In a hurry and have to feed yourself or the whole family? The obvious choice is to pick up a take-away on the way home. If you only do this occasionally there’s no problem, but it’s not a good idea to use fast foods as regular meal substitutes. Take-aways and fast foods are much fattier than almost anything you might cook from scratch. Rosemary Stanton has lots of super-fast food ideas that are nutritious, and don’t take any more time than waiting in a queue for unhealthy junk food.
Asian noodles
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil (olive or sesame)
- 400g pack of fresh noodles from the refrigerated section of the supermarket
- Thai or Asian-style seasoning, to taste
- 400g pack of chicken strips
- 1 onion
- 1 red capsicum
- 150g baby spinach
- 250g mushrooms
- 250g mung bean sprouts
- 1 lime
- soy sauce
- fresh coriander
Method
Chop the onion, capsicum and the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the onion, Thai seasoning to taste, and the chicken strips. Cook for a few minutes, then add the red capsicum, mushrooms and noodles, and toss until they’re well heated. Next throw in the baby spinach and the mung bean sprouts (they only take a minute). Finally add a squeeze of lime juice and a dash of soy sauce. Garnish with fresh coriander. Serves 4.
Simple stir-fry
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 2 cups water
- 400g boneless fish (or meat or chicken) cut into strips
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 teaspoons chopped ginger (ready prepared ginger in a jar is fine)
- 3-4 cups sliced vegetables (zucchini, carrot, capsicum, broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, pumpkin, asparagus etc.) or 500g ready-cut stir-fry vegetables
- soy sauce
Method
Place the rice and water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, turn the heat to low and, while the rice is absorbing all the water, stir-fry the fish (or meat or chicken). Next add the garlic, ginger and the vegetables. Finish the dish with a splash of soy sauce. Serves 3-4.
Seafood Pasta
Ingredients
- 400g curly pasta (quick cook)
- 375g bottle of pasta sauce
- 400g can of salmon or tuna
- grated parmesan cheese
- 1 packet of mixed lettuce
Method
Cook the pasta. Heat the pasta sauce and mix with the salmon or tuna. Pour onto the drained pasta, and add a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese. Serve with a tossed salad to balance the meal. Serves 4.
Dinner in a flash!
When you literally only have a couple of minutes to spare, buy good quality soup that only needs heating, or you could have scrambled eggs and sweet corn, or good old baked beans on toast.
Further reading
Rosemary Stanton’s Complete Book of Food & Nutrition (Simon & Schuster, revised edition 1995, rrp $29.95).