If citrus-glazed salmon and harvest vegetable ragout with braised short ribs sounds delicious but out of your budget for time and groceries, join the crowd. Years ago these would have been recipes that I would try just for the fun of it but now with two jobs, two teenagers, a dog and husband (who by the way doesn’t know a ragout from a Ragu) it makes no sense. But since I love good food and feel like I really am more satisfied with good tasting food rather that quantities of food, I have found myself reaching into my arsenal of experience in the kitchen to continue eating well on a budget of time and money. When considering time, I have developed a fairly quick and easy way to look at a recipe and determine if it is too time intensive or not and I rarely consider the recipe authors estimate of “hands on” time. These folks most be entering a kitchen that is spotless and ready for action and mine usually is not. Basically you have to learn to read between the lines and see what is really required.

I am pretty sure that I have never prepared an entire meal in 30 minutes unless it was already made and all I had to do was heat it up. So if you only have 30 minutes, plan to buy prepared food or have a sandwich. So I begin knowing that it will take 45 minutes to an hour before we eat. With that in mind I will choose a recipe with 3 or less ingredients that must be washed dried or chopped. I am pretty handy with a kitchen knife, but more than three labor intensive ingredients gets too lengthy for a quick dinner. And contrary to what you may think, a long ingredient list is not always indicative of a time consuming dish. If the list is long but mainly dried herbs and spices that don’t have to be carefully measured it will probably go quickly. I also consider the type of time I have on my hands. Some “quick” dishes require me to stand at the stove the entire time to add ingredients, stir, wait for a boil etc. It can be better use of time to put a whole chicken or pork roast in the oven for an hour while I do other things, like exercise and take a shower. There is also the added bonus of leftovers that I can remake in a day or two for a whole new meal. One of my favorite things to do is prepare a large piece of meat, such as a pork loin roast, generically first, just salt, pepper and maybe garlic. The next night I dress it up as an Italian style stew with tomatoes, white beans and some basil.

The money budget is a totally different animal altogether. I have watched the cost of our weekly grocery trips sky rocket in the last few years and now that I am basically cooking for four adults, we are really feeling the increase. So when it comes to budgets I have found that learning how to cook has been more beneficial in maintaining a healthy diet and a tasty one on a tight budget. I am not talking fancy stuff but basic things like how to sauté a piece of meat and de-glaze a pan for a delicious sauce. If you can do this with any degree of skill you can apply it to chicken, fish, and many cuts of beef that may be on sale in your local grocery store. In the same way, discovering what spices and tastes you and your family enjoy, and applying those to the meat of the week. You can take any plain meat or vegetable and turn it into an Italian, Chinese or Mexican inspired dish with the right spices. This concept can obviously be applied to vegetables in the same way. Use soy sauce and sesame oil for Asian, ground cumin and chili powder for Mexican and oregano and basil for Italian. Don’t be afraid of trying something new with an old recipe, just use what you like. Here is one of my favorite soup recipes that started out with Asian flavors but can easily become a Mexican inspired dish as well.

Basic Noodle Soup
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
6 cups chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cups celery or carrots chopped or one cup of each
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large Dutch oven heat the olive oil (use sesame oil also if making Asian flavor) on medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the celery, carrots or both and sauté for 4-5 minutes then add the garlic and continue to stir for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring the heat up to medium-high until the broth begins a slow boil. (For Asian flavor add the bay leaf now. For Mexican flavor add the tomatoes, green chilies, and cumin.)Add noodles and reduce heat slightly, cook for about 7 minutes and add the chicken. Continue at medium heat for about 4 minutes until noodles are tender and chicken is heated through. Remove bay leaf before serving. (Add soy sauce last for Asian flavor.)

For Asian flavor
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
Bay leaf

For Mexican flavor
Canola or olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chopped green chilies
3 tsp. ground cumin
Chili powder

I probably could make this soup in under 30 minutes if no one interrupted me…but what would be the fun in that!