Lentil soup is my favourite
- Lentils (any colour)
- Diced carrot
- Diced celery
- Diced onion
- Half a diced sweet potato
Chili mac is also really good
- Macaroni
- Can of crushed or diced tomatoes (or marinara sauce if you prefer)
- Ground beef or your vegan alternative of choice
- Taco seasoning
- Chili powder to taste
Not vegetarian but ground turkey works great. Better for the environment and the wallet.
We should have a “what should i cook tonight?” community! Deciding what to make is the hardest part!
You can make one:))
A change that was truly freeing for our family was to decide on just a few repeating standard meals. We did one night for tacos, one for some kind of fish, and one for some frozen food. Depending on how quickly you get bored, you can make the same or different things within those general outlines, but it helped narrow the decision tree at least for those nights.
After some time, we expanded to an even more thoroughly planned schedule, but that’s not where I would try to start. Just a loose schedule for some go-to meals that aren’t too repetitive but also don’t require too much energy to plan, prep, and make. Then you have more energy for deciding on other nights, or some basis for planning the other nights if that’s what you want.
Corn and beans, 3 ingredients. 1 cup dried beans (around 50 cents), 1 can of TJ cut corn (89 cents), 1.5 cups water. Pressure cook the beans and water for 30 minutes. Release pressure or wait for it to drop by itself depending on how impatient you are. Stir in the corn.
Before you stirred in the corn, the just-cooked beans were boiling hot, but since the corn was at room temperature, the whole mix now is nice and warm but not scalding, so you can eat it right away. Nourishing (natural protein combination), low sodium, vegan, tasty, cheap, hard to beat.
Any spices or sauces?
Sometimes some pasta sauce if I have some. I had a bag of tomato powder a while back and used that, but it wasn’t so great. A 6 oz can of tomato paste works pretty well except it feels stupid to open the little tiny can and spoon the paste out.
Chicken and rice. Season chicken legs and sear it in the pressure cooker then throw some water in and veggies of your choosing. Pressure cook for like 10 - 15 min. Take the chicken out then throw some rice in and cook for another 10 min.
Boom tender juicy chicken with flavorful rice.
Cilantro pulled chicken.
Chicken breasts, Pace Salsa (hot natch, cilantro.
brazilian beans.
- a cup or two of beans soaked overnight (discard the soaking water). you can make with black beans, but i prefer pinto (whoa)
- 1 or 2 clovers of garlic
- 1 or 2 large onions
- salt
- water or a stock of your choice (works better with meat or vegetable stock)
sautée the diced garlic and onions in cooking oil or lard until golden. add the strained beans, about a teaspoon of salt, cover with water or stock up to 1.5, 2 cm above the beans. cook for about 30 min in a pressure cooker over low fire. after done, mash some beans to free some starch to the broth and adjust the salt to your liking. serve with some white rice, lettuce and tomato salad, and a protein of your choice (steak with onions, roasted chicken, fish fillet, sausages, pork steak, schnitzel, fried egg and veggie patties are popular choices).
if enough broth is left over, it can be served on its own as soup on small cups, often with some drops of the hot sauce of your choice (tabasco, jalapeño, sriracha). this is called “caldinho”, or little broth, and goes well accompanying beer, caipirinha, mojito or daiquiri.
you can also add some other things to boost your beans. popular choices are diced tomatoes or tomato paste, diced bell peppers, winter squash cubes, green onions, cilantro, parsley, powdered cumin, bacon or jerky cubes, diced sausages, or roasted meat/pork leftovers.
also: add a bayleaf while you cook it. and eat with rice.
well remembered, a bayleaf is essential.
made this dish just yesterday for my meat munchers with roasted pork leftovers, peppers and cumin/smoked paprika/rosemary/msg/espresso/sugar/garlic powder
if you use an instant pot you don’t need to soak the beans just high pressure for an hour gets it done. I pop it into the oven for a couple hours to get the maillard reaction flavoring anyway though. Didn’t do any mashing on this batch as well, by request. a family favorite for sure i do this weekly!
thats similar to how i season chilli beans
sugar and espresso?
about a tablespoon of each for full batch like that. The espresso is freshly ground. I think i may have added cayenne and onion powder too.
Stew or Roast
Pkt of either stew or roast seasoning (or brown gravy pkt if you’re out of the other stuff) Meat, cut up for stew or whole for roast Potatoes, cut however you prefer Baby carrots on top
That’s it. Slow cook on low all day or high for 4 hrs. Use the juice to make gravy (add a little cornstarch or flour and bring to a boil) Enjoy!
If you don’t count oip and spices, then any kind of dal. Dal, onion, ginger garlic paste, chili, tomato. Then add your spices, which can be as simple as garam masala, turneric, and red chili powder. Salt after it’s cooked. Aside from the onion everything can come from the pantry or freezer. Technically you could blend and freeze the onion to make life even easier.
I know I’m pushing it but this is basically the easiest meal ever and it’s just one pot. You only need to dirty a cutting board, knife, and spoon. It’s nearly a pantry meal and requires no thought or special technique aside from knowing when onions are caramelized but not burned. And it’s vegan, gluten free, and very inexpensive.
Curry.
- curry paste
- coconut cream
- whatever veggies and legumes you have
- a side of rice
Gulasch
- chickpeas (canned bc im lazy)
- garam masala
- tomato sauce
- coconut milk
- water/broth if needed
you can serve with rice or bread, or eat them on their own
Do you eat meat? Big hunk o’ pork is one of the favorite meals of my kids. Salt the meat then broil or sear it in a pan. Put it in the slow cooker. Use broth, water, or wine to deglaze the pan and pour that over the meat.
Cut a couple of garlic heads in half horizontally, you don’t have to peel them. Toss them in.
Pour in the rest of the bottle of wine or box of broth, some orange juice is good too, lime if you didn’t have wine. Or some vinegar works if you don’t have lime. If you have cilantro put the stems in, if you don’t, don’t worry about it.
Close and cook on low all day. We usually have it with rice and black beans the first day, it’s good in tortillas with salsa, good on nachos, good in enchiladas, it’s just good
Sous vide French dip. I’m actually making this now.
lentils, featuring onion and garlic
