It amazed me that Rachael Ray has made an empire with 30 Minute Meals, mostly because 30 minute meals are all I eat and they don’t seem so special. My little secret is—save roasting a chicken or potatoes where all you have to do is put them in the oven and wait—I cook a total of 5 meals that take longer than 30 minutes(we’re excluding brownies and all other desserts from this; some things are worth waiting for).
Especially during the week, I don’t have time for elaborate meals; I want something delicious and want it fast. I’ve been eating my weight recently in pumpkin quinoa. It’s really easy to throw quinoa in the rice cooker and forget about it for 15 minutes while it cooks. Here I use that time to sauté some beef and bok choy; on other days I’ve added leftover chicken right into the rice cooker and made my whole meal in there.
The other pumpkin dish I can’t get enough of is autumn stuffed acorn squash.
This one even got a “That smells good” from whomever happened to be around the kitchen while I was cooking. I must admit—anything with sautéed onions and peppers does smell amazing. And it was fast to whip up, too! You can vary the spices and seasonings to change the flavor so it doesn’t feel like eating the same dish(I used chili powder and cumin instead of maple syrup and rosemary this time around).
So no, I definitely don’t think balanced and flavorful meals have to be long and elaborate. In fact, the less equipment I have to dirty to make it, the better. And one of these days I might even eat something without pumpkin in it(but don’t hold your breath).
