Sautees, Stews, Bakes
* Sautees: *
Oil your pan. Personally I use coconut oil & a cast-iron pan but do your research and find what works for you & your budget.
Start heating your pan (low, 25%)
Chop your toughest vegetables first. For me these are sweet potatoes & carrots & beets. Many recipes online say start with gaplic & onions but I've found that they burn too easily.
I slice the tough veggies into slices so that a lot of surface area covers the pan. Experiment.
Throw the tough veggies into pan, turn heat up between 35-50%.
While they cook, prepare "softer" vegetables - Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Ginger (great for circulation!). Chop and throw in.
As the tougher vegetables soften (6+ minutes), throw in Kale or Spinach for vitamins & flavor. These will shrink significantly so you may have to load multiple handfuls into the pan in sequence.
As everything cooks down softly (sample it as you feel the veggies getting soft), add in: Eggs and/or Meat.
If you do eggs I recommend pouring into a bowl, mixing yolk & white, adding spices (cumin, paprika, salt, cinnamon) first. Definitely add spice to your meat - and cutting your meat will help you gauge its Done-ness well.
Cook until done, stir throughout every 20-45 seconds or so so nothing burns. Add oil if needed to avoid burning your pan. Be liberal on this to prevent burnt food and hardware.
When it's all ready, turn your fire off and use an oven mitt to grip the skillet. Use a spoon to pour into a bowl. Let cool for 30 seconds and enjoy!
* Stews: *
Same principle as before - prepare heat, start with the tough ones.
Boil your water in a pot. Add in lentils & quinoa - these each take ~20+ minutes. Let boil for a few minutes while you chop tougher vegetables.
Through in the tough veggies, turn your fire down to medium. Add spices.
Add greens - I recommend mustard greens, bok choy for flavor and vitamins.
Drop a stick of butter in to add some much needed fat and improve the consistency. Or, mix tomatoes in after cooking to thicken the consistency.
Make sure you use more water than you need -- better to use too much than burn your food.
20-30 minutes later, you've got yourself a nice meal. I use 1 cup of lentils + 1 cup of quinoa or oats at at ime, with all the veggies & eggs & meat from the sauteeing, you'll have plenty of food for at least a day.
* Granola Bakes: *
Open your oven, clean it. Remove burnt chunks and food. Close the door & preheat your oven to 325. Before this started, you shopped bulk and filled mason jars with nuts of your choosing to avoid wasteful & unhealthy plastic bags. I recommend: Excess Peanuts or Virigina Peanuts. A massive Oat base. Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds. Pour all of these onto a baking sheet inside of a baking pan. Pour several spoons of honey. Add salt. Add cinnamon. Mix around.
Stick in oven, cook for 30 minutes, remove. Enjoy.
I pretty much live off of these meals. Actual ingredients vary with the season and mood but the principles apply. Hopefully you can follow along and try these! Vary spices for more variety. You can freeze food to store for a long time - I recommend freezing half of a huge stew and fridging the rest to save yourself time.