Would roast chicken and potatoes count? It's actually 4 ingredients: spatchcocked whole chicken, lime juice, Old Bay or other seasoning blend, olive oil and potatoes. The chicken is seasoned with the lime juice and Old Bay, and the cut up potatoes get some olive oil on them and then tossed with the seasoning and arranged around the chicken in a shallow pan lined with parchment, and baked for about 55 minutes @ 400F.

Sometimes I use a mild curry powder, or chopped fresh rosemary and/or other fresh herbs, salt & pepper and lemon or lime juice. And other dense veggies like sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. can be mixed or subbed.

We usually have a salad to go with.

Leite’s Culinaria Ham, Cheese, and Potato Casserole. Wonderful! A delicious way to use up leftover ham. (I cheated. It is actually 6 major ingredients. I didn’t count salt and pepper or butter)

Hmmm...peanut butter & jelly sammich. Does that count?

Pasta Puttanesca

garlic

anchovies

Capers

Good canned tomatoes

Pasta

I didn't think I had any! Then I thought to myself, a DISH doesn't mean a MAIN COURSE now does it?!?!

My Family's Favorite Chip Dip

2- 8 oz blocks cream cheese

1- 4 oz can chopped black olives

2-3 tablespoons of brine from the jarred green pimento stuffed olives(NOT TO MUCH! IT WILL GET GRAINY IF YOU PUT TOO MUCH!)

2 Tablespoons grated onion WITH THE JUICE, grate it RIGHT over the bowl.

Mix in mixer until well mixed. Eat on actually anything. It makes a great sandwich spread. Traditionally served with chips though. The ruffled kind. And it is SO good.

(I will admit that on one occasion, I had to go to my sisters house to just be a present adult for like on hour once because she was not going to be home when her 6 kids got home from school. I made a triple recipe of this dip, brought 3 bags of chips fed them that as their snack. And they ended up eating the leftovers for dinner. Best Auntie Award goes to.....Moi)

Some easy favorites, grilled chicken or sauteed, topped with:

-salsa and sour cream - or Greek yogurt

-sundried tomatoes and mozzarella

-fresh mango, red onion, cilantro and lime

an easy vegetable on the side to pick up the sauce and whatever starch I currently have made. Usually quinoa or brown rice.

One of my favorites is a quickly made pasta and beans, also know as "pasta vazool". Unlike husbands Italian family, my own is a much more simple process.

I begin with some butter and olive oil in a hot iron skillet, a sprinkle of fennel seeds, some garlic and a jar of home canned tomatoes thrown down on it. into that goes a can of cannelloni beans, some dried oregano , and/'or fresh basil or homemade pesto, and if it have parboiled carrots they go in, too. Over some pasta with a dash of good quality Romano and that is heaven.

I have grown to prefer meals with out the hassle of meat. This is but one of them. Meat is fine, but there are so many wonderful things that don't involve dealing with meat. This is one of my favorites.

nanaH, that sounds like some good old school Italian cooking! I, however, do not take well to anchovies, although I do understand the place that they hold in some cuisines.

You do know the origins of the name of that dish, right? it refers to it being hot and fast, like hot and fast women of pleasure. Or, so I have been told.

That is old school , and real! I am pleased to see it.

Most of the Chinese dishes I make are 5 or less ingredients if you don't included the ingredients for the sauce. Some of the sauces call for 8-12 different ingredients.

This is one of the simplest Chinese recipes that I make often. It's from The Chinese Takeout cookbook. I'll usually make a more complex main dish and then make this in my second wok right after. It's done in about 4 minutes.

Delicious!

Sweet chili shrimp

1 lb. large shrimp peeled and deveined

2 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 Tbsp peanut or veggie oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1 shallot - finely chopped

Sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

1.5 tsp chili sauce (I use a bit more!)

Toss shrimp with corn starch, salt, and pepper mixture - set aside

Pre-heat wok over high heat

Add peanut oil

Add garlic, ginger and shallot and stir-fry for 45 seconds

Add shrimp and stir-fry about 2 minutes until pink

Add sauce mixture and stir to coat shrimp

Enjoy!

I wish hubs liked citrus. I can't use lime or lemon juice in cooking without him complaining. Orange juice only!

I'm always interested in easy dips and spreads for entertaining.

Pasta puttanesca is a favorite of mine. We often add a can of tuna instead of the anchovies, the Italian type canned in olive oil. Not the same, but still delish.

Along the same lines of simple but good, I make home made cream of tomato soup with butter to sautee onions, carrot and celery if you like it, and a flour roux and then milk added to home canned tomatoes, or even store bought ones. Sometimes throw in cooked brown rice. Better than Campbell's although that's an apples to oranges comparison, IMHO. I make a Campbell's style with my food mill that takes out all the seeds and skin . . .

Chicken dipped in buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream and then seasoned bread crumbs or a mix of bread crumbs and Parmesan before baking, is also one of those simple but deceptively delicious dishes. I have seasoned bread crumbs, but you can also use panko and season it with poultry seasoning or whatever other seasoning you like.

My favorite was to make curried squash soup is to mix a small can of pumpkin (if I'm not using a roasted squash) a med. sized can of carrots, and a cup of cooked red lentils. Puree and add chicken or vegetable broth when it reaches a consistency you like. I season with garlic, hot pepper and curry powder. Can top with yogurt or use some coconut milk for a more creamy consistency. You could throw in some caramelized red onions and also chopped spinach and a dash of lemon, but now we're getting way beyond five ing. But the basic soup just has five and is good that way--pumpkin, carrot, red lentils, curry powder and broth to thin . . .

One of hubs favorite dishes is fajitas. Basically seasoned sauteed chicken breast strips, tortillas, peppers and onions, topped with salsa and sour cream. That's six, but you don't have to use the sour cream . . . or go for seven by adding avocados.

FWIW, I thought 'arrabbiata' was the pasta sauce that means hot and 'puttanesca' is related to the 'ladies of the evening' who favored the dish...

Carol, you're right in your thinking. "Arrabbiata" means "angry" in Italian, hence the spiciness. "Puttanesca" comes from "puttana" that translates to "prostitute" in Italian...I think! I love both those sauces!

Not for the non chilli lovers.

Chilli chicken in maple syrup.

Chicken breast

Water

Maple syrup

Chilli flakes

Slice a chicken breast quite thinly crossways into rounds, approx 5mm. Add approx half a cup of water to hot fry pan to cover base. Add half a cup of good quality maple syrup to hot water. Keep heating till simmer. Add chicken slices and sprinkle a teaspoon of chilli flakes over chicken (more or less chilli depending on heat of chilli.) Simmer approx 2mins then turn all slices of chicken and simmer further 2mins. Serve with the sauce. That’s it.

Salt and pepper added at table.

Above is how I cook but recipe is adapted from a Donna Hay recipe.

Interesting Neely! I'll have to try that next time we make chicken!

I make a similar crockpot dish--chicken thighs with maple mustard sauce. That one is pretty simple too . . . off the top of my head probably maple, some type of brown mustard, garlic, thighs, onion . . . maybe pinch of thyme and chicken broth in the bottom of the pot. But basic is five and under . . . garlic probably optional but hubs loves it so I add it to almost every main dish . . .

I'm cheating, it's 6 ingredients but goes together so quickly and is always popular.

1 lb ground beef or chicken or turkey

6 tortillas cut into 1" squares

1 cup salsa

1 can tomato soup or tomato sauce

1/2 cup milk

1 cup cheddar or jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Brown ground meat, drain. Stir in tomato sauce/soup, salsa and milk. Fold in cut up torillas and 1/2 the cheese. . Bake for 30 minutes add remaining cheese on top and bake for 5-10 minutes.

Favorite quick dip. The Kraft Old English was 59 cents a jar when I first started making this. Now those little jars are close to $5.

8 oz. cream cheese

5-oz. jar Kraft Old English Cheese Spread

4-oz. can diced green chiles, drained

Couple green onions, chopped (white and light green part)

Melt cheeses in microwave and mix thoroughly. Stir in chiles and onion. Heat another 20 seconds or so. Serve warm or at room temp. with tortilla chips.

Carbonara. Pasta, garlic, pancetta, parmesan, egg.

Islay.

One of my Husbands favorite is sliced potatoes, onions and sausage (the precooked stuff sliced up) cooked on the stove. I like it since it is easy.

Thanks for reminding me I pink - I've made the slow cooker maple mustard turkey thighs several times now, and I also have subbed chicken thighs and added chunks of carrot. I got my recipe from BH&G. It's really tasty and hearty - good cool weather food. I like the idea of adding some herbs.

Ingredients are:

thighs

new potatoes

maple syrup

mustard - calls for grainy, but I've also used Dijon instead and it was delish

tapioca

https://www.bhg.com/recipe/turkey/maple-mustard-sauced-turkey-thighs/

My favorite vegetarian dish is sauteed Swiss chard, walnuts, dried cranberries, onion and garlic and 6 as I top it with Parmesan cheese.

BB, I should have planted chard in the garden this year! The closest I will get to is beet greens. We'll see, there still may be time to get some seeds. I just don't have much space but I'm getting a community garden plot . . .

Truth be told, I often add some cornstarch to my slow cooker sauces to thicken them, but I wouldn't really call them an "ingredient" as much as a cooking technique.