Weeknight meal recommendations
My wife just went back to work and as the one who works from home, that means I'll be cooking a lot more. I'm not bad in the kitchen, but I'm not good at just making something up without a recipe -- I can alter and combine existing recipes once I'm used to them, but I need that starting point.
My wife and I are also both neurodivergent so it's very easy for us to get overwhelmed and not have the executive function for cooking -- which is why we eat way too much takeout currently. So I'm looking particularly for recipes that are easy and tasty. Ideally they should be reasonably healthy as well, but "healthier than takeout" isn't a high bar.
We live in Germany, so please keep that in mind if you want to recommend a specific brand of premade stuff. That said, I don't turn up my nose at premade things if they're tasty and worth it.
We do have a wok, the staple sauces for Chinese cooking , and access to okay Asian supermarkets. As an example, our current staple weeknight meal is "chop up some broccoli and stir-fry it in light soy sauce and black vinegar w/ aromatics and sichuan doubanjiang." I'm willing to go out and buy sauces and seasonings for specific cuisines if I can find them and they're useful enough, but for perishables like veggies and meats I'd prefer to stick to what's easy to find at a German grocery store, since those are in walking distance. But anyway just don't assume we only want European-style food.
Stuff that feels appropriate for summer is also a huge plus! I know a few great stew and risotto recipes but I can't bring myself to make something so heavy in this hot weather.
I really like chicken/broccoli/rice. Dirt cheap, pretty healthy, and takes ~10min to prep.
Cut up 2-3 chicken breasts into 1" cubes
Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and Adobo seasoning
Pour a splash of olive oil in a deep pan, add chicken and 2 cloves of minced garlic
Once chicken is cooked, add 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, and a bag of frozen broccoli
Let simmer for 14-16 minutes (stirring occasionally) until rice is tender
This makes 5-6 servings so it lasts us a few days (and tastes great re-heated).
I'd make a slight change to this otherwise great recipe.
The chicken should not be cooked at this point, else it will be very overcooked at the end. The chicken should be browned all over but slightly undercooked when you add everything else.
Ooh this does sound tasty, and using frozen broccoli is a smart idea I hadn't thought of.
Adobo seasoning is so versatile! I wish it were easier to find here, but luckily I just brought back some from the US bc it's just so handy.
I like doing sheet pan meals! Any protein + 2-3 vegetables (bell peppers, fennel bulb, broccoli, onion, brussels sprouts, potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes all work well). Season protein, toss veg with a bit of oil and seasoning, into oven at 375-400F for ~25min.
It’s an extremely forgiving cooking method, and can have tons of variations. I make the Serious Eats sheet pan fajitas probably 2-3 times a month. As a fellow neurodivergent type I also struggle with cooking sometimes, but I’ve had good results from prepping my vegetables right when I get home from the store and putting them into produce containers, and then they’re all ready to go when I need them.
I second sheet pan meals, super easy to mix and match. My wife and kids love this one:
https://kalynskitchen.com/roasted-sweet-potatoes-sausage-and-broccoli-sheet-pan-meal/
I sub the seasoning for a premade rub I use often. Also I throw some Balsamic glaze in with the sweet potatoes. Anyway it's super hard to mess these up or overcook so as previous poster said
Another vote for sheetpan meals!
Current favorite is crumbled sausage, potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and banana peppers seasoned with Italian seasoning and cracked black pepper.
We also do sheet pan nachos often. Spread chips on the pan, sprinkle half of a bag of shredded cheese, top with whatever leftover meat you have on hand (usually chicken or chorizo for us - I sprinkle taco seasoning on the meat if it wasn't already seasoned), add veggies (corn, peppers, beans, etc), sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.
That sausage and potato one sounds great, I'm gunna try that next time instead. Thanks!
I frequently make variations of this as a lazy meal:
https://themodernproper.com/instant-pot-chicken-tagine
Don't be alarmed at the instant pot directions; the meal cooks perfectly well with canned chickpeas and a pre-roasted chicken from the store in a standard stew pot. You simply slop the various ingredients together and let them warm up a bit until the flavors blend, then you're done. The resulting stew freezes well and is very tasty.
My other go-to meal is a variant of this pilaf:
https://rouxbe.com/recipes/2156-middle-eastern-chicken-pilaf
Again, very adaptable to all sorts of substitutions but it's essentially just chicken, rice and onions at its most simple.
My general-purpose recipe site for a bunch of solid meal ideas of varying complexity is Recipe Tin Eats. Good variety of stuff to choose from and they always offer plenty of guidance on substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients.
Pizza. No really. There are tons of "no knead" doughs that go to sleep in your fridge (or even freezer I heard, not tried). Home made sauce stays good for a week or two so basically all I do is form it, wait, put stuff on it and into the oven. Well that's the gist of it. Really good way to use leftover ingredients and actually really cheap.
I use a modified version of Kenji's pan pizza in cast iron, but I remember Adam Ragusea having a nice explanation of the dough making process in the fridge.
It might not go perfect the first few times but hey its still pizza. I'm very much in tune with my dough after baking a long time so it's very relaxing to me. Opens up the door to a whole new hobby too, baking and sourdough. Anyway let me know if you want more explanation, I'm on mobile now.
Another pizza suggestion for OP: When I'm in the mood for pizza but don't have the patience to make dough, I make "pizzadillas" that are basically quesadillas with pizza fillings. Or if I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't want to mess with a pan, I'll cover a tortilla with pizza toppings, pop it in the microwave, and roll it up.
Oh god one of my college staples was a "pizza" with jarred sauce, shredded cheese, and a tortilla as the crust. Surprisingly tasty ngl.
If you make a decently big batch of homemade tomato sauce you can often quick-can the leftovers for later. It's not shelf stable, but lasts 3-4 weeks in the fridge which is plenty of time.
Or freeze pizza sauce in single use sized amounts and thaw as needed. Keeps for months and months...
I used to live in Louisiana, and loved cajun food, so I can share a homemade recipe I worked out while I was down there. This one has the stamp of approval so to speak - I served it to plenty of legit cajun folks and they absolutely loved it. I don't have precise measurements because it's a thing I just sorta came up with spontaneously, if any of it is unclear I can try to fill in details as best I can.
You'll need:
Seasonings:
The rice just needs to be cooked in a pot as normal, so you can do that really any time, and we'll come back to it later. Cut up the green onion into tiny slices.
With the red beans, drain one can. With the other can, empty its entirety into a pot, and mash them. Then add the drained can of beans to that. Put the bay leaf in that as well as some oregano, and get it up to simmering. Let it simmer a minute or two, then turn the heat way down (not off), and just let that be while we get the rest ready.
Peel the garlic, and chop that up finely. Do the same with the white onion. Put these in a bowl, and mix them up with some salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, paprika, and cider vinegar. With each of these it's a matter of taste/what you're comfortable with. To start, I'd say go for half a teaspoon for salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne. A whole teaspoon of paprika, two teaspoons of cider vinegar. It's going to be pungent, but all of it is going to mellow out as we cook it.
Cut the sausage into 2.5cm slices, as many as you can manage. Add these to the bowl and mix it up real well, toss it all around and get everything covered.
Heat up some cooking oil, and sautee the contents of this bowl. Allow for the sausage to sit a while, don't move it around a lot. Go until the garlic and onions start to turn golden/soften. Try to achieve a little bit of searing on the sausage if you can. All good if you can't but it'll be nice if you do.
Once that's done, dump that into the pot of beans, bring the heat up a bit, stir, and add one cap-full of cider vinegar. Then let that simmer for about ten-ish minutes. Turn the heat off.
From here it's ready. You just ladle out some of the sausage and beans onto some rice. Garnish with the fresh green onion. If you have a grocery store that stocks Tiger Sauce, it's really good added on top. You can also make some garlic bread to go with it, or cornbread. It also gets better as leftovers. If you package some up and refrigerate it, you'll find that it sorta "matures" after a day or two and tastes that much better.
Your staple stir-fry sounds delicious!
I just made myself an eggplant, mozzarella, and tomato toast for dinner. It was nothing fancy but maybe it might inspire new ideas for you? Anyway, I sliced an eggplant lengthwise into thin slices and fried them in the frying pan with a bit of olive oil. You can zap them in the microwave for a minute or so beforehand to shorten frying time. You can also bake them in the oven or grill them instead if that’s easier. I then layered the eggplant, sliced mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes on a nice thick piece of toast. I topped it with some pesto and salt, and it was pretty amazing.
Ooh I'm hella gonna use this gravy recipe. I love gravy on things but didn't ever learn how to make it so this set of instructions is a lifesaver.
I use that approach to make onion gravy for bangers and mash, using a beef stock cube in the water. I didn't know that the time you toast the flour can affect the color much, mine usually comes out slightly paler than I'd like, although I add a "splash" of bovril to cheat that (you can't really splash bovril, it's like a thick syrup). I'm going to try toasting the flour slightly longer next time.
I grill a lot during the summer, and if you don't have a grill, you can buy a cast iron 'grill' for indoor grilling. It's fun to play with different marinades, then on the grill, with some cut veggies.
Cucumber tuna: Peel and cut a cucumber in half. Scoop out the seeds, and set the cucumber aside. Open a can of tuna/salmon or even chicken, and put a bowl. Add to the bowl a tablespoon of mayo, a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of mustard, and a pinch of cumin powder. Mix well. Add the mixture to the scooped out cucumber and enjoy!
We're in an apartment but we have a HUGE balcony so we've been toying with the idea of getting a small grill. That is probably the move for summer food tbh, back home we'd grill like every other day in the summer.
Just make sure your apartment and city fire code regulations actually allow for grilling on the balcony. And please make sure to follow all the related guidelines, and keep a fire extinguisher close by. The apartment building next to the one I lived at in Boston burned down due to a BBQ grill on a balcony:
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/quincy-fire-at-apartment-complex-sparked-by-grill/
Oh wow yeah that's very good to keep in mind! The main reason we haven't gotten one yet is because we have to check our apartment rules, but I forgot entirely about city codes too.
I eat way roo many hotdogs at the moment. I get hotdog buns from Gut und günstig, bockwürstchen im Glasffrom the same company (it's the Edeka Brand), and Krautsalat from Popp if you can find it. It's the best. I warm the sausage in the microwave for a minute, but quite some Krautsalat on the cold buns, add the sausage and some hela curry Gewürz Ketchup and then some roasted onions. Don't take kühne, they're the worst. I eat this almost once a week. I like to tell myself it's healthy because of the fresh Krautsalat. It's at least good for Vitamin C and your gut will love it.
I eat a soup once a week, either Pie-soup or lentil soup from aldi.
If I get the time to cook, I like doing Spaghetti Bolognese about every second week. It can be done in about 30 minutes if you do a basic receipt with just onions, minced meat and some canned tomatoes and/or tomatomark.
What I really like but do not often enough do, is getting some Frischkäse Doppelrahmstufe, cut onions into little cubes, cut Champignons into little cubes and/or Salami or ham in little pieces as well, and mix it all together, addd salt and pepper. Then spread it on toast and put into the oven until it's golden.
If you want to cook with your wok, get some mungo beans in a Glas or some other Sprossen, get kikoman soy sauce, some Lauchzwiebeln and some cooked noodles, (doesn't even have to be Chinese noodles, spaghetti work fine) maybe some vegetables that you like, heat them all up in the wok and put the soy sauce onto it.
ooh these are good recommendations! The first two are classics but I've never had anything like the Frischkäse on toast, that sounds super tasty I gotta try that
Have you looked at Kitchen Stories? The site is based in Germany, and I've noticed a focus on ingredients that are readily available there. However, there's a global variety of meals, with plenty of meat, vegetarian, and vegan options. The recipes are regularly updated with seasonal offerings (assuming you live in the temperate part of the Northern Hemisphere). Overall, it's not too unhealthy, though you could certainly make it that way if you chose only the "comfort food" recipes.
Most of the recipes are focused on quick weeknight meals, with relatively few ingredients. The site includes shopping lists and measurement conversions for metric/Imperial. Every special technique has photos/video. There are Android and iOS apps that follow the site, as well as a mailing list. For a premium, you can add a personal recipe box.
It's one of the best recommendations I can find for beginning/stressed/curious cooks!
Mealime is a good option if you're serious about eating for health with limited kitchen time. The apps are straightforward and the shopping list functionality is useful. It does require a $3/month subscription, but the recipes are regularly updated, and having nutritionists do the thinking for me is worth it.
Ooh these are good resources, I'll definitely check them out! It sounds like Kitchen Stories might be exactly what I need
When i’m feeling particularly drained, I like to put together meals by assembling components rather than actual cooking. For example, I make something I call tuna toast - a couple slices of some kind of seeded/hearty bread toasted, spread mayo or mashed avocado or hummus on the bread, then layer sliced red onion, sliced hard boiled egg, sliced tomato, capers, good quality canned tuna, and season with salt and pepper. Sometimes I throw in a few anchovies or sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Eat it open faced. It’s quite hearty and feels a bit more nourishing than just a plain old sandwich. And, if you make the hard boiled eggs ahead of time, it takes like 10 minutes to assemble.
If you feel like turning on the stove, a staple in our house is something called egg roll in a bowl. Ground pork, sliced cabbage, shredded carrots, whatever other veg you want to throw in, and a soy sauce/sesame oil based sauce. This is the recipe I started with, but there are many variations out there.
A common lazy meal for my spouse and I is frozen salmon fillets baked in the oven served with a Knorr pasta or rice side and a salad kit. Depending on what the store has available, we sometimes swap the salmon for flash-frozen coconut shrimp or other frozen fillets like Barramundi. While it is a little bit of a pricier meal per a plate cost, it's super convenient and easy.
Honestly I've definitely been sleeping on frozen fish, this is a great idea. We've got a little herb garden started too and salmon with fresh herbs is chef's kiss
I really like Blue Apron. Not their service, but their recipes. They range from 25-50 minutes to cook, and I've found that they actually do hit their time estimates in real life. Their recipes are also geared toward being the entire meal, which is nice for weekday meal planning. Their recipes are all in US customary units, though.
I'm American so I'm used to jumping around between US units and metric, so that's a great rec! We used to do Hello Fresh but were underwhelmed with the value for money, but just using the service's recipes and shopping for them ourselves is a great idea.
Simple pie and mashed potatoes is a staple for me. If you buy pre-rolled pastry that you keep in the fridge, you can have a meal in 25-40mins from scratch.
You can buy the fridge stores dough to and do pizza really fast, just like another poster said. We just buy tomato paste and keep that too so the base and sauce are done in 2 minutes flat. Then it's just a choice of topping and throwing in the oven for 15 mins.
My favourite dish to make is something I came up with years ago as a single dad with a couple of youngsters that I called Pasta MishMosh, as it was healthy and thrown together. My wife absolutely hates it because of the name, but enjoys it when I make it. The recipe and ingredients are:
Boil any kind of short and fat pasta, I like the twirly stuff or the ones that look like bow-ties. While the pasta is simmering, throw a bunch of veggies in a wok or large pan and get those cooking. I'm a vegetarian, so I also throw in 500g of Quorn chicken-like pieces, but use any chicken or sausage that's chopped up. Once things are looking a brown and soft, in goes a couple of veggie stock cubes and water. Let the water mostly simmer off, drain the pasta and throw that in the pan too. Stir for a bit, add any pepper, salt or chilli flakes and voila. Pasta MishMosh.
Ooh I'm gonna try Pasta MishMosh for sure. Glad to see another person who recognizes the superiority of bowtie pasta
Lazy recipes are my jam so hopefully one of the following will be up your alley.
Loaded instant mashed potatoes. Basically just work some protein, veggies (frozen peas are great), spices, and maybe cheese into the normal instant mashed tater box recipe. You can sub in broth for water and/or add a can of condensed mushroom soup for more flavor.
Lazy homemade mac&cheese: bring 3 cups of water and 3 cups of milk to a simmer, add 1lb pasta, cook til done, turn off the heat, and stir in 3-4 cups of shredded cheese. No need to strain the noodles or build a roux since the starches from the pasta thicken the sauce. I like to work in whatever ingredients are on hand. Brown some meat in the pot before adding the liquid, boil some veggies with the pasta, add some spices, etc.
Chili is super simple, just dump 1lb browned beef, a diced onion, 2 cans of beans, 1-2 cans of tomatoes, 1 can of corn (optional), cumin, chili, and other spices to taste into a crockpot on low 6-8 hours or high 5-6 hours. Chili mac is the same but with an extra 2cups of broth, then when done, add 16oz macaroni, cook on low for 30 minutes, and optionally add cheese.
Chef John has a chicken parmesan casserole recipe that's really easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6GGWqRlSA
His black bean soup recipe is super easy too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTwBK39EWok
This stuffed pepper soup recipe is pretty simple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWmqI9s7Myw
I’m not sure what “kind” of neurodivergent you are, but as someone who likely has some undiagnosed something affecting my executive functioning, I used to be really intimidated by cooking. Now I love it, and I improvise all the time. That might not be what happens for you, but I’m excited that you’re trying some new things!
Personally, I like to cook slowly. I sometimes take a weekend day and just cook all day (while putting on a movie or doing a little gardening while water is boiling, etc.), make large portions, and then refrigerate or freeze it for the upcoming week. That saves me from finishing a tough day and not wanting to think about it, and just ordering takeout. So if timing your food (aka having the sauce ready when the pasta is hot, etc.) is tough for you, I recommend it!
Some dishes I make regularly are (brace yourself; there’s a lot): chicken tikka masala, white sauce pasta with bacon and peas, fried rice with ginger, garlic, and egg (and any veggies I feel like), roasted vegetables, Mexican street corn salad, “marry me” chicken, roasted red pepper pasta, stuffed avocado or chayote squash, garlic butter green beans, my mom’s simple tuna pasta salad, stuffed mushrooms, and a pasta salad with olive oil, diced onions, olives, and cubed pepperoni and salami. I also make a lot of soups— tomato basil, carrot ginger, “green soup” (aka a bunch of veggies and squash and stuff all together), and jalapeño corn chowder.
For summer foods, cool foods are great, but spicy food can also cool you down! Also some of the dishes I listed sound hard to make, but they’re really quite easy— they don’t require any special technique or knowledge, just ingredients and sometimes a bit of time.
I know this is a lot, but just let me know if you’d like recipes for any of the dishes listed above. Most of them are made from recipes I found online and tweaked myself, and I’d be happy to pass them along.
I think it’s great you’re expanding your cooking horizons! Good for you. Best of luck!
Ooh that's a good list to use for brsinstorming! I'm curious what "marry me" chicken is though, so I'd love to see the recipe for that one!
In addition to stir fry, fried rice. You can throw basically any vegetables and protein into fried rice and it tastes good.
Soups and stews are a lot of chopping but the end result is generally that you throw them all in together with some broth. I generally use an instant pot for these but a slow cooker works also for not heating up your house.
I also love Smitten Kitchen's zucchini butter pasta. Really any pasta with veggies is pretty easy.
And grilled cheese or quesadillas is always an easy option. We also keep a frozen pizza in our fridge for when we both don't want to cook, way cheaper than going out to eat.
I really like the spend with pennies site for recipes. They are easy and straightforward.
Here is my basic weekday cooking list. I'll choose from that list once per week when i need a tasty meal that is just above my "simple" threshold.
I recommend you try them on a weekend as the first time it will probably take about 30 minutes to read and then prepare your ingredients. I unfortunately have no reference point when it comes to neurodivergence, but I believe it should be manageable if i compare with other recipes I am familiar with.
Happy cooking!
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/9204-casserole-de-haricots-blancs-et-de-saucisses
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/8946-oeufs-poches-epinards-et-lentilles
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/9191-riz-one-pot-a-la-saucisse-fenouil-et-poivron
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/8149-pennes-a-la-saucisse-et-a-l-aubergine
If you've got a wok and can get it hot etc --
make sure you have a mise if you get stressed cooking. Its more dishes, but its worth it.
I shill for sous vide very often but it's because it's literally a cheat code in the kitchen. Meat is the main factor in what most people consider the challenge in the kitchen. The rest is pretty easy to do.
So grab a sous vide and go to town on cooking. It's simple to use and it's basically impossible to screw up cooking meats.
We frequently make pasta with vegetables and a can of clams, or a bolognese spaghetti with red sauce, garlic, onions and ground beef.
Sorry I don't have a formal recipe for you.