Coming Tonight: The Ultimate Lazy Dinner

Photo by dominiqs81

Because I'm jet-lagged and went to work today and have a test to study for...

Potato soup--with the skins on
Green beans--from a can
Fast No-Knead Bread--now with decreased rising time (because I started it late)

The green beans I'm pretty confident about, but #1 and #3 include ultra-lazy variations I've never tried before. We'll see how this turns out.

UPDATE: Leaving the skins on for the potato soup turned out to be no big deal. I just scrubbed the potatoes, chopped them into quarters, and covered them with water. Brought them to a boil and blended them with a stick blender. The peels added a little bit of texture and actually a pleasantly earthy flavor to the soup. We'll be doing this again!

The bread I made according to the linked directions...sort of. I didn't have rye flour and so I made the bread with what I had: 2 cups of whole-wheat flour and 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose. Apparently I have the wrong kind of yeast, too--dry active instead of instant-- but I didn't do anything different with that. I let the bread rise 3 hours in a warm oven the first time, about an hour in a warm oven the second time, and then baked it at 350 for 45 minutes. Since I neglected to preheat the oven--once again, haste and laziness prevailed--I probably should have given it an extra few minutes, since the very center was a little bit doughy. However, it actually came out looking pretty good. I still feel like the no-knead breads both lack a little something in flavor--salt? tartness? I haven't quite decided. (I know others feel the same way, and have suggested everything from more salt to more sugar to using vinegar. Next time.) And I think next time I might find a way to back it covered, like the original no-knead bread does--I think it makes for a nicer crust. But for a fast, easy dinner, this one turned out pretty well.

And the canned green beans I will leave up to your imagination.