Three Simple Meals

Sitting down to a good meal is one of Life’s great pleasures. Being able to prepare that good meal in 15 to 30 minutes is one of life’s great skills and one that is very easy to develop.

The ability to prepare, cook and serve healthy and tasty meals and spend only a minimum of time doing so is one way you can gain control over your time and your money.

First, the basics, the tool; the stores are full of gadgets that can enhance your cooking and some will reduce your work, but what it gets down to the basics there are only a few things you will actually need.

One is a slow cooker. The slow cooker is close to being one of the world’s great inventions. I am making a tomato sauce for tonight’s pasta as I type this. The onions and garlic were diced and sliced last night, put in an air tight container in the fridge waiting until needed. I like to add some frozen spinach to the sauce which is basically a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes.

I do make a more complex sauce but this one is good and quick.

Air tight containers than can be reheated or used to store items in fridge or freezer are a must. The local bargain store sells them for $1.25 each and I have ten or so. The do come in handy.

Soups, stews, stir fries, salads and smoothies are the main types of meals I make; however, the possibilities within these four groups are many. The slow cooker is a must.

A blender is another must have, soups, smoothies and sauces can all be prepared using this simple and relatively reasonably priced tool.

A four quart pot and a steamer are next on my list. I like steamed vegetables when I am not making a stir fry. I like them crisp and full of flavour. The various vegetable pies I make use steamed vegetables, which are then mashed and scooped into a frozen pie shells before being baked.

You can use any root vegetable or any combination of root vegetables to make a pie. You can also add onions which also store well, and celery to influence the flavour.

You can also used leftovers and in fact a vegetable pie is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. My favourite version of this dish is a turnip, carrot and potato combination, but the one I made the other night differed somewhat.

If I was to add one more tool, it would be the rice cooker. The rice cooker is the simplest way to make perfect rice every time and once you can do that you has the foundation for a wide range of meals.

You can make great and simple meals with only a few tools, some planning and a little bit of time.