Emmy Award Winning Television Host and Cookbook Author Shares Secrets to Saving Time and Money in the Kitchen

Sam Zien, aka "The Cooking Guy" and host of "Just Cook This!" on Discovery Health and FitTV, is an expert in making easy-to-follow dishes that deliver on taste while keeping things simple. Zien knows that few people have lots of time or money to spend making complicated recipes with countless ingredients so he's sharing a few tips to get dinner on the table without the fuss.

His latest book "Awesome Recipes and Kitchen Shortcuts" encourages people to think "outside the can" and get creative in the kitchen. Zien's refreshing approach to cooking with simple techniques, equipment and ingredients that are on hand, like Campbell's® Chunky™ soup, makes cooking easy, fun, and rewarding.

Quick Grains

Keep fresh pasta on hand in the freezer or pre-cook dried pasta and freeze into smaller portions for those with truly no time to spare. When you're ready to eat, just add the pre-cooked noodles to a skillet with your sauce and toppings and you're good to go. For quick rice, I like to use packaged instant rice, it cooks up in minutes and can be turned into a delicious dinner idea by adding your favorite thick Chunky soup. Nowadays you can even buy ready-cooked brown rice - a great source of fiber - that can be heated quickly in the microwave. Just pour Chunky soup over rice for a hearty and satisfying recipe. Chunky Beef with Country Vegetables tastes great over rice. With 100% lean meat and a full serving of vegetables you can feel good about eating this kind of "fast food."

Get Help from the Store

There's no shame in getting help from the store when you can. Grab a rotisserie chicken and a bag of cole slaw mix at the grocery store and you can turn it into a fake "pulled pork" sandwich in minutes. Just shred the meat with a fork, add your favorite BBQ sauce and pile it on top of a toasted bun. For a little crunch and color add a handful of the cabbage mix and save the rest to make cole slaw tomorrow.

The Freezer is Your Friend

We're not talking about eating frozen dinners here, but by keeping frozen raw shrimp on hand, you can easily add to pasta or make shrimp BLTs for a twist on a classic sandwich. Other frozen essentials like veggies and pie crust form the basis for dozens of recipes, pizza crusts defrost quickly and can help you make amazing pizzas out of leftovers. Frozen diced onions won't make you cry and can jazz up omelettes, tacos or hamburgers and frozen spinach can be added to pasta sauce or easily turned into a rich side of creamed spinach. Using these shortcuts will seriously cut down on cooking time.

Think Outside the Can

You can use a simple store-bought ingredient in many more interesting and delicious ways than you might think. Use a recipe as a guide - not the gospel. If you don't have an ingredient, don't panic - just use something else. For instance store bought pesto can be used in a variety of delicious ways including stirred into mashed potatoes, on a pizza instead of red sauce, on top of a simple grilled piece of fish, stuffed with goat cheese into chicken breasts, on veggies for grilling, used to top garlic bread.

Cook Once, Eat Twice

Using leftovers is a great way to save money and get two meals out of one. But you don't have to get bored by eating the same thing two nights in a row. Meatloaf can easily become tacos, sloppy joes or spaghetti meat sauce the next night. If you're having pork chops and mashed potatoes one night, make extra mashed potatoes for your take-two dinner and just pour a can of Campbell's Chunky™ Sirloin Burger with Country Vegetables on top, reheat and serve. The soup has lean meat and a full serving of vegetables like carrots, peas and green beans and the rich flavor of the soup's thick broth works great with mashed potatoes —kind of like the classic comfort dish, shepherd's pie, without the hassle!

Fake It Gourmet

A quick trick to fooling your family and friends into thinking you spent hours whipping up a gourmet meal is to garnish! Even when making simple meals, presentation is a big part of the experience. So add some fresh parsley or whatever herb you cooked with to the dish, or sprinkle some chopped nuts on top, spread a little sauce beneath the meat or fish, even a little black pepper or a drizzle of olive oil can make all the difference in making your meal look extra special.

For more information on Chunky soups and great kitchen shortcuts visit Facebook.com/ChunkySoup