No energy to cook, but I'm sick of take out...?

Question

My allergies have been hitting me hard the past couple of weeks, and my normal medicine, Claritin is barely making a dent. I'm tired all the time. I'm single, so I try to cook a few times a week and that enough for me. I haven't like cooking since my allergies started hitting hard and have been getting fast food since that's what's closest to home and work. Thankfully I'm seeing my doctor on Wednesday to see if she can get me a prescription or something. However there are other times of the year and month I get the same feeling. What's a good food that required little preparation and is not fast food, take out, or frozen dinners?

Answer 1

CROCKPOT RECIPES:


Favorite Barbecue Chicken

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle (16 oz.) barbecue sauce

Put chicken into greased slow cooker. Pour bbq sauce over chicken. Cover and cook on high heat 4-6 hours or on low 8-10 hours. I shred mine 1 hour before serving and have shredded chicken sandwiches. To shred it you use 2 forks and pull the chicken apart...it's really tender and it practically falls apart for you. (I have found that 6 hours on low is perfect…8-10 tends to dry out the chicken)

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Chicken Chili

1 (48 oz.) jar deluxe Great Northern beans
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
2 (10 oz.) cans chicken breast, NOT drained
1/2 cup frozen chopped onion (or raw diced)
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 cup chicken broth
Sour cream

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray

In the cooker add beans, chilies, chicken, onion, chili powder, and broth. Mix well.

Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours -OR- low for 6-9 hours

Stir 1 Tbsp. sour cream into each 1 cup serving

Yield : 9 Servings 1 cup each

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Creamy Chicken Soft Tacos

4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar (16 oz.) salsa
1 cup sour cream
6-8 flour tortillas

Place chicken in greased slow cooker. Pour salsa on top. Cover and cook on high heat 6-8 hours or on low 10-12 hours. Shred chicken by pulling apart with 2 forks. During last hour of cooking stir in sour cream.

Put chicken in tortillas with your favorite taco/burrito toppings.

(My husband and I LOVE this recipe…we have found that we needed more like 10 tortilla shells as this made A LOT of chicken…we used black beans, extra sour cream, lettuce and shredded cheese as our toppings…we made burritos instead of tacos…this is SUPER easy to make and it tastes SO good!!)


If you don't have a crockpot/slow cooker these are pretty easy to make:

STOVE TOP® One-Dish Chicken Bake

1-2/3 cups hot water
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Add hot water to stuffing mix; stir just until moistened. Set aside.
PLACE chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish or 2-quart casserole. Mix soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with prepared stuffing.
BAKE 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Jazz It Up
Prepare as directed, topping chicken with 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables before covering with soup mixture. (I always use chopped frozen broccoli...about 1 1/2 cups...it's so yummy!!)

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Let me start by saying this doesn't really taste like pumpkin...it's just really good and creamy. It's not spicy either. It's very very good. I hope you try it!

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

1 pkg. (16 oz.) penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1/2 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
Ground nutmeg to taste

COOK pasta as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, place cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter and milk in large saucepan; cook on low heat until cream cheese is melted, stirring frequently. Add pumpkin and spices; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.
ADD pasta; toss lightly. Serve topped with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

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Chicken Tenders
Recipe courtesy Kathleen Daelemans (Foodnetwork.com)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken tenders
Salt and pepper
1 (8-ounce) container plain yogurt
2 cups finely ground, toasted bread crumbs
Olive oil or pan coating

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Pour yogurt into a shallow dish or plate. Pour bread crumbs into a separate shallow dish or plate. Dredge chicken through yogurt, shake off excess, place in crumbs, and coat all over. Gently shake off excess crumbs. Spray a large non-stick pan with olive oil or pan coating. Place tenders on the pan and bake for 6 minutes. Turn tenders over and bake another 6 minutes, or until tenders are crisp and cooked through.



P.S. I have made every recipe that I posted and like them all very much. I hope you feel better!

Answer 2

Im a mother of a 2 year old and an 8 month old and i have no time to cook. I love Rachel Ray 30 minute meals, and the Geogre Forman has become my best friend. U can also take 10 minutes to prep the crock pot, whuch is wonderful for left overs. When I do get the time to cook I cook enough food for a couple of dinners and freeze the left overs. That way I can just pop it the mircowave for a quick meal.

Answer 3

I was going to suggest frozen foods until I got to the end of your question... Lol I have had many things frozen that are quick, easy, and delicious.. But aside from things that are frozen, anything such as sandwiches (bologna, turkey, grilled cheese, etc.) I am a bit of a fan of having cereal for meals (even if it's not for breakfast). There are plenty of foods out there that will satisfy you and take virtually no preparation. Just be creative and cheap! :)

Answer 4

At the grocery store, you should be able to find plenty of packaged/microwavable pasta, rice, and soups. There's lots of variety too..many different flavored pastas (Asian noodle, broccoli cheese, parmesan garlic, etc.) and the same with rice.

And soups? I'm not even going to try to name them all, there's so many.

Also, Chef Boyardee can come in handy... Ravioli & beefaroni!

Last but not least, how about some classic mac & cheese?
And if you don't feel like cooking on the stove, get some EasyMac! =)

Answer 5

Then I have a stirfry I quite like, its vegetarian, put veggies on wok (i.e carrot, onion, mushrooms, capsicum etc - I usually put tofu but not necessary), fry them in say two teaspoons of garlic, then same amount of coriander (spice comes minced in tube like the lemongrass), lemongrass, and then there is ginger. Next comes the vegetable stock, add about 100 mls, a teaspoon of soy sauce, two teaspoons of curry powder, 140 mls of coconut cream (or more if required), juice of a quarter of a lime and then some dessicated coconut for flavour, add meat of your choice either before cooking the veggies (if uncooked, not cooking chicken, if cooked, then add after you have added all other ingredients). Serve with rice/noodles. It doesn't take long to fry everything up, rice is what takes most time and that you can just leave anyhow in ricecooker/microwave safe container to cook.

Also can make up a pasta, cheat and buy a tomato and spinach sauce. Heat up veggies on wok, whatever you want to have in it that goes with pasta, cook them in two teaspoons of garlic, along with pinenuts (add them in last and stir regularly to make sure they don't burn), throw in the sauce and three tablespoons of cottage cheese into the sauce. Serve with pasta.

Answer 6

Teach you a veyr simple yet SUPER delicious dish. This gona be my all time fav. esp when im lazy to cook, and wash all those dishes.
Need:
- 2 Eggs
- hot dog/ sausages
- mushroom (optional)
- crab stick
- cheese
- teaspoon of soya sauce/pepper
Cook:
Beat eggs in a bowl until its kinda fluffy, then add in hot dog/ sausages, crab stick, etc. (basically all the ingredients) well beaten.
Warm the saucepan with a little bit butter/ oil. Pour egg mixture in, fry both side of the egg unit golden brown.
Serve with chilli sauce or mayonise.

Tell u this, u will crave for more!

Answer 7

How about making sandwiches, canned soup, buy a small crock pot and place some meat, veggies (like peppers, carrots) and a can of mushroom soup. Freeze portions and then you'll have leftovers with it. You can serve this with instant rice or instant mashed potatos, frozen veggies zapped in the microwave.

Fish sticks, chili, hot dogs, quesadillas.
Sautee some cubed chicken with soy sauce or lemon juice till done and serve over rice.

Answer 8

Look up 'Personal Chefs' online, try dogpile.com, or in the yellow pages. they will find out what you like and can eat and do all the shopping, bring it to your home and cook meals for you to freeze in portions. They can do enough for a week or two at a time and it's not too expensive either...when you consider the fact that groceries are being done and all your cooking...compare it to groceries and take out. Good luck.

Answer 9

hire a maid that knows how to cook, 1 day per week or every two weeks and have her cook meals for 2 weeks save in freezer in portions. discuss the menu, the requirements, shopping list etc... it beats spending money in take out .

Answer 10

Top Ramen & Mac N Cheese

Answer 11

well u should maybe just cook some ramen noodles... the 1s in the cup... or maybe any soups.... (canned) The Healthiest would b Chef Boiardi because they use natural products