7 Basic Fast Cooking Tips for an Excellent Meal

With our work schedules and taking care of our families, food preparation can be difficult.   So, if you have a busy schedule, looking for ways to prepare fast meals for your family, OR you are a single woman or a single man, and do not know how to cook, OR have not cooked in a while, but would love to learn, here are a some basic methods of cooking to create a wonderful meal for yourself and your family. 

1.  Boiling- This is very quick way of cooking.  You can boil your vegetables, potatoes, pasta, noodles and rice. 

All you have to do is fill a pot (large or medium size pot) with  6 glasses of water.  Turn your stove on to medium to high heat and let the water boil.  Then  and put any type of pasta (spaghetti, penne, rotini) if you are boiling pasta.  Let it boil for 5-7 minutes.   Check to see if it is tender.  Then drain out the water from pasta in a colander.  Then add your pasta sauce and Parmesan cheese
 

Boil rice using same instructions.
 

Cut potatoes in Half and place a pot of boiling water
 

Boil vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, green beans) as well

2.  Sautéing –  Just add oil to your skillet or frying pan.  You can choose from crush garlic cloves or either cut up onions, cut up scallions, cut up bell peppers or dice up tomatoes to sauté your food.  OR a combination of either of these. Turn stove on to low heat.  Let it cook for 1-2 mins.   Then add vegetables like either green beans, zucchini, asparagus, squash, butternut squash, broccoli, etc.

3. Steaming Food-  Steam your vegetables.  Add oil to your skillet, throw in your vegetables and then turn with a spoon.  Add 3 tablespoons of water or 1/5 glass of water and let it cook for 5-10 minutes.
 

4.  Add spices and seasonings to bring wonderful flavor to your pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes and your vegetables.  There are so many brands like Mrs. Dash, McCormick and others that gives you a variety of flavors to choose from.

5.  Add Herbs to your food-  Whichever method you chose to cook, whether boiling, sautéing, steaming your food, grilling, add different herbs to create flavor with food.  Herbs include, oregano, basil to your pasta, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, sage, chives, dill or thyme.

6.  Another fast way to cook is Grilling- grill your steak, beef or chicken. Use an George foreman Grill. Wash your meat, add salt, black pepper,lemon pepper, any herbs and place on the grill.

7.  Purchase the right small appliance for fast meals-  Get a rice cooker, Steamer, Electric Skillet, Slow Cooker, George Foreman Grill to cut your cooking time in half. 

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