While your Mom may be a gourmet cook, there are lots of people who either don’t like cooking or just don’t have the time to be spending fixing meals. You know you have to eat – in fact you enjoy eating – but, unless a visit to Mom results in her sending you home with a ready to eat care package, you might, too often, settle for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and leave it at that.

If you’re a college student, far from home and Mom’s home cooked meals, or anyone who’s a member of the I-hate-to-cook club, here’s a week’s worth of easy food recipes that don’t require more than fifteen minutes of prep time. Some require a short wait in cooking time, but you can just put the timer on and go about your business until the food is done. Many of our easy food recipes provide leftovers, which you can either use for lunch another day, or freeze the remainder for another dinner next week. This is about as easy as it gets!

1.Although the sub sandwich may not be the most elegant meal, what it lacks in presentation, it more than makes up for in both taste and nutrition. Moreover, there are more variations on this easy food recipe than you can use up in several months. Go to the deli counter and select four or five deli meats and cheeses. If you buy in half-pound portions, take what you need for tonight’s dinner and divide the rest of the meats in sandwich sized portions. Separate each portion with waxed paper and slip it into the freezer. Cheese can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks, so long as you wrap it tightly. A little lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, jalapenos or whatever strikes your fancy makes a delicious, nutritious and filling meal in a hoagie roll or pocket bread.

2.Fish is one of the easiest and healthiest meals to prepare. For a one inch thick fillet, all you need do is nuke it for one minute on each side. With a fork, part the meat in the thickest part to check for doneness. If the meat is opaque, with no translucency, you’re done. Drizzle with a little lemon juice. Heat a can of corn, green beans or make a dinner salad while the fish is cooking.

3.Boneless chicken breasts make an easy food recipe indeed. You can nuke them whole, for perhaps 3-4 minutes per side. You can also slice them before cooking and fry over medium high heat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, for 3-5 minutes. The whole chicken breast can be dressed with salsa, brushed with barbecue sauce or eaten plain. If you slice and cook a couple of chicken breasts at once, you’ll easily have two meals. Serve one over rice and make a chef’s salad with the other.

4.Boneless ribs are a snap, requiring almost no prep. Lay them on a broiler pan and into the oven they go, at 375 degrees. After 35 minutes, pull them out and brush with barbecue sauce. Back in the oven for 10 minutes and you’ve got dinner! A couple of them, in fact. A most easy food recipe!

5.The chef’s salad, much like the sub sandwich, is simple and unconstrained by anything but your preferences. Lettuce, your favorite veggies and a bottled dressing is all you need. Hey, add that remaining chicken breast from our easy food recipe #3!

6.Cook up a batch of rice or pasta as soon as you walk in the door. (Instructions are on the package.) Add whatever type of meat you have on hand, be it a slice of ham, leftover chicken, or ribs. Chop an onion, julienne a bell pepper, add a can of sliced water chestnuts or black olives. Corn. Almost anything works. Our easy food recipe lineup is intended to give you a free hand. You’ll use up leftovers and not waste!

7.You’ve probably seen those vacuum packed pork loin roasts which are already marinated in a delicious sauce, usually sold in a 2 pound portion. Put it on your broiler rack and bake as instructed. Nuke a potato and heat a can of veggies while the roast cooks. This is the high end version of the easy food recipes. You will have leftovers, which you can transform into a sandwich or pork fried rice.

After just one week, trying these easy food recipes, you’ll have eaten well and may get to like cooking just a little more than you did. You might be ready for guests!

Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and oranges contain significant amounts of fiber, as well as loads of vitamins A and C, known antioxidants which help ward off cancer. These fruits, especially blueberries and cherries contain anti-inflammatory components, which can help relieve swelling with arthritis. So this blueberry smoothie is a healthy breakfast for all ages.

It so happens that these colors combine well for a lovely reddish violet to lavender smoothie. Use more blueberries to increase the lavender effect, or more strawberries for a more pinkish tint. You can alter the mix as you wish, but use the same total amount of fruit for the right consistency. For a thicker consistency, add more fruit.

Use fresh fruits in season as possible, but frozen fruit works too.

Blueberry Smoothie

• ½ cup each of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and dark red cherries
• 1 large orange, peeled
• 1 teaspoon of grenadine (adds delightful flavor)
• 1 quart of vanilla, strawberry or peach ice cream (or) 1 quart of plain yogurt, if you prefer

Mix it all up in the blender and you’re done. If you have lidded plastic cups and straws, you can pour each serving and hand them out as they’re walking out the door.

Variations on this recipe include substituting 2 cups of orange, peach or strawberry-banana juice for the ice cream or yogurt. You may also substitute one of the Torani(TM) flavoring syrups, in your favorite flavor, for the grenadine. If you’re using as an arthritis remedy, the recipe above is your best bet.

Don’t try to make this a do-ahead, as smoothies tend to get runny if they sit around for a while. This blueberry smoothie recipe is so quick and easy to make, this is a breakfast for four that you can put together in 15 minutes! It’s beautiful, delicious and nutritious. What more can you ask from a healthy, filling breakfast?