Our quick dinner on Saturday
- tuna salad on dressed shredded cabbage
- garlic toast
- cinnamon apples (not shown)
I was in a bind on Saturday and knew I would only have 30 minutes to get a dinner onto the table in the evening. I realized this in the morning, so I was able to make 1 item/ingredient ahead, the pasta.
So, with some cooked pasta, a can of tuna, 2 previously boiled eggs, fresh celery and green pepper, frozen peas, mayo, relish, olive oil, vinegar and salt, I made a pasta-tuna salad. I served this over dressed shredded cabbage, with garlic toast (using burger buns), avocado wedges, and cooked cinnamon apples on the side.
From the moment I walked into the kitchen in the evening to the moment plates were served up, 33 minutes elapsed. That's pretty good, I think. It included cooking the apples, making the garlic toast, shredding cabbage and chopping/assembling everything for the salad.
So, my question for you is what is your go-to, mostly scratch meal you make that takes about 30 minutes to get onto the table? Share in the comments, please. I know some of you are very adept at cooking on short time.
As you know, I make a lot of crockpot meals. I have a few that take maybe 10 minutes to assemble in the morning or the night before. They typically require a starch (usually rice), which is quick to throw on the stove, so timewise, I'm not spending more than 30 minutes in prep. Taco chicken bowls and pumpkin curry chicken come to mind. I bring this up a lot, but baked potatoes in the crockpot, adding whatever toppings you have on hand to finish them off with, is a great option in a pinch. I add either a quick salad (true confession--I use bagged spinach all the time, and add toppings) or microwave our frozen garden green beans, for a veggie. We have peaches/strawberries/applesauce in the freezer, and we use those frequently as a side.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that what you really want are quick meal ideas that you can pull together 30 minutes before serving. I like the ATK mac and cheese recipe a lot. I can cook it in about 25 minutes, and there's lots of hand-off time to pull together a salad. I also keep a jar of spaghetti sauce on hand for quick meals. Sloppy joes, pork or turkey BBQ (with pre-cooked meat pulled out of the freezer and BBQ sauce added) come to mind. I'm not sure if that fits your category of "mostly homemade", but I find that keeping some convenience items on hand keeps me sane on busy days. I'm sure I could come up with more ideas. :)