook - it works well with roast chicken, soups, pasta sauce, bread, etc. I also make a lot of couscous - it's really fast, and you can do a ton with it.
ReplyDeleteOh - and my two go-to websites for recipes and ideas:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.epicurious.com
http://allrecipes.com
I've never used a crock pot, so I can't help you there - but the vast majority of stuff I cook is made from scratch in under a half hour. Let me know if you want some specific ideas - it's just to say that it can totally be done (for example, you can whip up Belgian waffles with fresh whipped cream and fruit compote in 20 minutes - and then save the extra batter in the fridge so that you can have waffles for a couple of days without having to make the batter again).
Dawn, the answer to why I don't freeze stuff is that I do a little, but I live in an economy studio apartment downtown and my freezer is barely big enough for the ice cube trays! Thanks for the recipe websites.
ReplyDelete