30 Minute Meals

All of these blogs have amazing recipes that you definitely, totally gonna try.  You might even go so far as to buy the ingredients, but let's be real, if the recipe takes longer than 30 mins. everything will go to waste.  I'm not sure why people are ashamed to say that they won't cook unless it's quick.  That's just being real.  After working 9+ hours I don't think anyone is in the mood to spend a lot of time on dinner.  I find that knowing these quick meals that have minimal ingredients helps in the ongoing argument: should we just order?  I will post a few now, and do more posts like this as I discover more recipes.  Many of the cooking blogs that I talk about in this post have "30 mins or less" sections.

1) Garlic rice pilaf and flatbread:
Garlic rice:
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
parsley, optional for garnish

In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Add garlic, celery, and rice.  Cook and stir until slightly brown.
Add chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Cover and simmer on low heat until moisture has been absorbed and rice is tender. (This usually takes me about 20 minutes) Add lemon juice just before serving. Toss slightly and garnish with parsley if desired. Serves 4-6.

Flatbread:
Pillsbury biscuits
Butter

Stretch biscuits into 6 inch rounds
Melt butter in pan
Toast biscuit for 30 seconds-1 min on each side on medium high heat

Chicken noodle soup:
4 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 small onion, fined diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
5 carrots, diced
1 pkg chicken gravy
2 cups uncooked noodles (I used large elbow noodles)
2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken

In a large stock pot, place 12 cups of water. Add the bouillon, onion, celery , and carrots to the water. Bring to a boil.
Once the water is boiling cook for 10 minutes. Add the uncooked noodles and cook until noodles are tender, I do this according to the noodles I use. The large elbow noodles I used it was 8 minutes.
Next stir in the cooked chicken.
In a bowl, whisk together the gravy mix with 1 cup of water.
Drizzle the gravy mixture into the soup while stirring until all is mixed in. Let the soup cook for 1 minute more and serve. Serves 10.

Pasta Primavera with chicken (you can also do it without the chicken) and garlic knots:
Pasta primavera:
1 medium zucchini, sliced
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium red or yellow pepper, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 (12 oz.) package Chicken Sausage, slice at an angle
12 oz. linguine, uncooked

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper in a shallow baking pan.  Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss to coat.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and lightly brown; stir occasionally.
In the meantime, cook linguine according to package directions and drain.
After vegetables are soft, sprinkle sausage on top of vegetables and bake 5 more minutes or until sausage is heated.
Toss cooked pasta with the vegetable/sausage mixture,  sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve. Makes 6 servings.

Garlic knots:
1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits ( I used Pillsbury Golden Layers Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits)
4 tbsp butter
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I did use the green can stuff)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Roll each biscuit into a 12-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; brush the warm knots with the mixture. Yield:10 knots.
If you wanna do it a slightly different way, chop garlic and in a frying pan cook butter, garlic, and herbs. When butter is melted, turn off heat.  Dip the rope into the mixture and tie into knots.

Greek salad:
1 cucumber
1 onion
1 tomato
1 cup feta cheese
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette  

Chop into squares each thing and combine.  Add feta and dressing. 

Enjoy!