:30 meals

[ihop]

I have an awesome baking sheet that I got from Pampered Chef. I'm not really a Pampered Chef person, but their stoneware baking pans are amazeballs. It's probably more like a jelly roll pan than technically a baking sheet, but it's so great. I have a mini one that I use in the toaster oven, too.

I have the larger one and use it all.the.time.  I think it is at least 12 years old!

[BonitaApplebum]

One of my quick go-to meals is quiche. A little longer than :30 because of baking time, but that's not active time so I'm cool with it. It's also a great way to use whatever leftovers are kicking around.

I use frozen pie shells because ain't nobody got time on a weeknight to make those from scratch. I don't have a strict recipe, but I use eggs and cream cheese as the base for the quiche, and then add chopped ham or something if I have it. Other good things I've used recently -- chopped leftover (cooked) broccoli or spinach, mushrooms (I just saute quickly in a pan first), fresh chives. My MIL uses canned salmon in hers which sounds  but is actually kind of tasty, but I never buy that. Caramelized onions are also a good add if I have any left over from another meal (takes too long to make them just for this, though).

Anyway, I put the chopped whatever stuff in the bottom of the pie shell (I sometimes prebake the pie shell a bit but honestly I feel like nobody even notices the difference when I'm in a rush and skip that step). I blend the eggs and the cream cheese (room temperature or softened in the microwave if I didn't set it out) with a stick blender and pour over the chopped ingredients. Then I sprinkle shredded cheese on top (I am often lazy and buy it pre-shredded), sharp cheddar is my favorite but I'll use whatever I've got. I bake for about half an hour at 350. Sometimes it needs a little longer, check for doneness.

This is also a nice dish to make a head and then serve at room temp. I usually add a salad and call it a day.

[rocketgirl]

Ooh, we have not specifically done cream cheese in quiche, although we have used leftover cream cheese-rotel-chorizo dip in a quiche.  And a heck yeah to pre shredded cheese.  I generally have cheddar, mozaarella, and an Italian cheese blend around.  SOmetimes if I have feta, I'll sprinkle some on top of my quiche depending on how I've seasoned it.

I don't use the frozen shells, but do use the pre-made crust you unroll and stick in a pie plate.  But if I don't have that, no crust at all is fine as long as you use cooking spray or oil the pie plate.

[BonitaApplebum]

Oh yeah, I use the unrollable pie dough too. And I like feta in my quiche, but the kids don't. That's okay, I always make two at a time...

[Cool Foot Luke]

I am quite lazy, and have two go-tos that are very fast. I generally have more time than that, so I don't need more than two in the rotation.

1) Pasta with veggies and white beans - can be complete in the amount of time it takes pasta to cook, plus two minutes.

Start pasta water boiling. While water is heating up, chop whatever veggies are nearby (shallots are a favorite, usually bell peppers, mushroom, zukes). Also dice tomatoes, but do that separately. Add pasta to boiling water, then heat up olive oil in a big pan (I also like red pepper flakes, but DBF is not into heat). Add garlic, add diced veggies, season with salt and pepper. Timed right, the pasta should finish cooking right about when the veggies are done. Drain the pasta, then stir into the veggies. Add diced tomatoes and white beans and bring up to warmth. Sometimes I use canned beans, sometimes I have a container of pre-soaked beans in the fridge. Top with balsamic vinegar and Parmesan.

*An easy, but more time-consuming improvement on this recipe is to skip the tomatoes and make your own marinara sauce

2) Field Roast with Kale and shallots (in development)
This can also be done with pre-cooked sausage, but DBF is a vegetarian, and field roast is easy and tasty. Heat olive oil in pan. add sliced shallots. Cut the sausage or field roast into 1/2" slices. Sometimes I slice mushrooms, too. After the shallots look almost done, push them to the side of the pan (lazy!), and add the field roast or sausage and brown. Cut up kale into slightly larger than bite-size pieces. Stove will start to crackle at you. Add a little bit of white vinegar or cheap white wine and wait for it to cook off. That helps the kale to cook down. I usually need to add a bit of salt, often just with a dash of soy sauce.

This can also be done with swiss chard - which tends to cook down more, so you might not need the vinegar. chard is also saltier, so you might not need any salt.

I can usually do this in about the same amount of time it take to cook mashed sweet potatoes, with skins on, of course (lazy!), in another pot. I like my potatoes a bit lumpy, so I usually only mash them with a wooden spoon.

[BonitaApplebum]

What is field roast?

[diablita]

tasty stuff

[BonitaApplebum]

But what *is* it? I have never heard of grain meat.

[diablita]

who cares?  It's *artisanal* (nauseatingly overused buzzword here)

I think it's soy and wheat gluten.  I don't eat it very often anymore because we have a local (artisanal, local, sustainably sourced!!) brand called No Evil Meats but it is very good.  Or I use Quorn products made from mycoprotein (mushroom-based).

[Run Amok]

Love field roast. They are a local company and were one of the first to do something tastier/better than tofu dogs. They actually got their start in my dads bakery. It doesn't taste like meat or have the texture of meat, but is tasty. 

[BonitaApplebum]

Interesting. I never heard of it before. Maybe I will try one next time I'm cooking for veggie folks.

[diablita]

their Celebration Loaf for the holidays is wonderful

[wherestheportojohn]

  food 

[Cool Foot Luke]

Interesting. I never heard of it before. Maybe I will try one next time I'm cooking for veggie folks.

I personally prefer the apple sage sausage to the roasts but both are good.

[Run Amok]

Yep,  I prefer the sausages. The Chipotle ones are good with black beans and sweet potatoes.

Made this last night. It's a 30 minutes curry. I used frozen spinach and used my food processor for all the chopping.  I also used 2 tbs of a good curry mix and a whole jalapeño. We liked it. I liked the spinach on its own and think I'll just do.that with some sesame seeds soy sauce and tofu later this week. 
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/curried-chickpeas-with-spinach-and-tomatoes

[Run Amok]

It's a Melissa Clark kind of evening here these lemony lentils with brown rice and some yogurt. Yum! Takes about 30 minutes give or take. http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016062-red-lentil-soup-with-lemon

[nadra24]

Lately I'm kind of obsessed with this shrimp scampi. For two of us I cut the recipe in half and add just a little bit (like 1/2 cup dry) of cooked pasta. I think next time I will use broccoli instead of pasta for myself.

It calls for clam juice but I'm sure that white wine would also be good. (better? I don't know, I suppose it depends on your taste but as a non-drinker I appreciate the alternative.)

[triciaflower]

I have that 30 minute cookbook and I love it!!

The beef stroganoff and sloppy joes are in our rotation because they are so fast and good.

I usually throw stuff together out of whatever we have and call it dinner.

Some of my recent meals:

beefy vegetable soup. Brown ground beef, drain fat and sauté onion, celery and carrot with the meat. Add beef stock and some herbs of your choice. Toss in whatever vegetables you have on hand, and maybe some frozen mixed veg, and a can of diced tomatoes. Simmer until desired veggie doneness.

Noodles with chicken and spinach in a garlic Alfredo type sauce. Lots of cream and Parmesan. So not exactly healthy. But it came together quickly.




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[ihop]

I like the sloppy joes in that book too!

[omega lambda]

One of my favorites is a quick marinara, pasta and a salad.

I throw the marinara together (crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and bit of sugar) and let it simmer for as long as it takes to get the rest going but for at least 30 minutes.  Cook the pasta, assemble the salad and voila!