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pasta and vegetables is a staple in our house. we also buy and freeze fresh ravioli/tortellini and pierogies (from trader joes or whole foods) and freeze them. any of those plus a few veggies cook up nicely. another quick-hit for us is to roast root vegetables and get pick-up a roasted chicken on the way home.

oh, and "fancy" grilled cheese sandwiches. think white cheeses, spinach/arugula, tomato, red onion, and prepared with olive oil, salt, and pepper instead of butter. yum!

this is one thing i adore about being vegetarian. i can do a tofu & broccoli stirfry in less than 5 minutes and just like that i have a meal.

with soba.. also consider buying bean paste for broth. just boil the noodles, boil water with a tablespoon or two of bean paste and you have broth and noodles. simple and fast.

if you like vegetables, steamed veggies is always a very speedy way to make a meal. i often make a pile of steamed asparagus topped with either a fried egg, or a 1:1 mixture of OJ & olive oil (as dressing) with roasted hazelnuts. both very fast, and extremely satisfying.

i'm also thinking about the 'cook a big pot of something on the weekend and store it in the freezer' plan for such evenings when you have no time or energy. chili, soups, stews, a whole host of things, if frozen in single servings won't take long at all to reheat.

I fall back on my Chinese roots in desperate times, and on busy nights I turn to soup noodles. Egg noodles in a broth augmented by frozen veggies, frozen seafood and an egg splopped on top. It's also a good way to use up "stupid" quantities of leftovers that aren't big enough for a whole portion.

I try to cook big on the weekends or on a Monday night that way we can eat or snack on stuff throughout the week. i try to keep alot of fresh veggies in the house. right now, my favorite midweek meal at home consists of: roasted fennel and butternut squash with peas over some pasta (usually orzo or polenta if I have it).

If I must eat Frozen meals (and face it, sometimes we do), I go with Kashi. They are great and healthy and less processed than most. A LOT less. plus delish. I am also a big fan of Avocado, goat cheese and spinach sandwiches. Yummy and quick.

Any mushrooms you can get at the farmers market....like oyster mushrooms or even fancier chanterelles (when you can find them) cook up really fast (like 2 minutes) with a drop of oil, some garlic, mushrooms with a bit of broth (or water). Throw this on brown rice, salad, pasta, eggs. Amazing and totally filling.

i have to admit, i also eat ALOT of frozen foods but stick with Amy's and various trader joe's creations.

tuna mac

Quesadillas with black beans and cheese (and any veggies you have around) are one option. Also, something simple like a grilled ham & cheese with frozen vegetables.

i always save leftover brown rice from chinese take out (or you can make it yourself). on weeknights warm that up and throw in some steamed or sauteed spinach with cannelini beans. you can use any sauce (i like sometihng asian-inspired, like hoisin) and its a fast healthy and easy meal

I love black bean burritos for fast and easy, saute veggies of your choosing, add black beans and salsa, simmer til heated through, pile on a whole wheat tortilla, top with a little cheese, sour cream or guac if you like.

Also, I make big pots of soup on the weekend if I know it is going to be an extremely busy week. It gets repetitive, but so much better for you than eating out.

i am in the middle of moving, so i have not been able to cook or prep as much as i would like.

i just made some black bean burritos by nuking a can of black beans mixed with a couple of tablespoons of salsa, and rolling up in tortillas with some shredded cheese. this is pretty low rent, but surprisingly tasty!

i bet you could do something similar by preparing the beans and salsa on the stove, then topping with a fried egg or two.

when i have a stove available, i'm a big fan of pasta tossed with whatever steamed veggies i have on hand, plus some butter and parm.

Funny you should mention the need for a "quick fix" dinner-- my hometown newspaper ran a story on just this subject yesterday from the Chicago Tribune. It features some decent recipes that you can make with convenience staples/items you can make in advance and freeze (like homemade marinara or cooked rice), as well as some good tips for speedy cooking.

On nights when I truly need to cook something in 5 minutes, I like to heat up a packet of brown rice or lentils and a thai curry tuna packet from trader joes. Both cook in 3 minutes or less in the microwave. To that I add steamed broccoli (can also be microwaved), steamed green beans in lemon butter, or whatever other veggie I can cook in 5 minutes or left.

I am a big, big fan of the pre-marinated salmon from trader joes, which you have to defrost overnight, but which cooks in 12 minutes.

My friend Maren turned me on to curry chicken salad, made from a can of white chunk chicken. To the drained can of chicken she adds dijon mustard to taste (or a dijon / mustard mix), a few teaspoons of curry powder or cumin, plus raisins and almond slices or pecan pieces.

I eat breakfast at my desk almost every day -- I make a packet of low sugar instant oatmeal and add walnuts and raisins to it. Sometimes my boyfriend makes a big batch of steel cut oatmeal, which we dish into bowls and reheat in the microwave, adding a little soy milk to keep it from getting dry, plus fruit.

There are nights when I just eat greek yogurt for dinner, with dates and nuts, or with honey. This is also a favorite afternoon snack.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes can be microwaved in less than six minutes and you can add all kinds of toppings to them. Veg, seeds, goat cheese. Although I am partial to plain butter, salt and pepper.

This book has some awesome suggestions -- Nigel Slater is better known in the UK than the US. Real Fast Food:

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Fast-Food-Nigel-Slater/dp/1585674370

I *love* the book Real Fast Food. In fact, I was about to recommend it myself.

A great site that I know I've mentioned on these boards before is soscuisine.

http://www.soscuisine.com

It sets up weekly menus and accompanying grocery lists (that take into account your profile, so you can specify vegetarian, or gluten-free). It's amazing if you're in Canada because you can localize it and it will take into account your weekly sales flyers for the local grocery stores.

Every recipe that I've tried has been easy and delicious.

Here's the full list of dietary details that you can specify. You also note how many people are in your household, so you never need to multiply or divide amounts. You're also given the option to edit your weekly menu and have it recalculate the menu and grocery list if you decide you don't want to make everything or if you are going to have guests for one meal or whatever.

Choose one base group:
OMNIVORE (all kinds of food are OK, or almost all)
SEMI-VEGETARIAN (never any red meat, but poultry is OK)
PESCO-VEGETARIAN (never any meat, but fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy products are OK)
KOSHER
HALAL (never any pork or alcoholic products)

Choose one or more additional restrictions:
Never any FISH
Never any SHELLFISH
Never any PORK
Never any ALCOHOL
Allergy to NUTS or PEANUTS
Intolerance to LACTOSE
Intolerance to GLUTEN
LOW-CALORIE
LOW-FAT

I have this bad habit of either eating chips and salsa or mac and cheese when I'm feeling lazy. At least they're organic though.

I also am a big fan of pita or crackers and hummus for dinner.

Lately I've taken to soaking beans while I'm at work and then starting them when I get home. It still takes awhile but I tend to be a late dinner person so it usually works out ok.

Inexpensive, tasty and easy to make. Change the spices, add tomatoes; there are many variations. The leftovers are delicious the next day, as the flavors have melded.

Tuscan Beans with Greens

1 T Olive Oil
1 med. yellow onion, chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. coarsely chopped spinach (frozen is okay, chard is good too).
3 T white wine
1 t. ground sage or basil
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. dried red pepper flakes
1 15oz can of cannelini beans, drained

Heat oil over med-hi heat. Add onion and garlic, saute 4 mins. Add greens through red pepper flakes and cook additional 3-4 mins over med-low heat (until greens are wilted, if using fresh). Stir in beans and heat through, ~ 3 mins.

Serves 4.

We always have a couple cans of dolmades in the pantry. For a quick no-cook dinner, we crack open some dolmades, grab a tub of hummus and some pita, and slice up some peppers or broccoli for dipping into the hummus, too.

We also do quesadillas with cheese and canned refried beans. Canned chickpeas heated in good olive oil is a staple, too.

But I won't lie. In a pinch, we'll go the boxed (Annie's organic) mac 'n' cheese route, with a side of frozen peas (also organic). If our son had his way, we'd eat this every night.

Sorry I meant to type a dijon / mayo mix for the chicken salad recipe.

Children can live on Annie's. Once when we were out of milk, I used sour cream and it was super delish to me but not acceptable to my child. Microwaved sweet potato and frozen peas. Salmon cakes. Whole wheat spaghetti with garlic fried in olive oil and grated parmesan.

I make brown rice to keep in the frig. Some frozen veggies and whatever sauce looks good. Canned tuna or chicken, or maybe not.
English muffins hot out of the toaster with grated cheese and a salad (I buy those bags of packaged lettuce unless I can get it at the farmers' market.)
Pasta and jarred sauce or pesto. With or without grated cheese. I also freeze fresh pasta--it just adds a couple of minutes to cooking.

My first thought -- and the first item on your list -- was the incredible edible egg. I don't know where I'd be without them. I make myself an egg sandwich almost every day.

I love mexican food so I make this quick easy dinner about 2-3 times a month.

I cook up chopped chicken, onions, red bell pepper, and black beans in a pan and then stir in salsa until heated through. I eat it by itself but you could put it inside a tortilla and add cheese.

My mom makes hot taco rice which is super easy. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet. Add salsa and tomato sauce. Bring to a full boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. Serve beef mixture over rice and scoop it with tortilla chips.

I also make a pasta dish with whatever vegetables and meat I have on hand. In a skillet with some olive oil I saute garlic with some chicken or tuna. I add broccoli (or any frozen vegetables such as squash and cauliflower) until tender and add sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Then I add 1/4 cup of white wine, 3/4 cup chicken broth and 1 tbsp. butter and cook for about 3-5 minutes and mix it with any pasta I have on hand.

Thanks for all the advice, y'all (and any advice that might be given later). This link is definitely bookmarked and I'll probably try some of these suggestions next week.

And tonight's dinner, I'm proud to say, did not live up to my username; fried egg and chicken sausage on toast!

I always have pita bread and tortilla in the fridge, they may get a little hard but warming them up brings them back to life. Either works with some cheese in the toaster (pita) or the skillet (quesadilla), that and some tomato soup, DELISH! If I have loaf bread, I make grilled cheese on the George Foreman grill, hardly any clean up, just the bowl you zapped the soup in.

I always have kalamata olives, lemon, garlic and parsley in the fridge for Chick pea salsa and toasted pita. A glass of red wine or a dark beer you can make your own little happy hour:o)

http://gourmetgirl1.blogspot.com/2007/10/chickpea-salsa.html

And last but not least frozen raw shrimp. Defrosts in minutes in a bowl of warm water, saute some evoo and garlic, a little broth or clam juice (which also last in the fridge forever or in the ice cube tray) frozen peas or spinach; over toast brushetta! Or of course pasta.

easy peasy fritatta:
keep mixed frozen veg in the fridge, I like italian blend. (zucchini, squash, red pepper, onion, etc.) preheat oven to 400 or so. heat up veg on oven-safe skillet with olive oil and maybe some jarred garlic, some times i'll add balsamic vinegar or some other sauce, throw in any leftovers that might taste good. beat some eggs, throw them in, heat on low til bottom sets. add parmesan cheese on top, put in oven until fritatta is set and the parmesan starts to brown, about 5-10 minutes.

Whats left over is ready for breakfast. yum!

One of my weeknight standbys is "That tomato-vegetable rice thing", which is extraordinarily flexible and forgiving.

- Make a generous portion of rice. I like the super-cheap (and probably not very nutritious) pre-seasoned yellow spanish rice bags. pre-packaged pilafs are fine. If you're more health-conscious, brown rice would also be fine.

- Chop small to med. onion (color of your choice) and sautee in 1-2Tbls olive oil. Right before the onion reaches the tender stage, throw in some cut peppers (I usually just cut them into strips-- too lazy for more chopping). I like 1 red and 1 yellow, plus a jalapeno for heat. Feel free to mix and match whatever peppers you want.

- Just before the peppers get tender (1-2 minutes), add an 8oz. can of tomato sauce. cook over low-med. heat until everything is tender.

-Top the rice with the tomato/pepper/onion mix.

You can also add a can of beans (I like chickpeas), or even meat if you happen to have it on hand (if cooking meat from scratch, sautee it with the onions, and maybe reduce the olive oil to 1T.)

There's really no rules to this one-- it's a pretty painless "kitchen sink" recipe, and it tastes good cold the next night, too.

When I'm lazy, I add water to (Trader Joes) tomato pasta sauce, nuke it and toast their focaccia bread with tomatoes and olives in my toaster oven. I cut the bread into 8 pieces and freeze it in its bag, plus a big zip lock. When I need a piece, I break it off and go change while dinner is being made by my appliances....

On the weekend I make a menu for the entire week and buy food accordingly and sometimes prep in advance in the morning or during the weekend. All recipes take up to anywhere from 10 minutes to 40 minutes to make. Typically stir fry, pasta, soup, thai curry (using the paste and coconut milk), chicken dishes.

I like having canned tuna, canned sardines, anchovies, and tomato/pasta sauce around. Those are all good with pastas. Big fan of frozen spinach and other kinds of frozen veggies from Trader Joe. In general, TJ has a lot of readymade frozen foods that are not as sodium or preservative heavy as other mainstream brands.

Oh also the Cuban black beans at Trader Joe's are good on their own as a side (to chicken or pork chops) or mixed with rice.

I agree about stir fry meals and noodle soups. I keep dried noodles (soba, somen, Chinese egg noodles) fresh miso (from a Japanese grocery store) and chicken broth.

Arthur Schwartz's What to Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House to Eat (which I think is out of print) is an excellent guide to quick meals you can make from a short list of kitchen staples. It's arranged in chapters for each staple -- so if you have noodles but you don't have the things you usually cook to go with them, go to the noodle chapter. I've found it useful.

On a not-very-related-but-perhaps-interesting-to-you-all topic, he wrote another book, also now very out of print, about cooking in a teeny tiny kitchen. It has a pretty logical title: Cooking in a Small Kitchen.