Some excellent products to try include Bean Cuisine, Rice-A-Roni (yes, that venerable side dish makes an excellent base for entrees), and rice mixes, salad blends, and pasta mixes. When you buy one of these products, read the description and ingredient list carefully. Then think about what would taste good served alongside the mix - and add it to the mix instead!
The Busy Cooks Recipe Formula is: Mix + meat + sauce extender + more flavor = DINNER!
One recipe I make often, and vary every time, starts with a vermicelli and rice garlic flavored mix. One time, I may add frozen cooked meatballs, sour cream, and some chopped onions. Another day, canned chicken, spaghetti sauce, and kalamata olives make a completely different recipe with very simple changes.
Meats may include cooked ground beef, pork sausage, cooked shrimp, canned or raw chicken, canned or frozen crabmeat, frozen cooked meatballs, frozen seasoned chicken strips, deli meats, and many more. For a sauce extender, try sour cream, ricotta cheese, guacamole, spaghetti sauce, salsa, stir fry sauces, salad dressings, yogurt, cheese spreads and sauces, tomato sauce or paste, or sweet and sour sauce, among others. The flavor ingredient can be cheese, onions, garlic, roasted red peppers, olives, sun dried or fresh tomatoes, spices and herbs, or more of the featured flavor in the mix.
You can leave part of this recipe formula out, too, and it will still work. Feel like a vegetarian meal? Leave out the meat part of the equation. The flavor enhancer may not be necessary if you want a milder dish. Use your imagination, experiment, and have fun with these recipes and the process!
The Mixes
- Success Rice
- Old El Paso Rice Mixes
- Zatarains
- Bean Cuisine
- Rice-a-Roni
- Green Giant
- Earthbound Farm
- ReadyPac
