Tip for Quick Cooking

Sometimes we have plenty of time, but there are also days where we don't have a clue when we should still prepare a meal. These days when you come home in the afternoon, then you rush through the supermarket because you have to buy groceries, and six o'clock supper must be ready because your husband still needs to go out. Does that sound familiar?

Well, there are some ways. Some meals just simply go quicker than others. I always have a few "quick meals as a back up" on my list, just in case something happens and I must make food in less than an hour.

Here are some general ideas of how to safe time when cooking:

Starchy foods
Pasta and rice are done quicker than potatoes because they require less preparation. If making pasta, you can also safe time by pre-boiling the water with the kettle.

Another excellent quick starchy food is couscous. It tastes great with vegetables like marrows, red pepper, tomato etc. And it's a healthy meal, too, because it's low in fat.

Vegetables/ Fruit

Most kinds of fruit don't take long to cook, and fruit prepared in a "veggie style" can be very tasty. Preferably use bigger fruits because otherwise you will "peel yourself to death".

When you pick your veggies, just keep in mind that some are done much quicker than others. Here's a list of a few veggies that don't require much preparation. You just wash them and cut them, and the wonderful thing is, even when you cut big pieces, they are still done quickly.

Mushrooms
Marrows
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Brinjal/ aubergines
Avocados
Leek
Spinach

Salads

There is no better thing on a hot summer day than a tasty salad. Not that boring plain green salad with oil and vinegar but a nice colorful salad with different ingredients. You can add different types of fruit to the green salad if you like it sweetish. Or cut cucumber, red and yellow pepper and cheese or feta cheese into small pieces and add it. You could also mix boiled eggs, tomatoes and mozzarella (all cut into pieces, of course) with your green salad.

For the sauce, you can, for example, mix plain yoghurt with your favourite spices, a little oil and good vinegar, or use smooth cottage cheese that you liquidize with some milk instead.

Maybe you can even think of something without green salad in. Like rice or noodle salad. Whilst your rice or noodles cook, you can prepare the other ingredients. Then you just mix everything, and voilà! These salads can usually be kept for a few days in the fridge so you can make them early in the day or even the day before.

Meat/ hard vegetables

Simply cut the meat or veggies into smaller pieces. The smaller they are, the quicker they will be done. Pieces that are just a "small bite" can be done in 10-30 minutes whereas a 1kg-piece of meat will easily take an hour or more.

But be careful not to overcook them because they will lose important vitamins. Rather bake them covered in the oven or in a non-sticking pan with little fat and just a bit of water or chicken/ vegetable stock if necessary.

Boiled eggs

Instead of putting the eggs in boiling water and cook them according to your taste, try this:

1. Put them in a pot and add about a cm of cold water.
2. Close the lid and bring to boil.
3. From the moment the water starts boiling cook the eggs the same time like you used to.

It will go quicker because it is only half the amount of water and therefore boils quicker. It will safe energy, too.

Desserts

You just feel like having a nice chocolate cream but you don't want to stand long in the kitchen? Or your kids are begging for pudding which you unfortunately didn't make? There's a quick recipe that tastes nice and chocolaty and takes only a little longer as milk takes to boil. And if you make the pudding yourself, you know it's guaranteed without these unhealthy food additives, making it much more healthy.

Bettina Berlin is an occupational therapist and a stay-at-home mom. I love cooking and used to spend hours and hours in my kitchen before my daughter was born. Now she claims a lot of my time and often there is no time to cook long tricky meals. But I still like to ensure that my family eats healthy homemade meals. They know how to spell "ready made frozen meals", but that's it.
Join me in collecting more quick recipes on http://elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com/!

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