7 of My Favorite Quick'n'Easy Meals ...

1. Mac ‘n’ Cheese

A very simple treat indeed and, yet, it’s one of my family’s favorites. My fiancé loves it too although I rarely make it in his house as his oven is totally busted and the meal never turns out as crunchy as I want it to be. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to make this simple meal, it’s just boiled macaroni mixed with some cheese, after all! Once you’ve made your mixture, you’ll need to pour it into a baking dish, spread two scrambled eggs over it and sprinkle some sesame. These last two are optional, of course, although I always prefer to use them as they give my plain mac and cheese slightly different and much crunchier taste. Mmmm, yum, yum – I’m definitely going to make some mac and cheese today!

2. Super Fast and Super Crunchy Chicken

Okay, here’s the trick to make those super crunchy chicken medallions in just a few minutes and you’ll need a few eggs, bread crumbs and chicken breasts. If you have whole breasts you’ll need some time to cut them into steaks so take a sharp knife and try to chop them into 1cm thick steaks. Beat the steaks to thin them down, rub some salt in and leave. Now, you’ll need to scramble your eggs in a separate dish. Since the number of eggs to be used depends on the number of steaks, I usually start with two and add more if needed. Use a larger tray to make a “bed” out of bread crumbs, put the frying pan and oil to heat and start dipping your steaks –eggs – layer of breadcrumbs –eggs –layer of breadcrumbs. It sounds like a time-consuming process but it all happens very fast, you’ll see. The steaks will be done in just a couple of minutes –when the crust starts turning gold it’s totally safe to take them out of the pan.

3. Cheese Pie

This pie is super easy to make and it doesn’t require any special tactics at all! You won’t make a cheese cake but a real pie, the leafy thing, you know. So visit your supermarket and find those extra thin dough sheets (I think they are called phyllo dough). Once you get them, take two and fit them inside an oiled baking dish, leave two more aside to cover the pie later. Crunch the other ones and shove them inside the dish containing the cheese mixture you’ll make using about 200-300 grams of cottage cheese(or any soft white cheese you have), 2 eggs and about half drinking glass of yogurt (add more if the mass is too thick). Get those dough balls really “dirty” and then start placing them inside the baking dish “bed”. Spread them evenly, pour in the remaining cheese mixture and cover the two sheets you’ve left aside. Tuck it all in and sprinkle with oil and water (or cooking spray) so that the top sheets don’t dry out during baking. Bake it for about 30 minutes on 200°C. Use the same tactics to make a pizza pie too! It’s just as great!

4. Golden Mixture

You can buy your golden mixture in any supermarket and it’s not only super easy to prepare but super tasty too! Golden mixture is actually nothing more than a bag of frozen rice, corn and peas and you’ll simply make it like you make any meal. First you’ll chop one onion and leave it to boil until its totally soft and mushy, then you’ll add this mixture and your combination of most preferred spices. I like to use oregano, white pepper, red saffron and pretty much any of those extra aromatic herbs. This is a pretty light meal and you can either serve it like that or put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes just to form a nice crunchy top. I prefer this last one and often serve it with any spicy sauce I happen to have at the moment. If you have some tortillas, you can use them too and make your own veggie variation of a regular tortilla.

5. Mashed Potato Cups

Looking for a way to use mash potato leftovers or you simply have one bag of instant mashed potato and no idea what to do with it? Well here’s one simple, cool thing I’ve found on the internet. Mashed potato can be baked or fried so you can decide whether you want to add some aromatic herbs and mould the potato paste into hamburgers or use your cake decoration tools and form cute cups you’ll bake in the oven. I prefer cups – mix a pinch of white pepper and chopped parsley into the mashed potato paste, form cups and fill them up with white cheese and ham or sweet canned corn and peas, depending on what I have at the moment. Bake until golden and voila! You see? Very easy!

6. Baked Potatoes

Baked potatoes always make a tasty meal and if you bake them like a pro and add cheese and spices, they are going to be even better. You’ll need 4 potatoes (the yellow, soft ones), ½ cup of sour cream, a pinch of powdered garlic, a pinch of pepper and two big spoons of some strong cheese (blue cheese, gorgonzola, smoked cheese). Now, you’re going to wash your potatoes and leave them to bake on max for about 30-40 minutes(poke them with a fork or a toothpick to see if they are ready. Take them out, slice lengthwise, dig the inside of the potato and mash with all other ingredients. Fill up potato shells, add some regular cheese on top and return in the oven to melt a bit. All done and now you have your yummy side dish.

7. Yummy Omelet

Half onion, chopped, 1 large tomato, salt, 4 eggs, 1 sweet pepper and feta cheese(optional). Chop your onions and boil until clear and mushy. Add chopped tomato and pepper and leave the lid on until its almost completely mushy. Add your scrambled eggs and cheese and mix until done. Voila! this is the best, quickest meal ever and it can actually be served as lunch. I haven’t met a person who doesn’t love this one!

So, ladies, these were my 7 favorite quick and easy meals for you. Do you have some of your own recipes to share with me? Pretty please? I’m running low on these quick and easy meal stuff these day and I need a change. Although I’m still going to make myself mac and cheese. LOL!

Top Photo Credit: kozumel