> As I sit here typing this, I'm eating a bowl of my own, personal, deleriously-easy-to-make chicken noodle soup. The recipe is very simple:
>
> In a 2-quart saucepan, bring one quart of water to a boil. In a 1-quart saucepan, bring one pint of water to a boil. When the 2-quart boils, add egg noodles to taste (I just love dishes in which the main indredient is added "to taste" :-}). When the 1-quart boils, add two cubes chicken boullion. When noodles and broth are both ready, drain noodles and add broth. Eat. Makes... erm... lots. Kinda depends on how many noodles you add. ;-}
>
> I make this a lot - it's very easy (just about brain-dead, in fact), and very yummy. So I'm wondering - do any of you have things like that that you make whenever you're feeling hungry? A particular dish that's real easy to throw together and good for a snack?

Jeepers, Darien. Does this astounding lack of serious response to your perfectly legit question mean either: 1) Rinky-dinks don't cook, or 2) you're ALL locked in the throes of ready-made Rice-A-Roni, Kraft Dinner, and/or Tater Tots and/or take-out pizza with Diet Coke??

I don't particularly have a "favorite" dish... I tend to make up things from whatever's on hand. Chicken soup does seem to come up fairly often, though. I boil up 1.5 liters of water and throw in 2 cubes of chicken-flavour Knorr bouillon. Then slice up 2 large carrots, 1 large onion, a couple celery stalks, and throw in a handful of orzo ("pasta barley"... They're pasta shapes about the size of pearl barley). Then I adjust by adding teaspoonfuls of ground coriander (or parsley) and dill, and a smaller amount of black pepper, to get the famous "Jewish Penicillin" chicken-soup flavour. Just simmer until the flavours mingle beautifully. Yum.

If I want something *really* fast, I make something like the following:

QUICK COUSCOUS

Cook 1.5 cups of couscous, fluff gently, and dump in 1 can of canned, mixed julien vegetables. Literally 2.5 minutes cooking and preparation time.

Or: HEALTHY ONION-TOMATO SALAD

Thickly slice some juicy vine-ripened tomatoes, and thinly slice a sweet Vidalia onion into rings. Arrange both on a plate and throw on some canned sliced black olives. Then drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the top. If desired, mix in a bit of honey and dried parsley into the dressing before drizzling it. 3 minutes prep time. It looks good and it's very tasty, but it's best with a Vidalia eating onion to do this -- normal onions are somewhat acrid and tart.

Or: POCKET PITA

Get a couple fresh, thick 6-inch pocket pita bread rounds. Slice them open by cutting halfway round the edges. Take 1 can flaked salmon or tuna, a dollop of mayo, 1/2 of a thinly chopped celery stalk, and 1 small can of *drained* mandarin oranges. Mix all these together and stuff into the bread pockets. Actually, these pitas work well with any number of ingredients.

Wolfspirit