OT Easy And Quick Meals

[astaley22]

Recently I've been trying to eat more homemade meals but between college classes and working, it's been hard to find recipes that are quick and easy enough(I'm not the most talented and cooking haha). I've found a couple I enjoy but I thought this might be a helpful thread! Especially with the long distance trips a lot of us make for cheer practices, trying to have healthy and homemade meals can be challenging when you don't have a lot of time.

So go ahead and share your favorite recipes for anyone that needs some ideas for meals!

My most recent favorite has been Pesto Tilapia. It really doesn't get more simple than this but it's so delicious and healthy too! I usually use broccoli or some other vegetable and the 90 second microwavable rice for a side
Oven Baked Pesto Tilapia | heatherlikesfood.com

 

[courtness_m]

Buy the pre-cooked frozen chicken strips and heat them up in a skillet with some broccoli and teriyaki sauce, make some rice and you have a great meal in about 10 minutes. My CP loves to eat this between HS cheer practice and AS practice.

 

[notimeforthat]

we make asian peanut noodles
cook as much spaghetti you will need to feed everyone a portion
put a cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup soy sauce,couple hits of lime juice, coupke shakes rice wine vinegar and heat until bubbling. goss pasta in, add some blanched snow peas or broccoli
I usually will serve along the side of grilled chicken breast
quick and delish!

 

[Mndl]

we make asian peanut noodles
cook as much spaghetti you will need to feed everyone a portion
put a cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup soy sauce,couple hits of lime juice, coupke shakes rice wine vinegar and heat until bubbling. goss pasta in, add some blanched snow peas or broccoli
I usually will serve along the side of grilled chicken breast
quick and delish!

That sounds tasty! I'm going to have to try it.

 

[SL&AM]

My Crockpot has been my savior since the summer! My favorite site:

100 Days of No Processed Meals - Crock Pot Style

 

[Twinklestars]

My Crockpot has been my savior since the summer! My favorite site:

100 Days of No Processed Meals - Crock Pot Style

Saving that site! Looks good. Thanks!

 

[cheerKT]

I make White Chicken Chili a lot in the cooler months. So good and it lasts usually all week. I use the prepackaged chili mix to save time (and money).

White Chicken Chili | McCormick

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

I make White Chicken Chili a lot in the cooler months. So good and it lasts usually all week. I use the prepackaged chili mix to save time (and money).

White Chicken Chili | McCormick

Ooh Im saving that link.

I make Sausage and Navy bean soup in the colder months. It's super easy, you only use one pot.

You cook the sausage in an eensie bit of oil, throw in garlic, throw in carrots and let them cook a little while the sausage is browning, then add water, navy beans, frozen cut leaf spinach, spices and some chicken bouillion and then let it simmer for about an hour. It's only about 20 minutes worth of work.

You can easily substitute ingredients in and out to make it to your liking and dietary needs.

 

[Emily]

My go-to blog for easy, healthy and quick recipes: Stonesoup. All of the recipes have very few ingredients (the author tries to have less than five ingredients per recipe), and are very quick and easy - and as a bonus also a lot more on the healthy side than most recipes on the internet. Most are also pretty cheap since there usually aren't any crazy ingredients. So far there hasn't been a recipe from the blog that I didn't like at all.
There is also an e-cookbook you can find here (link opens up pdf)

 

[driverto6]

I use my crockpot at least 2-3 days per week. We often eat when my CP is done with practice (9:15) because she doesn't like to go to practice with a full stomach. If I had to cook at 9:15 I would die! My favorite crockpot site is:

Crock-Pot Ladies - Easy slow cooker recipes for the busy lady

 

[cheerbear]

on the longer side of "quick meals" but so yummy! made it the other night and it took 30 min from prep to being completely cooked...

chicken tikka masala (not spicy at all, just very flavorful!)

1 lb chicken breasts
tikka masala sauce
I use this one from target: Archer Farms Mild Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce 11.8 oz : Target (ignore the reviews, I still think it's pretty good, but also haven't had "real" tikka masala to compare it to....)
naan bread
Stonefire Original Naan : Target
long grain/basmati rice
I do the easy 90 sec rice, also

cut chicken into bite size pieces, cooked in a tiny bit of oil in a big skillet until it is browned or cooked all the way through
pour in tikka masala sauce
let heat up with chicken to thicken up for about 15 minutes
heat up naan according to instructions
heat up rice according to instructions

serve: naan on the side, chicken tikka masala over the rice
eat: pile up rice and chicken on the naan

 

[quitthedrama]

Do you live on campus or off campus? DH has been on a strict diet all summer and I will admit to prior to this, being guilty of making pasta far too often because it was "quick and easy". In reality, grilling is just as easy and often quicker. I make tin foil pouches of vegetables and chicken, fish, center cut pork or steak and grill everything with just Janes mixed up crazy salt and/or pepper. It takes about 15 minutes to cook and is SO much healthier than what we were eating before. I either grill broccoli, asparagus, peppers and onions, tomato, rutabager or sweet potato.

 

[cheermomforever]

Easy vodka sauce

Cook some onions and garlic couple of min
Add 1/4 vodka and cook off (I usually skip it)
Add 1 jar of any spaghetti sauce and 1 block of cream cheese. Heat until bubbly. Done!

Cook chicken add 1 can cream of mushroom/chicken soup about 1/2 cup of soy sauce and 1 bag of frozen stir fry veggies. Cook until hot.
Serve with or without rice

 

[astaley22]

Do you live on campus or off campus? DH has been on a strict diet all summer and I will admit to prior to this, being guilty of making pasta far too often because it was "quick and easy". In reality, grilling is just as easy and often quicker. I make tin foil pouches of vegetables and chicken, fish, center cut pork or steak and grill everything with just Janes mixed up crazy salt and/or pepper. It takes about 15 minutes to cook and is SO much healthier than what we were eating before. I either grill broccoli, asparagus, peppers and onions, tomato, rutabager or sweet potato.

Off campus! That sounds delicious! Yeah before I started looking into healthier things I was eating a lot of pasta/hamburger helper/pizza/Chinese takeout. It all tastes good but I noticed myself feeling lethargic and puffy(thanks to all the carbs). My dad's side of the family has a slew of health problems- high cholesterol, obesity, heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, you name it they probably have it. That coupled with just wanting to feel better I decided to try and be healthier! But as a full time student and working 25+ hours a week, it's hard to find meals that I don't dread making knowing they'll take forever.

Sorry that was a long rant/explanation haha but thank you for the grilling idea!

 

[TealShades]

If you like pasta with pesto but want it more healthy replace the pasta wilt zucchini. I use a potato/vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini into thin ribbons. You can buy one of those "as seen on TV" vegetable slicers. The one that shreds it into spaghetti. I wouldn't recommend it because it wastes too much product. Plus I like the way the ribbons tastes more.

2 zucchini (yellow or green)
Pesto

Boil water in a medium pot (half full). Use the veggie peeler to peel or slice the zucchini into long thin ribbons. If it gets hard to peel it at the end just take a knife to cut the rest. Put the zucchini in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute (no longer) the drain. You want the zucchini still crunchy not soggy. Mix the zucchini with the pesto (as much you like) in bowl.

ETA: while I was typing pasta with pe..one of the suggestions on my phone was people. Lol my phone is a cannible I guess.