Adult lifestyle... cook habits?

Question

In my area, women care about family meals. And almost everytihng is homemade. That's ok because homemade food is healthier, but as a woman, when you have a fulltime job or two jobs... you don't want to come home in the evening and start cooking.
There are short-time variants of cooking (most of them based on frying and I avoid this technique), but we use to eat especially cooked food, in pans on a gase fire and so on an so on... To cook a meat soup, for example, I need at least 2 hours. And my family doesn't eat it more than twice.
Is there a posibility to save some time and to eat something healthy, fresh and warm? To eat in a restaurant daily is not an option for us, neither to buy something ready-made from supermarket.
What's your habit, guys? What do you eat in the evening?

Answer 1

A lot of people like a crock pot its a electric slow cooker. What you do is put your ingriedents in - meat, onions, garlic, beans, onions, vegetables and wtaer or stock, spices etc and switch it on to low and go to work and when you come home it will be cooked and ready to serve. I make this with vegetables for vegetable soup.

casseroles are good you could make them and freeze them and then pop them in the over when you get home - salad and crusty bread.

Spaghetti with different suaces is quick. You could make a range of sauces and freeze them to add to cooked pasta. some people semi prepare food such as cut up all the vegetables and apr cook them until they need them in the evening

Quick chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are a staple for quick suppers.

Start by deciding how many chicken breasts you'd like and wrap each one with a piece of unsmoked streaky bacon. For a special occasion or dinner party, use Parma or Serrano ham.

Place the breasts, seam-side down, in a baking dish and tip in 1 or 2 punnets cherry tomatoes. Drizzle over 4-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and sprinkle over some dried herbs (basil, thyme, oregano or a mixture of herbs de Provence).

Season with salt and pepper and bake in a 200C/400F/gas mark 6 oven for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. The tomatoes will wilt slightly and form a nice sauce. Serve over tagliatelle or other pasta.


Panic-free pork
First, put some rice on to cook. Peel and core an apple and cut it into slices. Heat some plain oil and a little butter in a frying pan and lay in the chops, then scatter the apple slices around the edges.

Fry the pork for about 1 minute on each side to brown. Pour in 1 small carton (200ml) apple juice, lower the heat and simmer until done, about 10 minutes. Stir in 1 tbsp crhme fraiche and bring back to a simmer.

Serve pork and apples with the rice and the sauce spooned over.

Tip: Buy kid's size cartons of apple juice and keep in the cupboard just for cooking. The convenient size ensures it won't just sit and go off in the fridge.

African Bean Soup
From: Bob Schumaker

3 Tbsp margarine or soy spread
2 cups carrots thinly sliced
12 cups boiling water
1 cup black eye peas dry
1 cup navy beans dry
1 cup green pepper diced
3 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup salted peanuts chopped
2 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp basil leaves crushed
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1. Melt margarine in large stock pot.
Add carrots. Cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add water, black eyed peas, navy beans, green pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper (add more water, if necessary, to cover).

3. Cook, covered, until ingredients are tender, 1 1/2-2 hours.

4. Add peanuts, onion powder, basil, and coriander during last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

5. Taste to correct seasonings.
Soup should be thick.

Morroccan Stew 2
Victoria Times Colonist newspaper

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup onions, chopped
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
1 14oz can chick peas, drained & rinsed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ cup raisins
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat olive oil in a large, non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add onions, celery, green pepper & garlic.
Cook & stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
Add all remaining ingredients, except raisins, peanut butter & cilantro.
Mix well & simmer for 5 more minutes.
Mix in final ingredients & serve hot.

Serves 6
these soups could be made in a crock pot

Mushroom & Cheese Macaroni
Ingredients

400g wholewheat macoroni
60g butter or margarine
2tbs chopped parsley
450g mushrooms
60g grated cheese



Method

1. Cook macaroni according to manufacturer's instructions.
Slice mushrooms and fry in the fat for 8 mins then add the parsley.
Drain macaroni and mushrooms and toss together lightly.
2. Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.

Pasta with Garlic, Walnut & Rocket Sauce

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serves 4
This is the quickest of sauces - you just whizz the ingredients in the food processor.

Ingredients

12oz/350g pasta, such as penne or rigatoni
salt

Sauce:

8oz/250g walnuts
1 garlic clove
½tsp fresh marjoram leaves
4floz/125ml olive oil
4floz/125ml double cream
handful of chopped fresh rocket


Method

1. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for about 10 minutes.

2. Put the walnuts and garlic in a food processor and blend. Mix in the marjoram.

3. Put the walnut mixture in a saucepan and stir in the olive oil, cream and rocket. Mix thoroughly, then heat gently.

4. Drain the pasta, pour over the hot sauce and serve immediately.

Answer 2

Many years ago when I was a single parent raising 4 children I found it easier to pick a day off or afternoon and cook my meats for the week and freeze for later use. I would cook chicken breast, fry hamburger, cook smoked sausage, and so on. Before I left in the morning I would place the frozen food into the fridge to thaw and when I came home I would finish our meal. Which normally took 30 minutes or so. You also can cook great healthy sandwhiches-
******HAMBURGER STUFFED FRENCH BREAD
1 loaf French bread
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef, browned w/onion and garlic
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (any type)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
In a skillet, sauté hamburger with minced garlic, chopped onion and (optional) parsley.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Carve top in a circle (leaving a "cap" that you will replace on top later) out of French bread and hollow out the middle. Break up the bread innards into small pieces and set aside in a medium bowl.
To these bread crumbs, add the browned hamburger mixture, condensed cream of mushroom soup, and seasonings to taste.
Mix ingredients well and restuff this mixture back into French bread shell.
Top with cheese and replace the top (hopefully you saved it).
Wrap in aluminum foil and bake in 350°F oven 20 minutes. This will melt the cheese and help the flavors to combine. Slice and serve. Individually wrapped slices freeze well and make a quick and yummy take-to-work lunch.

I agree cooking in the crock pot is wonderful also. Place all items in and place on low and your dinner is ready when you come home from work.

Answer 3

I do like Rhonda does. I cook on my days off and freeze. I bought a seal a meal and I freeze single portion sized meals a lot as well.

When I get home from the market, I clean my produce and put it away, so, it's ready to go when I need it. If I know I am making stir fry for example on tuesday, I chop all the veggies and meat before putting it away in the freezer of veggie crisper in ziplocs and it's just ready to grab.
I cook large amounts of various pasta's and rice, both white and brown rice and freeze in individual meal portions also. Rice and Pasta both freeze well if drained well and they're so simply reheated. Just heat a boiling pot of water and plunge the frozen rice or pasta into it for seconds, and it's reheated. Drain quickly, add what ever other ingredients you want, parsley, veggies, etc and serve. All great quick time savers. I sometimes when making a casserole, or a crockpot meal the next day, while cleaning up and doing dishes, I prepare it, and then the next day I only have to put in pot, or oven. Saves a lot of time.
If you have kids, or grandkids that visit, or if you and hubby just eat them, bake up double batches of homeade cookies, cookie bars and brownies and freeze in zip loc freezer bags or containers. quick dessert or snack is ready and so much cheaper than buying.
Leftover wine, I put in an ice cube tray to freeze, then pop into a baggie so I can grab one or two quickly to add to a recipe. Saves your wine from being dumped.

Answer 4

Crock pots/slow cookers are excellent for busy, working women! Also, if you have a full Saturday or Sunday off, try cooking several different meals and freezing them for use during the week. Some people even cook for a whole month!
Here's to healthy eating!

Answer 5

why not make things on your day off that are freezable?? a large pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs, once you get it all in the pot, you justr let it simmer all day, you could even leave the house, then put the sauce in meal sized containers and freeze. I usually get about 15 meals out of a huge pot. I also do this with chili, soups, chcicken parmesan, if you pick one day out of the week and spend a few hours of it cooking, you can have fast meals in your freezer to last a good long time!!!

Answer 6

Crockpots are wonderful things, but I quickly get tired of one-meal dishes. I would suggest you buy one of Rachel Ray's "30 Minute Meal" cookbooks. Her meals can be economical (for instance, I don't buy pre-shredded veggies or chicken that's already skinned) and, best of all, they're almost always ready in 30 minutes!

Answer 7

You may need both for your daily intake i wood point out just as good as the other person. Granta

Answer 8

Is dependent on the context really. Which is better as a snack - fresh fruit personally. It's tastier and gives you that tad of sweetness. Which can be better as a snack if you are trying hard to slice back on sugar and lose weight vegetables