March 19, 2020

Effortless (No Recipe Required) Home Eating

Looking for easy meals to make while staying home and “home eating”? We’ve got you covered with breakfast, lunch AND dinner!

All of a sudden you have to make three squares for people that are always hanging around. Here in Erieland, courtesy of the Covid-19 virus, all of our restaurants and bars are closed for in-restaurant eating. We’re doing almost nothing but “Home Eating”! (See the CDC Website for the most up to date guidelines for Covid-19.)

We eat at home most nights.

But this is well beyond that. What to have? Here are three easy, “No-Recipe-Required” ideas that will fill up your people but won’t break the bank. They also use a lot of pantry ingredients.

Breakfast: Toasted Oatmeal Topping

One of the easiest meals to make for a breakfast of home eating is this perfect, fast addition for yogurt. We prefer plain Greek yogurt. A drizzle of maple syrup really makes this topping shine.

Add about a 1/4 cup of Old Fashioned Oats to a non-stick pan heating over medium high heat. (Affiliate links follow – please see disclaimer page for details.) Add a handful of roughly chopped nuts to the oatmeal. Use your favorite nut, or whatever you have on hand. We had leftover mixed nuts, so I chopped them very coarsely and tossed them in.

Keep the pan moving – you don’t want anything to burn!

When the oatmeal starts browning, sprinkle on a little cinnamon and a sprinkle of kosher salt. (If the nuts are already salted, skip the salt.)

Once everything is combined and smells super fantastic, remove from heat. Add some yogurt to a bowl, and sprinkle on the Toasted Oatmeal Topping.

If you want a wee bit of sweetness, drizzle on a teaspoon or so of maple syrup or honey.

Fancy it up by layering the yogurt with the Toasted Oatmeal Topping to make a parfait. If you use Sundae Cups, you can even call it desert!

LUNCH: Italian Sloppy Joes

You may have seen a recipe for Italian Sloppy Joes by the Pioneer Woman. It is comprehensive and very delicious. I dumb it waaaaay down. Have spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner. (I brown ground meat, occasionally add some onions, and then a jar of cheap marinara. Serve over spagetts.)

Make enough additional meat sauce for leftovers. Pop it in the fridge (towards the back) and make this for lunch a couple days later – after they forget they had it for dinner.

Preheat the oven to toast some bread. Italian is ideal, but rolls work too, as does generic white in a pinch. Put the bread on a sprayed, sturdy baking sheet and spray the bread with a little more cooking spray. Sprinkle with some garlic powder.

And, Toast!

If I’m feeling really cheesy, I’ll sprinkle a little shredded mozzarella on the toast before I add the meat sauce.

Warm up the meat sauce in the microwave. When the toast is ready, pile it high with the sauce.

Smother your naked Italian Sloppy Joe with mozzarella, Parmesan, or whatever is in the house. Put the tray back in the oven so the cheese melts.

As is, it’s a helluva lunch. Add some garlic noodles and it’s dinner.

DINNER: Tex-Mex Chicken Rice Bowls

These are kind of cheating – once you make the rice and the chicken, it’s a free-for-all.

Saute the chicken in a cast iron skillet until no longer pink. While it’s cooking, sprinkle with Mexican seasonings – use a packet of taco seasoning, or copiously add chili powder and some kosher salt to the meat. Continue cooking the chicken until an instant read thermometer inserted into the largest chunk of chicken reads at least 160 degrees F.

While the chicken is cooking, prep enough Minute Rice (yeah, I said it) for everyone to have a cup or a cup and a half. Minute Instant Brown Rice would work here too. So would leftover rice!

Meanwhile, set out sour cream, salsa and some shredded cheese. Warm up either canned or frozen corn. Don’t forget the jalapeno’s – store bought or Pickled at Home.