a plea concerning cooking; or, the quinoa picture post

Dearest Interweb,

What are your go-to dishes?

I asked this question of Coach J recently, while she and I took turns grating a block of frozen cheese so she could make quesadillas (at my apartment...I'm the host with the most, no?). We're slowly getting better about eating in and actually eating the food that we buy (geez, the problems of the privileged 'first-worlders', I know).

Anyhow, I'm looking for quick(ish), relatively inexpensive items to make for dinner (recipes that leave enough for breakfast or lunch another day are especially welcome).

Here are my go-to meals I can think of right now:
-- oatmeal (with a bit of TJ's maple syrup, homemade applesauce, pumpkin pie spice usually...otherwise with whatever dried fruit we have on hand, except the other day when we didn't have anything suitable and I used strawberry preserves) (also, usually, I make regular (not instant) rolled oats, but I make steel-cut when I have way more time)
-- risi e bisi (rice and peas) (I'm not a white rice fan, so I use brown rice, basmati or wild)
-- rice and beans (see above rice note)
-- soup (stock, garlic, spinach, beans, small pasta, other veggies, possibly meat, spices, herbs)
-- baked potatoes with cheese and broccoli

There are others, but, really, they're things like cereal; cream of wheat (my ultimate comfort food, which I rarely eat, to which I only add milk and sugar); toasted cheese; spinach and tomato sandwiches; peanut butter, apple, waffle sandwiches; other sandwiches; whatever random assortment of beans and other vegetables make it onto our plates; bean and cheese burritos; frozen pizza; homemade pizza on store-bought dough; blah, blah, blah.

So, what about you guys? Any suggestions for me, please?

Grazie mille,
v

P.S. Of course, I can't post about food without sharing recent pictures. I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted food pictures. Oops. I can't get more than five pictures in a post, so I'll post some pictures here and some in another 'p.s.' post.


sauteed chicken, very lemony spinach (oops), plain quinoa, corn (this is the first time I'd ever made quinoa and I didn't know what it tasted like or what to do with it, hence it being plain here)


quinoa and spinach from previous dinner, mixed...very tasty


quinoa bowl: quinoa, black beans, queso fresco casero, avocado (so good) -- I got the recipe idea from dalai mama dishes and I'm sure I'll eat it often in the future (I omitted a bunch due to laziness and lack of ingredients, but I still loved it)


bean and cheese burrito and quinoa with melted cheddar (I really had to use up the quinoa before we went out of town and it turns out Cardo's not too fond of it so he wasn't really helping me it it...Pic's iffy on it) the next morning, I had quinoa, bean and cheese burritos for breakfast


my iced tea cupcake from Retro Bakery in Vegas: lemon cupcake with iced tea buttercream frosting with a candy garnish (that Pic ate) -- this was really good and the service was great and it's too bad they're so far away (except, perhaps it isn't too bad because I don't need an extra extra twenty pounds)