Quick Pasta with Meat Sauce

Here's a quick tip if you like pasta with meat sauce but don't feel like cooking a whole box of pasta and a pound of ground beef for one. Instead, buy a bag of frozen meatballs to keep in the freezer. Start off by boiling half a box of pasta in a 3 qt saucepan. While it's cooking, put 3 or 4 frozen meatballs in a bowl and defrost them in the microwave. Once they're warm, drain the grease, quarter them and pour in half a jar of pasta sauce. Warm the sauce in the microwave. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add the sauce. You'll have a bowl for now and one for later.

Russian Tea (instant mix)

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Tang
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Instant Tea
• 1/2 Pack Lemonade (Wylers)
• 1 Tbs Cinnamon
• 1 Tbs whole cloves

This is a fall and winter favorite - warm, tasty and full of vitamin C. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Be careful mixing as it creates somewhat of a dust storm that you won't want to inhale. Add 1-2 Tablespoons (according to taste) to a mug of hot water. Enjoy!

Poor Man's New York Bagel

Some people get grossed out at the thought of fish for breakfast, but one of my favorite breakfast foods is a toasted plain bagel with cream cheese, lox (smoked salmon) and capers. The problem is that lox is pretty darn expensive. Even on sale, it's about $6 for 4oz. Recently though, I discovered though that a slice of tomato is a tasty and healthy substitute, especially if you sprinkle some of the juice from the capers onto it. It's still a bit of a compromise, but it's a great alternative for the price.

Orange Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

• 1 can sliced, cooked carrots
• orange juice
• honey

In a small pan, add about a cup of orange juice and bring to a boil. Stir the juice as it reduces and begins to thicken. Stir in about a Tablespoon of honey and add carrots. Since the carrots are already cooked, you just want to warm them and coat them with the glaze. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Veggie Burritos

A tasty vegetarian option.

Ingredients

• Burrito sized tortillas
• 2 bags of boil-in-bag Success Rice
  
• 1 can corn
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 chopped cilantro (fresh)
• Shredded cheese
  
• salsa

Cook rice per instructions on packaging. In a large bowl, mix corn, tomatoes, black beans and cilantro and rice. Fill tortilla with mixture and top with salsa and cheese.

Mandarin Chicken Salad

Pretty straight forward.

Ingredients

• Mixed greens
  
• Grilled chicken (bite sized pieces)
  
• Mandarin oranges
  
• Sliced Almonds or Pecans
  
• Craisins

Mix all ingredients and serve.

Grilled Salmon

Since fish has a more delicate texture than other meats, grilling salmon takes a little finesse, but it's well worth it for the result.

Ingredients

• Salmon fillets
• Extra virgin olive oil
• course salt (ie: kosher salt)
• Sesame Ginger marinade (optional)

Drizzle a few teaspoons of olive oil onto the salmon fillets and brush or rub with hands to evenly coat each side. Lightly sprinkle on the course salt. Grill the salmon, starting at high heat and immediately reducing to medium/low. Use a spatula to gently separate the salmon from the grill to prevent sticking. Brush on the sesame ginger marinade just before removing from the grill. Serve immediately.

How to defrost frozen ground beef in 2 minutes

This isn't a recipe, but it's a helpful tip when you need to defrost some ground beef fast. It works great for spaghetti sauce, taco meat, etc.

• Remove ground beef from packaging and put it onto a microwave safe plate with a folded paper towel under the meat to catch the juice
• Microwave on each side for one minute
• Microwave on each side for 30 seconds
• If there is still a frozen portion in the middle, pull away the defrosted pieces and finish off the frozen piece with 15 second increments.
  

Barbecue Chicken

This is a wing-it recipe. I don't have any exact measurements for you, but it's hard to screw up.

Ingredients

• Stick of butter
• Worcestershire sauce
  
• brown sugar
• 1 pack boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Bottle of barbecue sauce
  

Melt the butter. Mix in the Worcestershire sauce until the mixture turns brown. Add a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar. Pour the marinade into a gallon-sized ziplock bag and add the chicken. Marinate for an hour and toss it on the grill. When the chicken is almost finished, brush on the barbecue sauce. Serve immediately.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Another slightly fancy one that will impress.

Ingredients

• 4 bags of boil-in-bag Success rice
  
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (fresh)
  
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 2 Tbs lime juice (bottled)
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
  
• 2 tsp salt

Cook the rice per instructions on packaging. Mix the sugar, lime juice and salt and to the rice. Add the cilantro and stir the mixture until it's spread evenly. Serve immediately.

Soy Lime Chicken

This is a good one for impressing friends, but it's pretty easy.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice (bottled is fine)
• 1 pack boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix the olive oil, soy sauce and lime juice in a gallon-sized ZipLock bag. Add the chicken and let it marinate for about an hour. Toss the chicken on the grill and finish it off. Serve immediately.

Turkey melt wrap

Ingredients:

• Burrito sized tortilla
• Shredded cheese
• Thin sliced deli turkey

Lay the tortilla flat and lay the turkey down the middle. Sprinkle cheese on the top. Microwave it for 30-45 seconds to soften the tortilla and start to melt the cheese. Fold the tortilla into a wrap and finish it off in a toaster oven. Serve immediately.

Philosophy

I like to cook, but I don't like it to get complicated. The less ingredients I have to deal with, the better. I'm not very patient in the kitchen, so when I cook, I want it to come together fast. I also don't have a super-well stocked kitchen, so I've really just got the basics to work with. I don't use many exact measurements, but fortunately, most of these recipes are hard to mess up. As they say, baking is a science but cooking is an art.