I keep a few packages of instant chicken Ramen on hand at all times. Not to make Ramen, but to use the noodles and seasoning in various recipes. I’ve made Ramen-seasoned chicken wings (one of my favorites). A Ramen broccoli slaw. And now, quick fix Ramen-seasoned chips. In just minutes I’m enjoying an almost-criminal indulgence: that salty chicken Ramen seasoning over warm potato chips.
The Most Addicting Chips Ever
If you’re like me, you can’t help yourself but to enjoy that little packet of seasoning. So, yeah, put some extra on the chips. Just go for it. You can make up for the extra sodium by using low salt chips…. These quick fix Ramen-seasoned chips did not last long in my house.
Quick fix turkey Reuben sandwiches changed my mind about what I used to refer to as ‘fake Reubens’. I had a thing against turkey Reubens. Once I ordered a ‘real’ Reuben in a restaurant and they accidentally brought me a turkey one instead. It was one of the worst days of my life. Or so I thought. Well, now I must apologize. I was wrong. I thought no way could a corned beef-less sandwich be anywhere as good as the classic. Well, this is a mighty good sandwich. And it’s crazy easy to make, too. That’s a lot of wins in this little sandwich. Now, I make them regularly.
A Great Reuben Variation Ready In Minutes
I could eat my share of quick fix turkey Reuben sandwiches. And I’d even order one at a restaurant. Those would have roasted turkey, and if you have that on hand by all means put some on this sandwich. I used thin-sliced sandwich meat. Thick-sliced would work just as well. No matter what, it’s quick, easy and delicious!
For me, just personally, I am a firm believer that every Reuben must be served with a dill pickle spear. An ice cold one at that. With plenty of crunchy.
Thousand Island a bit boring for you? Need something a bit more flavorful, with a little kick to it? I’ve got you covered. Now, this will make more than you’ll need so either scale it back or use it on more! Like hamburgers or hot dogs!
Combine 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until well-combined. Slather on your bread. Don’t be shy with it. Now is not the time for it.
Place any leftover sauce in the fridge in an air-tight container.
Sometimes I just want a quick turkey meal. I might use leftover turkey, or I might just toss a turkey breast into the oven. Fortunately, Jennie-O makes a frozen oven-ready turkey breast that you just bake in the oven for about 90 minutes. No thawing, brining, basting. Nothing. You don’t even have to take it out of the bag that it comes in (well, until it’s cooked that is… duh). Everything else is already done for you. You don’t even really have to think about it! Add some leftover mashed potatoes and gravy and I’m good-to-go. Say hello to my quick fix turkey Manhattan!
Perfect For Leftover Turkey
If you decide to make an oven-ready Jennie-O turkey breast you’ll have plenty of leftovers to make more than these quick fix turkey Manhattan sandwiches. I’ve included links to my easy mashed potato and gravy recipes. I always make extra of both. Because as much as I love turkey on Thanksgiving day, I love making these sandwiches the next day just as much!
This dish is also a great way to use up ‘those’ pieces of leftover turkey. Oh yeah, you know the ones. Those are the chunks, the small pieces, leftover from when your somewhat-tipsy uncle carved the turkey on Thanksgiving day. The ones that aren’t pretty enough to make the platter. Oh heck hey they’re still delicious. Just not pretty. These sandwiches don’t have to be pretty, so use that turkey on them!
Side Me
I have an awesome copycat of Stove Top chicken stuffing that is the perfect side dish for turkey. But, to be truly ‘quick fix’, you’ll have to use the stuff out of the box! That’s why it’s called quick fix! If you’re like me, stuffing means more gravy, so like I said, always make extra gravy! There really truly is no such thing as too much gravy!
Because I’m a chicken wing nut, I have a lot of various wing seasonings on hand at all times. And I do mean a lot. But, you know those seasonings (and any other of my favorites) are great on potato chips? No reason to be locked into only a handful of flavored chips at the store when you can make them taste however you want! Today I made a batch of my quick fix lemon pepper potato chips. Chips. Lemon pepper seasoning. That’s it! And oh-so-good!
Cheap Chips For The Win
You don’t need to grab the expensive chips when you make quick fix lemon pepper potato chips. The key here is to warm up the chips just enough that the oils they were cooked in come back to the surface of the chips. That gives the seasoning something to cling to. No big pile of seasoning at the bottom of the bowl with these chips, nope. Nothing but flavor.
Of course, you can make homemade potato chips in a deep-fryer and then toss them in the seasoning too! Just don’t over-drain the chips as they come out of the hot oil or the flavors won’t have anything to adhere to. Make sure you get them good and coated.
I got tired of sitting around whining that no one was making good new flavors of potato chips. Oh sure, every once-in-a-while there’d be something new, but nothing seemed to wow me and I always ended up with the classics, BBQ, sour cream and onion and well, plain. Nothing wrong with the classics. They are classics for a reason. But I wanted something new. I had a pouch of garlic Parmesan wing dust from Kosmo’s sitting around and thought… Hmmmmm. I bet that’d be great on chips. It’s sure as heck fantastic on wings. Quick fix garlic Parmesan potato chips to the rescue!
Nothing But Flavor And Crunch
These quick fix garlic Parmesan potato chips were delicious. Kosmo’s wing dusts are never, ever lacking in flavor. It didn’t take a whole lot of dust to really amp up what was just a bag of good-ole plain ruffled chips. My faith in chips is back!
Of course, you can make homemade potato chips in a deep-fryer and then toss them in the seasoning too! Just don’t over-drain the chips as they come out of the hot oil or the flavors won’t have anything to adhere to. Make sure you get them good and coated.
I love gumbo. It’s my number one go-to Cajun dish. And to really make a great gumbo you need to devote some time for it to really be something special. Give me a cold winter’s day and I won’t hesitate to take that time. But sometimes, I just don’t have the luxury. That’s where my quick fix gumbo comes in. All the flavors of a full-blown gumbo, but it takes a lot less time.
Skimp On Time, Not Flavor
The two major timesavers for this quick fix gumbo are using rotisserie chicken instead of cooking your own, and using a pre-made roux from the store. Making a roux takes a little time to do right, and it is worth the time… when you have the time. When you don’t, grab a jar of almost-as-good roux from the store. Our local grocery store has a (sadly, small) southern foods section. That’s where I found ready-to-use roux.
You’re at this post for a reason. Maybe, like me, you actually like Steak-Umms. Like many, I was first exposed to them in a school lunch cafeteria years and years ago. And like many kids of the time, I would go home and beg mom to get them so I could have a steak sandwich there too. Mom wasn’t too keen on them, but would buy them for me as a rare treat. I’d have them about as simple as you could get: fried the Steak-Ummm, put it on a bun or white bread with ketchup, eat. Well, now I step things up with my quick fix steak sandwich, made using the Cuisinart Griddler.
Easy Is Right. And Good.
The Griddler makes making a steak sandwich about as easy as you can get. Having the two big cooking griddles lets you cook several things at once. Without it, I’d end up with a skillet for the Steak-Umms, another for the onions and peppers, and I’d probably fire up the oven or toaster just to toast my sub roll. Sheesh, that’s a lot of stuff to get out and eventually clean when I can do it all on my Griddler. Making a quick fix steak sandwich using the Cuisinart Griddler is easy, fast, and delicious. And stress-free!
The History Of Steak-Umms
The history of the Steak-Umm is actually rather interesting. You can read about it here. I think they totally rock on my quick fix version of the classic sandwich. When no one’s looking, I put on an extra one or two for a ‘deluxe’ version. Hey, it’s my sandwich.
The recipe calls for using Cheez Whiz. It’ll give you that classic cheese consistency and flavor. You can also use Velveeta Cheese Sauce. It comes in a packet. You just squeeze it out, heat it for a little, and boom! The perfect cheese sauce for anything from sandwiches to steamed cauliflower!
Open your Griddler so that the griddle plates are open flat. You want to use the smooth griddles.
Turn the Griddler Selector knob (the center one) to 'griddle'. Set the temperature knob to 425 F, the maximum.
Once the green light is lit, indicating that the Griddler is at 425 F, you can begin cooking.
Place the bell peppers and onion in a small bowl. Drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir and transfer to one side of one of the griddle plates. See my picture for how I arrange things on the Griddler.
On the other plate place the bread halves. Let them toast as long as desired as the rest of the ingredients cook.
Let the onion and peppers cook for 5 minutes, stirring a few times.
Add the mushrooms to the onion and peppers. Stir and cook another 5 minutes. The vegetables should be just starting to turn tender.
Place the Steak-umm on the griddle plate alongside the vegetables. Season as desired.
Continue cooking the Steak-umm until it starts to brown along the edges. Flip and continue cooking until done.
Assemble the sandwich by placing the Steak-umm on the bottom bread half. Add the cooked vegetables. Drizzle on the cheese, add the bread top.
Notes
Serve with plenty of napkins. The cheese will be nice and runny!
It was one of THOSE days. Not enough time to even think about dinner. But, a quick glance in the fridge and pantry and I was able to throw together a plan. Quick fix taco salads it would be. And you know, they turned out great! Crunchy shells, crunchy lettuce, and all of our favorite salad toppings.
Nice And Easy. And Delicious.
I used chopped grilled chicken to top these salads, but any cooked meat (or no meat for that matter) would be great too. Like chilled cooked shrimp. Or warm taco beef crumbles. Just because these taco salads are quick to fix doesn’t mean that they are low on flavor.
I highly recommend that you shred or grate your own cheese at home. Don’t buy the pre-shredded or pre-grated stuff. It has stuff added to it to keep it from sticking together. That ‘stuff’ affects how the cheese melts. Shred it yourself and use the good stuff.
It was one of ‘those’ days. I was just way too busy to cook up a fancy dinner. Or even a marginally fancy dinner. So, quick fix shrimp tacos to the rescue. I had everything on hand already. A box of shells, some pre-cooked frozen shrimp, a bag of salad, and spicy salad dressing. That’s all it took to make light, crunchy, tasty quick fix tacos for dinner. Nothing fru-fru, just good and fast. Ok, I did add a few tortilla strips for color and more crunch, but that’s all.
I Like Mine Crunchy
You can of course substitute soft tortilla shells if hard shells aren’t your thing, but I like the crunchy contrast. But don’t get fancy. That’s not what we’re doing here. Quick Fix Shrimp Tacos are meant to be easy and fast.
You can of course substitute soft tortilla shells if hard shells aren’t your thing, but I like the crunchy contrast. But don’t get fancy. That’s not what we’re doing here.
Since I was grilling up a few Asian pork burgers for dinner, I needed some fries to go with them. Something with a bit of Asian zing to it. So, I grabbed a bag of frozen fries out of the freezer, baked them up, and tossed them with a few Asian ingredients. In no time, my quick fix Asian fries were on the table, ready to be devoured.
Spicy, Yummy Fries! At Last!
These quick fix Asian fries do have a bit of a spicy kick to them. That’s probably why we loved them so much. Get your fries good and crunchy. If they sit for long in the sauce they might get a bit soggy. They really won’t last long so it’s not much of a worry.