Ever have a day when, though you LOVE cooking, at 6pm the last thing you want to see is the stove?

andreaindc

Well-known member
This happens to me maybe once a month - last Wednesday was one such day. My fallbacks are fried rice, quesadillas, and scrambled eggs. Any suggestions for what you have in the house when the most you want to do is turn on the oven or boil a pot of water and you have no leftovers in the freezer? I am near a Trader Joes and get to Costco once a month. Does anyone have any pre-prepared foods that they like? I've never not made my own meatballs, but after reading the meatball post above, I got some at TJs today for just such a day...

 
Bean salad with beans of choice, canned corn, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, etc., tossed with

lime juice and spices such as chili powder, cumin powder, etc., oil and vinegar.

 
Toasted bagels with cream cheese, sliced tomatoes, & thinly sliced onions, with a green salad...

(I keep some bagels in the freezer for just such an emergency)!

 
I just put together a noodle bowl. Boiled and cooled Japanese noodles

got some concentrated chicken broth out of the freezer (or pantry) added thin strips of leftover roast pork (or chicken or shrimp or beef) some sliced scallions and fresh baby spinach. Eating it with my chopsticks 'cause DH is out of town.

 
This has been happening to me lately. I am so shocked at myself for actually buying

preprepared foods, but some of these are so good. I don't buy much but I have been discovering how good this one brand of meatballs are. Swedish and Italian so far.

Last night I made a spaghetti sauce using canned tomatoes, carrots, onions and celery, simmered it for an hour and served with these meatballs over pasta. It was SO good.

The Swedish ones I serve with noodles and a dill cream beef-based sauce.

I have never enjoyed making meatballs and with these, I just won't bother trying any longer. They are PC, by the way.

Another easy one is pork ribs. I buy racks when they look particularly meaty. They take a moment to prepare regardless of how, and then look after themselves in the oven.

And I do a quick tarragon Dijon mustard sauce over chicken breasts and bake.

Or chicken breasts (uncooked) yogurt and jarred biryani sauce, baked altogether with rice.

 
Simple pasta with some chopped garlic sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and red pepper flakes...

Add some fresh basil or parsley if available. Serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, which, knowing that you're a pasta lover, I assume you always have on hand! (But I'm sure you already know this one - it's just too simple and obvious smileys/smile.gif

 
Can also add some canned San Marzano or Tuscan tomatoes to the saute. (can

also add a little white wine if desired).

 
We all have those days -- I just seem to be having a lot of them lately.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Ling-ling chicken dumplings from Costco. We boil them and then pan fry. I make rice in the rice cooker and stir fry some frozen green beans in olive oil and garlic and there's dinner. I am ashamed to say I like them more than my mom's homemade dumpings!

We also do quesadillas with leftover meat and cheese.

I always keep the pre-prepared/pre-cut Nori sheets and some nights I just have a craving for seaweed and rice. Your basic sushi roll without the sushi!

 
Hi Meryl, I've been trying to be "good," and cut back before the holidays hit. However, abstinence..

sucks...going through the chocolate d.ts. is a horrible thing. I've decided turkey, broccoli and chocolate is the perfect T-day meal! I'm about ready to head for Trader Joe's for some chocolate, however. Chocolate everything was a well kept secret the pilgrims kept from the Indians at that first Thanksgiving. They gave them pumpkin pies and ate their chocolate in private!!! Not very nice of them, was it???

 
Poor Lin - ya better go get yourself some chocolate right away! Where did you hear that tale about

the chocolate or are you pulling my leg? smileys/smile.gif

Well, here's some interesting history on how it was the Native Americans who turned the Pilgrims on to cacao, among other things:

"...During the years following the landing of the Pilgrims, American Indians contributed many foods to the diet of a growing number of Euro-Americans. By the twentieth century, almost half the world's domesticated crops, including the staples -- corn and white potatoes -- were first cultivated by American Indians. Aside from turkey, corn, and white potatoes, Indians also contributed manoic, sweet potatoes, squash, peanuts, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, pineapples, the avocado, ****CACAO (CHOCOLATE)***, chicle (a constituent of chewing gum), several varieties of beans, and at least seventy other domesticated food plants. Almost all the cotton grown in the United States was derived from varieties originally cultivated by Indians. Rubber, too, was contributed by native Americans..."

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FFchp1.html

 
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