STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Bastet · Kate Spade

Really quick meals?

jacL · Coach

Lean Cuisine!

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

Hot sandwiches with a salad are quick and filling. DH and I made French Dip last night... here's our recipe:

Ingredients
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 Shallot, chopped
1 tbsp Flour
3 tbsp Dry sherry (optional)
2 cans Or 10 1/2 oz ea. of beef consomme
1 bag Or 10 oz romaine salad blend
Salad dressing
Ground black pepper
4 Whole-grain rolls, split
4 portions or 1 lb. Lean roast beef, thinly sliced
1 tsp McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning

Preparation
1. Place a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and heat for 1 minute. Add shallots and saute 2 minutes. Add flour and saute 2 more minutes. Whisk in sherry and cook for 3 minutes.

2. While whisking, slowly pour in beef consomme. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce heat to low and simmer.

3. Place salad greens in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette dressing, toss to coat and season with black pepper. Divide into 4 salad bowls.

4. Dip a portion of roast beef into warm au jus sauce, place inside roll and sprinkle with steak seasoning.

5. Fill ramekins with extra au jus sauce for dipping. Serve and enjoy.

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

Duh! I totally forgot another quick-and-easy favorite of ours... tuna pasta!

- Boil a few ounces of rotini pasta in a lot of water
- In the meantime, drain a can of solid white albacore tuna and put in a bowl.
- With the tuna, mix a tsp of dijon mustard, a tbsp of real mayo, and some salt/pepper to taste. (You can also add chopped celery or apple if you want some crunch.)
- Drain the pasta, mix it with the tuna concoction, and eat!

Very high in lean protein, and super fast!

Kelly · Hermes

I know this sounds boring, but my new favorite thing is just egg noodles and ground beef. While the water is boiling for the noodles, I break up a bunch of ground beef and cook it on a pan, turning a lot since it's a bunch of little chunks and not a full hamburger patty. By the time the noodles are done, the meat is more than ready to go. I just mix them up, add some salt, and chow down.

Cricket · Gucci

I try to buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco once a week. Today I made chicken salad with some of it ( shred some, add a little dijon, mayo, red onion, celery, sweet relish and pepper). I like it in a whole wheat pita with some avodaco. I add it to pasta, make quesadillas, make chicken caesar salads, etc. Sometimes I make some chicken noodle soup. I just chop up some baby carrots and celery, add them to boiling broth, season with oregano, parsley, a thyme leaf and pepper. Cook until tender. Add a can of cream of chicken soup, some shredded chicken and egg noodles. Cook until the noodles are tender and that's it! You can also add the chicken to Rice-a-roni (I think you can get it in a microwave pouch that takes a few minutes to cook as opposed to 15-20 w/ traditional Rice a roni. Their spanish rice is good. Add some chicken, melt a little cheese, top with salsa and avocado). The possibilities are endless with a rotisserie chicken!

littlebean · Kate Spade

None of these ideas are particularly genius, but: Something that I like to do when I want a super fast meal is to make things in my George Foreman Grill. Do you have one? I think they are great! I like to...

-Take chicken breasts and then put some good seasoning on them (if you go in your spices aisle, there are all sorts of different grill seasonings to choose from!) and then just stick them on in the grill. You don't have to touch it or anything! Then I just microwave a frozen veggie like peas or broccoli and do some instant brown rice and you've got a nutritious meal in less than 15 minutes! This is in fact what I did tonight.

-Similarly, you can buy ground turkey or ground beef or even canned salmon and make some really quick burgers -- throw on some seasoning (I like curried burgers in particular) and then just grill them up. Serve on a bun with whatever toppings you like and then maybe a bag of salad.

You could also do something like microwave baked potatoes to eat with whatever toppings you like -- you could do canned chili or baked beans, cottage cheese with chopped tomatoes and onions, salsa, etc. Or my grocery store has pre-packaged and chopped stir-fry veggies, and if you buy them plus a bottled stir-fry sauce, you can really quickly make some instant rice and have stir fry!

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

I just remembered a meal I use to eat in college all the time....
Make a lot of rice at the beginning of the week. Store it in the fridge, and take out a cup when you want to make dinner. Scramble an egg and add it to a frying pan. While it is cooking, chop scallions, and grate carrots. Then add the rice to the pan with the veggies and cook for a few minutes (enough to heat the rice). Add some soy sauce and sesame seeds and voila! Fried rice! (p.s. -- you can also add raw shrimp to the egg while its cooking -- shrimp cook fast, but of course this brings up the relative cost of the meal.)

mikacat · Coach

fajitas can be really easy. I make these ones that take 5 minutes on broil in the oven. you just cut up the chicken and use chili powder and oregano to season the meat.

rice and beans

stirfry and rice--- doesn't take long

the old stand by-- spaghetti

or you could make chili, a stew, soup or lasagna and just heat it up.

Suasoria · Chanel

Depending on how well stocked the fridge and pantry is, if you have some fresh bread and a green salad from a bag, you have a meal - things to serve with bread and salad:

Mac-n-cheese or rice pilaf in a box
Canned soup or chili
Your favorite frozen stuff, like veggie chicken nuggets

kittenheels · Coach

I love poached eggs on toast and wilted spinach - or omelets!

I also love making rice and beans - maybe thirty minutes to make rice, rinse and dump canned beans in and add lots of fresh salsa from the store - it's not totally authentic, but it is really good.

Or, fresh spinach, goat cheese, dried and sweetened cranberries and whatever salad dressing you like!

squishy · Coach

Cricket wrote:

I try to buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco once a week. Today I made chicken salad with some of it ( shred some, add a little dijon, mayo, red onion, celery, sweet relish and pepper). I like it in a whole wheat pita with some avodaco. I add it to pasta, make quesadillas, make chicken caesar salads, etc. Sometimes I make some chicken noodle soup. I just chop up some baby carrots and celery, add them to boiling broth, season with oregano, parsley, a thyme leaf and pepper. Cook until tender. Add a can of cream of chicken soup, some shredded chicken and egg noodles. Cook until the noodles are tender and that's it! You can also add the chicken to Rice-a-roni (I think you can get it in a microwave pouch that takes a few minutes to cook as opposed to 15-20 w/ traditional Rice a roni. Their spanish rice is good. Add some chicken, melt a little cheese, top with salsa and avocado). The possibilities are endless with a rotisserie chicken!

you know, i only really thought to use it for salads, but pasta/soup/quesadillas sound SO GOOD! thanks for the ideas cricket!

Christine · Coach

Kittenheels mentioned omelets, which are also a go-to for me when I get home late and don't really feel like cooking. I'm a big fan of breakfast for dinner on these nights -- if you have a waffle maker you can whip up a batch of waffles and have them on the table in less than 10 minutes, literally. Add some bacon if you feel like it, and some fruit, and it's a dinner! Pancakes, or egg sandwiches (made with english muffins, bagels, or whatever) are also super fast.

Alegria · Kate Spade

Not exactly the healthiest meals but they are life savers on "those" nights.

grilled cheese & tomato soup
quesadillas
omelets-any kind but my kids love chilli cheese ones
Breakfast sandwiches
Chorizo and egg burritos
sausage and mac and cheese (the blue box of course) or zatarans dirty rice/jambalay rice/red beans and rice
leftovers
cold sandwiches
hot dogs
bean tostadas
crock pot meals
...I know there is more, I'll add to the list as I remember.

subwolley · Kate Spade

I'm a big fan of the crock pot. A pot roast is so easy to make and you can set it before you leave in the morning. Even better if you have a programable crock pot. I usually get the ingredients in the crock pot the night before, and when I come home for lunch I turn on the crockpot.

From the store buy
-pot roast
-potatoes
-carrots
- onion
- package of lipton onion soup mix

Put the roast in the crock pot, top with soup mix and onion. Place potatoes and carrots around the roast. Set on low and let cook. By the time you get home, your house will smell so good and you'll be ready to eat! Don't forget to use the crock pot liners so you don't have to do any scrubbing!

If you don't like pot roast, you can do anything else! Chicken, porkchops, chili, enchilladas, etc. Also even quicker than a crock pot is a pressure cooker. You can have a full course meal done in 20 min in one of those things!

shopgirl82 · Chanel

tuna sandwich
omlets
brown rice/veggies, shrimp with soy vey as a stir fry
toasted sanwiches
burritos
salad with soup or a sandwich
white fish with spinach and canned tomatoes with a side of rice
salmon with lemon pepper or a dill mix
wheat pasta with red pepper flakes/shrimp and broccoli
imitation crab meat, miracle whip, peas, celery
indian TJ's dishes
baked potato
pita pizza