Simple and Delicious Meals
The following recipes are easy, budget-friendly and delicious. They never leave my weekly rotation because they taste great, they are so dead simple to make and they do not take a great deal of my time. Additionally, the fact that these recipes do not require a multitude of ingredients is also a huge plus.
Moreover, the two non-pasta recipes below are incredibly versatile. You can mix and match proteins, seasonings and sauces to your individual taste. The recipes provide a helpful framework to add and to subtract whatever you or your family wish in order to create a variety of different meals that everyone can enjoy.
Lean Ground Turkey with Sauteed Onions over White Rice
This first recipe is a great meal for those on a diet and for those who are trying to put on lean muscle mass. I eat it religiously when I am bulking up to put on lean muscle mass and I also eat it in reduced portion sizes when I am cutting weight in order to get shredded.
Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground turkey (93% lean / 7% fat)
1 yellow onion sliced
3 Tbsp of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning
4 Tbsp of Olive Oil
3 cups of cooked white rice
Instructions
I place a nonstick frying pan over medium high heat. Then I pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the sliced onion. If you are not on a diet of any kind and your heart can take it, butter is a very tasty substitute. When I’m not on a diet, I like to mix olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of butter. I add salt and black pepper to taste. I cook the onion for approximately 5-7 minutes. What I want is some color and I want to make sure I remove some of the acidity from the onion, but I do not want to fully caramelize the onion. I want the onion to maintain some of its crunch and flavor profile in order to provide a nice flavor and textural contrast with the white rice and the ground turkey. The last thing I want is to completely caramelize the onion so that it gets mushy and overly sweet. Once the onion is cooked, I remove it from the pan and set it aside.
I wipe the frying pan and then set it over high heat. I wait until the pan is smoking hot before I add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I then add the ground turkey making sure to pat it down to widen the surface area of the meat in order to make sure as much of the ground turkey as possible has adequate contact with the pan. I am trying to brown as much of the ground turkey as I possibly can. At this stage, I cook the ground turkey the way I would a thick steak. I do not move the ground turkey around in the pan, I want as thick a crust of browned meat as I can get away with. This takes approximately 3-4 minutes. Lean ground turkey, in and of itself, is rather bland without a lot of fat. Browning the meat creates flavor. Lean ground turkey that is uniformly gray is as unappetizing as it looks.
When the ground turkey has adequately browned, I then flip the meat over and use a wooden spoon to break it up. I then season with salt and pepper to taste. I cook the turkey until it is cooked through and I try and cook it long enough for some of the water content from the meat to boil away, always mindful of the fact that overcooking already lean ground turkey would be a disaster. Although, undercooking the turkey could mean death so err on the side of caution.
Once the ground turkey is fully cooked through I serve it over white rice with the sauteed onions. Then I add 3 tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning. This may sound bizarre, but it is surprisingly good. If you cannot stand Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning for some reason, then you can always substitute just about any condiment you prefer. Sriracha works really well. Soy sauce is also fantastic. I have also used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning and that works also.
When bulking up to put on muscle mass, I typically substitute ground beef for ground turkey and I also opt for the more calorie dense sauces like teriyaki sauce or Sriracha mayo or even some of the Chic-Fil-A sauces. But, when I am on a diet I stick with the lean ground turkey and the low-calorie seasonings like Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning or Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning.
I eat the entirety of this meal on my own, but if you’re a normal person with a normal family this should feed at least four people.
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
This next recipe is far and away the easiest and one of my favorites. But, fair warning, because it is so simple and because there are not a lot of ingredients to hide behind, the ingredients you do use have to be of a really high quality for this meal to sing. If you use Barilla or a generic store brand to make this meal, dollars to donuts this meal will taste terrible. Shopping tip: When buying any dried pasta never buy the pasta that comes in the color of a number two pencil. Like snow, the brighter the yellow, the more unappetizing the pasta.
If I’m making this meal for someone else, I always make sure to buy the ingredients from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Also, I always opt to pay a premium for the best dried spaghetti I can find.
Ingredients
1 lb. of spaghetti
7 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tablespoon of red chili flakes
½ cup of olive oil
1 cup of chopped parsley
½ cup of grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
I salt boiling water until it tastes like broth and I cook my spaghetti. I always make sure to remove the spaghetti one minute earlier than the package instructions indicate because I intend to continue to cook the pasta in the sauce.
While the spaghetti is cooking, I put olive oil into a large pan with the sliced garlic cloves and the red chili flakes. I cook the garlic for about 2-3 minutes. I’m not looking for color and the last thing I want is for the garlic to burn. I just want to cook the garlic in the olive oil long enough to infuse and to soften the garlic and remove some of its harshness. I then add about 1 ½ cups of the pasta cooking water and continue to cook the garlic for another 4-6 minutes. I then add the chopped parsley at the end and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Once the spaghetti is cooked a minute shy of the package instructions, I put the spaghetti into the large pan with the olive oil, garlic, red chili flakes and parsley. I mix all of the ingredients together and cook the pasta in the sauce for about a minute. I then place the pasta, garlic, red chili flakes, and parsley into a large bowl. I then add the grated parmesan cheese on top to serve.
Again, I eat the entirety of this meal on my own, but if you’re a normal person with a normal family this should feed at least four people.
Crockpot Chicken Thighs
This recipe, as the name suggests, will require that you own a Crockpot. Owning a Crockpot saves a lot of time and hassle in meal prep and this recipe is so versatile that you can mix and match ingredients and find several different delicious combinations. This is the basic recipe that I have used for years and it is fantastic. Moreover, this recipe makes enough chicken to last me about a week.
Ingredients
5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 10.5 oz. can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 packet of Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Dry Soup and Dip Mix
16 oz. cream cheese
3 cups of cooked white rice
Instructions
I put all of the above ingredients into the Crockpot and cook on “low” for approximately 6-8 hours. Cooking on “high” would probably take anywhere from 4-6 hours. I hesitate to be too specific because Crockpots in my experience vary wildly in terms of temperature and cooking times. Whatever you do make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly or else you could very well die. I serve the chicken thighs with plenty of the sauce over white rice. This makes enough chicken to last me about a week.
Over time I have modified the recipe above and added various ingredients that I believe kick the recipe up a notch. I add about 12 cloves of garlic whole and about 4 bay leaves. The garlic cloves over the long process of cooking become soft and sweet and they, along with the bay leaves, give the sauce an added dimension in terms of flavor. All of this is optional of course. The basic recipe is delicious on its own.
Spaghetti Carbonara
This final recipe is not “traditional” spaghetti carbonara. Every time I see a YouTube video about how to make spaghetti carbonara the person making the dish always prefaces the instructional video by acknowledging that this is not “traditional” spaghetti carbonara. Or if they are making “traditional” spaghetti carbonara they say so with such pride. Who’s that for anyway? I’ve met Italians before. None of them seemed like they would care. Nevertheless, this is not even remotely “traditional” in case you’re cooking this for someone else. You may want to call this dish something else entirely. “Breakfast spaghetti” perhaps.
Ingredients
1 lb. of smoked bacon
1 lb. of spaghetti
5 eggs
7 cloves of garlic, diced
1 cup of grated pecorino cheese
4 Tbsp. of coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
I place the coarse ground black pepper into a dry pan to toast over medium heat for approximately 2-3 minutes. Then I remove the toasted black pepper and place it into a separate bowl.
I salt boiling water until it tastes like broth and I cook my spaghetti. I always make sure to remove the spaghetti one minute earlier than the package instructions indicate because I intend to continue to cook the pasta in the pan with the bacon and the garlic.
While the spaghetti is cooking, I cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces and place it into a dry and cold pan. I would suggest you purchase a high quality bacon here. I would also suggest you avoid any bacon that has a sweeter taste profile. Nothing maple glazed. If you want to up the poshness of this dish, I would highly recommend pancetta. Once the bacon is in the pan, I turn the heat to medium. This renders out the fat and I cook the bacon until it is really crisp. I then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
While the bacon is cooking, I add 2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks to a bowl along with my toasted black pepper. I also add the grated pecorino cheese and whisk the mixture thoroughly.
Once the spaghetti is cooked a minute shy of the package instructions, I put the spaghetti into the pan with the crisp bacon and the garlic. I also add about a cup of the pasta cooking water. After about a minute of cooking in the pan, I put the spaghetti, bacon and garlic into a large bowl. Here’s the tricky part. I add the eggs, toasted black pepper and the grated pecorino cheese mixture to the spaghetti, bacon and garlic and quickly stir. I want the heat from the spaghetti, bacon and garlic to cook the egg, toasted black pepper and grated pecorino cheese mixture, but I don’t want my eggs to curdle.
I grate on more pecorino cheese, drizzle the pasta with some good quality olive oil, crack some more black pepper on top and then go to town. Again, I will eat the entire meal on my own, but with normal people this recipe will likely feed four.