Recipes for lazy cooks

[tribeca]

If your like me you don’t have a passion for cooking.  Cooking your own food is cheaper and healthier unfortunately not always tastier 😂

looking for some easy recipes 

[larapu2000]

If you're lazy, this bread will make you look like a superstar.  Try to use a shallower dish versus a deeper dish, as that will take longer than the time in the directions.

No Knead Bread

Also, the world's best and easiest pasta recipe is this:  Boil some pasta.  Saute garlic in a 50/50 mix of olive oil and butter (or if you prefer one over the other, just use that) until it's BARELY golden, toss with pasta.  You can add canned clams or fresh thyme to the saute pan as well and it's bomb AF.  You can also add parmesan cheese (the GOOD KIND) once you toss the pasta in the oil/butter.  

It costs like $1.00 and it tastes like a million bucks.

[Lovecat]

In a crock pot/slow cooker, cover 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with 2 cups of your favorite salsa, and cook for 6-8 hours on low.  Shred the meat, and use for tacos or over rice, with your favorite toppings. This recipe has the most yum per unit of effort 🙂

[KnoxForPres]

This depends a lot on you and if it’s just you or a family. 

For me, it’s just me and I love drained garbanzo beans with feta, grape tomatoes, red onion and cucumber mixed with a red wine vinaigrette (bought or made). 

If you have family buy a rotisserie chicken and take the meat off and lightly chop. Throw a bit of chicken to family dog as desired or necessary in this step. Mix chicken with one can cream of chicken, 8 oz sour cream, and some fresh squeezed lemon. 

Put in 8x8 or 9x9. If you bought your bird at Sam’s or Costco you should double all ingredients ideally and go to 9x13. 

Crush with hands or rolling pin a tube of Ritz like crackers. Either mix 1/2 stick melted butter with crackers or drizzle on top. Latter is easier. 

350 preheated for 25 minutes uncovered. 

Serve with a good canned green bean such as Allen’s and easy bread on sale from flyer as desired. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by KnoxForPres

[IWantCandy71]

I love cooking, but I also love easy stuff. I have done "complicated" recipes only a handful of times.

I don't have one particular recipe to recommend today, but I do have a book to recommend: Anne Byrn's "Dinner Doctor" and other food related "Doctor" books she does. Many of them involve using precooked/pre packaged foods and tossing them together. 

There are things in the book like "Fifteen ways to doctor a potato salad". It's awesome and I love it, and some of her recipes can be found online if you search.

[annzeepark914]

Easy Italian Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts, cut in ½ or 1/3’s

1 very large tomato (or several Roma tomatoes)

1 large bottle Italian dressing

Grated Parmesan cheese

Place chicken in baking dish.  Pour Italian dressing over top. Cut up tomato to bite size pieces &  put on top.  Add cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour (less for boneless) or until juices run clear.  Serve with white rice and pour “juice” over rice.

Source:  www.cookbooks.com

I add fresh sliced basil, and shake some garlic powder, dried red pepper flakes, and dried rosemary over the chicken dish before baking. I like to serve over angel hair pasta.

[El maestro]

I used to follow the recipes of a book titled A man, a can and a plan.

some of the were very tasty.

[piccadilly83]

I use this recipe for quiche all of the time. So good.

Food Network: Quick Quiche

[Mindthinkr]

Easy Spaghetti Carbonara 

In a deep pot, fill with water and bring to a boil. When you see bubbles on the bottom of the pot add 1 tsp of salt. (This prevents scarring on the bottom of your pan.) Add the pasta (Vermicelli is a good choice) of your choice and boil until desired softness. 

In a pan brown 6 Oz of pancetta or 6 slices of bacon sliced into tiny pieces until crisp or to your degree of done. Turn down heat to med-low. Add 1 c frozen peas. Stir.  

Make mixture: 2 eggs plus one extra yolk. Add 1 c Parmesan cheese. Also 1/2 t of salt and 1 t of pepper. (Adjust to your taste.) The mix will be stiff so you can always add an extra egg or yolk, but not much. Set aside. 

Before draining pasta reserve 1 c of the pasta water and set aside for later. 

Drain pasta. then add it to the pan with the bacon and peas. Mix slightly. Pour the egg and cheese mixture over it and mix and stir fast. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg. Add some of the pasta water to loosen. Taste for seasoning. Sometimes I use a pat of butter to give it some extra richness. 

Enjoy

I like to garnish with extra freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some basil or parsley. 

[annzeepark914]

Hmmm...great minds move in the same channel (or something like that)! Tonight I made something similar using pappardelle, melted butter, Half & Half, parmesan, ground black pepper, garlic powder, a few dried red pepper flakes, and some fresh lemon juice. 

[itsmejerry04]

I think it's okay for lazy people to cook canned food. 😁

[blueray]

I do sometimes as I'm not much of a cook. I find it interesting but all the ingredients stressed me out.

Anyhow a good and simple thing to make:

Take chicken breast and pour canned cream mushroom soup on it. Stick it in the over at 400 until the chicken is cooked. Probably about 20 minutes. Make rice or potatoes. Very good and cheap 🙂

Edited February 25, 2021 by blueray

[Leeds]

 

Oil a casserole dish, layer lightly crushed tortilla chips, fresh salsa (I use Emerald Valley), canned black beans (rinsed), canned sweet corn kernels (rinsed), greens, grated cheese.  Repeat layer(s).

I use Tillamook cheese because it's good quality that can be found pre-shredded. 

I use bagged frozen spinach (leaves, not a block) and drain it in a colander if I have time..

If I can be bothered I cook some onions, otherwise I leave them out.

It's a good way to use up stale tortilla chips because you can crisp them back up in the oven for a couple of minutes while it's preheating.

Edited February 26, 2021 by Leeds

[WinnieWinkle]

Not sure if this is the place to ask this but does anyone have any non-tiramisu recipes that would include mascarpone?  I bought a container for a recipe that did not work out and I hate to waste this stuff - it cost me over 9$!  Yikes.

[Bastet]

@WinnieWinkle, I'm going to answer in the I Need a Recipe thread, because my answers aren't for lazy cooks.

Edited March 11, 2021 by Bastet

[WinnieWinkle]

1 minute ago, Bastet said:

@WinnieWinkle, I'm going to answer in the I Need a Recipe thread, because my answers aren't for lazy cooks.

I completely missed that thread title when I was looking!  Thanks!!

[annzeepark914]

Slow Cooker BBQ Sweet Potato Bakers.  If you like sweet potatoes, rotisserie chicken shredded, BBQ sauce and sour cream, this is a quick and easy meal (it also calls for some cheddar cheese but I always skip that as IMO it's a bit too much...YMMV):

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-bbq-sweet-potato-bakers

Also, I just nuke the sweet potatoes.  Then, add the rotisserie shredded chicken, bbq sauce and sour cream. So simple & you don't have to get out your slow cooker/Crockpot.

[Kromm]

Just as an overall theme, rather than a specific recipe, I'd say there are a few techniques/food hacks that make life easier. I'll focus here on devices. 

We've probably all used a crock pot/slow cooker.  That's one. 

Second, the reverse of a slow cooker, an Instant Pot (or other similar electric pressure cooker).  There's an initial learning curve on how to properly seal it, how to properly stack/sit food in it, etc., but after that, it's typically a lazy cook's dream. 

The third is an immersion circulator aka sous vide device.  Like the slow cooker, the cook is very slow. But after a few minutes at the start, it's zero monitoring for the whole time, and perfect results every time.  It's literally programming the circulator with the right time and temp from a guide, dropping it into the water bath until the water gets to that temp, fitting your protein into a sealable bag, adding the spicing, sealing the bag, dropping it in the Immersion bath, then coming back when the timer runs out. So it takes patience, but is ideal for the lazy.  The only post cook steps are (optionally) searing the outside of your protein, and slicing it. 

[MargeGunderson]

@Kromm, your posts have really piqued my interest in sous vide!

[Kromm]

12 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

@Kromm, your posts have really piqued my interest in sous vide!

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Temperature-Programmable-Interface-Circulator/dp/B08775CY2B/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=inkbird&qid=1622330425&sr=8-12

Here's the device I use, but there are a lot of other devices even cheaper (I liked having the WiFi connectivity). 

Note there's a 25% off coupon on that right now.  You have to check a little box on that page. 

[PRgal]

Easiest meal in the world:

Kitchen sink scramble: Beat two eggs with some cream cheese and a splash of milk.  Throw in whatever vegetables you have in the fridge (easier with frozen vegetables).  Serve with toast.