Any advice for newbie in the kitchen? Easy recipes?

[lovemyfamily]

So I have bee cooking for a couple years. But only ever basic things. Stir fries, spag bol, meat n 3 veg. So anyways, i have my family now and I would like to be one of those mums that cook heaps of things so ive bought a couple of cookbooks and have started experimenting. So far everythig has come out great.
If anyone has any advice/ suggestions to give, or any simple recipes, id love to hear them.
anoinkin or whatever- get through what? its not a dilemna or anything. And nah, been there done that, probably smoked more then u could even handle. Its pointless and a waste of money. So my advice to you? Get a life.

 

[Michael]

From your turn of phrase, you sound like you're British, but here's a classic American dinner--mac and cheese. It takes about an hour to prepare. You will need 8 oz. elbow macaroni, 8 oz. grated cheddar cheese, 8 oz. chopped ham, 8 oz canned (or tinned) corn kernals, and bread crumbs. Cook the pasta according to package directions, but take it off the heat one minute before the package directions tell you to. Turn the cooked pasta into a mixing bowl and add the cheese, ham and corn. Stir to combine. Put the mixture into a casserole dish, cover with bread crumbs and bake at 350 Farenheit for 30 minutes.

 

[davidepeden]

You are in for a lot of fun.My first meal that I cooked was Thanksgiving dinner for about 20 or so. Turned out fine, I was about 13. I've been the primary cook in my family basically ever since.

While cookbooks are a good place to start, I think they emphasize the wrong thing. Think about what you and your family like to eat, how the food tastes when it is done well, and then use the books to help you get there.

I would emphasize simple dishes. Go easy on spices until you learn how flavors work together. Learn the value of cooking things slowly, over low/medium heat. Burned food is impossible to fix. While I wouldn't advocate breaking your budget on cookware, it's hard to do a good job using cheap, lightweight pans. There are lots of really good pan sets out there for under $200. I saw one in Macy's last week for $105 that I wanted to buy, even though I don't need it.

One more comment on cookware--while one or two non-stick pans are OK, for the most part avoid these. There isn't a non-stick surface made that won't eventually end up in your food.

One other cookware purchase I recommend: a vertical chicken roaster. Costs about $10-12, and you can produce chicken that is much better than the rotisserie chicken at your favorite store deli. Here's a recipe:

Wash chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.

Salt and pepper bird.

Use pan spray to coat surfaces of roaster. Place chicken on the roaster, and put in a 350 degree oven for 75 minutes. Use thermometer to check whether it's done. It might need a little more time.

Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes, and carve your bird. Absolutely delicious dinner for 3-4, for less than $5, especially if you bake some potatoes or oven roast some veggies while the chicken is cooking.

 

[Nan's cat Tigger]

When my kids were small, I made a lot of casseroles, they are easy and very forgiving. Meaning if you don't have one of the ingredients, you just use something else. Here's a link to easy casseroles...


http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/easy-casserole/index.html

 

[Baby Girl.]

Look on taste.com.au its awesome, i live off that site.
Also, get the magazine Super Food Ideas (if ur in australia). it comes out every minth and has easy recipies.
Some Kids cookbooks have great stuff in them that u can make full dinner meals out of.
oh and grab a slow cooker for winter. VERY easy and SUPER tasty

 

[Brzy]

If you've had a bit of fun so far with cooking, try looking in different areas, for instance, a few years ago, I tried something called rokott krumpli (a hungarian dish). It includes boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, sour cream, cheese, and bacon. Surprisingly light. The potatoes and eggs are sliced and layered in a rectangular casserole.
Potato-egg-sour cream-potato-egg-sour cream-cheese-bacon.

Or you could try korean recipes. They're often health oriented.

 

[Ron P]

baked chicken
here r a couple of the easiest but best recipes my family just LOVES.

pre-heat over to 350

put chicken in baking pan and smother with italian dressing for extra flavor sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. YUMMY cover tightly with foil,
throw it in oven for about 2 1/2 hours and u have your self a delicious meal the chicken just falls apart when u touch it with a fork. enjoy


now if u want the same delicious meal that falls apart when u touch it with the fork do all the same steps above but instead of smothering in italian smother with a bottle of bar b que sauce. cover and cook 2 1/2 hours and tah dah dinner is served

 

[Jordan]

Make chili. It is really easy [just meat (or vegetarian meat) , chili beans, and onions] and is pretty cost effective. It is definitely less than a dollar per serving. Look up some recipes!

 

[Blue Eyes]

Parmesan Chicken is one of my favourite recipes and kids love it. The recipe below is from About.com. If you are looking for recipes Cooking.com is good as well.

If you have to work, I would recommend buying a slow cooker. There are lots of slow cooker recipes out there. Its nice to come home and have the house smelling wonderful and all you have to do is put on some rice or pasta to accompany or make a salad and dinner is ready. I love my slow cooker!

Parmesan Chicken

1/2 cup Dijon or coarse ground mustard
1/4 cup apple juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups fresh soft bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup ground almonds
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Preparation:
Line a 13x9" pan with heavy duty foil and add a wire rack. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In shallow pan, mix mustard, apple juice, garlic, and 2 Tbsp. melted butter. In other pan, mix the crumbs, Parmesan cheese, almonds, 3 Tbsp. melted butter, salt, pepper, and dried basil. Toss until evenly mixed.

Coat chicken in the mustard mixture, then roll it in the Parmesan cheese and bread crumb mixture until thoroughly coated.

Place the Parmesan Chicken on rack on top of the foil. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and thoroughly cooked.

Note: You have to use soft fresh bread crumbs for this recipe; bread crumbs you make yourself by crumbling or processing fresh bread. Do NOT use the dried bread crumbs you buy in the supermarket; you'll have way too much left over. You can use shredded or grated Parmesan cheese, but I recommend using real parmesan cheese and grating it yourself.

 

[anoinkinthedark]

Don't worry about the food just smoke a lot of pot you'll get through this.

 

[lovin_him]

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

3 Chicken Breasts (Boneless)
1 Box Herb stove top stuffing
3 slices of bacon thick cut or not
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 onion
McCormick Grill Mates Chicken rub and Garlic and Herb Seasoning

Step 1: Cut chicken breasts in a butterfly cut ( lay the piece flat and cut like you would split a biscuit but not all the way through)
Step 2: Unfold the breasts and wash well
Step 3: Mix rub and seasoned salt together then rub all over the breasts, inside and out
Step 4: Lay breasts spread out and place bacon on inside but leave some hanging off for later (don't cut)
Step 5: prepare stuffing and spoon stuffing on inside part of chicken the leftover bacon over top the stuffing
Step 6: fold the breast so that other half of breast is covering the top part of the stuffing
Step 7: arrange chicken in a round pan (i prefer cast iron)
Step 8: place onion in the middle of pan between all the breasts and spoon extra stuffing throughout the pan
Step 9: heat up cream of chicken soup then pour over breasts and onion
Bake in oven at 375 for 1hour and a half or until top is brown

Hint: I add a bit of water half way through to keep th chicken moist


And cookware i love cast iron cook ware its durable takes a little more effort to care for because it rusts, it helps add iron to your food and it seems like food always tastes better cooked in them

Also reccomend a pressure cooker

I have 2 recipes for that that i can give you off hand
beef roast
cut up an onion, celery, carrots and some red potatoes put buttr in cooker add veggies and saulte until butter turns golden brown remove veggies place roast in cooker brown the outside add veggies to cooker cove meat with beef broth cover and cook for an hour 15 min..serve with rice

Cooked Cabbage (super yummy)
head of cabbage washed and cut up dont seperate chunks add 3 strips of bacon , 1/4 cup brown sugar or white sugar, 1/4 cup vinegar, and cover cabbage with chicken broth cover and cook for 15 to 20 min