Easy Recipes for People with Chronic Pain ?? Please advise:)

I haven't been cooking often due to pain, but I would like to start a recipe box filled with EASY recipes. I thought that we could start a thread filled with easy recipes.

I'll start.

Pot Roast and Potatoes in the Crock Pot
Cooking Time: 7.5  hours on High but varies depending on size of roast. The roast should get to the point where it breaks apart with a fork very easily.

Ingredients:
Pot Roast
2 large Onions
Baby Red Potatoes (or any type will do)
1/2 teaspoon of Adobo Seasoning
Canola Oil
Water

Wash roast. Put roast in Crock Pot. In a cup, mix together 1/2 teaspoon of Adobo Seasoning, 3/4 cup of oil and 3/4 cup of water. Cut onions in thick rings and put on top of roast. Pour mixture of liquid (Adobo, oil, water) on top of roast and onions. Cook for 6 hours. Wash potatoes. Put potatoes in Crock Pot. Cook for another hour or 1 1/2 hours. That's it!

Also, you can add baby carrots when you add the potatoes if you like them. It's pretty hard to ruin things in the Crock Pot...Once, I left my roast in there for much longer than 6 hours and it was fine:) I have a Crock Pot that has a timer, so it's great. Finally, you can buy Adobo Seasoning at any grocery store in the Spanish food section. It's great. You only use a little bit because it's strong. I get the kind with the yellow cap. It has no pepper in it...just salt, garlic, and some other spices.

[optimus22mac]

Sounds great! And definitely easy enough:) Thanks so much! I'll try to post something also:)

[peekawho]

Try looking over in the Healthy Cooking community (of which I'm co-CL).  If you look in the archives, there are hundreds of delicious, easy, and mostly healthy recipes.

You could start a thread there, for easy recipes useful for those days when pain has us struggling.

[peekawho]

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/280

[KittyKat23_78]

Great idea. Last year I was cooking so much, I was home with a baby and feeling pretty good. Since I went back to work and my pain has gotten so much worse it's really hard to cook...especially healthy foods! Thanks for the recipe!

[peekawho]

Here's one:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Healthy-Cooking/Easy-Crockpot-Chicken-Mess/show/1361022

[Ashelen]

I have a dessert recipe that couldnt possibly be easier..

Mini-eclair pies

2 packs of mini- no-cook pie crusts (you can find them in the cake aisle...they're about 2inch-diameter crumb pie crusts)
1 large package of Jell-o pudding, vanilla (instant...or you can buy a few packs of the already-mixed Jell-O pudding in the refridgerated section if you want to be even easier)
1 can chocolate frosting (we use milk chocolate fudge but any sort of chocolate will work)

place can of frosting (unopened) into a small dish of warm water to slightly warm the frosting and make it easier to spread. mix up the pudding and spoon it into the pie crusts. spread a thin (or thick!) layer of chocolate frosting over the top of the pudding. refridgerate for at least 2-4 hours...serve!

easy peasy and everyone LOVES it...and it's the perfect serving size with not too many calories....gotta love it ;). you can replace any of the ingredients with a lowfat or no-sugar version if you want it to be healthier.




another easy recipe:

marinate chosen type of chicken in italian dressing as it defrosts...cook on the stove in a small amount of the same dressing you used to marinate...serve on noodles, or as a dish with mashed potatoes and veggies.


and my personal favorite: easy chicken pot pie

buy a pair of pie crusts
cooked and cut chicken, ready-to-eat (in the frozen/fridge section)
can of carrots
can of diced potatoes
2 cans cream of chicken soup
frozen peas, corn, plus whatever vegetables other than that you would like (I recommend onions or celery to add a sharper flavor :) ).


prepare frozen veggies, then mix with canned veggies together in a large bowl. toss the pieces of chicken in the bowl and add the cream of chicken soup, you can substitute one can of cream of chicken for a can of cream of mushroom if you like a saltier flavor, or you can substitute one can for a can of chicken gravy if you like a richer flavor.

pour into one pie crust and cover with the other pie crust. cook in a (preheated) oven at 350* until the top is bubbling liquid and brown. enjoy!



I have a TON of recipes but they're not all easy...it depends on HOW easy you want them to be. some of them take a lot of prep but not too much cooking...the prep can be done over several days and the cooking can be done in a matter of minutes before guests come over or before family dinner. I'm a BIG cook in our house, lol.

[flower12345]

Thank you!

[Sarajmt]

I do the chicken pie thing myself.  You can also make a casserole with the same basic ingredients using rice or egg noodles.  I usually throw some cheese in along with dry mustard and poultry seasoning.  

The Italian dressing marinated chicken can be done in bulk.  Grill a bunch of it and freeze what you don't use.

I buy huge chubs of ground beef.  I cook most of it.  I make some of the cooked into taco filling.  Divide all the cooked into baggies and freeze. Then you're ready to make tacos, quick spaghetti, hamburger helper, mexican dishes, etc.  The rest I cut into patties, lay them out on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and freeze.  When frozen, wrap well and store until ready to use.

I buy 3 or 4 whole chickens.  I roast 2 or 3 at a time.  Depending on who's home for dinner, we have 1 or 2 of them for dinner.  I usually stuff these with either a lemon or celery and onion. The rest I debone and freeze the meat for later use.  I use the remaining chicken for homemade broth.  Throw it along with tons of veggies into a stock pot and simmer for hours.  If you refrigerate it overnight, you can scoop off the fat.  And about the veggies, use the ends of celery that you usually throw away.  Onions, skins and all.  Same with garlic.  As long as it's not moldy or slimy, you can use veggies you'd normally throw out.

When the broth is ready, you can make quick tortilla soup, chicken and dumplings or just chicken soup.

So for me, prep is the key.  On a good day, I get in the kitchen and get food ready for the next round of on the couch days!