Welcome to Gaia! ::

Post your quick and easy recipes here. heart

I would love to give my opinion on things as well...

Oh! I might be able to help out a little in here as well. C: Probably the only adult-y thing I sort of know how to do is cook quick, easy and mostly healthy meals.

Salad soup. (This is for 4 portions and is done in approximately 30 minutes.)

1 big head of lettuce
25 grams of butter, olive oil,...whatever you prefer
25 grams of flour (the kind to make sauce, not the one for cake and stuff)
1/2 liter of milk (semi skimmed milk works best here)
1/2 liter of stock (just use a stock cube that you melt in some water C: )
4 tablespoons of cream
Pepper and Salt
1 tablespoon of creamy philadelphia cheese with herbs (or whichever creamy cheese you like)

Let your butter melt/oil heat up a little/...and add the flour. Stir it well untill you get a roux. Add the milk and the stock little by little and keep stirring it all up.
Wait for this to boil. Clean the lettuce leaves and add them to the boiling liquid. Put the lid on your pot and let it boil for another good 20 minutes. (Make sure to stir it every now and then.)
Next up you mix the soup and the cream, the cheese en season it with pepper and salt.
(Note that you cannot put this soup in the freezer due to the cream and cheese that are in it. If you leave those out and only add them when the soup is on your plate, you could put the other portions in the freezer and save them for a later time. C: )


Super-easy spaghetti sauce with meatballs (I usually make this for 2 to 3 people, but it depends on how much you eat of course. And it takes me about 30-40 minutes.)

1 can of peeled tomatoes. (400grams)
1 small can of tomato puree (if the cans are very small, otherwise, take about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 onion
1 erm...I have a hard time translating this...Like, 1 small piece of garlic? What's it called? D:
1 small red chilipepper
about 300-350 grams of minced meat
Pasta of your choice
Pepper and salt
Dried spaghetti herbs
A bit of olive oil

Boil some water in a small pot. Take the meat and season it with salt and pepper, then knead it. Roll little (or big) meatballs. Once the water boils you can put them in and let them boil for a while (if they float, they're done). This will remove some of the fat, making this dish a little healthier. It tastes even better if you cook them in stock instead of just water. Just add a stock cube to your boiling water in that case. C: So, once they start floating, you can take them out of the water and put them aside.
Chop up your onion, garlic piece thingy and chilipepper (make sure to remove the seeds first! Be careful not to rub your eyes or face or anything before washing your hands when you are handling chilipepperseeds!) into small pieces.
Take another pot and heat up the olive oil a little. Add the onion, garlic and pepper one by one and stir it up a little. Add the can of tomatoes (you can mix them first if you can't find canned tomato cubes but only big chunks) and the tomato puree. Next up season it with spaghetti herbs, salt and pepper. Stir and lower the heat, and put a lid on your pot. Let this simmer for about 5-10 minutes on low heat. (It should have tiny 'bubbles' popping up every now and then, but make sure it isn't going crazy under that lid.) At the same time you can boil your pasta in another pot, so everything will be done at the same time. C: Just follow the instructions on the package of whatever kind of pasta you picked.
After a few minutes, add your meatballs to the tomato sauce and let it simmer a little longer (this will help them to taste tomato-y instead of just like regular meatballs).
Serve your easy pasta dish. C:

I hope you guys were able to follow along. D: Translating these things was a lot harder than I expected it to be.


Thank you for reading! <3

Lifting some recipes from an old thread of mine. These will also be posted to the "Cheap Recipes" thread.

Mini-Quesadilla

Ingredients:
- One can of chicken
- One flour tortilla
- Shredded cheese
- Spices (paprika, black pepper, and red pepper flakes work well)

Pour a small amount of oil (a teaspoon or so) into a pan, spreading it around. Lay the tortilla in the pan to warm up, on very low heat. Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the mixture about one minute (depending on your microwave's settings). Make sure to flip the tortilla during this time so the other side can warm up. Spread the contents of the bowl onto the tortilla and fold it. Press it with a spatula so the tortilla keeps a semi-circle form. Remove from pan, cut, and serve immediately.



Simple Smoothie

Ingredients:
- Enough frozen fruit of your choice to fill the cup you will use to drink
- Milk
- Sugar/sweetener to taste

Pour fruit into cup. Fill cup to the top with milk while the fruit is inside of it. Dump contents into a blender. Add sugar or sweetener, if desired. Adding a tablespoon of hot water to the mixture will help the frozen fruit to blend more smoothly. Blend until smooth. Pour back into cup and drink.



Super Simple One-Skillet Chicken and Rice with Onions
One skillet needed.

Ingredients:
5-6 chicken tenders or 2 boneless chicken breasts (We buy our tenders at Costco, about 16 dollars for a 6 lb bag. Lasts two people up to two-three weeks.)
One onion, sliced thin (depending on the season, onions get to be inexpensive, but we live in Washington)
2 cups rice
4 cups water
Splash of white wine (optional)
Pat or two of butter, enough to help deglaze pan and sautee onions.

Cook chicken until thoroughly done. Remove from skillet and chop into bite sized pieces, add back to skillet. Add onions and butter. Cook onions until caramelized to a rich brown. Don't worry if there's brown bits, you'll be deglazing with water and/or wine.

Add rice and water, deglazing the pan. You should have a nice brown broth from the onions. Add your favorite spices (I use a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.) Bring mixture to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Note: To tell that the chicken is done, use a thermometer like this one. The internal temperature of the chicken should be at least 165 F (or 73.8 C). This is to ensure that all bacteria and parasites have been killed by the heat. Be sure to check several pieces of chicken, and try for the larger ones as they will take longest to be done.



Spaghetti

Ingredients:
- About 2 ounces (56 grams) of spaghetti (or another pasta). This would be roughly 1/8th of a 1-pound package, which is a very common package size.
- About 5 ounces (142 grams) of spaghetti sauce.

Boil the spaghetti. Heat the spaghetti sauce in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds to one minute, depending on your microwave. Drain the spaghetti and mix the noodles into the sauce.

Optional: Add salt, pepper, oregano, basil, etc. to your liking.

Price: A box of spaghetti is commonly one dollar or less. A 32oz jar of spaghetti sauce can be found for about a dollar if you buy an off-brand or find a sale. The cost of this single-serving meal is roughly $0.12 for the spaghetti and $0.16 for the sauce, making a grand total of $0.28.

Frozen Bean Burritos

4 cans of refried beans (Kroger brand = $0.87 each)
1 jar of salsa (Kroger brand = $1.59)
2 10-packs of tortillas (Kroger brand = $1.59 each)
Sprinkle of chili powder (already had on hand)
Shredded cheese (already had on hand)

If you add all of that up (minus the cheese and chili powder), it came out to 20 burritos for $0.41 each.

Mix the beans, salsa, and chili powder together in a large bowl. Put the mixture on your tortillas, add cheese, wrap, and put in Ziploc bags for the freezer. When you want to eat one, put it in for 2-3 minutes (depending on your microwave).