Easy Recipes

What are the most important criteria for easy recipes? Is it the number of ingredients, the style of cooking or how long it takes to prepare? All of those factors are important, but there are other important things to consider for easy recipes too.

The criteria for easy recipes, for me, are a combination of factors. First, the easy recipe must not have an unreasonable number of ingredients. I like ten or fewer optimally. There are some times when additional ingredients are worth the results, but in most cases ten or fewer is a reasonable number of ingredients.

The cooking style is important too. Whether you are grilling, broiling, baking or simmering your easy recipe, it is best to only have one style. Easy recipes that use multiple cooking styles can become unnecessarily complicated. There are certain exceptions, though. For example you can brown an item on the stove and finish it in the oven. That’s no trouble, but certain dishes require you to parboil some ingredients before using it and that can add additional steps. This usually creates additional pots to wash too.

Another factor to consider is the length of time easy recipes will need your attention. Whether it is time preparing ingredients, like chopping vegetables and meats or if it is hands on time spent stirring, hands on time is a very important factor for easy recipes.

The side dishes you plan to accompany your easy recipes are an important consideration as well. The best approach is to plan them to not require your attention at the same time. The best side dishes for an easy dinner are things that you start and they finish on their own, like rice.

The cooking duration for easy recipes is less of a consideration if you are not needed to monitor the cooking, for example a braise or a slow cooker easy recipe is less demanding, because you don’t have to do much while it is cooking. In fact slow cooker or crockpot easy recipes are some of the best around, because you can do the preparation work ahead of time, possible the night before and in the morning simply start the easy recipe cooking and when you come home later in the day, a great meal is already waiting.

What about clean up? Is it a factor in an easy recipe? I certainly think so. What good is it to have easy recipes to prepare and then spend the evening washing pots, or wiping sauce off the ceiling? (Yes that lid on the blender, and its vent are both very important items for easy recipe cleanup!) Foil can really be your friend when it comes to easy recipe cleanup. Lining a pan with foil before you broil will save you lots of time. I think you really can’t beat the grill though, for easy recipe cleanup. Crank up the heat and scrape with a brush briefly, how hard is that?

The complication of the process is really a huge consideration for an easy recipe too. If a recipe has too many steps, complicated processes, or too many ingredients that need lots of processing, it really isn’t an easy recipe. Consider buying some ingredients preprocessed to simplify your easy recipe. Pre-grated cheeses, shredded cabbage and bagged salads can dramatically simplify preparation.

Another important factor to consider is the quality of the ingredients. The most important consideration for whether or a recipe is an easy recipe, is whether the deliciousness and quality of the finished dish justifies its cooking. And the greatest degree it is possible to make an amazingly easy recipe that is perfectly delicious and simple to prepare, the better. The quality of the ingredients will make all the difference here. I think it is possible to use some canned or frozen ingredients in your easy recipe and have a great success, but the best success comes from the best ingredients. Truly the freshest meats, fish and produce will make all the difference in the quality and enjoyment of your easy recipe.

Some ingredients to consider canned alternatives for easy recipes are beans and tomatoes. Lots of easy recipes call for canned tomatoes. Tomato season is relatively short, despite them being readily available, but out of season tomatoes don’t have much flavor. Canned tomatoes can be delicious in easy recipes, look for those made in Italy, which is famous for its tomatoes. Many easy recipes get a helpful shortcut from canned beans. Canned beans are so sturdy, their texture stands up well to canning and using canned beans in an easy recipes eliminates and overnight soaking in water.

Filed under Articles | Comment (1)