Why not make an omelet for dinner!? Eggs are easy to cook and have protein in them. Instead of a typical omelet, make an Indian omelet with ginger, garlic, tomatoes and basil. Delicious!

Last night was a very fast tomato soup from the pantry, and grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup was a can of roasted crushed tomatoes, a small can of evaporated milk, onion, butter, flour, nutmeg, a little brown sugar, white pepper, and salt. I made a fast roux with the butter, flour, minced onion, evaporated milk, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Then I dumped in my tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and pureed it all in the blender.

Recipes always call for pureeing the HOT soup, which is a job. Last night I thought to myself, why? And pureed the cool soup. The roux had been hot but the tomatoes & milk were room temp. Then I poured the puree back in the pot and heated it through. It was delicious. I tasted NO difference from pureeing hot soup. I'm sure there's a basis for pureeing as a final step, but it was MUCH FASTER pureeing stuff that wasn't steaming. (OK, with butternut squash or potatoes, you have to cook it soft in order to puree it at all, but tomatoes can go in the blender raw if you please.)

If you have some leftover protien (chicken, beef, pork, whatever), try a Big Dinner Salad.

From my Asian Noodle Salad recipe that I posted today:

"When I have leftovers, one of my first thoughts is "salad". Steak and blue cheese salad, Greek Salad with chicken, chicken caesar salad - if you have some leftover protein and some greens you can whip up a meal that doesn't seem much like leftovers with very little effort. Just be sure to make your own vinaigrette!"

The noodle salad in my post is requires just a little more effort, because you have to cook the noodles. But, Asian rice noodles cook in five minutes once you have some boiling water. Other than that, you shred some leftover chicken, whisk up a vinaigrette, toss your vegetables with it, and layer on the noodles and chicken.

Fifteen minutes of effort, and you have dinner!

MikeV
dadcooksdinner.blogspot.com

I have a question: Now that all the fall squashes are arriving, can you give us some recipes using them that aren't sweet? I'd love to prepare a savory acorn squash as opposed to the traditional apple/brown sugar dish. Any ideas?

@ohiokavr, definitely look for squash recipes soon! For now, here are a few from the archives:

- Potato, Squash, and Goat Cheese Gratin
- Delicata Squash and Gruyere Dip
- Spaghetti Squash with Ricotta, Sage, and Pine Nuts
- Acorn Squash and Roasted Garlic Strudel
- Roasted Butternut Squash Puree with Goat Cheese

Mmmmmmm. Those all sound wonderful! Thanks!

Could anyone help with low carb breakfast ideas? I am primary caregiver to my elderly disabled mother who has diabetes and we just found out her cholesterol is a little elevated, so we have to cut down on the eggs for breakfast. Thanks.

Cooking quick dishes isn't a problem for me...it's the cleanup that is such a hassle. Ideas for cooking that doesn't require my cleaning tons of pans and plates and utensils and cutting boards.

I do a lot of vanilla yogurt or 2% cottage cheese with some bran flakes and golden raisins sprinkled on top. i promise this is A-mazing. also, smoothies are great and very refreshing--i tend to like lowfat or soy milk with half a frozen banana, some frozen mango or raspberries, and a little vanilla. also, as the weather gets cooler, i'll probably go back to having oatmeal almost every morning! i love it with some nuts and dried fruit sprinkled on top.

oh. just realized, you also specified low carb. cottage cheese! :)

I have yet to find a whole grain pasta that I really love. Does anyone have a favorite brand they could recommend?

I have been making this easy Mexican Zucchini Soup-
This is the adapted vegan version, you can also see the non vegan version link-
http://www.vegalicious.org/2008/07/07/mexican-zucchini-soup/

This is super easy and takes no time, not reinventing the wheel here just a easy version of a soba noodle stir fry:

Using the pre cooked packaged organic buckwheat soba noodles in green bag located in the refrigerator section in most health food or specialty stores, whole foods, etc. They come with two packs of noodles in one package.

Take a hot skillet, pour 1-2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil use one of the packs of noodles break up and start stir frying them, cook for about 3 min, until they are loose and not sticking. Then add whatever vegetable you have around- I do only one to two of the following-red pepper, asparagus tips, sliced mushrooms, swiss chard, then I squirt some Bragg Liquid Aminos while stirring the noodles and veggies, then add green onion and cubed firm tofu. You can use soy sauce instead of Bragg Liquid Aminos I like the Braggs flavor and its way better for you.

Take off the heat and serve right away add sesame seeds and dried seaweed if you like.

Thanks AustinRP. I actually forgot cottage cheese was low carb. Depending on the carb & fiber content, I may be able to pull off the smoothies with a small amount of fruit. Mom prefers Almond Breeze to the various soy milks I was buying.

Tanya, your mom can still have egg whites. The clorestrol is in the yolk.

@junipergreen, I like DeCecco. I like whole wheat when it's the thicker shapes. I don't think the texture is good with spaghetti. Whole wheat ribbons (the wide ones) are good, fusilli is good, shells... No coincidence these are the shapes that work with heartier sauces, which pair well with whole wheat.

fast, fresh and healthy easy to make and perfect in september. A tuscan special all you need is some stale bread (and we all have some), tomatoes, basil and olive oil...read the recipe @ http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/blog/?p=733
let me know what you think!
oriana

Thanks lona. There are quite a few different ways to do eggs - omelets, frittatas, quiche, etc. What can I do with the yolk once I separate the eggs? Hair conditioner, maybe?

@Tanya,
I actually end up with excess egg whites, as I use the yolks regularly tonnato sauce, rice pudding and salad dressings. Or if you're feeling very artistic, you can make egg tempera paints by mixing pigments into the yolks (it's a very old technique).

I really like this Real Simple recipe for Pasta with Chicken Sausage & Broccoli. I also will sometimes do a simple roast chicken with a mustard/brown sugar/vinegar glaze (takes 40 mins to cook, but the hands on time is around 5 mins). And tuna melts are always super easy. We've been getting a lot of great avocados in our farm box lately, so I'll chop one up with some onion and tomato (and jalapeno if I have one on hand) for a hearty side dish, or an appetizer.

So I recently read an article that talked about how Silk's organic soymilk uses beans that come from China...and I was pretty much turned off from it. Which is sad because I LOVE their organic vanilla. But I just can't rationalize buying a beverage from beans that have been shipped across the country when no more than 15-20 minutes from home are fields upon fields of soy. Does anyone have a soymilk brand that they recommend, preferably organic, from beans grown here in the US? Thanks!

I like using Mark Bittman's 101 ideas from his NYT column, The Minimalist. He has one for summer salads, one for picnic ideas, one for appetizers and one for summer meals in 10 minutes or less. Some of the ideas are so incredibly simple that I wouldn't have thought of them - or at least not as a meal.

STLcolleen, have you tried Organic Valley soy milk? It's a co-op, you can look up where the beans were grown, and it tastes a million times better than Silk. To me, anyway. I highly recommend it.

bubble, thanks! I actually was thinking of trying them out after googling my question, too. Glad to hear you are a fan!