No-Cook Meals for Busy Days

Fall brings football and soccer practice, band and drill meets, sports events in the evening hours and additional days of hurricane season. Hurricanes and sports, you might wonder what is the relationship. It's simple. Both events preclude you from being able to have a good hot home cooked meal. Without proper planning, when these times come around you may find yourself at the local fast food drive up window, or standing in line to grab a cold sandwich from the Red Cross or Salvation Army after the storm hits. Not having the time to cook, or the power to cook, doesn't mean that you have to eat bland flavorless meals, or get them from somewhere other than home.

Even though fall brings a cool down in temps, it's not cool enough to be craving hot foods and it's not hot enough that your well packed cooler will have the cold foods melted quickly after the storms. Fall offers the perfect time and reasons to concentrate on some No-Cook meal items. No-cook menu items require some planning to have the necessary ingredients on hand but can allow you to feed your family a nutritious flavorful meal that didn't require the waiting time for cooking.

The following four recipes can be used for feeding your family with the fall sports evening crunch time begins, or can be prepared in advance of an in bound storm to provide no-cook choices which your family will prefer over the canned beans and wieners.

No-Cook Meal Item #1: Pick a Pita Pocket

Pita pockets are versatile ways have having a quick no cook meal. Pita pockets can be filled with a variety of items and also come in several types for the pockets themselves. Choose your pita pockets at the store and decide on several different fillings.

Choices for your No-Cook Pita pocket for the fall after football practice meal might include:

Crunchy Tuna Salad - Either buy store container of tuna salad, or mix up your own the day before you need them. Add in some chow mein noodles, or some slivered almonds to give it a crunch. Add a few spinach leaves, or some shredded lettuce and fill the pita pocket.

Chicken and Raisin Salad - Buy the prepackaged chicken strips found with the sandwich meats. These strips make chicken recipes which call for chunks of chicken a lot faster to make. Add your mayo to the chopped chicken until you get it to a good texture for the salad. Mix in about ¼ to ½ cup of raisins. If you are a pineapple fan you can add in a small amount of crushed pineapple (drained) to make this a sweeter salad. Stuff the mixture in your pita pocket and your main meal item is ready.

No-cook Pita pockets can be also made ahead (don't use to much liquid in your filler), wrapped in foil, packed in your cooler and eaten while you watch the ball game. If you have them as a sit down meal at home, you might consider making several fillings so each person has a variety.

No-Cook Meal Item #2: Taco Dip

Another make ahead no cook meal you can use for those fall evenings spent on the sports field is a Taco Dip with chips. By adding a meat to the dip, what might just be an appetizer becomes a meal. For the Taco Dip you will need the following ingredients:

One Can refried beans (15 oz)
One cup sour cream
One cup mayonnaise
1 packet of Taco seasoning mix
1 can green chilies
1 bunch green onions
1 tomato
1 pack southwestern flavored chicken strips
2 cups shredded Mexican flavored cheese

The night before you want to have this meal, you will make this dip. It is much better if it sits over night. I make this in a 9X13 Tupperware dish that has a lid for cover. Empty the can of refried beans out into a bowl and stir them until the lose the stiff consistency. Spread them in the bottom of the 9X13 container. Use the bowl to mix the mayonnaise and sour cream along with the taco seasoning. Add the seasoning gradually so it doesn't clump up in your mix. Spread this on top of the beans. Shred up the chicken into small pieces or strips and place it on the top of the mayo and sour cream mixture. Remember this is a dip, so the chicken cannot be in huge chucks or it will break off the chip.

Next add the green chilies to the dip. If you like black olives you can add those too. Chop up the green onions, to include some of the green stem. Chop the tomatoes into chunks. Spread the tomatoes and onions over the chicken. Sprinkle the entire container with shredded cheese. Place the lid on and refrigerate over night.

My family likes this dip with Fritos or Doritos type chips but you could also use tortilla strips.

No Cook Meal Item #3: Cold Chicken Burritos

These are not your typical chicken burrito but they are an excellent prepare ahead cold food. If you have a storm projected to hit your area, these can be made up and stored in a cooler so you don't have to open your refrigerator if the power is out.

Ingredients:

2 Cups shredded or chopped chicken
6 flour tortillas
1 soft tub of cream cheese
1 can green chilies
1 jar salsa
shredded lettuce
½ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Directions

Spread each tortilla with cream cheese. Spread chicken on top of the cream cheese, splitting it among the 6 burritos. Add green chilies and salsa over chicken. Sprinkle with nuts, and add a small amount of lettuce. Roll the burrito up by folding the ends in, and rolling the entire tortilla. Wrap up in saran wrap and put in the refrigerator. These are best if you let them sit for about 4 hours before you eat.

No Cook Meal Item #4: Brownie Delight

There are a lot of wonderful no-cook dessert recipes available. We put this one together as a spin off of a punch bowl cake. It's easy and convenient and while it is not a meal, it is the perfect finish to one!

Ingredients

1 pan of brownies or 2 cartons of Little Debbie Brownies
1 container of Philly Cheesecake ready mix
1 jar of caramel topping
1 small container of Non Dairy Topping (Cool Whip)

Buy a tray of brownies from your local bakery. If that's not an option for you, pick up some Little Debbie Brownies. Crumble half of them in a punch bowl or trifle dish. Buy a container of the Philly Cheesecake ready mix (found with the cream cheese in the grocery store) Add half of the mix on top of the brownie. Add half of a jar of caramel ice cream topping over the cheesecake mix. Place the rest of the brownies on top. Repeat the layers again. When the caramel has been added to the cheesecake mix, cover the entire dish with Cool Whip. You can add sprinkles to the top, or heath bar pieces or chopped up Butterfinger bar to add even more sweetness to this wonderful desert.

If you are faced with the extra stress of meal preparation after a long evening of fall sports, or with the possibility of no power from a passing storm, these ideas should give you a starting point for thinking of no-cook menu items.