Nourish
5 Quick Dinner Ideas When Cooking is the Last Thing You Want to Do
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Don't feel like cooking? We've got you covered. You don't need to be a culinary expert or spend hours in the kitchen to make a tasty meal. With these quick dinner ideas, you'll be able to enjoy your evening too much fuss in the kitchen.
1. Baked Bean Toasties
I love cooking with beans because they're affordable and are filled with protein and fiber, so it's a great thing to do if you're on a budget. And what a filling meal to make you feel satisfied! If you want to keep it super simple, canned baked beans toasties might bring you back to those childhood days. Just add a bit of cracked pepper, some spinach or something green, and they'll be even more delicious. Check out this recipe for Baked Bean Jaffles!
If you want to get the taste of your baked beans as homemade as possible, try cooking them from scratch with a Napoli sauce on the stovetop. Dump in any canned beans you have lying around, like kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans or butter beans and let it simmer until it's all cooked.
I like adding a sprinkle of chilli, thyme, or basil too.
2. Rice Bowl
One of the best things about rice bowls is how quick and easy they cook. No need for too many ingredients, which means you save time and money! Rice is one of those staples, and I often find myself at a loss when it's not readily available. We often buy big bags and use it in many meals, especially weekdays. This rice bowl is a good example of how you can create cheap and nutritious meals. You can use peanuts in place of cashews if wanting to keep it budget-friendly.
Other ingredients you could consider adding to a rice bowl are:
Rice
Tinned corn
Fried tofu
Roasted vegetables
Leftovers
Canned salmon or tuna
BBQ
Steamed vegetables
Chopped spinach
Chicken
Egg
Spring onions
Fried shrimp
Tip. Add a tortilla if you have one, and you've got yourself a burrito bowl!
3 Loaded Potatoes
After preheating the oven to 180°C, cook potato(s) in a baking dish for 30-45 minutes. Let potatoes cool, and then fill with the ingredients you love most. Pop into the oven for 12-15 minutes or until veggies are cooked through.
I love cooking with russet potatoes because they're so versatile. Their skins are delicious and cook up so nicely! When you're done, add one to a plate, cut it into quarters and then load them with your favourite ingredients. For example:
Cheese, yogurt, or sour cream
Salsa
Beans
Avocado
Bacon bits
Spring onions
Corn
Onions
Pasta sauce
If you're looking for something a bit different, how about loaded sweet potatoes, like this recipe? If you don't have Cayenne Pepper, don't worry; replace it with chilli flakes instead. You could also replace the Sumac with a squeeze of lemon or even some bottled Szechuan Sauce and water.
4 Tortillas
Making tortillas is a really fun thing you can do and people usually enjoy them! You can make amazing meals that are great to share with people. ! The different types of tortillas are Taco, Flour, Corn Tortilla and Whole Wheat Tortillas. I like to use flour tortillas, but you can also get corn tortillas if you want a gluten-free option. For this recipe, chicken is used and a mix of coleslaw and canned corn.
Toast your tortillas in the oven to make them crispy and delicious.
5 Homemade Pizza
Last but not least, pizza! If you're craving a delicious pizza but don't have time (or the energy) to make it from scratch, you can still find a way to satisfy your tastebuds. There are plenty of creative ways to enjoy it without going through the same motions and getting that homemade quality.
Top your chosen pizza base with some sauce or brush with some oil, or pesto if you don't have sauce available. Next, start building your pizza and cover it in toppings. Mushrooms, spinach, cheese, ham, salami or even olives if you need to satisfy that salt craving. To preheat the oven, set it to 180 Celcius. Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes or so, checking often to make sure the cheese is melted and cooked well.
Add a little pizzazz to your pizzas! Here's an example of how you can do just that.
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