SJP

I know I mentioned earlier that I do not like raw tomatoes in my food. I probably drive my family crazy by picking out all the fresh tomatoes from my salads and sandwiches. However, I do like tomatoes in bruschetta. What's not to like, sourdough bread, a bit of garlic, shallots, some cheese, and I have a perfect bite ready in no time. I know cheese is not a traditional bruschetta topping, but I do like it. My bread of choice is usually sourdough, but you can use a french loaf or ciabatta or whatever bread is lying around in the house.

One of my favorite meals from a sandwich is an excellent meatball sub. I am a happy camper, a simple combination of another favorite meal (spaghetti and meatballs) between some version of bread.

I usually use pre-made meatballs (store-bought or homemade) saved over from a pasta meal. My usual sauce of choice is marinara, but pesto tastes excellent too. Ciabatta rolls or any other hearty bread is the best vehicle of choice. Do not forget to dig out some of the bread from one half of the roll to make space for the real deal.

I am by no means a vegetarian. However, I do like a veggie burger occasionally. Trader Joe's Veggie Masala Burger is one of my favorites, and I frequently use it as a fallback option when I require a delicious quick meal. 

A day or two after taco Tuesday or taco Thursday or taco any day always turns one of the meals into a chicken bowl with the leftover from the taco meal. Some rice, black beans, and lettuce round up the leftover chicken into a quick meal. Make it your own with additional toppings (salsa, guac, or chips). 

This bbq chicken is an all-season dish.  No grill is required when you have an air fryer. The result in the air fryer is as good as an outdoor grill. Trader Joe’s BBQ 101 seasoning is the perfect mix of bbq spices for novices like me. It has a recognizable barbeque flavor. If you are a chili head, you can add half a teaspoon of chili flakes or a dash of hot sauce to the marinade. In this recipe, I used it as it is to get a baseline taste. BBQ chicken is as close as it gets to another one of my favorite chicken dishes - tandoori chicken.

After the avocado toast, mushroom on toast is one of my other anytime meals. It is quick and easy to make without too many ingredients. I have it with a soft-boiled egg for breakfast or top it with grilled chicken and a salad for lunch or dinner. The ingredients in this dish are few and very flexible. Some onions, mustard, chili flakes, and garlic - that’s it. The best part is you can use any mushrooms available readily. 

Good hearty bread is very critical to this dish. I love sourdough bread, but any firm baguette or french bread should work as well. 

When I threw the chicken into the air fryer, I thought this would last me a couple of days. After the first meal, I planned to shred the meat and store it in a box for a sandwich later in the week. Much to my dismay, we finished all of it in one sitting for a meal.

My experiment for the past few weeks has been to use spice mixes to season chicken and use the air fryer. The advantage of using pre-blended mixed spices helps me to finish my prep in a few minutes instead of trying to mix the right combination of ingredients.

Quick meals assembled from leftovers are the best type of lunch when I have less than 10-15 minutes to put together a meal. I had some leftover baked chicken nuggets and quinoa from the earlier meal. Put them together with some lettuce and salad dressing - and I have a quick meal ready in under 15 minutes. There is no recipe here, just some ideas to assemble a meal from leftovers that do not seem like eating the same things over and over again. The trick is to change the accompaniments and add some fresh produce to make it feel new.

I cannot understand why breakfast burritos are a menu item but not breakfast quesadillas. How can a crispy and warm version of the same ingredients not be as popular as the rolled version? The best part about this breakfast egg quesadilla is that I can use the leftovers from Taco Tuesday (or Taco Thursday) to make this quick and easy breakfast and serve it with the remaining salsa and guac from the day before. I like a mix of blue and yellow corn tortillas. Any tortillas will do, even the crispy ones.

One of my favorite ways to use the cooked chicken from earlier in the week is to make a quick chicken sandwich. Most deli chicken sandwiches are way too bland for my palette. I do like my food seasoned. Chimichurri chicken is already flavored and seasoned substantially and does not need additional condiments to complete the meal. The sandwich comes together quickly while the chicken is heating in the oven.