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Give me your simple meals for two before we starve

15 replies

Elephanfuckingtastic · 15/05/2015 09:34

Just me , Dp & 2 boys 8 weeks old & a 6yo but he has his own meals .

We are stuck in a rut of the same 3 meals every week and if that fails we have sandwiches .
We are fed up and I have very little imagination when it comes to food , no allergies etc so we will try anything .

So what lovely meals do you cook ?

OP posts:
FrancoisLaPrune · 15/05/2015 11:21

Quick and easy things like chilli or fajitas are served quite often at my house.

Or when I have time on my hands I make a batch of homemade beef burgers and also spicy bean burgers which I freeze. We have these with homemade wedges and salad or something similar. I found the best way to make wedges is to microwave the potatoes for a few minutes until they are soft but not cooked through, then slice into wedges, spray with cooking oil and chuck them in the over for 20 minutes. Super fluffy inside and nice crunchy skin on them.

I also chuck a gammon joint in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours with a splash of water and then serve that with roast potatoes, veg and gravy or use some of it for a carbonara or in an omelette.

We often have pasta with red pesto, peas and rocket stirred through it served with a steamed salmon fillet. Delicious

Or pasta with cooked chicken, lemon juice, italian herbs, mushrooms and cream stirred through it.

Several variations of risotto depending on what needs using up but my favourite is with prawns, butternut squash, chorizo and cambonzola - oh and plenty of white wine in the stock.

We make 'homemade' pizza using flatbread as the base (i get these in tesco and keep a couple in the freezer - they defrost in a few minutes). Top with tomoato sauce, cheese and whatever topping you fancy - takes 10 minutes start to finish.

I am have brain freeze and can't think of any more but hope that helps a little!

iseenodust · 15/05/2015 11:27

Put some pasta on. Fry some chopped up bacon & onion slowly, add sliced mushroom, when they are all soft add small splash of white wine (or water from boiling pasta), handfull of frozen peas & twist of black pepper. Finally (just before strain pasta) stir into bacon mix a good dollop of garlic cheese or Philly.

cdtaylornats · 15/05/2015 11:30

Chop up some chorizo, dry fry until the oil comes out, add beaten eggs, its an easy tasty omelette.

Elephanfuckingtastic · 15/05/2015 14:02

Some great ideas thankyou

Is their such thing as a 'quick & simple curry'

Smile

OP posts:
riverboat1 · 15/05/2015 16:56

Definitely quick and simple curries! If you use pre-made pastes, or make your own pastes in bulk and freeze them in little pouches.

Quick and Easy Korma , for example:

  • In food processor, whizz up one onion, 2 cloves garlic and thumb sized piece of ginger, with a bit of water. If you don't have a food processor, just chop all the bits finely and throw into pan directly.
  • Cook that mixture for 5m, then add 4tbsp korma paste and cook another 5m
  • Add in some sliced chicken breast, cook a bit. Add 400ml chicken stock (tip: just add water and when it boils crumble in a stock cube) and a big handful of ground almonds or almond powder. Stir and simmer for 10m
  • Take off the heat, stir in some natural or greek yoghurt, a few more almonds if you want, and serve!

You could take that exact same recipe and use different types of curry paste, and omit the almonds, add other veg/meat if you want, to get different types of curry.

haggisaggis · 15/05/2015 17:03

Next week - beef goulash (Hairy bikers diet book) - will so Sunday & Monday. Tuesday is grilled chicken rubbed with piri piri madinade, homemade potato salad & salad. Wednesday is tortilla pizza (tortillas spread with tomato & basil passata, grated cheese, olives & ham), THursday will be fishcakes (hairy dieters book again)
The goulash takes a while to cook (which is why it is a Sunday meal) but everything else is really quick and easy. I really like the Hairy Bikers diet books for easy meal ideas.

RedKites · 15/05/2015 17:03

Nigella curry in a hurry is pretty simple, though you'll want to reduce the quantities a bit for two.

iknowimcoming · 15/05/2015 17:08

Tuna pasta bake - boil enough pasta for 2 people, drain and tip into oven dish, add small tin of sweet corn, tin of tuna, tin of mushroom soup, herbs and seasoning, bake for 30 mins (top with some grated cheese for last 10 mins of cooking) eh voila!

BiddyPop · 15/05/2015 17:29

2 part boned chicken breasts, with a pinch of thyme leaves under the skin and 50-100g (or a wodge) of feta under the skin. Roasted, with roasted spuds (baby ones, or cut big ones down to size that will cook in 40 mins), with roasted Mediterranean veggies (diced onion, garlic, courgette, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, with a slug of both olive oil and balsamic vinegar, dried oregano/basil, salt, pepper). All cook in oven at same time..

Leftover veggies freeze well to be used with pasta and a tomato sauce (HM or just use a jar, with a slug of red wine, frozen veggies, and add a pack of cooked bacon lardons or chopped naice sausages if you don't want a vegetarian meal).

Rogan josh curry freezes well too, so I tend to make 1 large pot and freeze leftovers in 2 person portions. Easy, and tastes best eaten next day (not terribly fast but not dreadfully slow to make, just needs cooking time).

Fast curries:
Chicken, chopped into chunks, added to a freezer bag with tikka paste. Squish together, leave in fridge overnight. (Chop an onion and leave that ready to fry in fridge). Fry an onion, add chicken, cook through, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, allow another 5-20 mins (depending on what's available), add a dollop of natural yoghurt, serve. Leftovers also freezeable.

Also, I do batches of fried onions and fried garlic (some batches have added ginger for curries) and freeze those in 1 cup portions. That's what can take time getting a curry started, that slow frying of onions, 1 cup is about 1 onion so enough for 1 dinner. Chuck that into the pan, add chopped chicken, a splash of water, curry powder, coconut milk or tomatoes and curry ready in about 15 mins. (Same with lamb is about 20 mins).

Gorgonzola pasta - cook pasta (fresh or dried depending on speed needs). Mix (mash) together a carton of gorgonzola cheese and a good dollop of double cream in a bowl. In a pot, melt a knob of butter and add the cheese mix to melt/heat through. Add a handful of parmesan cheese and a good grind of pepper. Drain pasta, retain a cup of cooking water for loosening sauce. Pasta back in pot, add sauce, add a packet of bacon lardons cooked if need meat, mix, add some cooking water to loosen sauce if needed.

Chicken joints (legs, thighs, drumsticks, part boned breasts) are all great chucked in the oven with some seasoning. I often put into a freezer bag with seasoning the night before (piri piri, southern fried, lemon and garlic, tikka, ....loads) with some oil if dried seasoning, and then set the oven to cook them to be ready as we get in from work (our oven timer works well). Potato wedges are easy to do as well - slice potatoes longways into 8, pop into microwave bowl with olive oil, garlic granules, salt, (lemon zest, or lemon pepper instead of regular pepper), cook on high for 5 minutes then roast for 25 mins at 200.

sashh · 18/05/2015 05:32

Is their such thing as a 'quick & simple curry'

Buy a tin of curry sauce, add meat and/or veg, heat in a pan until the meat is cooked.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 18/05/2015 05:54

My kids really love quesadiillas. They seem to live on them at the moment because they can be whipped up in under ten minutes providing you have the right filling stuff in the house - you can put all sorts in them, great for using up leftover bits of cheese or chorizo or whatever.

Get a pack of tortilla wraps. Lightly fry on on one side, sprinkle the top with and melty sort of grated cheese or a combination (taco cheese, queso fresco, cheddar, mozzarella etc) then layer on other stuff

we like those little tins of tuna mixed with mexican beans and sweetcorn, with a blob of tomato salsa or ready made pizza sauce, and/or a drizzle of spicy Nando's sauce or similar.

Also lovely is some chorizo with some cooked/roasted chunks of butternut squash with some tinned black beans, a bit of chipotle en adobo sauce (very hot, go easy)

sweetcorn, spring onions, bits of chicken, chorizo, bacon, left over chilli con carne or whatever you have lying around will go into a quesadilla!

Add more cheese, put another flour tortilla on top, then when the underside is golden and the fillings have started to melt and warm through, place a plate over the top and flip the pan. Put a bit more oil in, then slide the quesadilla back in, a cook until the other side has turned crispy and golden. Cut up with a pizza wheel and serve.

Castleonacloud · 18/05/2015 22:53

Tonight I just threw whatever we had in a pan and hoped for the best. Was actually very nice, we had it with roasted new potato, but would be nice with pasta, cous cous, jacket potato etc. It didn't take long to make either, serve 2 adults. With a couple of portions left for freezer...

Chicken breast
Red onion
Tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tomatoes roughly chopped
Spinach
Mushrooms.
Wild herb peri peri sauce (small amount)
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Cooked the garlic, onions & chicken, then threw everything else in the pan, left to reduce down. Served with roast new potatoes. Yum!

Castleonacloud · 18/05/2015 22:59

Missed off quantities..
3 chicken breasts
1 red onion
3/4 bag of spinach leaves
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic

2 tomatoes roughly chopped
Handful of mushrooms
1 tablespoon of peri peri sauce

Castleonacloud · 18/05/2015 23:02

This curry is lovely too, better the next day. Fairly quick and yummy

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/coconut-squash-dhansak#

HelenF350 · 18/05/2015 23:14

If you are looking for simple curries try thespiceoflife.co.uk spice packs. They have all the spices included and the ingredients list and recipe in the pack. All simple to make and as good as a take away imho. The korma is better than takeaway korma as it has more flavour Grin

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