I have a plea for you wonderful and talented readers. I need recipes. But it’s not as easy as you think. I’ve discovered that with cooking, you can get by as long as you have one of these three items: money, time, or talent. I need recipes that require very little of any of these three.
It seems you can be a bad cook with no time, but if you have money, you can afford good quality convenience foods. You can lack money and talent, but have enough time to work through it. Or let’s say you’re short on money and time. If you’re a talented cook, you can come up with something creative and original that saves time and money.
But what if you’re short all three? I’m not saying this is me, but let’s just say hypothetically that I know someone who has no money, no time, and no talent in the kitchen. Got any recipes she might like that don’t include expensive cuts of meat or pricey ingredients, don’t take a lot of prep time, and are suitable for someone who can barely even pronounce “culinary?”
Please? 
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I know someone else who lacks those three elements, too. ME. It stinks, sometimes literally depending on what I’ve mangled recently in the oven. Heh.
So, most of the stuff I cook is pretty simplified (based on the food preferences of the hubs), but lately I’ve been making a pasta salad for myself for lunches. I make a big batch of it that will last me all week. It’s pretty simple:
- Nature’s Promise Chicken and Apple Sausage (kind of pricey, but I can justify because I eat for the whole week)
- Whole wheat rotini pasta
- Greek dressing (I like Ken’s)
- Whatever grated cheese I have on hand - usually grated parmesan
- Capers if I happen to have them (those are a little fancy, I know, but a little goes a long way, and they’re great on bagels w/cream cheese, too)
- Some kind of green, crunchy veggie. I’ve used green beens (frozen seems to be decent!), peas, broccoli, and one wealthy week…asparagus!
Basically you just cook the pasta then cool it (cold water rinse followed by some fridge time), brown the sausage, chop it up and cool it, and then mix everything into a massive bowl. It’s not fancy, but it is tasty and very, very filling.
That pasta sounds GOOD! I have a very easy recipe that takes almost no planning ahead, zero brain power, not much money, and is almost never turned down by any of my boys (even the Big one). Here it is:
1. Throw about 4 frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot on low in the morning, or on high if you forget to do it until after lunch. Pour about 1/4 cup Italian dressing on top, and walk away.
2. Come back about 1 hour before dinner time. Stir one box of cream cheese and one can of cream soup (mushroom or chicken) together, then dump on top of chicken. It will look funny, but trust me here.
3. A few minutes before dinner time, with your rice simmering on the stove, open your crockpot and use fork, knives, whatever works to shred up chicken and blend sauce. The more tender your chicken has gotten, the better.
4. Serve over rice. I like to stir in some vegetables at the last minute. It is a nice disguise and makes them go down easier for little boy-critters (except for Brendon, who actually PREFERS vegetables). I also use kitchen shears to pre-chop the boys’ servings, so they can eat it all from a bowl with a spoon. This is my favorite way to feed toddlers.
Saw your blog on a favorites from Mollie…love the pictures, love Boston.
I have an easy, cheap recipe because I lack all three of the above.
Found on some recipe website, not my own.
Easy, Black Bean Bake
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can black beans
approx. 8 oz. of salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup sour cream
Mix together tomatoes, sauce, salsa, black beans, sour cream, and 1 cup of cheese. Put into 13×9 pan. Cover with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Bake for 20 min. (or until cheese melts) at 350 degrees.
!
My kids like it with tortilla chips!
If you don’t like beans…just ignore above recipe
I would also look at the FoodNetwork website some good recipes there.
As a quick meal.
Prepare a couple boxes of Original RiceARoni. Once you add the water and the other ingredients to the mixture, also add a can of drained canned chicken (I think they come in a 12 ounce size). I usually chop the chicken chunks a little bit before I add the chicken), then add a can of cream of chicken soup, and a little chicken stock if you like. Let simmer per the instructions. Serve with a salad or green beans or peas.
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