Imagine getting off from a tiring day of work or classes and heading home to relax, only to find out that you still have to cook dinner. It’s disappointing, isn’t it? You can decide to eat leftovers or have something delivered to your place, but honestly, it gets boring and expensive depending on online orders and leftovers to overcome your busy schedule.
Effortless meals
Although I love to cook, there are days when I just don’t feel like it. Sometimes I’m super worn out from the day, or I’m in a time crunch. And sometimes, I just don’t want to. When I don’t want to cook but still want to have a healthy and satisfied meal, I use my list of go-to meals, which are super-easy, quick and effortless. They fill my stomach and save me a lot of time.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich
This is one of my favorites. You can never go wrong with a nice, warm sandwich. With only three ingredients — bread, butter, and cheese — grilled cheese is uncomplicated and perfect for any meal. Add some jalapenos to spice up the taste. Other ingredients like bacon, apple slices, tomatoes or peppers may also work.
Directions
- Preheat a skillet over medium heat.
- Butter one side of the bread and place that side down onto the skillet.
- Grill until lightly brown and flip over.
- Continue grilling until cheese melts.
Eggs
There are many types of eggs, and any kind is good. My go-to is an omelet. You can choose to add your own filling such as cheese, mushrooms, bacon or ham.
Directions
- Beat eggs, salt and pepper into a bowl until blended.
- Heat butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat.
- Pour in the egg mixture when the pan is hot.
- Push cooked portions from the edges towards the center and continue cooking while gently pushing.
- In another skillet, sauté some chopped bell peppers, onions and tomatoes (this is the filling of the omelet).
- When top surface of eggs is thickened and no visible liquid egg remains place the filling on one side of the omelet. Fold it in half, and with a quick flip of the wrist, turn the pan and slide the omelet onto the plate.
Rice and beans
This is another easy one. If you own a rice cooker, it prepares your rice for you. All you need to do is warm up canned beans and mix. For those that don’t own a rice cooker, don’t worry. Cooking rice is a piece of cake.
Directions
- Boil water and add salt to it (for every cup of pasta, pour 1 ¾ cups of water) into a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.
- Add rice to the boiling water.
- Stir to separate any clumps (Don’t over-stir, as that will cause the rice to become sticky).
- Cover the pot and let it simmer for around 15-20 minutes on low flame.
- Lastly, fluff the rice with a fork to separate the grains.
Quesadillas
Directions
- Add your choice of meat or beans to the tortillas. A tip is to buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it, so you won’t even have to cook the meat.
- Chop some peppers and onions.
- Add cheese to it.
- Warm your quesadilla up on the stove, and have it with mild, hot or fire sauce.
Pasta
What could be easier than boiling some water and adding dry pasta to it? You can top it off with your favorite marinara and cheese. Water plus pasta equals dinner, right? Follow these steps to cook a boxed pasta perfectly.
Directions
- Use a large pot and add water to it.
- Add salt and let the water boil.
- Add pasta to the water and stir it.
- Keep stirring it continuously to keep your pasta from clumping.
- Check the packaging for cooking time, but always test the pasta. If it is chewy then it is ready.
- Drain excess water from your pasta.
- Add sauce and enjoy.
Salads
Okay, I agree this one requires a lot of chopping. But that’s it. After that you have to just mix your greens with the salad dressing and devour it, or you could just buy a salad kit from you nearest grocery store and have that.
Fried vegetarian rice
Again, your rice cooker does the main work. You only have to sauté the veggies. Mix well, add salt and pepper and have it with your choice of sauce.
