I love cooking, but I just can't always do it.  Sometimes I'm busy and don't have time.  And, I admit, sometimes I just don't feel like it.  Yet we still have to eat!  What to do?  Well, once in a while not feeling like cooking means we go out - or is it that we don't want to cook because we want to go out? At any rate, sometimes going out is still too much work or takes to much time. On these nights we have what I call "Foodie fast food".  Foodie fast food is a meal that is easy and fast to prepare.  Sometimes is also something we would never serve to anyone else!  That is, its just plain normal food that we don't have to think about to make, that we can make on short notice, and that tastes ok but is not anywhere near spectacular.  In some cases, sadly, our Foodie fast food even comes from a box!

I know other Foodies have such meals but I also know a lot of them don't like to talk about them.  I'm going to be brave and let the elephant out of the pantry.  We eat pizza, sausages, and macaroni and cheese as our Foodie fast food.  I'll get to the pizza and sausages in a bit but let me address the macaroni and cheese first.  Sadly, yes, I'm talking Kraft, although we also make a couple of exceptional homemade macaroni and cheese dishes these are not in the Foodie fast food category.  Perhaps I shouldn't admit that we eat this but I happen to know others eat it as well.  In fact, a few weeks ago I saw a whole forum topic about variations to Kraft macaroni and cheese.  Unfortunately, as I now look for it I can't find it but I think it was on either Chocolate & Zucchini or 101cookbooks .  Whereever it was, many people admitted to eating boxed macaroni and cheese and among these were many Foodies.  You could tell they were Foodies because they didn't just make the macaroni and cheese following the box instructions.  No they accessorized, adding things like tomatoes, tuna, and many more unusual ingredients.  Now you may be asking why would you ever eat that?  Well macaroni and cheese is our last resort meal when we really have very little choice.  It's for the nights that we get home at 9pm or later to find the other didn't make dinner, or to find that we failed to get what we needed for dinner, or find we just don't have the energy to do anything other than eat.  Recently these nights are much much less common but in our early years of marriage, when I was graduate student, they were more frequent than I care to admit. 

A level up from the macaroni and cheese Foodie fast food, at least for us, is pizza.  It’s a level up because this time I'm not talking about frozen pizza - although we did eat that during our house remodel that is another story in itself.  Instead what I am referring to is sort of a fast version of homemade pizza.  It consists of a pre-made crust, most often Boboli, sauce in a jar, cheese we shred, and sautéed vegetables.  While it does involve prepping, stove top cooking, and the oven, we consider it very easy and no recipe is involved.  I actually like the pizza we make and it’s not really very bad for us unless we really over load it with cheese.  Other advantages are that it lets us use up cheese and veggies we have sitting around.  And it lasts two nights.  I'd say we make pizza once or twice a month.  But would I ever serve it to someone else?  Maybe, as a last resort, if I needed a quick easy meal but I'd rather our guests get something a bit more interesting.

During the summer months we have one other Foodie fast food dish we make.  Grilled sausages or grilled chicken served with fries.  These are really really easy for me because Husband does the grilling!  We typically buy a chicken based sausage from our local neighborhood grocer and serve them on some hefty Dutch crunch rolls.  I like the sausage well charred so it’s nice and crunchy.  Lately, we've been making our own fries to go with them.  We just cut up a couple of potatoes, mix them with a bit of olive oil, and bake for 20 minutes.  It’s easy and I believe both better tasting and better for you than store bought fries.  At the end of the summer, if we've had a good crop of tomatoes, we'll even serve them with our own ketchup.  As with the pizza, some cooking is involved but it’s generally fun and quick.  I'd serve these to guests but again only if we had other things planned and just wanted a quick meal.

That's it - now I've revealed my Foodie fast food.  The macaroni and cheese is clearly the worst but as I said, we really don't eat it that much anymore - really!  But what about you  Foodies?  What do you eat when you don't want to cook and don't go out?  I shared - now it’s your turn.  Add a comment to this post and tell us - what is your Foodie fast food???

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Mom, R.N., cook, gardener Nancy C. (Unregistered) 2006-10-12 15:14:58 Here is my favorite fast recipe. Good enuf for company! but easy enuf for a quick family dinner. Mom's Quick Chicken from Jaques Pepin's The Short-cut Cook As many skinless chicken breasts as you need 1-2 Tbsp. butter or margarine Salt, pepper Lime juice, fresh or bottled (1-2 Tbsp.) Seasoning blend: (I always have some mixed up and handy) Equal parts of the following dried herbs: marjoram, thyme, savory, sage, fennel, basil and rosemary. If you don’t have all on hand when mixing, not to worry, it will still be good, though fennel does add a lot. Wash chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle chicken breasts on one side with a little salt, pepper and ½ tsp. of seasoning blend. Melt about 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine in pan on low heat. When melted, turn heat to high and cook chicken on seasoned side for 3 minutes. In the meantime, sprinkle salt, pepper and seasoning on uncooked side, flip and cook for 3 minutes more then cover and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal. Before serving, add lime to juices to drippings and pour over chicken.

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