We are all different!
Of course we are all different, but what has that to do with cooking something easy? Well, for one, what I think is easy might be very complicated to you, likewise, what you think is quick, might take me forever!
Classifying easy
If I knew the answer to that, I would be able to complete everything in record time! However, several points make something easy – take learning to drive for example. You have a lesson, it’s difficult. You get it wrong. You try again. You’re told you need to do it a different way. You repeat this weekly until suddenly you’ve got it, you take a test, you pass… then it becomes second nature. So, repeated actions make something easy (or easier). Or, you do something one way, it fails. You try another way, it fails. You try the first way again with a few adjustments. It’s better. Trial and error makes things easier.
What’s your easy?
I have several foods which are easy to me. Any soup is easy. Any chickpea dish is easy. Pasta is easy. Pizza is easy. Fajitas and enchiladas are easy. Crumble is easy. Maybe one of those is your easy?
Why do I need an easy?
Sometimes we are busy. Frequently we are tired. Often we just have no energy and want an easy fix! If you know what your easy foods are, it makes it simple to prepare something almost on autopilot. Grab a pen, start making a list (I know right, a pen)! okay, use your phone if you must! Have a look in the cupboards and see what foods you always have in, for example, I always have pasta, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, onions, potatoes, nutritional yeast, milk and frozen vegetables. Using these foods I know there is always a meal that can be made quickly and easily.
Can I cheat?
There’s nothing to cheat about! If you’re going to cook something from scratch, or even add something to a partially prepared meal (think adding extra veg to a frozen pizza) that is just called being prepared! Emptying a tin of tomatoes, adding a handful of frozen veg, or even leftover pre-cooked veg is a quick and easy way to make a soup, a sauce or a base for a curry, or a chilli.
Easy Meal Ideas
Everything is always customisable to you and your families tastes, but here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
- Pesto Pasta: Pasta & frozen veg with a spoon or two of pesto and a splash of milk
- Couscous salad: Couscous & frozen veg, a sprinkle of herbs and a dressing of your choice.
- Chickpea curry: Tinned chickpeas, coconut milk, and spices. Serve with a jacket potato.
- Stir-fried vegetables: Roughly chop your veg (broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions) and tofu if you have any, quickly stir-fry with soy sauce, ginger and garlic (add chilli if you like).
- Left overs fajitas: Grab your leftovers, heat them through, serve with wraps, sauce and salad.
- Bean chilli: Cook tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and vegetables with chilli flakes, serve with a grain.
- Pizza: Slice a baguette or chunk off an uncut loaf, or use a tortilla wrap, pitta or naan bread, add a layer of tomato puree or tinned tomatoes, a sprinkle of oregano/Italian/mixed herbs, a handful of leftover or frozen veg and a handful of cheese, bake until crispy.
Sharing
What is on your ‘easy’ list? Are your ‘easy’ foods shareable?
As always, I love hearing about any recipes of mine you try, any ideas you adapt or suggestions you have for future recipes. Please share and tag me @LifeDietHealth or using #LifeDietHealth on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.
Leave me a comment below… I love to chat!
I hope to speak with you soon
Laurena x
So nice to be reassured there’s nothing wrong in cooking ‘easy’ meals day-to-day🙂My repertoire tends to be pesto pasta like you mentioned (I like to add yoghurt or kefir- interesting you do something similar with plant milk), I also like to add kidney beans to it which may sound a but odd lol. Any kind of rice and bean dish, a grain and veg salad, and you can never go much wrong with an easy crumble for dessert (with slivered almonds and oats in the topping). Oh, almost forgot your tahini flapjacks which have become my go-to snack🤤
Eva you are right, cooking easy meals is much better than reaching for the cereals for dinner, or skipping meals altogether. Do you have a particular yogurt which you use – have you tried making your own? Rice & beans is a great protein packed dish (I always wondered why the jungle participants moaned)! What’s your favourite grain and veg salad – I’m thinking asparagus and cherry tomatoes with bulghur and balsamic dressing at this time of year (must try to grow more asparagus)! Oats are normal for me in a crumble and have you tried chopped hazelnuts instead of the almonds? Funny you should mention the tahini flapjacks – I’m actually trialling a new recipe at the minute (I can smell them baking)…
Ooh, you’ve reminded me of an Easiyo yoghurt maker I was gifted about 15years ago lol…I think it’s somewhere in my loft! I don’t make my own but I basically turn any plain live yoghurt into a labneh (overnight in the fridge with coffee filters over a porcelain coffee percolator thing lol).
Grain-wise, I prefer either bulghur or quinoa- I love all beans, really, so don’t think I have a favourite…but using up a lot of borlotti at the moment. I tend to use radishes and rocket with any seasonal veg- I love the peppery taste! I’m quite sure my mother in law has used chopped hazelnuts in a crumble, I recall it was lovely 🧡
OMGosh I had an Easiyo too! I’m not sure we have it any more but we make yogurt then wrap it in a blanket! Yum to bulghur. and quinoa is fab as it’s a great protein, but I do love the nutty taste of brown rice too. Borlotti beans are lush but not so easy to find tinned (well, not reasonably priced), I use black beans a lot and cannellini, ooo and I love butter beans too. Radishes I need to love more – maybe I should grow them again and pick them younger! Amy particular radish – have you tried black ones? mooli? yellow ones?
How could I forget butter beans…so many things I’m forgetting lol. I do like nutty brown rice but I can only find the shortgrain mushy kind in my supermarkets, must look elsewhere. I’ve only eaten the usual red radishes, I didn’t know about the others you mentioned 🙂
Haha, I keep hearing that a lot from people atm – being forgetful (must be a female age thing)! Oh no – when are you back over here again? You should add brown rice to your shopping list! Nooo, really? Not even Spanish black radishes when you lived there? Mooli is long like a carrot (but the same width from top to bottom) – you get a lot more radish! I think I might have to find a mixed radish seed pack and grow some different colours so I can send you pics … remind me lol!
I’ll have a look next week at Sainsbury’s in Tunbridge Wells lol
What! Ooo road trip!