Food!

[LoyalTubist]

My new favorite fast food is banh mi, which I first ate this December in Vietnam. It's a sandwich on a French bread baguette, with fresh Asian vegetables and various meat and vegetarian fillings. You can eat that with pho, which is a very hearty soup with all kinds of meat, vegetables, and noodles. The most Vietnamese type of beverage to drink with this meal is Pepsi or Coke.

There is a chain that sells banh mi in the Southwestern United States--Lee's Sandwiches.

[Mark E. Chachich]

mamaliga cu brinza (very traditional Romanian food) is my favorite food,
it is yellow corn grits and cheese.

Quick, easy, cheap and tasty; just make sure that the yellow grits are cooked enough!

Include some tuica (plum brandy) and you have my favorite meal.

pofta buna!
Mark

[Chuck(G)]

mamaliga cu brinza (very traditional Romanian food) is my favorite food,
it is yellow corn grits and cheese.

There's a Romanian potato soup with tomatoes and sour cream that I make on occasion. Very tasty and loads better than your run-of-the-mill potato soup.

[DonShirer]

Macaroni and cheese is my choice for a fast food fix. The boxed kind isn't as good as homemade, but takes only 15 minutes. Add sliced weenies or tiny sausages to the boiling water a minute or two before taking out the pasta if you need more protein.

If you are a real foodie, check out

http://www.chowhound.com

for restaurant reviews, recipies and general food talk.

[Joe Baker]

"Quick" and "(semi)home-cooked" sounds like you aren't looking for something complicated and sophisticated, just something a little different but easy and -- well, you said it, quick.

Here's a quick & easy one, that's also very healthy and a new favorite of mine. Take a frozen salmon filet or two -- I purchase them locally in pre-frozen individual filets at Kroger or Sams -- and place in a skillet with just a dab of water, cover and place over a burner on medium. While that thaws and begins to steam, prepare some raw spinach for cooking (clean it, remove as much stem as you like, etc.) When the salmon is fully thawed, salt a bit if you like and add the spinach (pack the pan FULL; spinach really cooks down a lot). Allow to steam for 4 or 5 minutes, remove from the stove and serve the salmon on a bed of the cooked spinach. The flavors of the salmon and spinach really complement one another well. Total time from walking in the door to sitting at the table: about 15 minutes, tops, with nothing to "pull out of the freezer" before work. I'll even run home at lunch and fix this -- and get back to work before the end of my lunch hour!

I've thought that adding a bit of dry white wine to this as it cooks would be even better, but haven't had any on hand to try it with. I have tried adding a bit of olive oil, and it was good -- but not really any better than without.

Another fairly quick and easy one is to cover the bottom of a baking dish with chicken breasts, mix cream of chicken & cream of mushroom canned soups (I use the low-fat variety, and they work FINE ) with just enough water, beer or white wine that you can pour it over the chicken, then top with Stovetop Stuffing mix, prepared with just enough water to moisten it (one box for a 9x9 pan; if you're preparing more, increase the amount of stuffing proportionally). Pop it in the oven for about 25-35 minutes at 375 degrees, and it's ready. You can start with frozen chicken, and give it an extra 10-15 minutes. Yeah, it takes a while to cook, but prep time is about 5 minutes, and it is GOOD, baby! Use the cooking time to fix a nice salad, or just unwind a little.
___________________________
Joe Baker, who is going to go home and do the salmon & spinach thing in a few minutes!

[big_blue_tubist]

Thanks everyone for all of the ideas! Now to print out this whole thread and take it to the grocery store.... Keep 'em comin'

[tubeast]

Real quick, real easy, real nice:

- get chicken breast, about a pint of cream and/or sour cream (no, not sweetened whipped topping!!) and instant onion soup.
- cut up chicken to preferred serving size and fry for a short (!!) time in deep frying pan.
- Mix cream and instant onion soup, add milk or water to get preferred viscosity. Pour over chicken and let cook on small flame (don´t let burn).
- add real onions ad lib., generally the soup does it already.
maybe use fried onions as decoration.
- serve with noodles, potatoes or rice

[Pippen]

*Finally* someone asked a question around here that I know an answer for!

I'll add my votes to those who mentioned a crockpot and a grill. You don't have to have a lot of skill or time to crank out good meals with those.

Crockpot: Fresh turkey breast-Rinse well, stick in the crockpot, cover and turn it on and some hours later you have a great main dish with no hassle. I usually start it on high to get the temp up and then turn down to low to cook slowly.

Crockpot Italian Turkey – To a good sized turkey breast add 1 package (dry mix) Italian Good Seasonings salad dressing plus pepperocinis and juice to taste. Start on high to heat up crockpot and then turn down to low to cook slowly until done (time will vary depending on size of turkey breast). Debone the meat, shred, then add back a little of the juice and pepperocinis. Serve on hard rolls.

Crockpot Italian Beef - Use the same instructions as above for the turkey only use a good sized round roast. Larger roasts can cook all night.

Pork Tenderloin – Buy a package of pork tenderloins (the small ones not the big pork chop sized ones). Rinse well. Take 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and peel then slice into slivers. Make slits with a knife around the meat and stick in slivers of garlic. Sprinkle liberally with McCormick Grill Mates Roasted Garlic Montreal Chicken Seasoning (find it in the spice section). Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 until tender—about one hour. I like this better in the oven than the crockpot. Leftovers make great sandwiches.

Fast & Easy Minute Steaks – Get a package or two of minute steaks—they’re called by different names but they are small cuts of beef sliced very thin. Rinse and then lay out on a cutting board. Sprinkle both sides with a little meat tenderizer and let sit for five minutes. While you are waiting wash and cut up one green pepper and some onion (I use about a quarter of a medium onion). Go back to the meat and sprinkle on some Lawry’s Seasoning salt plus a very small amount of garlic powder.

Melt 2-4 tablespoons margarine in a frying pan on medium heat. Add steaks and veggies and cover with a lid. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, turning once. Remove the cover and turn the heat down a bit and cook until liquid is evaporated and what’s left behind is sort of carmelized.

Spread softened cream cheese on a sandwich roll and then heap on meat, peppers and onions.

And here's one for that cheap Webber grill you're buying. This marinade is easy to put together and it's felxible: goes great with chicken and pork tenderloin also.

Teriyaki Steak Marinade

Flank Steak
1 cup beef broth (add 1 tsp granules to hot water if you want it fast)
1/3 cup soy sauce
¾ teaspoons season salt (ie Lawry’s or generic equivalent)
¼ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons lime juice
½ cup brown sugar

Slice flank steak into one inch thick strips lengthwise. Mix together remaining ingredients and marinade meat for several hours. Grill steak strips over hot coals, basting frequently.

This marinade also works well with chicken and pork.

[Philip Jensen]

Sauted Kielbasa with cabbage and pierogies.

First the pierogies. Depending on your like/dislike of dishwashing this can be done several ways. I typically with thaw and cook in boiling water, then drain and saute in butter to give a little color. One could microwave instead.

While that is going, slice your kielbasa into ~3" lengths and split lengthwise. Put these into a large frying pan on medium heat (cut side down first), brown one side and the flip (I only rely on the fat from the kielbasa for sauteing - I'll turn up the heat a bit once some of the fat comes out). At this time add 2-3 cups of shredded (not too fine) cabbage. Stir the cabbage around, doing your best to not disturb the sausage too much. I generally do about 4 min. each side for the Kielbasa. You are looking for some nice brown crusty bits (NOT black - too high heat) on the bottom of the pan.

Now add a 1/2 cup or water (or beer). Scrape the pan to lossen ALL the crusty bits (now you can stir the kielbasa around too). Put a lid on for about 1 min. to really wilt the cabbage. Remove the lid and add the peirogies, stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. The cabbage will pick up a lot of flavor from the Kielbasa. Serve.

[Pippen]

I just thought of one more--

I cook almost entirely from scratch because I have the time and inclination but I do keep some quick cooking stuff on hand. Smithfield makes some small pre-marinated pork tenderloins and when those go on sale two-for-one I nab a few (cracked pepper and teryiaki) and stick them in the freezer. I take them out the night before to defrost. We don't like them cooked in the oven but I unwrap the netting and slice them into about 1 1/2 inch slices and cook them on the grill. I'll often toss veggies (cherry tomatoes, green and yellow pepper and sweet onion) on kabobs and cook those at the same time. Or if I'm in a hurry I skip the kabob and put the veggies in foil and toss it on.

It's not homemade but it makes an easy decent meal.

[adam0408]

you can make a lot of good tasting stuff if you just have some chicken, onions, peppers, garlic, soy and teryaki sauce. Throw it all together and cook it in a skillet. In about 45 minutes from start to finish you will have a delicious meal. Serve with some minute rice and you are golden. It pays to cook the chicken halfway first in some olive oil, then add onions and garlic and the sauces, then add everything else and cook until you are satisfied.

[Pippen]

You'll have to let us know how it goes. Who knows? You could be the next Tuba Gourmet...

[windshieldbug]

"The Low Brass Player's Guide to Easy Eats"

1. Whatever is lying around. And beer.

[tofu]

Real simple and real fast - enough for 2-4

Cup Instant rice - add cup water - in 2 qt ceramic dish - cook in microwave 6 minutes
When finished throw on shredded colby/cheddar cheese
Put two frozen johnsonville italian sausages in one of those electric broilers - cook until brown on all sides - about 8 minutes
One package Green Giant frozen terryaki vegetables - microwave 4.5 minutes
One jar Bush's chili with or without the beans - cook in Microwave for 3 minutes
Chop up some sweet onions
Chop up italian sausage -
Add everything on top of rice - stir it all together.
Excellent and easy. Add a glass of beer and you have a complete meal.

As an alternative to the rice you could use instant mashed potatoes which takes about the same amount of time.

I can't wait to try some of the previous suggestions.

[LoyalTubist]

I don't buy the "poor single guy who doesn't know how to cook, so he has to go to Carl's Jr." schtick. Cooking's easy compared to many other things in life.

I can do anything with a blender and a microwave oven!