Food Living on My Own...Quick, Easy and Healthy

Sure you can use chicken breasts, but the only thing is the cooking time will be shorter and I don't know by how much shorter.

May be you can start a thread on how long it takes to bake marinaded chicken breasts?


Chicken breasts (I assume boneless) usually only take 20 minutes to bake.

I only eat boneless chicken breasts so most of the time I cut it into cubes and cook in a pan with some olive oil. I then either eat that plan with some sort of side (love couscous) or on top of pasta mixed with Birdseye California mix (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots).

I also like to buy onion soup mix and coat the chicken cubes in that with some olive oil and bake.

I stopped eating canned soup because of the ungodly amount of sodium in them, even the "healthy" ones!
 
Stir-fry. You can stir-fry pretty much anything you like, any kind of meat or seafood, any kind of vegetables. I usually cut the meat portion into very thin strips (shrimp and scallops are left whole) and stir fry them in olive oil over a med-high heat until done, then take off and put veggies in the pan. I stir fry the veggies in the oil (add more if necessary) and then add a little water (maybe a 1/4 cup, or wine) to steam them a minute or so until they are cooked (I like them still crispy). Then you add the sauce (something simple like hot chili sauce and some brown sugar) and put the meat back in so everything is coated and hot. Maybe toss on some cilantro, add some rice, and it is perfect.

If you like rice, you must get a rice cooker. I use mine at least once a week, and the rice is always perfect.
 
stir fry, you just simpley cannot go wrong. there are so many variations, it's ridiculous.

rice, veggies, and meat marinated in whatever flavors you choose (soy saaauuuceee! ginger, sesame, etc etc)

what else hmm, any kind of meat product can be paired with a marinade, and they have a WHOLE isle of marinades. baked chicken breast is way easy as everyones already stated.

you could also (sry this is the chicken talking) make your own chicken pot pie!

pie crusts from the fridge section, chicken, frozen veggies (carrots peas whatever from a bag), gravy, and if you like, potatoes, but that's a pain in the ass to do.... lol... anywho, cook the chicken and cut/tear it into pieces, whatever, and mix it with the gravy and veggies. put the pie crust in a pie pan, load it up with the pot pie stuff, and put the top on, making sure to seal it tight around the edges and poke holes in it! make it purdy!~ bake it until it's done (golden brown, not cold in the middle, whatever) and mow down son!

(anything you cook can be cooked anyway you like... just remember you don't need a recipe to make dinner)

chicken/pork/beef can be cooked in an oven, pulled (so it's kinda stringy) and mixed with BBQ sauce to make a delish sandwich filler! move over sloppy joe!

any left overs you may have from a get together or something, you can use in soups too, don't forget.

oi i'd go on for days if i didnt stop myself. i need to take my own advice and start cookin again lol...


ETA

oh and PLEASE don't forget to use your spices. salt pepper, spices, herbs, whatever you have, PLEASE don't forget the salt and pepper, and be careful not to over do it. it's a touchy subject in the kitchen world. my ex boss never put any salt or pepper in her food and i hate her for it!
 
Great ideas ! Thanks so much. It's odd but I am actually excited to start cooking and living on my own. Since running of out meal-points for the Dining Commons, I've been eating out 3 meals a day: I'm getting bored.
 
I poach 3 or 4 boneles/skinless chicken breasts in water with a Knorr's Vegetable boullion cube.

When the meat is cooked - remove it from the pot and add chopped celery, onion and carrot to the broth bring to a boil. When it's boiling add a handfull of egg noodles when they are cooked - roughly chop one of the chicken breasts and add it back to the pot.

You now have a pot of home made chicken noodle soup and some cooked chicken breasts that you can use for salads and sandwiches.
 
Another favorite soup idea....

If you have leftover cooked rice (white is better) toss it in to a can of Campbells Tomato soup and add some dried basil (or finely chopped fresh or frozen)

The basil adds a lot of flavor.
 
My mum got me a little electrical grill that comes with a lid and has a non-stick surface. I swear it's so much help! You can grill boneless chicken breasts with lemon-pepper powder and some salt, 10 mins and they're ready to go. Same with beef/steak (just salt and a splash of lemon), porkchops (salt and pepper) and I guess you could make fish too, but I like it better steamed. You should get one of this little grillies.. this is what mine looks like:

http://www.proctorsilex.com/cgi-bin/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/231/prrfnbr/1881/Compact-Grill

I usually get frozen veggies on the side, with a little butter and soy sauce, and cook some rice (this takes a little longer) but hey, you're already saving time! And you can make a big batch of rice then keep it in the fridge for several days.

Vegetable creams from Campbell's are fab, too.