Life can be so busy for a lot of us, that we just don’t find the time to cook big meals anymore. Many of us will simply eat either fast food, takeaways or microwavable meals.
But if you were to look online to try and find ideas, maybe looking at recipes from Corrie cooks then you may be surprised how many quick and easy recipes there actually are.
Below we are going to have a look at some really easy quick meals for you to cook using simple ingredients which we can jazz up.
Cheesy Beans On Toast
Beans on toast is a really quick and simple hot meal to cook up. There are ways to jazz it up with a few simple tricks.
Firstly one idea is toast your chosen bread and heat up the baked beans, whilst warming up your grill oven. Once both are cooked, lay the beans on top of the toast and grate some cheese on top. You can use whatever your favourite type of cheese is, but cheddar seems to work best as it will melt on top.
Place the beans on toast with the grated cheese into the oven under your grill, and let it sit for a few minutes. Keep checking on the dish as you don’t want to burn the cheese, you just want to gently melt it covering all of the beans
If you really want to spice up your beans on toast, add some worcester sauce on top of the cheese before you melt it under the grill. This will give some extra kick to all the flavours.
After the cheese has melted take the dish out of the oven, cut the bead into squares and eat away!
Vegetable Stir Fry
Cooking a stir fry can be as quick as a five minute job. If you pre prepare the ingredients, and are making a vegetable stir fry, then it can be cooked and ready to eat in no time at all.
The beauty about making a stir fry is that you can throw in pretty much any type of vegetable into the dish.
Put some oil in a pan and gently heat all the vegetables, adding some soy sauce or hoisin sauce for extra taste.
Once the vegetables are nearly ready, it’s time to add the noodles. Egg or rice noodles are most common and are pretty cheap to buy. The noodles only take a few minutes to cook and when they are ready stir them into the stir fry, mixing them all up together. Your stir fry is now ready to eat, and all in under ten minutes of cooking time. Now that is a quick and easy hot meal to prepare.
Pesto Pasta Bake
If you are a fan of pasta then this quick recipe is one for you. Boil up some of your favorite style pasta although we suggest using a shape style pasta like penne instead of spaghetti or tagliatelle.
Make sure to add some salt and a little oil to the boiling water, to help stop the pasta sticking together whilst cooking.
As the pasta is boiling, turn on the grill to your oven as you will be needing it shortly. Once the pasta is cooked, being very careful not to overcook it and make it too soft, drain away all the water from the pot.
Next get some pesto and gently stir into the pasta bowl, making sure to try and get all the pasta mixed in with the pesto. Then gently pour the whole contents into a pyrex dish.
Similar to the beans on toast dish above, you will be adding some cheese on top to melt above the pasta and pesto.
Mozzarella cheese works really well with this recipe, tearing off big pieces and placing them on top. Try to cover as much of the top of the dish as possible.
It’s now ready to go under the grill. Keep a close eye on it while it’s cooking so as not to burn the cheese. Once it’s melted take out of the oven and serve.
Slow Cooker Meals
The name of this type of meal can be deceiving as although the meal is slowly cooked, it’s a very convenient way to prepare a hot, nutritious meal which you can serve quickly once home from work.
Generally with slow cooker meals you will prepare the ingredients in the morning or possibly the night before and leave cooking slowly throughout the whole day.
Many things can be cooked in the slow cooker, they are particularly useful for meals such as curry, stews or soup. It’s also a great way to use up all those vegetables that are sitting in your fridge that you have been unable to use up.
Batch Cooked Meals
These types of recipes take a little more prep time but are great for those types of people who are always on the go during their busy week.
You will need to allocate some time, most people doing so on the weekend to batch cook some meals which can then be frozen and defrosted whenever you wish to eat them.
Many batche cook meat, such as chicken or lamb which they can then use in meals throughout the working week.
It is very important when reheating any meat that it is thoroughly cooked on the inside, as eating food that is not correctly reheated is your fast ticket to the hospital.
In conclusion there is no reason why you cannot prepare a tasty, hot, nutritious meal in no time at all. Using your imagination to add extra ingredients to turn those boring standard dishes into something a little bit more exciting to eat.
With a little bit of thought and preparation you should always have the next ingredient available so as to whip up something delicious and healthy quicker than it takes to order that pizza, which is kinder to your waistline and your wallet.
More Resources
3 Easy Slow Cooker Recipes for Working Moms
