cooking short cuts, secrets ? please share?

When you have to get your veggies ready in a hurry, try putting them in a (microwave safe) plastic bowl and running them on high in the microwave for 5 minutes beforehand. This will soften the veggies inside and then it only takes a couple of minutes to finish them off with your usual method.

This is especially good when stir frying a collection of harder vegetables with softer ones that cook at different speeds.... I always "pre-soften" the brocolli and carrots and other root veg after preparing them for the pan.

Suzianne above has beaten me to it. Back in medieval times, when I was a kid, it took my mum HOURS to make the 'stew' on a Tuesday - using remnants of the Sunday joint.

I can do it nowadays in 10-15 minutes.

2 cans of Scotch Broth - replete with pearl barley, a can of tinned potatoes, handful of frozen garden peas - in a saucepan - HEAT. 10 minutes later - thrash 4 Aunt Bessie' frozen dumplings through the microwave oven - for 2 minutes - add to saucepan. And hey presto - a stew within 15 minutes at most - quicker than my mum could even make the dumplings.

OK - the meat content is less - but I'm not a great meat-eater anyway - reliably informed the nunutritionalalue of tinned/fresh veg is marginal - and dumplings have high energy value or whatever.

But the BONUS is - such a meal happily coincides with most segments of tv programmes with adverts every 15 minutes.

All 'prepared' - cooked - dished up - whilst KFC, McMcDonald'st al, advertise the merits of 'fast food'.

; ))

Whenever I chop onions, I run the fan over the stove to vent the fumes. No tears!

If there are any onions left over, instead of throwing away the excess I chop them fine, portion them into 1 Tbs. amounts, wrap in small squares of cling film, put them in a plastic container and freeze. Then when I need a small amount of chopped onions for a recipe, I can take out as many of these 1 Tbs. portions as I need. It saves prep time because I don't need to chop a whole onion every time I need just a little bit.

I make a great pull-apart bread. Just thaw out the frozen bread and let it rise. Beat it back down, tear off pieces about 1 1/2 inch around, roll them into balls, dip in butter and then roll in a brown sugar, cinnamon mixture. Put each individual ball into a bread pan. Once the bread is in the pan I sprinkle the extra cinnamon mixture on top. I like to top it off with pecans then bake it. It's easy, delicious and one of my family's favorites.

ADD:OOPS - Forgot to mention that the bread has to rise a 2nd time before you bake it.

I keep several cans of whole potatoes and sliced carrots in the cupboard. They are perfect for making stew or chicken pot pie and they eliminate a ton of prep work.

I use crock-pots for making suppers. I can assemble the ingredients and get the meal started right after breakfast, then have my day free for other things and come home to a well cooked supper.

When my bananas are into their 1st day of being over ripe, I make a quick version of "Bananas Foster" to save what's left.

I slice banana into microwavable bowl. Sprinkle w/ brown sugar & cinnamon. Add a pat of butter.

Nuke for 1-2 min (depending on quantity of bananas & size of bowl).

I don't like rum so I use Gran Marnier b/c I LIKE Gran Marnier.

But I don't flambé it. That's a waste of good alcohol!

Whenever wifey makes curry, lasagne, casserole, various crumbles, etc. she always makes more than needed, the balance she puts in purpose bought foil containers, puts them in the freezer for another day. Also she makes lots of little choc, jam, treacle, puddings also put in the freezer.

yum, sounds good. Greek yogurt with fruit: I buy a berry mix(frozen), put some in bowl with sprinkle of sugar, nuke for 1 min, top with plain greek yogurt. Better than fruit in yogurt you buy. Also make what I call my donut: whole wheat taco(soft), spread combo of cream cheese and powdered sugar, fruit(frozen nuked 1 min) and then yogurt. wrap and eat like a donut. mmmmm good.

I always have canned cream soups and dried pasta on hand for a quick casserole when there is too much leftover meat.

I make loads of crumble all in one go, freeze it in small portions of cling film - and use it when needed.

Saves a lot of work.