Favorite "just throw it all together in under 30 minutes" recipes

[Emma Peel]

I don't know how we want to organize this, but here are a few of my "I'm starving and I can't wait to eat" recipes.

--Black bean tacos with feta and cabbage slaw. I follow a suggestion of Deb's and use Goya black bean soup, drained slightly and mashed up. And I usually add slices of avocado. These are perfection.

--Pasta with lemon, capers and tuna. I made this one exactly as-is but next time I think I'd add some pepper flakes. Ate it over whole-wheat spaghetti, because it was what we had.

--Eggs in tomato sauce. I add some sauteed spinach or chard or whatever veggie I have underneath it, on the best bread I have in the house.

[Jen]

Great topic! I've been all about finding some quick/easy meals lately, instead of just making breakfast for dinner on nights when I'm especially tired, ha. (My go-to "I'm starving and I can't wait to eat" meal is scrambled eggs and toast or home fries - bland, but satisfying.)  All three of these sound really good, but I'm especially excited about the black bean tacos! That recipe is a combination of some of my favorite foods.

[Katie Hart]

One of my weirder last-minute meals is one that my mom used to make when I was a kid called, simply, Eggs n' Noodles. 

It's exactly how it sounds! I boil up some pasta, usually garden rotini or spinach fettucini. While that's cooking, heat up a pan and scramble together eggs in a separate bowl. When the pasta's done, drain the water out, pour it into the greased pan, and then pour your eggs on top of it. Stir it up til the eggs are cooked, throw it on a plate, and top it with salt&pepper and hot sauce. 

[Amanda]

Those tacos sound great - tasty, fast, healthy, & cheap. The pasta sounds similar to what I made last night, the only difference being using olives instead of lemon and making it spicy with a good pinch of red pepper flakes. 

Whenever I go grocery shopping I always get an emergency meal for nights when I lack any resemblance of motivation to cook. Normally it's tomato soup and a block of cheddar so I can make grilled cheese & tomato soup. If I'm really hungry, I'll fry some eggs leaving the yolks runny so I can dip my sandwich into the yolk, which is soooo satisfying, haha. If I'm feeling fancy I add fresh basil to the grilled cheese and use smoked paprika to add a little depth of flavor to the soup.

[Adrienne James]

Ha ditto to everyone who eats eggs for their lazy meals. I like the tomato sauce and egg idea.

Dragon Noodles are a favorite no-food-in-the-house recipe for me. I don't always have cilantro or green onions, but I'll use regular onions and whatever other veggies I have, and often add extra egg. I might also mention that a spoonful of PEANUT BUTTER turns it into an amazing cheater version Pad Thai, esp if it's crunchy peanut butter.

Breakfast tacos (for dinner) are something I do a lot. Often I'll cook up some lean sausage, crumbled, and stick that in the freezer. Then whenever I want I can I just plop a few frozen sausage bits in my skillet, any veggies I have, then fry an egg (I like over easy so it can run all over the taco... mmmm) and throw that all in a tortilla with some sriracha. Filling and satisfying. Sometimes I cook an extra one while I'm at it and put it in a container to take to work to microwave for lunch the next day. That one I do scrambled so it's not gross.

I also enjoy ham and cheese "quesadillas." Which is just.. ham and cheese melted in a tortilla. Sometimes there's spinach. Often eaten with an egg over easy to dip into some runny yolks... mm....

I am also recently obsessed with goat cheese and spinach grilled cheeses. Or goat cheese and spinach quesadillas. Most of my food follows the same themes :)

[rhgol...@gmail.com]

Pasta and greens! I don't really have a formal recipe for this, but it essentially goes like this:

1. Put up a pot of water to boil. While you're waiting on that, mince some garlic- I generally go with one clove for two servings.
2. Put your pasta in the water, set a timer according to the box. I like spaghetti for this but anything will do, and I usually go whole wheat.
3. While your pasta is cooking, put a smallish pan on medium-low and pour in a decent splash of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic.
4. When the garlic is starting to brown, add a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes.
5. You've got a couple of options now. Take a shit ton of greens of some kind- I like arugula, but spinach would work, and probably heartier greens too but they might require more cooking time. You can:
1. blanch the greens with the pasta by tossing them in with an appropriate amount of time left (arugula needs like 2 minutes?)
2. Cook them in the skillet with the olive oil and garlic and such.
3. Waiting until the pasta is done and just wilt them a little with the heat of the cooked pasta after draining.
6. Whichever of those you're doing, drain the pasta when it's done, and combine everything. Toss well, and add plenty of cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

When I do this, there's kind of an equal amount of pasta and greens per serving. And sometimes I'll throw a fried egg on top of all of it.