1 Eggs

To be honest, I usually get eggs from our chicken coop… I am very lucky that my husband takes care of the chickens and they happily make an egg every day. That way I always have eggs in my fridge and if I need more I can just buy some. 

So, for a quick life-saving omelette, I usually count two eggs for each person. In a bowl, I beat the eggs and add whatever I can find in the fridge to make the omelette filling. I definitely add cheese, preferably gouda or parmesan or feta. Other ingredients I use are mushrooms, coloured peppers, onion, corn, Frank’s sausage, baby tomatoes, bacon, chicken leftovers, roasted potatoes…

2 Pasta

I’ve never met a person who doesn’t eat pasta. Everyone in my family loves it. We can easily eat pasta every day, at every meal, including breakfast! Even though we are pasta fanatics, I only cook pasta once a week for health reasons.

I serve the pasta with a sauce which doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to cook. The easiest for me is tomato sauce with onion and red peppers or cream sauce with bacon and mushrooms. Otherwise, I heat the oven (180-200 °C) while I wait for the pasta to cook, and then I pour the pasta into a pyrex and add 2-3 scrambled eggs, with cheese and a glass of milk. After 10 minutes in the oven, the dinner is ready to be served.

3 Crepes

There are so many recipes for crepes in cookbooks or online, or you can buy ready-made crepe mix at the supermarket. I prefer to make them, by mixing one cup of all-purpose flour, two cups of milk, one egg and a pinch of salt. 

When I’m done with the crepes, I fill them with cheese and ham, roll them up and serve them. If I have guests, I put the rolled crepes in a pyrex and pour some heavy cream and extra cheese. After baking them for 10 minutes in preheated oven at 180 °C I have a delicious dish.

4 Noodles

This is the easiest of all! I ALWAYS have noodles in my kitchen drawer. I heat water in a pot, add the noodles when it boils and follow the instructions. In less than 10 minutes you’ll have the first bite in your mouth!!!

5 Salads

At the dinner table, there’s no way I’m serving just salad…because I would end up being eaten for dinner. But if I have food leftovers I will serve a good portion of salad, preferably green leafy vegetables and I will add whatever I can find in the fridge, such as cheese, boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, corn, peppers, etc.

6 Chicken Nuggets

I don’t usually buy chicken nuggets from the supermarket, I like to make my own recipe. So, I slice the chicken fillet into strips no more than 2 cm thick and add spices such as salt, pepper, sweet paprika, ginger, turmeric and garlic. I also add some ketchup, mustard or barbecue sauce and a little olive oil. I put breadcrumbs and oat flakes in the blender and blend. Before frying the nuggets, I cover them with the crumbled breadcrumbs and oat flakes mixture.

7 Roasted Potatoes

For my taste, baby potatoes are the best. After boiling them, I put them on a greased baking sheet and smash them a little. Then I add herbs and a little oil. I put them on the upper level of the oven on the grill for 5-10 minutes, until crispy. 

8 Roasted Vegetables

Chop various vegetables and mix them with salt, pepper, oil and a little balsamic cream. Put them on a baking tray and then in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30 minutes.

9 Risotto

I love mushroom risotto. You can just saute an onion and a packet of portobello mushrooms. Then add half a kilo of carolina rice or glazed rice (or any other kind of rice appropriate for risotto) and 2 cups of boiling water. Continue adding boiling water until the rice is boiled. Add salt and pepper to taste. At the end, add truffle oil and about 300g of parmesan. The taste is amazing!

10 Grilled Steaks, sausages, chicken and meat fillets

On a tray, I put the marinated meat or sausages of our choice and cook them on the grill. For the marinade, I add salt, pepper and barbeque sauce. The most important is to frequently rotate the meat so that it cooks evenly.

11 Hamburgers 

I always have ground beef ready for burgers in the freezer. Once a month I buy a kilo of ground beef and add herbs, onions and ketchup. I flatten the burgers and freeze them for an emergency! 

When an emergency happens, I defrost as many burgers as I need and then cook them. While they’re cooking, I use anything I can find in the fridge that can be added to the burgers. I usually slice tomatoes and onions, I grate carrots and cabbage and boil some eggs. Additionally, I mix yoghurt with paprika, mayonnaise and ketchup. Furthermore, I saute bacon and red peppers. 

Once, I tried caramelised onions and everyone loved them. In a pan, I put some olive oil, onions and sugar. I fry them until soft and then add salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Absolutely marvellous! 

I serve everything on the table, and everyone adds whatever they want to their bread.

12 Fried cheese

Fried cheese is not a main course for our dinner, but it is definitely one of our favourite dishes. There are many kinds of cheese you can try in this recipe. Sometimes I use feta, but I usually prefer yellow cheese.  I fry it in a little oil until it turns gold and serve it straight away!

13 Casserole vegetables

A very valuable food is vegetables in the pot, such as okra, fresh beans and peas. I buy a bag of frozen vegetables from the supermarket and I add onions, carrots, tomato juice and herbs. I cook for no more than 30 minutes and dinner is ready!

14 Cheese pies, sausage pies and pizza

I always have cheese pies, sausage pies and pizza in my freezer, which I have either made myself or bought ready-made from the supermarket. I bake them in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes and dinner is ready!

15 Soups

It’s an easy choice, quick and nutritious. I love mushroom soup and I like mixed vegetable soup. For the mushroom soup, I add one or two kinds of mushrooms, onion and some heavy cream at the end. For the vegetable soup, I slice the vegetables or buy a bag of mixed frozen vegetables from the supermarket. Just boil them and add rice or noodles.

16 Quinoa

The first time we tried quinoa, I said to the kids that it was a kind of pasta… so they all ate the salad! 

Fill a bowl with cold water and soak the quinoa for 5 minutes to remove the natural coating on the quinoa that can make it bitter. Rinse the quinoa and place it in a pot with 1 litre of boiling water. Let it boil for 15-20 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the salad. Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice in a bowl. Add the diced vegetables and toss everything together. Drain and rinse the quinoa to cool and add it to the salad. 

17 Salmon and shrimp

Salmon and shrimp are ingredients that can create many easy recipes. One of the quickest recipes is to cook them in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes and accompany it with rice and salad. Alternatively, make a sauce for pasta or rice using a tomato or double cream sauce and a little cheese.