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What are some of your favorite cheap, easy and healthy recipes?
I've been really bad at coming up with things to cook lately, resulting in me eating the same unhealthy food all the time. I'd like to change this and to get familiar with new recipes, so I was wondering if the users of Tildes have any good recipes to share. Vegetarian and vegan are preferred, but non-vegetarian recipes are also very welcome!
What are your go-to cheap, easy and healthy recipes?
Edit: I'm too overwhelmed by all your comments to respond to everybody individually, but I thank you all for the great suggestions, these are of great help!
I've given out these recommendations not too long ago, but you asked for them.
Tofu Scramble - Firm tofu broken up and fried in a pan with turmeric, nutritional yeast, and your choice of mix-ins and spices. I've been told that the secret ingredient to make it taste "eggy" is an ingredient called kala namak, but I haven't tried it yet. I'd strongly recommend adding veggies like mushrooms, peppers, and potatoes so you have some textural contrast.
Oatmeal - you don't even need to cook it; just toss rolled oats and a splash of liquid (preferably a milk analogue) in a container and leave it to sit in your refrigerator for two hours. If you're impatient you can heat it on the stove for it to cook faster. Mix in whatever sounds good to you; cinnamon and raisin with some sweetener is my go-to.
Frozen vegetables - pre-washed, prepped, and bite-sized makes it the easiest thing you can cook. Put them in a covered container and microwave them for 5 minutes to steam them practically instantly! Just toss with the seasonings of your choice. I like hot sauce (Louisiana brand particularly), but you can use just about anything; cajun spice mix, teriyaki sauce; barbecue, curry - the sky is the limit.
Nice Cream - Put frozen bananas and some liquid in the blender and you've got a dessert that is simelar in texture to soft-serve ice cream. Add some cocoa for chocolate flavor, or add peanut butter to get some savoriness to it. Once again, customize to your liking
Beans - If you're really lazy you can just eat them out of a can (though if you're trying to be healthy, avoid the flavored ones and especially the refried ones), but I would recommend cooking the dry ones in a pressure cooker or slow cooker, using broth instead of water so you get the maximum flavor. You not only have endless customization, but you can also use them as a part of other recipes!
I ended up trying your tofu scramble idea a week or so ago: https://i.imgur.com/nV8KKq2.png. It was super easy and turned out great other than that I accidentally put too much sauce on it: https://i.imgur.com/Ag6jtK0.png. I need to wait a little while before I try serving it to my 5 year-old, since this time he got it in his head that tofu was bad, which means that he won't even try it. But I think he'd like it, too. I think I was happier with my tofu the times when I cubed it and squeezed out the moisture, but cutting out that lengthy prepwork makes me way more likely to eat it.
I see I'm not the only one who likes overly dried tofu. :P
If you want to try to make tofu more palatable to a kid, it's easy to make it unhealthy, too! Marinate it in something yummy - teriyaki is probably the best bet because it's salty-sweet - and then fry it in oil. Though honestly I find frying tofu easier said than done, so you might want to get some from a Chinese restaurant instead.
For really young kids, sometimes it's enough to just do fun shapes, so you might want to try marinated tofu noodles.
I'm more just learning about tofu and have only tried a few ways of cooking it. I'm open to other ways, but the constant grind of the kitchen exhausts me, so until I get more help in the kitchen (particularly keeping it clean), quick and easy is my only way.
Fun tofu shapes is a great idea. I'm not at all concerned that he would dislike the taste, because he likes pretty much everything he tries. The hard part is getting him to try things that he has some mental block against. Even with his favorite foods, if he gets some idea in his head about disliking it, that's that. So if I can cut tofu into shapes he likes, that might just get past that barrier.
My mom would make tofu shakes. Blend it up with some frozen fruit and some liquid to make as thick as desired. Really tasty.
I like baking marinated tofu, after rubbing in a mix of cornflour and seasoning of your choice. The tofu will be crispy on the outside, and nice and flavoursome on the inside.
Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Marinade the tofu for as much time as you have (at least 15 minutes, but longer is better).
Sprinkle the spice rub over the marinaded tofu, then put on a lined baking tray.
Bake for 25~30 minutes, checking from 20 minutes onwards that things are getting too crispy.
I have found that baking the tofu is a nice alternative to frying. You can marinade it in whatever you like.
An example for marinade and rub :
marinade
rub
For oatmeal I think just doing it in the microwave is easiest; I have it almost everyday. I like adding milk and water 50:50. 2dl of liquid for 1dl of oats. Two minutes of cooking in 1 min increments with mixing in between.
I don't know what's it called in English (literally translated fresh porridge) but leaving the mixture overnight is my go-to when I'm in a hurry in the morning. Just put it in the fridge the evening before. Adding water, berries, some squashed banana and quark makes it a super nutritious and protein rich breakfast. Mmm..
English speakers are fanciful people — I believe we call them, "overnight oats" — seriously.
I love them. If you add dried fruit the time lets them really soften and plump up, which is a bonus.
Thank you, these are great tips! I'm definitely going to try some of these out!
I am similar to you and I like to snack a lot. Over the last few years, I've been trying to snack better!
Hummus: It's really easy to make and tastes a lot better than store brought hummus. I make a batch once a week to have on hand.
Buy snackable veggies, that I portion out into the fridge so I can grab it quick during the day. Things like carrots, celery, bell peppers, etc take very little time to dice up into bite size pieces and portion them out.
Having fruits on hand is great too.
I also like making these nut bars: recipe , pretty quick to whip up a batch, that lasts about a week or two. Recipe is very forgiving in terms of what nuts and dry fruits you want to add to it. Last week I made this with dates, almonds, cashews, pistachios and dried apricots
Sprouts: Easy to make, very little time commitment, but a great snack. Change up the type of sprouts you make every week for added variety. They can also be easily thrown into recipes (like the rice bowls below)
I have also noticed, if I have been snacking thru the day, I am not completely burnt out by the end of the day and have more energy to cook something nice for dinner :)
In terms of actual meals, I have been experimenting with Japanese style rice bowls. The base is some sushi rice and a runny egg, some furikake seasoning on top and that's it.
side note: rice cookers are great to make perfect rice everytime, even a $20 cheap ones are great
If I have time, I may fry up some spam in soy sauce/mirin to top up the rice with.
Add some Kimchi if you have some.
Also a cup of miso soup goes great with the above rice bowl. Boil some water, add some dashi powder (scallions, garlic, seaweed, etc optional) Take it off the heat and once it's not scalding anymore add some miso paste.
I also typically make a rice based dish like Chicken Pallela or Biriyani, that will last a week in the fridge. Kenji Lopez has a good chicken pallela recipe here.
I make a heavily modified one-pot biriyani recipe, if interested let me know, and I will type out the recipe here.
You can easily replace chicken in the above recipes, with some thing like eggplant or potatoes to make them vegetarian.
Lentil rice: This is probably my laziest weeknight recipe, I throw in equal parts rice and red lentils in a rice cooker with the required amount of water (or chicken stock). Add some turmeric, cumin, coriander powder (and curry powder, optional).
Throw in some whole spices like cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick.
Add some frozen veggies (if I have any on hand) and let it cook.
One thing I realized about myself over the last few years is that, If I spend a few hours during the weekend trying to plan a few meals for the week, It helps immensely with how well I eat during the week. It also reduces the mental load I have to figure out what I want to have for dinner or lunch during the work-week itself :)
Can you explain "Sprouts" a bit more? Like bean sprouts? Are you just munching on a handful, or is there a prepared way to eat them?
Sorry for the vagueness! Yes, bean sprouts, and I do munch on them raw, I also saute them with some spices as a snack sometimes, if I feel like it.
I typically sprout mung beans the most, but also throw in chickpeas and other types of beans in the mix.
It's also an easy addition to things like Ramen, Miso Soup, Rice Bowls, Salads, etc
ETA: I googled safety of eating raw bean sprouts and saw this: 1
So please take my suggestion with the above warning!
Just to add to this, there are commerical offerings these days for nut bars made with whole foods, no added sugars, and no preservatives. Larabar's selection is vegan and probably the best balance of fat/sugar, and is available in a lot of supermarkets. There's one more that is a bit harder to find, but I can't think of the name right now. RXBAR also looks good, but they always use egg whites, so it's non-vegan.
If you want to make your own with chef john's recipe make sure you don't use the pre-chopped dates, as those are usually coated with extra sugar. I'd personally also drop the added oil and use deglett noor dates instead of the medjools; they're less cloyingly sweet and have more of a caramel-like flavor profile.
Absolutely! there are great readily available nut bars/energy bars available nowadays!
Economies of scale also make these commercially available bars pretty comparable to how much it would cost to make them at home (dry fruits and nuts are expensive, especially if you're buying good quality stuff).
I do like making these at home tho, It's very low effort and like mixing and matching what dry fruits and nuts I use :)
Thanks for that suggestion, will try that for the next batch I make!
I feel lucky that there are places near me that have bulk bins, where I can get really good prices on dry foodstuff. Oatmeal, for instance, goes for about $1/lb. In comparison, the largest container of generic oats cost $1.52/lb and the pre-portioned sweetened sachets are $2.26/lb. That's a pretty big deal for me given that I eat a large portion of oatmeal almost every day for breakfast.
Wow, that is way more info that I expected! You mentioned so many things that sound awesome! Thank you!
I should also plan my meals more. You made me realize that planning my meals can make it way easier for me. When I need to come up with something to eat when I'm already hungry, it's way harder to come up with something good and actually take the time to maybe get ingredients and cook it. I think making a list of recipe-options for that week with ingredients that I already have, would really help me!
I'm interested in that Biriani recipie, and will take you up on the offer to type it up if that's ok.
This is extremely late, but here goes:
The day before: marinate the chicken (preferable dark meat, like thighs and legs) with turmeric, ginger paste, garlic paste, yogurt, cumin, coriander powder, red chili powder, kashmiri chili powder and optionally: powdered cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon powder
For a pound of meat, start with about 2tbl sp of yogurt and add about 1-2 tsps of the above spices (1/2tsp of optional spices) and mix well with the yogurt and then add to chicken and mix well. I typically eyeball the spices so, I am not great with exact measurements.
(You could also use a ready made biriyani spice blend instead)
Let the chicken marinate overnight in the fridge.
Start with a heavy bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid. I use this
In a separate pot, rinse out some basmati rice (or a mix of half basmati and a short grained rice) and soak it (for atleast 45 mins).
This is not traditional biriyani by any means, but it's a close approximation and easy to make (at least for me :).
I have this is my weekend meal-prep routine and make it once a month typically, which lasts for 6-8 meals for me and my wife.
Typing this, I realized I suck at typing recopies. Ping me if you have any question and I can try to clarify
I just made a big batch of veggie rice. It's never the same twice but I generally do the following:
It's usually about 50% rice and 50% veg.
Boom. Tons of good, cheap, healthy food. It freezes well too, and you can always jazz it up with a hot sauce of choice. It also sits well in a crock pot or insta pot on the warm setting.
This sounds delicious, but I think I'd need some protein in there. This and tofu or some meat replacement product sounds like a great combo!
I make this and always add a can or two of garbanzo beans! Perfect addition for protein, texture, and convenience.
This is actually one of the things that I often make as well, but I don't always use enough spices. Next time I will play around more with those. Thanks!
This is a super easy vegetarian staple in our house. If you have a basic spice cabinet, all you need from the store are red potatoes and asparagus.
Garlic & Rosemary Potatoes and Asparagus
This is SO good
20ish small-medium red potatoes, halved
2 bunches thin asparagus
5 cloves garlic
3 tsp rosemary dried, or 2 tbsp fresh
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp oil, and salt&pepper to taste
-Mix together everything but potatoes and asparagus in a bowl
-toss potatoes in half the mixture
-bake potatoes in single layer for 20 minutes @425f
-Toss asparagus in remaining mixture, throw on the pan, and bake for 10 more minutes.
-Devour
I love some fresh asparagus! Thank you! I really want to try your recipe out when they are in season again.
The two meals we often fall back on when we just need an easy/quick/cheap dinner are stir fry (usually frozen veggies, rice, crack a couple eggs in there and add or make a small amount of sauce) and pasta with a red sauce (can of crushed tomatoes, basil from our aerogarden, onion/garlic, salt/pepper, whatever fresh or frozen veggies we have at hand).
They aren't really recipes, per se. Just general dishes that can be cobbled together from whatever is around, as long as you have a few staple ingredients available. Sometimes they're great, sometimes just decent, but never bad and always easy.
Those are things that I also make often. I do like to play around with the other sauce-bases for my pasta as well, like pesto.
Another "sauce" I like to make for my pasta, is based on egg and olives:
I add an egg to my pasta after I drained the water. Mix it well with the pasta, put the lid on it and let it rest for a few minutes. After that I add things like sliced black olives, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and olive oil. Stuff like that. It's fun to play around with those kind of recipes and it indeed almost always results in a great meal :)
Mujadara. Lentils, rice, and onions as the most basic variant but you can definitely add more fixings.
This looks very easy to make and seems like a tasty and healthy filler! Rice is always a great base for a meal. I will give this a try one time, thanks!
Be sure to look up a recipe online. The onions are often caramelized before hand and lend a lot of flavor. Bonus that lentils are cheap and keep well. Hope you like it!
My go-to lazy food is a freshly made bowl of rice with an egg dropped into it. The heat of the rice cooks the egg, and adding some seasoning makes for a tasty meal. I've been adding ponzu lately (soy sauce with citrus), but regular soy sauce or tamari sauce works well too.
I never reallised ponzu was an actual thing. I thought it was something an artist is really like, Ponzu Island, came up with. Now I need to try some!
Ponzu is so good! My friend introduced me to it recently and I've been in love with it.
Ponzu is my favorite soy-sauce variant by far! The added citrus just really brings a lot of balance to it.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes are a favourite here. Mashed potatoes are pretty straight forward - boil some taters, mash 'em up, add butter, salt, and milk. When boiling, I recommend cutting the top off 2 bulbs of garlic and adding a generous amount of olive oil, then putting that in the oven at 375 for the entirety of the time you're boiling. Then squeeze the garlic out into the potatoes when you are mashing. It's relatively quick from a prep-time point of view; you don't have to do much. You don't even have to peel the potatoes if you don't mind eating peels. This feels like a fancy side dish, but it's super easy.
Quinoa is something I've been eating a lot. I make a big batch in a rice cooker, then add some veggies to it and eat it as a quinoa salad. You can do a variety of dressings, but I like olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar. Add whatever crunchy veggies you want, maybe almonds, raisins. I usually add tuna, but that's not necessary.
Fried Rice is fast and easy. We have rice with some frequency, so often have leftover. Cut whatever veggies you want quite small. You can add a bit of meat here, or leave it out. Saute it for a while, then add the rice. You can optionally make a little well in the middle of the pan, and scramble a couple of eggs, then add soya sauce. You can make a good fried rice in about 10 minutes if you already have cooked rice, 15 minutes otherwise.
Lately I have been making big batches of quinoa or other grains and simply mixing them with different things to make a complete lunch. It's a good way to have lots of variety while minimizing the amount of work you need to put into it.
I always forget Quinoa is a thing. Seems like a great base for a meal to play around with!
The mashed potato sounds like the same thing I used to eat quite often when I grew up, although my mom didn't really add garlic as far as I know. We often ate it with white fish (like fish sticks or some other fish) and carrots on the side. Tastes great!
Mashed potatoes are super straight forward, but adding in the roasted garlic elevates it from "ma's mashed potatoes" to "I would be happy if I ordered this at a posh restaurant".
Makes sense. Garlic makes everything better.
Side dish/snack (made yesterday)
Pickled Black-Eyed Peas
1 c (or can) of Black-Eyed Peas (if using dry peas, follow prep instructions on bag to rehydrate)
1 of each yellow, red, orange bell pepper 1/4 inch chop
2-3 jalapeño peppers minced
1/4 c olive oil (can be omitted to reduce calories)
1/4 c white vinegar (can substitute cider vinegar or lemon or lime juice if preferred, I've also used balsamic vinegar: tastes great but looks dingey)
1/4 c minced chives
1 red onion chopped
4 (or so) cloves garlic minced (we like garlic so always use more)
Combine and chill: will keep refrigerated for a week. Serve with corn chips for gluten free snack or over rice as a side dish. Great for passing at a summer barbecue because it can be left out for hours without risk.
tip with this one (or any pickling-type recipe), put the red onion and garlic in the vinegar first and let it sit for 10+ minutes before mixing in all the other stuff. This really helps mellow out some of the bite from the onion and garlic!
These are the kind of ingredients I almost never make. Somehow, beans don't exist in my mind when I try to come up with a meal. Thank you very much, it sounds great!
I hope you enjoy it!
1/4 c of Black-Eyed Peas provide 10 grams of protein (helps keeps you full) and they have very low sodium. Not a huge fan of them plain but they pickle fabulously. This is also an awesome relish with pork chops or a fish fillet if you occasionally go non-vegan.
https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-black-eyed-peas
Save your chicken scraps and veggies past their prime in a bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, make your own chicken stock and freeze that for later. I use my electric pressure cooker.
That plus anything makes a quick and excellent soup.
Ooh, that's a great tip! Thanks!
This dal recipe is ridiculously easy to make, though I make it less healthy by doubling the tadka.
It's vegetarian and ridiculously delicious. Unlike most vegetarian recipes I don't find myself thinking "Okay, but this would be A+ if we added..." It's a recipe that stands alone.
I know that I really, really like dal. A good dal is so delicious! And yet somehow I always forgot about it's existence and I don't really know how to make it. This recipe seems perfect, TY!
I find it funny that you say this is easy to make but it has 19 steps.
Granted, five of them are optional and a lot of them are just "add ingredients" steps, so it's nowhere as difficult as it appears.
Covid did wonders for our at home, healthy dinner options.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
Cookie and Kate is awesome for healthy, doable recipes. Like 10/10. We started making these during Covid (our housemate at the time turned us onto it) and they are fantastic. There is a strictly black bean variety too. I love pulling a cauliflower apart into small stalks and then roasting it and adding it to the sweat potato/black bean mixture. It is delicious and has a heartier consistency, kind of like chicken in texture.
Cauliflower tacos:
This one is a personal recipe. Again a Covid discovery - that some disagree with - was that baked cauliflower has the taste and consistency of battered fish. I hear the disagreement already, but trust me try this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
Spices as enjoyed (I do 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp cayenne, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 tsp oregano (mexican oregano if you can get it), 1 tsp ginger powder, 1/4 tsp cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice, and salt/pepper to taste)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 carrots
1/2 purple cabbage (it can be green but i like the visual of purple)
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp spicy mustard
2 tsp sugar
10 taco sized tortillas
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp siriacha
1 bunch cilantro
1 small red onion
Roast Cauliflower
Break the cauliflower into small stalks. About the size of a quarter or half dollar (2-5cm for the non Americanos). Place in a large bowl and toss in olive oil and mix in spices. Oil a baking sheet and spread cauliflower mixture across it. Don't crowd too much as that can prevent caramelization. Bake for 15-20 minutes at ~180-200 degree C (350-400F) and then agitate the pieces to get full coverage. Remove when golden brown on some side but still juicy.
Cole Slaw
While that is cooking, grate the carrots and thinly chop the cabbage. Mix in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine the vinegar, sugar, and spicy mustard. Pour over the chopped veg and mix together. Whala! finished.
Mayo Spread
Mix together the mayo and siriacha in a small bowl. DOne!
Assembly
Warm up your tortillas in a dry frying pan or directly over the flames until they get some color. Smear a dollup of the mayo spread in the middle of the tortilla, add your cole slaw (i'd say 1/4 cup but it really depends on the size of tortilla), and then place a number of the baked cauliflower pieces across it. All of this should be replicating fish tacos so keep that in mind as you're deciding on ratios. Lastly add some diced red onion/cilantro over the top and add a little hot sauce. I love a vinegar/habanero base but it's up to you.
Stuffed Squid:
I use Brad Leone's recipe for stuffed squid. As per another recent post, small bait sized squid are low trophic, sustainable, and delicious. Think of it as shrimps' muuuuch less problematic cousin. Ingredient list below and then just follow along with Brad. For Squid:
Spices: (Mustard Powder, Onion Powder, S&P, Cayenne, Ground Corriander
Stuffing Mix: 3 scallions, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 inch of ginger, 1-2 inches lemon grass,1/2 fresno chili, 1 tbl ponzu, 1 tbl gogugang, 1.5 tbl olive oil, Squid spice mixture (1/2 tsp), 1.5 lbs of rice, furikake, 1 bunch parsley, 1 bunch cilantro, all the squid tenticles diced.
Squid Casing: 1lbs the tops of the squid, cleaned and deboned (there is a weird, almost plastic structure in the hood).
The recipes on that website look great. I added them to my RSS reader, which I've recently started using :)
The Cauliflower tacos sound really tasty and original. Everything you mentioned does! Thank you for typing that all out, this helps a lot!
Khichdi is a go-to for me! It’s one of those versatile dishes with lots of variations—at its core it’s just a sort of savory rice-lentil stew.
Here is how I usually make it, with almost entirely shelf-stable ingredients. Flavor profile is similar to chili. I use an instant pot but it should be easy to do on the stove as well. Ingredients that are listed together can be put into the same bowl if you like to do all prep/measurement ahead of time (mise en place).
Khichdi recipe
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Adapted from this recipe
For the winter time, I recommend large batches of soup. You can freeze portions you want for later, and the portions you don't freeze get better as the ingredients harmonize in the fridge. I often use and modify Budget Bytes Recipes, and in particular make the Vegan Winter Lentil Stew (https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegan-winter-lentil-stew/) or Chunky Lentil and Vegetable Soup (https://www.budgetbytes.com/chunky-lentil-vegetable-soup/). While not a healthy addition, both are excellent with garlic bread.
Another tip is to buy double of the veggies you need for one recipe, prep everything, and then freeze half, so the next time you go to make the soup, you can dump in the veggies with no prep!
I came in here to see if anyone mentioned Budget Bytes. That site is a wonderful tool for finding simple easy and cheap meals. There are several that we enjoy:
Lemon Garlic Shrimp - all in one skillet meal
Sheet Pan Kielbasa and green beans -Throw it all on a sheet pan!
Oven Roasted Autumn Medley - I've done this one several different ways with different squashes and sweet potatoes, as well as add a bit of honey. Came in clutch with Flash Food always throwing squash into the produce boxes!
As for doing soups, we definitely do that as well. They usually end up being "What do we have and what needs to go?" Style soups. Soups are king when it comes to cheap, easy, and healthy for sure.
I put four bananas, a bunch of spinach, 1 container (qt?) vanilla Greek yogurt, 160g melted peanut butter, and cinnamon in a blender. Blend until it's a consistent slurry. I then portion out 1 cup increments into individual containers. In each container I then mix in 1/2 cup oats until the oats are completely saturated and soaked. I then put them in the freezer or fridge, depending on when I plan on eating them. If frozen, they take a day in the fridge to thaw. Eat cold and with a spoon. It's very filling. Makes about six servings.
An easy, healthy vegan summer recipe I really enjoy is roasted chickpea and tomato salad. I discovered this at my local food co-op deli, then found their recipe online. It’s easy to tweak to suit your own preferences, or use up whatever happens to be in your fridge.
Spaghetti aglio e olio, which translates to spaghetti with olive oil and garlic, really simple and quick, I add in some chili flakes for a kick!
Bulgur rice is a delicious rice alternative.
Baked potatoes, sweet or regular, I have mine with tuna 'mayo' the mayo is just 0% fat greek yogurt. Healthier than mayo.
Making your own chili oil is a useful culinary tool.
It isn't easy, and you must exercise extreme caution, as the basic method involves you pouring hot oil, but exercising some common sense will likely make sure you'll be fine.
So, don't do what the dummies on YouTube do and pour boiling oil into a mason jar. Pour it into a stainless mixing bowl.
Plain, raw pasta. Just a little bit to save money, maybe a handful. Add a pinch of salt if you're feeling fancy.
To raise money for a politician's campaign we collected recipes from their supporters to create a recipe book for sale. Your amusing (?) suggestion reminds me of one of the submitted recipes:
"Wash a potato and slice it thinly. Enjoy."
I got a ton of great suggestions on this recent topic, did be sure to check out the comments there if you haven't already. I'm bookmarking this topic too since there's a ton of good non-overlapping suggestions between them!
Drupe this was a great question! I got a bunch of new recipes. Thank you!
I've been making this through the winter here in Australia, it's hearty and warm, while being healthy and delicious. If you want you could pair it with rice, but we've been having it as is and having some corn chips with it if we're feeling fancy. Probably not a very traditional dish, but we enjoy it a lot.
The below makes enough for about 2-3 days between 2 people (or it lasts me and my husband that long).
"Chunky Chili Con Carne"
-1 tbsp rice bran oil
-700g gravy beef, cut into 2.5cm pieces
-2 large brown onion, finely chopped
-3 garlic clove, crushed
-2.5 tbsp ground cumin
-4 tsp ground coriander
-1.5 tsp chilli powder
-700g Italian tomato passata sauce
-400g can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
-400g can four bean mix, drained, rinsed
-400g can black beans, drained, rinsed
-500ml beef bone broth
Heat oil in a medium frying pan over high heat. Cook beef, stirring, for 3 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Return beef to pan. Stir in garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chilli powder. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add passata, beans and bone broth cups cold water. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, covered, for 1 hour 15 minutes or until beef is tender.
My favorite quick and healthy meal to make is pasta with canned or a jar of tomatoes, either canned sardines, tuna or anchovies and frozen peas. Sometimes I add grated parmesan and sometimes I add frozen cubes of spinach and anything else that I have around my kitchen.
It's warming up in my area lately, so when I don't want to cook, I like to make a sort of salad with the following, all cut into similar sized chunks:
Mixed with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings (usually salt, pepper, garlic, Tapatio or other hot sauce, and maybe something random just to spice it up)
I toss it together and let it meld in the fridge for a bit before eating.
A simple bowl of 4-5 peeled carrots to nibble on. Bliss !