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Struggle food
Sep. 9th, 2023 02:47 pmI've already covered my snacks, but sometimes you need "real" food, or at least something warm and filling. Yes, you can make this on the stove, but I figured out how to do this in the microwave while working, so I can have a fairly low-spoon struggle meal during the workday. I'll also do it when not working, and use the cooking and waiting time to make myself do things besides sit on the couch. Did I mention struggle?
Noodle Pouches
what you need:
Noodle pouch or box of choice
ingredients for microwave directions (mine calls for water/butter/milk)
microwave safe container large enough
optional add-ins of cooked meat or veggies
what you need to do:
First and foremost, make sure you're using a microwave safe GLASS/PYREX dish that's large enough. Your gladware isn't going to survive this. Mine is a 7c Pyrex bowl and it's plenty big
I also use my 1.5qt pyrex casserole dish with little handles which is a nice bonus. The 4c pyrex measuring cup is NOT going to be big enough. Trust me.
open your pouch and dump it into the bowl. rather than the milk and water, I add 2.25c water, and a scoop (2 tbsp) dry milk powder. add the 1tbsp butter, dicing it up if it's cold. give everything a good mix, trying to break up the clumps of powder, and then nuke it for 7 minutes. If everything is clean and accessible, I can do this in just a couple minutes and get back to my desk to work.
My microwave says its 900 watts, but tends to over-cook things. It's also got the handy feature that it'll beep every minute once it's done until you open the door. ADHD WIN!!!
Let it go a couple minutes, then go back and stir it well, making sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. This is where I add frozen cooked ground beef* to bulk this up. A generous handful, maybe 3/4 cup? be sure to stir that in well so it's broken up and coated in the liquid. Nuke for another 7 minutes. Again, let it sit for a bit before rescuing it and trying to eat it. the glass will be HOT, as will the contents. If your container doesn't have handles, some sort of grippy hot pads would be super-useful here. The sauce will be super-runny until it's had time to cool and thicken. As a bonus, you could probably shave 3 minutes off the total cook time and give it 10 minutes to sit at the end, and the noodles would still be done. For once, dwelling on something works to our advantage!!
full disclosure: I have not tried this with broccoli added, but have two bags in my freezer intending to.
The days I have this for lunch with ground beef in it (and again, full disclosure: i'll eat the whole thing), I almost never want or need dinner. I'm working towards making this two meals, but i'm not there yet.
*about 7lb of ground beef will fit in your typical 8qt oval slow cooker. Chuck that stuff in there, cook on high for 1-1.5 hours, stirring, chopping and draining frequently, until it's all browned and cooked through. Drain what you can, then spread the cooked meat into two 13x9ish containers lined with plenty of papers towels to finish draining, cover and chill overnight. load into quart-size freezer bags in whatever size quantity works for you. 2c loosely packed/scooped is what I use for recipes calling for about a pound of uncooked ground beef. Taco night just got that much easier
Noodle Pouches
what you need:
Noodle pouch or box of choice
ingredients for microwave directions (mine calls for water/butter/milk)
microwave safe container large enough
optional add-ins of cooked meat or veggies
what you need to do:
First and foremost, make sure you're using a microwave safe GLASS/PYREX dish that's large enough. Your gladware isn't going to survive this. Mine is a 7c Pyrex bowl and it's plenty big
I also use my 1.5qt pyrex casserole dish with little handles which is a nice bonus. The 4c pyrex measuring cup is NOT going to be big enough. Trust me.
open your pouch and dump it into the bowl. rather than the milk and water, I add 2.25c water, and a scoop (2 tbsp) dry milk powder. add the 1tbsp butter, dicing it up if it's cold. give everything a good mix, trying to break up the clumps of powder, and then nuke it for 7 minutes. If everything is clean and accessible, I can do this in just a couple minutes and get back to my desk to work.
My microwave says its 900 watts, but tends to over-cook things. It's also got the handy feature that it'll beep every minute once it's done until you open the door. ADHD WIN!!!
Let it go a couple minutes, then go back and stir it well, making sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. This is where I add frozen cooked ground beef* to bulk this up. A generous handful, maybe 3/4 cup? be sure to stir that in well so it's broken up and coated in the liquid. Nuke for another 7 minutes. Again, let it sit for a bit before rescuing it and trying to eat it. the glass will be HOT, as will the contents. If your container doesn't have handles, some sort of grippy hot pads would be super-useful here. The sauce will be super-runny until it's had time to cool and thicken. As a bonus, you could probably shave 3 minutes off the total cook time and give it 10 minutes to sit at the end, and the noodles would still be done. For once, dwelling on something works to our advantage!!
full disclosure: I have not tried this with broccoli added, but have two bags in my freezer intending to.
The days I have this for lunch with ground beef in it (and again, full disclosure: i'll eat the whole thing), I almost never want or need dinner. I'm working towards making this two meals, but i'm not there yet.
*about 7lb of ground beef will fit in your typical 8qt oval slow cooker. Chuck that stuff in there, cook on high for 1-1.5 hours, stirring, chopping and draining frequently, until it's all browned and cooked through. Drain what you can, then spread the cooked meat into two 13x9ish containers lined with plenty of papers towels to finish draining, cover and chill overnight. load into quart-size freezer bags in whatever size quantity works for you. 2c loosely packed/scooped is what I use for recipes calling for about a pound of uncooked ground beef. Taco night just got that much easier
