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Forums - General Discussion - What are some easy meals to make in under 30 minutes?

As some of you may know,I don't know how to cook,but I want to learn how to cook some easy things. Eating fast food all the time and junk food gets old after awhile,so what are some easy things to make,that don't take alot of time. Is there some magical cooking device I could get,that does all of the work,so I don't have to. I usually like most any kind of food,so any help would be appreciated. Thanks,in advanced.



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Pasta is always quick, easy and tasty.



 

 

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I've been cooking for myself for 2 years now, and get through without a huge amount of effort. My go to ideas are as follows (I'm vegetarian, so assuming you arent, just replace tofu with meat of your choice)

 

Stir Fry - get onion, tofu, mushrooms, chili, carrots, capsicum, brocoli, any other vegetables you like. Cut them up and fry the shit out of them.

 

Curry - As above, but then add a jar of curry sauce and a tin of coconut milk/cream

 

Pasta Pesto sour cream vegetables if you can be bothered

 

Risotto - fry onion, add rice and fry that for a bit, then add water or stock a cup at a time and wait for it to absorb, then add mushrooms later. Tob with grated cheese. Not quite 30 min meal but it only requires occasional stirring/adding water so is easy anyway

 

Nachos - doritos can of kidney beans can of refried beans can of corn can chopped tomates an avocado sour cream jalepenos grated cheese



I'm not big of a cook( Because I'm mostly way to lazy to cook something by myself), but Pasta just takes around 7 minutes, including the tomato sauce. Carbonara sauce also only takes a few minutes. Noodle recipes in general are mostly fast and easy.

 



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Pasta advices are good. A quick sauce for it is "Olio aglio e peperoncino" (oil, garlic and chili pepper), the variant I prefer with also some fresh tomato: stir fry garlic and chili pepper in extra virgin olive oil, add a few chopped fresh tomatoes (better the little, tasty ones) and stir fry them not too much, the sauce is fast enough to be prepared while pasta is cooking.

Another fast and healthy pasta recipe, is "pasta e broccoli " or "pasta e cavolfiore" (pasta with broccoli or cauliflower), you just boil (*) broccoli or cauliflower together with pasta, when pasta is ready, drain and season with extra virgin olive oil and ground pepper or chili pepper cand grated Pecorino cheese. It's particularly good for diet, because you can reduce the amount of pasta and increase vegetables and it makes you get up from the table replete, but having ingested fewer calories and carbohydrates and more fibre. Just 40g of hard semi-fat cheese grated (or flaked like in carpaccio, if you prefer) can season more than adequately one serving,  it's compatible with most diets, its proteins complete the pasta ones and it gives a good amount of calcium, that's also better adsorbed than taking it from milk.

(*) this healthier variation is almost as tasty as sautéing broccoli, and it contains no cooked fats.

Fast hyperproteic, low calories recipe: "carpaccio". Put very thinly sliced raw meat on a dish, season with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt (and pepper or chili pepper or Tabasco sauce, if you like them) and flaked Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Wait a few minutes if you prefer that lemon juice "cooks" the meat or eat immediately if you like raw meat.

Low calories, high fibre, high proteins: salad with mozzarella cheese, boiled eggs and tuna and/or anchovies.

Finally, a fast food healthier than hamburger: cured ham sandwich, it contains no cooked animal fats and the pig's fat, if raw like in cured and not cooked sausages, and if you take a moderate amount of it, is not unhealthy, it contains less saturated fats than beef or sheep fats, you just have to watch your total sodium intake, but if you like it, you can prepare it with unsalted Tuscan bread (the one that BTW should be used to prepare authentic "bruschetta"), this nicely solves the sodium issue too.

Also healthy the original sandwich recipe, with thinly sliced roast-beef in it, as it contains a very small amount of cooked fat, a lot less than hamburgers.



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I quote Alby_da_Wolf, spaghetti "Aglio, olio e Peperoncino" is easy and delicious, about that I also  suggest too add 1 or 2 (depending on quantities)  anchovies (in brine) in the sauce for a better taste.

If you want some meat you can always go with cotoletta, very easy and fast to cook. You need an egg, some white flour, some bread crumbs (you can also use cornmeal, but bread crumbs is very recommended), olive oil, salt, pepper, half lemon, and a veal steak (you can also use chicken or loin).

1st open the egg in a soup plate, than wisk it till it's smooth, then add salt, 2nd. Pour the olive oil in a frying pan, also put a small piece of bread in the pan and turn the gas on (be moderate with quantity, the oil must be enough to cover the cooking surface and to not evaporate before you have finished, but ideally the less oil you use, the more you'll savour the taste of meat, and the more dish will be digestible.). 3rd take the raw steak, dip it into the flour first, than dip it into the egg, let the excess egg drip off and lastly press both sides of the steak on breadcrumbs to coat it. 4th When the bread in the pan starts to fry, you can put the steak in, and fry it until it's golden brown colour, then turn it over; when both sides have the right colour it's ready to serve. 5th. If you like it, at last you can add some pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

You can serve it with anything you like, roasted potatoes, fries or green salad with tomatoes dressed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and vinegar or only with teriaki sauce. You can also make a small omelette with leftovers of egg and flour.



An omelette. You can't really get much easier.



Chickens and roasts in the oven or crockpot are pretty easy. Add the meat a bit of water and seasoning, toss in the oven/crockpot, come back when it's done. Crockpots can be purchased for $20ish and allow you to toss the food in early in the morning on low heat and have dinner ready for you at 5pm, really great when you have to work or go to school all day.



oldschoolfool said:

 Is there some magical cooking device I could get,that does all of the work,so I don't have to.

A microwave. lol.