Cooking Casebook: 6 quick and easy recipes

I've just blogged about how we manage to cook for family almost every day, and as promised here's sharing our list of go-to dishes that I cook when I need dinner on the table in less than 45 minutes! Please click on the titles to get the links to the original recipes.

:: Salmon Broccoli Potato Bake from BBC Good Food:
I've blogged about this recipe before, but this one merits mention again, as it's one of my favourite dishes to cook. It's creamy and hearty, and the boys love it, and it's actually possible to get this ready in twenty minutes!

For this recipe, I usually substitute pasta with potato, which helps me to save time, since I don't need to peel potatoes. To speed things up, I do the following:

1. Start boiling a pot of water, and chop up the salmon and broccoli while waiting.
2. Once the water is boiling, in goes the pasta, and the broccoli goes in about 3 minutes before the pasta is done.
3. Meanwhile, I start to fry the salmon in another pan, and then transfer the pasta and broccoli over when it's done, and add the creme fraiche after.
4. We usually add the mustard to each dish separately, since the toddler can't handle too much mustard, while the older ones love lots of mustard on their dish.

You can purchase creme fraiche over at Fairprice Finest, and if you can't find it, you can try substituting with a mixture of half heavy cream and half sour cream (or try other suggestions for substitutes here). Note: This recipe is NOT freezer-friendly!

:: Sour Cream Noodle Bake, from The Pioneer Woman
This is another favourite in our household, and is simple to make! We usually substitute fettucine for the egg noodles because of food allergies. To reduce washing up, I usually cook the fettucine in a pot, drain the noodles and add the cottage cheese, sour cream and green onions, while cooking the beef with tomato paste in a cast iron pot. Once these are done, I add the noodles on top of the beef, and sprinkle the cheese on before popping it in the oven. Do note that this recipe is also not freezer friendly!

:: Chilli Con Carne, from BBC Good Food:
This dish ain't pretty, but it's one of the meals that the fussy Junior J eats. We find that you can skip the beef stock and just add salt, and it still tastes pretty good. We read a tip to substitute a piece of chocolate for the sugar, and that works really well for us, so you can try that too! The sauce is freezer friendly, and we love this with rice.

:: Beef Stroganoff, from The Kitchn:
For some strange reason, my kids love this dish even though it doesn't look exactly yummy! I think it's because they love piling on the Dijon mustard. Whatever the case, it's quick and simple, and it's freezer friendly. We usually pair it with pasta, or rice. To save on cost, I usually use minced beef instead of sirloin, and I use my own homemade chicken stock instead of beef broth, and it still tastes pretty good!

:: Tuna Pasta, from this blog:
This is quick and easy, if you don't mind cooking out of cans! We cook the spicy version for the adults, and the kids get the non-spicy version instead (omit chilli, use tuna in olive oil, and add a dash of ground cinnamon). This sauce is freezer friendly.

:: Fried Udon, from Just One Cookbook
This is one of my go to meals for a busy long day, and one of hubby's favs. I usually use minced pork (fried with dark and light soya sauce) instead of pork belly, and if I'm in a rush, I just add carrots and green leafy veggies without the other ingredients (since we have some kids in the family who don't like mushrooms). It's a dish that can be ready in less than half an hour, but isn't exactly freezer friendly.

So there you have it, 6 easy recipes to try! I'll be sharing our favourite crockpot dishes soon, so stay tuned... and meanwhile, you can find our tips for cooking everyday here.