It's at home, heh. We live in an apartment.While I'm thinking of some easy recipes (honestly, hardy soups and stews are easy to make on the stovetop and yummy) your oven comment reminded me of something: is your kitchen in your home or is it across the street/alley like my in-laws?
Although I don't have a recipe on hand for it, niu rou mien seems easy enough.
My notes:Ingredients:
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 large yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups water
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried Italian herb
seasoning
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon seasoned salt, or to taste
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
Directions:
1. In a large Dutch oven, cook and stir the ground beef over medium-high heat, breaking the meat up as it cooks, until the meat is no longer pink and has started to brown, about 10 minutes. Skim off excess fat, and stir in the onions and garlic. Cook and stir the meat mixture until the onions are translucent, about 10 more minutes.
2. Stir in water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and seasoned salt, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the macaroni, cover, and simmer over low heat until the pasta is tender, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, and serve.
This recipe is also great with some cannelini beans tossed in.[DOUBLEPOST=1418919388,1418919348][/DOUBLEPOST]When I want something easy and satisfying I made fried rice with lots of fresh veggies.Kale soup is crazy easy and tastes amazing, IMO.
1 large bunch of kale (get rid of the tough stems and rip the rest into bite sized pieces)
1/2 a bunch of Mustard Greens (treat same as the kale)
1 lb smoked sausage diced
1 large onion diced
2 medium potatoes diced
In a large soup pot/dutch oven/big pot (don't use a non-stick pan):
1. Cook the onions (add about a teaspoon of salt) in about 2 T oil on medium-high heat until they start to look brownish, set aside
2. Add the sausage to the pan. Cook on medium-high heat until browned well, set aside.
3. Add water to fill the pot about 3/4 - 7/8 deep. Make sure to add the water when the pan is hot. Stir the water and scrape the bottom of the pan to dislodge any stuck on brown-bits. This will make the broth taste good.
4. Add the kale/mustard greens. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to about medium-low. There should be slow bubbling (simmering). Add the sausage and onions. Add a little more salt and pepper, but not too much at this point. Cook for about 45 min.
5. When there is 25 min remaining, add the potatoes, and cook until they are soft (20-30 min). Taste the broth and add salt if it needs it.
Eat it with some nice crusty sourdough.
Also, to fancy it up a bit, you can add some fresh herbs like thyme.
It's really simple and very satisfying.
From a female perspective, the gesture of you cooking a meal for her when she is stressed, tired, busy, and so on, means more than how the food tasted. Maybe you didn't reap certain "benefits", but she's stressed and tired. It's likely not something she's thinking about right now. What you did is something positive though (unless you left the kitchen a total mess for her to clean) and once the pressure is off of her you might be pleasantly surprised.Well, you know, she's stressed and tired, and you know, the fried rice wasn't that good, and well... she was pleased, but not that pleased.
Whenever I do something sufficiently nice for Kati, and yank the big wad of stress out from under her, what usually happens is that she manages to croak out the word, "Thanks" ... just before she collapses and sleeps for 8 straight hours.From a female perspective, the gesture of you cooking a meal for her when she is stressed, tired, busy, and so on, means more than how the food tasted. Maybe you didn't reap certain "benefits", but she's stressed and tired. It's likely not something she's thinking about right now. What you did is something positive though (unless you left the kitchen a total mess for her to clean) and once the pressure is off of her you might be pleasantly surprised.