(3-4 Spoons) Double Use Recipe: Tuna Croquette and Tuna Wrap

So I really wanted to make THIS recipe but it seemed really complicated for a spoonie so I made a Spoonie friendly version of it!! Tuna Croquette The more you make the more spoons it will take to make it ive found because of the mixing and amount of cooking All the ingredients are based around using ONE 2.6 package of tuna so if you want to make more you can but you will have to adjust accordingly) Ingredients:

Prepare: Put all ingredients in a bowl (or you could use the package the tuna comes in and you wont have dishes!)  and mix. You are aiming for a paste like consistency thats thick and clings to the spoon but will fall off lightly with touch.  After mixed put it in the fridge to chill slightly. This makes it a bit more firm ive found but you could skip this step heat up a pan with some nonstick spray on the bottom (or any sort of fat like butter or oil) and with a spoon scoop out small amounts of the mix. If i squish them against the side of a small mixing bowl ive found i can make patties instead of using my hands Place patties in pan and cook until a small crisp browness comes to each side this may be less apparent if you didnt use bread so in that case heat until more firm and hot At the last minute i like to sprinkle some cheese on one side and let it melt slightly into the croquette but this could also be skipped for less spoons Tuna Wraps

Follow the above directions using the same ingredients up until cooking them. Instead of cooking them smear the cold mix on a flour tortilla and wrap accordingly. If making wraps you may want to take out the breadcrumbs bc double starch. But you could leave it in if you want. 

10 minute 2 or 3 spoon Tuna Salad

What you’ll need

Yields: 1-4 sandwiches or wraps, depending on how many cans of meat you use.  Can be refrigerated for up to 7 days.

How to make it:

Spread on toast, bread or on a wrap, and enjoy!  This is a good one to have on hand if you’ve got lunches to pack or you know that you’re coming up on a low-spoon week, because it keeps really well in the fridge and when all is said and done, you’ve only got 4 things to actually wash.  (Fork, spoon, tupperware bowl, tupperware lid)

Enjoy!

ace-of-swords

Meal Idea:  Sausages and Pierogies. For the low spoons version of this meal you want pre-cooked sausages and frozen pierogis.  What is a pierogi? A pierogi is a semi-circle shaped piece of pasta - about as large as the palm of a hand (a bit smaller). It’s stuffed - usually with potatoes and sometimes other ingredients are included with the potato filling. Cheese is common. Pre-made ones are available in the freezer section of most grocery stores. They’re quite cheap for the amount of food.  Frozen pierogies can be heated by boiling them (not my favorite), stir-frying them, or baking them in the oven. There’s probably a way to successfully microwave them but I am not familiar with it. If you cook pierogies in the oven you will need to spray them with some sort of oil-spray (e.g. PAM, or I just use spray-on olive oil) A common accompaniment to pierogies is sour cream - though I personally rarely eat them with it and find them fine that way.  I think most folks will know what sausages there are - but varieties of sausage are really diverse! I want to talk about some that you might encounter at the store. The sort of sausage you want to use for this meal is the ‘link’ type. Breakfast sausages can be OK with this, but, a more substantial variety is usually better.  A few common types of sausages are: Kielbasa - not a spicy sausage. Nice and meaty. Kind of a smoky flavor. Smooth texture. Chorizo - mildly spicy sausage. Very flavorful. Made from pork. Andouille - quite spicy sausage. Made from pork. Thicker texture. In addition to these types there are a variety of what I’ll call “artisan sausages” that describe themselves by their filling: e.g. chicken-and-apple-sausages. These varieties can get a little pricey if you’re looking to stay super-cheap. If you’re conscious of the price though you can even use hot-dogs for this. Just fry them in the pan, grill them, or boil them like you would the above kinds of sausages. Preparation of this meal consists of heating the sausages and the pierogies. You can heat the sausages by boiling, pan frying, or grilling. I prefer pan frying. You simply place the sausages in a frying pan with a small amount of oil and heat until you have the desired level of skin crisping. As mentioned above you can heat the pierogies in a variety of ways that the package will detail. When making pierogies and sausages you can A) cook the pierogies and sausages in different heat sources or B) cook them together in the same pan. Cooking in the same pan creates less clean-up. I prefer to bake my pierogies in the oven while frying the sausages - if the pierogies are cooked on top of aluminium foil on the cookie sheet there is minimal extra cleanup, and when I try to fry the pierogies and sausages together I inevitably end up burning the pierogies. YMMV.  If you want to add vegetables to the meal - sliced peppers, onions, and mushrooms all make good accompaniments. Just fry them with the sausage* (or grill them, if you’re grilling. kebobs can be good for grilling vegetables, or simply wrap them in aluminium foil). With onions you might want to put them in before the sausage so they can caramelize. Mushrooms however should probably be added near the end of the cooking to avoid burning them. *If you are boiling your sausage I’d recommend pan-frying the vegetables. I personally would rate this meal 3-5 spoons depending on the heating methods used and how many items are being cooked together (to minimize clean-up).

Eggs and Oats

This is a really simple way to cook a more substantial oatmeal. I sometimes get home from work and I have no energy left to cook, but just making oatmeal won’t be enough to keep me full for the rest of the day. I came up with this to add more heft to it. You need:

Put a frying on the stove and turn it to medium low. If you have some, grease the pan with a little butter for easier cleanup. Then add the oatmeal, eggs, and milk. Stir to combine. Add a shake of salt, and a shake of whatever spices you’re using. Stir it all together. Let it cook (you don’t have to stir it constantly, I sometimes wander off. Just make sure you come back to stir/check on it every minute or so). Then, after like 5 minutes it should all be combined and look oatmeal-y, any egg bits should be totally opaque, and it just looks generally done. Take it off the stove and put it into whatever you’re eating out of. Put brown sugar or honey on top for sweetness. The most energy-consuming part of this recipe is honestly cleaning the pan afterwards, so put it in the sink to start soaking once you’ve gotten the food out. Then, dig in!

Soup and Potatoes (3-4 spoons)

I tried something that was mentioned on LSF a while ago and it worked really well so I thought I should say it here so people don’t have to go back to that blog and look for it!! I wish I could say who submitted it originally, but I don’t have any idea who it was. I’m sorry!

Prep time: 5-10 minutes??? How fast can You boil water Cook time: ~25 minutes, according to my box of potatoes

Anyway, Ingredients: -a box of au gratin potatoes –> requires water, milk, and butter or margarine, quantities of which should be listed on the box –> requires the operation of an oven -a can of condensed soup –> requires water for uncondensing

And then all you have to do is prepare the potatoes and soup according to their respective instructions! The potatoes require stirring to combine everything in an ovensafe vessel, but only for like a minute or so to melt the butter, and you could even do that in the microwave beforehand if you wanted to! The soup also requires a bit of stirring, but even less than the potatoes – just enough to know that the stock has combined with the added water! This, of course, can be done after the soup has been heated (as opposed to while it’s heating) if you used the microwave!

When they’re both warm and ready, you can just throw them in the same pot together and enjoy! I put mine in a different bowl, but if you’re careful I’m sure you can just eat it right out of the ovensafe vessel you used for the potatoes.

It’s really filling (I can’t finish it all despite not really having eaten all day), and very, very cheap! The box of potatoes was I think .79 american, and Campbell’s soup usually runs 10 for 10, I think. I’m on mobile so it appears that I can’t tag for spoons, but I think I’m remembering the scale correctly enough for this to be accurate!

I don’t recommend using a cream-based soup, of course, since the potatoes are basically mac and cheese with a root instead of a noodle, but otherwise you can and should use any soup you think this would work with! Personally, I think most soups could use more cheese – but on the other hand I think most of anything could use more cheese. Also, this is probably pretty high in sodium! Condensed soup is basically a Festival Of Salt, so be careful if that’s a problem for you!

Tilapia with fruit salsa

Not sure how many spoons this takes for others, but for me it’s like 2 as long as I don’t have to clean a pan. My wife came up with this recipe and made it in the toaster oven.

Ingredients: 4 or 5 tilapia fillets 1 jar of fruit salsa Olive oil or cooking spray Foil Foil pan

Heat the oven to 350 to 375. Oil or spray the pan. I buy my tilapia frozen, so I just cut open the little individual packets and slide the fillets into a pan. Once I fill the pan in one layer, I open the jar and dump it over the fish. I usually put some water in the jar to get out all the salsa and add that for moisture. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Check the fish then. It might need more time if you have thick frozen fillets.

You can eat this by itself really, or with some salad greens from a bag, or some heat and eat rice or quinoa, or tortillas. It’s nice because it seems fancy, has protein, makes leftovers, and you can switch it up with different salsas or sides. I get everything at Aldi and it’s pretty affordable as well.

Easy crockpot pork

This is one of my favorites because I barely have to do anything and it’s a good amount of protein, plus I’m a sucker for anything barbecue flavored.

Ingredients: 1 lb pork tenderloins (no bone= less mess and these are usually cheap) I freeze mine in bags until i need it 1 20oz bottle rootbeer or Dr pepper type soda Your favorite BBQ sauce Optional: chopped onions and a few spoonfuls of brown sugar. Tastes great without but I love onions and sweetness. Some stores carry little containers of prechopped onion that are great for this.

Put a crockpot liner in your crockpot, your lack of dishes will thank me later. If using onion, add half now, put in half the pork, add the second bit of onions, the optional brown sugar, and the rest of the pork. Pour in the soda, put it on low for 6-6-8 hours. If you forget and it’s in an extra hour or two, it’ll still be fine. When done, remove it and either eat as is or shred in a bowl to add sauce. What I really like is that it is so tender, shredding is really just mashing with a big utensil like a wooden spoon.

I usually add a sweet potato on the side, which is literally 1 sweet potato stabbed on top a few times and put on a pan in the oven at 400 for ~45min. Boom, done, southern food craving satisfied.

Easy Peanut Rice Curry

Spoons: 2 if rice premade, 3-4 if not

Vegan: Yes

Gluten-free: Yes

Allergens: Peanuts/tree nuts, rice

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

~¾ C cooked rice (white/brown doesn’t matter)

2 spoonfuls peanut or other nut/seed butter (pref. chunky peanut butter)

1 pat butter or margarine, or 1-2 tsp oil of your choice, can omit if your rice was already cooked with some sort of oil

Salt, seasoned salt, and/or curry spices to taste

Put the rice, nut butter, and butter/margarine/oil in a microwave-safe bowl or tupperware and microwave on high for 90 seconds or until any solid oils, if used, are melted.  Remove from microwave, add salt and spices, and stir.  The whole process takes about 5 minutes, and you can sit while the microwave is running and while you’re adding the spices and stirring.

If you don’t have curry powder or seasoned salt, a good combo that I like is cumin (3-4 “shakes”), garlic powder (1 shake, can substitute with asafoetida), ginger (1-2 shakes), and pepper or cayenne (several grinder twists or a tiny bit, respectively), and a pinch of salt.  Most of these spices are also supposed to be good for your immune system, though I doubt there’s any real effect in the amounts you’d have in this.

If you’re trying to size up the recipe to feed several people at once, I’d suggest forgoing the microwave and just using freshly-cooked rice if possible and add the other ingredients to the rice pot, or another saucepan, and changing the spoon level to 5-6 spoons.

Easiest Sandwiches Ever

This recipe is so simple and cheap that I make it instead of buying lunch meat. Since it is a spread, I just put it on bread and eat it. So I’d give it about 2-3 spoons to make, and then only 1 spoon to prepare to eat, which is awesome to have something filling on days where I can’t fix anything else.

Ingredients: -8oz cream cheese -10 oz can of chunk chicken (deviled ham tastes good too) -two tablespoons chia seeds -spices (I use siracha, Tony Chachere’s, onion powder, and lemon pepper) -loaf of bread

Preparation: -Put the cream cheese into a bowl. To make stirring easier, I microwave it for about 30 seconds to soften it up. -Drain the water from the chicken and pour it into the bowl with the cream cheese. -Add the chia seeds (they give more texture and make it healthy for your heart. For bonus healthy points, use flax seeds instead.) -add your choice of spices to taste -Mix it all up well -And you’re done! Just spread it on your bread and it’s ready to eat. Keep it in a closed container in the refrigerator and it should last a good week.

(If you choose to use a food processor instead of stirring it yourself, it might save you a spoon or two. You also don’t even need to microwave the cream cheese. My only qualm with this way is how difficult food processors are to clean.)

for when fresh corn on the cob is cheap / in season; uses no silverware or prep dishes:

preheat the oven to 450.

get a cob of corn and husk it, and take off as much of the silk as you can

rub a fat/oil on it. i find it really convenient to just grab a stick of butter from the fridge and rub it straight onto the corn. enough will get onto the corn even if it’s cold, and you don’t need to use a butter knife!

now get a sheet of aluminum foil that will be big enough to completely wrap around the corn and stay,

but before you roll it up in foil, sprinkle some seasonings of your choice all around the corn. some options I’ve used are cayenne, salt, pepper, and garlic/onion powder.

okay now roll the foil up around the corn. try to make sure that the ends of the corn aren’t exposed, because you might get a little leaking otherwise, but it’s not bad

pop it in the oven at 450 for approx 20-25 minutes. you might want to put it under a cookie sheet to make sure it doesn’t leak onto your oven, but it’ll be fine if you can’t do that.

when it’s done in the oven be prepared for a hot, buttery corn. make sure to unwrap it carefully so the oils and spices that aren’t stuck to the corn don’t spill everywhere. I’m really sensitive to greasy stuff so i can’t handle eating this without a plate under it, but a paper towel might work for you if you can’t get a plate.

the hardest part for me in this is husking/getting all the hairs off the corn, but needing no dishes for a hot, flavorful treat is really nice.

Not gourmet, BUT here are some low-spoon breakfast tips:

1-Spoon

2-Spoon

3-Spoon

Sooo… I apologise if this is something that got posted before! But I just had it tonight, so I thought I should share.

Bread Pizzas

Ingredients: slices of bread, tomato sauce/puree, any toppings you fancy. 

Pretty simple, really. You put the sauce/puree on the bread, then add your toppings. Personally I like Pepperami & cheese. You can literally just get a tin of sweetcorn and sprinkle some on if that’s all you have the spoons for. Then, stick it in the oven for a few minutes. Five at the most in my experience - you’re trying to toast the bread and melt any cheese you put on, and that’s all. 

Depending on the toppings, you could make something decently healthy rather quickly. It takes about ten minutes, max, and that’s only if you have stuff to chop up (like peppers). Or you can just throw on some sauce and cheese and have a cheesy bread pizza. Doesn’t exactly taste like real pizza, but it’s still pretty good!

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Muffins (3-4 spoons)

I found this recipe online (can’t remember where or I’d give more specific credit) and I really like it. You need 1 box of spice cake mix and 1 can of pumpkin (not pie filling just canned pumpkin). Mix the two things together. Then you can put them in a cake pan or, if you feel up to it, pour them into muffin cups in a muffin tray. That takes a little more setup (and owning muffin cups) but it makes cleanup easier. Then you just bake them for the length of time on the cake mix box. No eggs, no oil, and they’re delicious.

Green Peanut Butter Smoothie

I love making smoothies when I can’t do much else, and this one is a fully balanced meal (but you actually don’t taste the green part that much) 1 cup milk 1 banana A few tbsp peanut butter ~4 leaves of kale *optional - dash of cinnamon & nutmeg Put all in the blender, blend until creamy, drink! If I feel up to it I’ll take the rib of the kale leaf out bc it doesn’t blend as well but it works using the whole leaf too Can be vegan with soy/other milks

Blueberry Pomegranate Milkshake Recipe

This recipe is great for when you need to get something in when you don’t feel like eating. It doesn’t weigh you down and is easy to drink. It may take some spoons at first to figure out how you like it, but once you do it is an easy way to get something in.

Ingredients:

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

1/3 cup Pom Wonderful juice

Put it all in a blender and blend away

You may need to adjust the amount of pomegranate juice or add more ice cream depending on how sweet the ice cream is/the flavor of the juice. I find that Pom Wonderful has a bit stronger flavor than other pomegranate juices so if you use another juice you probably will need ½ cup. This is a good starting ratio though so that you won’t need to add a ton of ice cream to get rid of a pomegranate overload.

If you’re feeling adventurous, blueberries + pomegranate juice + yogurt can make a great smoothie as well, but I don’t have a solid recipe for that.