There are some websites that provide some easy cooking/convience cooking sites. Many of the recipes you can cut in half or put in the freezer for later. Here's a couple for you to check out.
moorsb, some of the ladies on the list introduced me to crock pot cooking a month or so ago after I had complained that some of my recent grilling attempts (grilling is the guy thing) had ended up badly after repeat potty calls from my DW necessitated stopping/starting the grilling at critical junctures. Crock pot cooking is not time critical -- you just put a bunch of stuff in and turn it on and forget it for several hours. My first attempt at that just emptied the freezer of lots of frozen veggies that had been in there for a long time, plus some sirloin tips and peppers and seasoning, and it produced a very tasty stew that was good for leftover meals for several days. I was told to Google for crock pot recipes, but haven't gotten around to that yet. I'm going to do pretty much the same thing again today, but using a pot roast and less water.
We have a thread for easy recipes somewhere. I will bring it to the top for you. Betty Crocker has a great box dinner somewhere near the pastas. It is chicken and biscuits. The chicken is in a can and you add water to the biscuit mix and pop it in the oven a half hour. It tastes great and will make enough for 2 meals.
When I had to take over cooking from my wife, I didn't have any idea what to do. She had always done all the cooking. Someone introduced me to a new magazine, "Cooking for 2". It has lots of really good, easy recipes, and because they are all designed for 2 people, there is nothing left over. I actually began to enjoy looking at recipes and deciding what to try next. The only down side was being sure we had all the ingredients. Since we lived 16 miles from the nearest super market, I started making up menus for the week so we could do all the shopping on one day. I have kept the best recipes on my computer so I don't have to go looking for the magazine. Some of the other on-line recipe places are set up so you can indicate the number of people you will be serving and it gives you the amounts for that.
We live about 15 miles out in the country from the nearsest store too. I am interested in having left overs so maybe cooking for four is my goal. We have a crock pot so that sounds good. Thanks
Schwans frozen foods (http://www.schwans.com/) delivers almost any place in the country. They have some products that we really like.
They have Wild Rice Pilaf (10 min. on stovetop) that together with their Chicken Cordon Bleu (half hour in oven) and a salad make a nice meal. Or their Garlic Mashed Potatoes together with Lemon Pepper Chicken is another good combination.
Whenever I do chicken breast or salmon, I make extra and have the next day chopped up and served with chopped hard-boiled egg and shredded cheese (and maybe sunflower seeds for crunch) on lettuce.
I do crock pot frequently—4 or 5 meals out of each recipe. Vegetable beef soup—chili—chicken breast, black bean, salsa combo.
I am all for doing meals as easy as possible. It makes it easier too that my husband can’t remember what he had for the last meal so I could serve the same thing every meal and he wouldn’t know the difference. But if we have someone else eating with us, the Schwans products make fixing a nice meal easier.
Sounds good Lori. Those barbeque whole chickens at the markets are really handy too. I buy one every couple weeks or so. Have it for dinner then slice the rest and freeze for a couple more meals like sandwiches, salads or soup.
OK, here's an idea that I received from a power cooking class--
take a big pkg of bulk ground beef. Brown the entire pkg a little bit at a time. Don't use any seasoning. Drain frequently and put the cooked meat on paper towels to absorb extra fat.
When it's all done, get out your handy kitchen scale and your zip lock bags. Measure out 1/2 lb or 3/4 lb or 1 lb--depending on your preferance. Squeeze the air out the bag, zip it up, label it and put in freezer.
Next time you are going to cook spaghetti, or whatever, just take out your cooked meat and your half way there.
There--how's that sound? Easy huh??? Enjoy. Bon apetite.
That's good Mawzy. I used to have a hot dog takeout place and we made gallons of hot dog sauce and we would put 10# of ground beef in a large kettle with some water and boil it. Drain and finish the sauce. One of my ladies was a school cook and that was the way they made sauce, spaghetti and chilli. Sure beats crumbling and browning.
I would if I knew it Bar-bra. I just remember boiling the ground beef, draining, adding dried onions . chilli powder, salt and pepper. Also, we used crushed saltines to help thicken. Sorry. But, boiling the ground beef is a real big help.
Just enter in the things you have on hand in your fridge or pantry. Don't know what to do with the odd stuff or the left overs? Enter in the food items you have on hand and it will generate recipe ideas for you. Great for those times I say "I've got stuff here but don't know what to make."
I Googled "Cooking for Two Magazine" and got quite a few hits. The one I checked was for Taste of Home. There is a Meat Loaf recipe I will try today using 1lb beef. It makes 2 so I can freeze one.
Is there a Trader Joe's near you? I used to cook a lot, but now doing everything for 2, I've cut back. They have great frozen entrees and other quick options that are really a cut above the regular mass market TV dinners. Many of their products are also oriented to a healthy diet, and at good prices compared to other stores.
I have not heard of Trader Joe's Fort Worth would be the nearest big city. We have been eating alot of Marie Calender Dinner but after so long they taste alike. Heathly eating would be good too.
I would kill for a Trader Joes. I buy their Two Buck Chuck by the case. That is a very good wine by Charles Shaw that they are able to sell very cheap-no longer @ $2.00/bottle but still a bargain. Marie Calender Dinners are really food porn if you are a label reader. Many supermarkets now sell in store semi-prepared food that you just take home and pop in your toaster oven. More expensive than TV dinners but much healthier.
I just bought a whole cooked chicken and then cut it up into meal-size portions and put it in the freezer for future use. When needed, 1½ minutes in the microwave and it's ready to eat. Add rice and a frozen vegetable and you have a complete meal.
Jean21, the Taste of Home magazine "Cooking for 2" is the one I use. I find several recipes in each issue that I want to try.
I have tried the Hormel entrees that are in the meat market. The Beef Roast au jus is very good. You just pop it in the microwave and it is ready to eat. My neice has recommended the Meat Loaf and they have a number of others that look good. In the same section you can find Country Crock and Bob Evans side dishes. I love the Cinnamon Apples and have them often. Just heat and serve, you can't get much easier than that. The whole cooked chickens are nice to have. Some of the Deli potato salads are good to. I am getting hungry so what else is new....
I forgot to mention the steamed vegetables in the frozen foods. I have found them very tasty, especially the corn. It tasts just like you had gone to the garden and picked it. You can't beat that and this ole country girl knows fresh.
The NEar East rice and cous cous pilafs are dead easy, with easy directions and usually a suggestion of a meat to go with them. They make about 3 good servings, so you have leftovers but aren't overwhelmed.
We have Trader Joe's here, but due to Maryland's strange liquor laws, they can't sell wine. Before dx, we used to go to VA a couple of times a year and buy cases of Two Buck Chuck. I miss it.
I sometimes buy a package of frozen bourbon chicken to add to frozen stir-fry vegetables, heat it in a large covered skillet, and serve that over rice. Makes leftovers for two or three meals for us. Another combination that can just be microwaved is something called "Simply Simmered" chicken (available with Szechuan, or Terriaki, or Sweet & Sour, or General Tso sauces) -- punch three holes in the pouch and microwave for four minutes, then do the same for a pouch of frozen Szechuan or Terriaki veggies, and serve over rice (Minute rice -- does anyone bother with actually cooking rice anymore?).
I still cook rice. Prefer brown or whole grain. Takes a while but once it's cooking needs no attention. Yesterday I made a whole grain pilaf in a tiny slow cooker I had forgotten about. Threw some mushrooms, rice and bullion in the pot and forgot about it until I wanted it. Great leftovers.
a delicious roast -chuck roast in a covered oven pot with 2 packages of mushroom gravy mix and some water per package directions-. half way thru the 4hrs oven cooktime @350deg i add small potatoes and carrots and some fresh mushrooms..when the meat pulls apart with a fork its done! bake some biscuits for sopping and a salad of choice-voila. this is good stuff -divvi
variation on that pot roast: Buy a whole (not corned) beef brisket or one cut in half. Put it in a flat baking pan that has been lined with heavy duty aluminum foil big enough to enclose it tightly - put two pieces perpendicular into the pan. Pour on one or two packages of onion soup mix, dry. Fold up the foil and enclose the brisket. Bake it all afternoon at 350 or thereabouts. When it's done cut it into slices across the grain. Lovely the first night. The second night chop it up and use it as the meat with a package of Uncle Shelby's chili mix or some such, maybe add a can of beans. Don't throw out the juices, they're the best part with smashed potatoes or biscuits.
I think it needs the foil wrapped around the meat tightly so it browns so nicely. You don't have to do a thing but wrap it up with the soupmix on top and put it in a pan. Be sure the pan is deep enough to hold the meat juices that may leak out.
An easy recipe that my husband loves is to wrap foil around a hamburger patty, some sliced potatoes, sliced carrots, diced onions, salt & pepper, and a bit of butter. Bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour. Make a bunch of extras and freeze the ones you don't eat. His mom used to make these.
When you decide to make the leftover frozen ones, just place them into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. No need to defrost before baking.
briegull, I have never baked with aluminum foil and didn't know it let things brown. mmmmm may have to try it, because brown would be better. do you put the shinny side out or in?
I shop alot at BJ's, but any grocery store has smaller packages of breaded chicken, fish fillets, etc. All you need to do is put them on a cookie sheet in the oven, flip them at ten minutes and ten minutes later they're ready. You can put some frozen onion rings or egg plant slices in with them for the same amount of time. I also buy frozen entrees like chicken marsalla, heat the tray in the oven, boil some pasta and serve the chicken and it's sauce over the pasta. I always make a simple salad and put some crumpled cheese on top. There's alot of prepared foods that are easy to prepare and alot better than TV dinners.
By the way, a beef roast, chicken roaster or turkey breast are very easy to roast. Just follow the oven temperature on the package or in a cook book and use a meat thermometer to test doneness.
Shiny side out. I don't think it would BROWN without the onion soup mix, but that is brown and on top of it. There are a lot of yummy juices. Briskets will be in the market around passover time.
Of course real soon now there will be corned beef briskets in the markets. Those are REAL simple too if you have a big pasta pot. Put the brisket in, add some veggies (you know you can buy carrots-onions-celery all prepped in a bag now so you just dump them in), cover with water, bring to boil then simmer covered all day. About an hour before dinner throw in some potatoes, and a little later some shredded cabbage. Serve with mustard and/or horseradish sauce and you've got a good old New England boiled dinner. Which I didn't know how to make until I moved up here. But it's yummy and so are leftovers.
Not sure where to put this tip so here goes. It's orange season in sunny Florida. Next time you peel an orange don't throw away the peel. Put it aside to dry and cut into very small pieces. What you get is very intense orange flavor without commercial over processing. Great in veggies, meat and I will use it in my glaze for corned beef and cabbage. If I'm in the mood I cut the peel into pieces before drying. Only problem is while it is on my counter top so is Meeko
This works the best if you can get one of your delicious tree ripened oranges. Years ago when I worked at a motel, there was a guy that came every winter from Florida to spend it on the Oregon coast. He would bring tree ripened oranges and grapefruit from his own trees. After eating one of those 'melt in your mouth' oranges, the store bought ones are horrible.
Charlotte those were probably honeybelles. We call them sink oranges because when you get them as fresh as we do you can only peel them over the sink they are so soft and juicy.
I researched honeybelles and that was not them. These were definitely oranges - shaped like one, not a honeybelle. My sister lived in Florida and California and even says a tree ripe orange is like a tree ripe apple - sweet and juicy. It is too bad they have to pick them so green to last for market. We were to work at a campground in Florida the winter of 2006 but the job didn't work out and couldn't find other work so came back north. We were so looking forward to when oranges would ripen so we could have some. Maybe there will be another time!
Charlotte, we're right here in the middle of the citrus belt in central Florida, and as far as I know, they don't "pick oranges when they're green to last for the market" as you suggest. We do have an orange tree and a grapefruit tree in our yard, and the fruit we pick from them is mighty good, but not actually better tasting than that we buy as far as my taster is able to detect. Now of course Florida citrus IS probably superior to that grown in CA or TX or wherever!
I think oranges are like other fruit. Depends on the brand a lot. We have a lot of apples in our area and each brand has its own taste and sweet or tart. Since we don't have orange trees here I tend to call a orange a orange. I buy apples by variety. I also have had fresh shipped oranges from Florida just last month and they are tastier than the ones out of the store here.
Imohr-for many reasons the citrus industry has really taken a lot of hits, greening, canker and other bad things are ruining the crops. If you can find Indian River fruit it is the best. There is a small corridor that has been designated by the citrus group as having very special fruit. Charlotte-many oranges are ready to eat before they have developed the lovely orange color. We locals don't care about the color but many are colored because they sell better out of the area. Often the ones I buy at the grove are not very pretty-but taste wonderful. When I first moved to Florida I made the mistake of calling the grove an orchard. We lived in Mass. and apples grow in orchards. Down here it is a grove.
What is so sad, are the number of orange groves that have died, not replanted and/or sold for development. I heard the history of a fungus (I think it was) that destroyed many of the groves and the state paid the growers to not replant. Big mistake from what I was told. (I may have the details messed up, but the basic is the same - government thinking it knows best). We were in the Vero Beach area working. The only other area we saw (besides Orlando) was the pan handle. Loved the soft, white sand and warm water - even in November.
hold your horses, Gchipper. that comment bout florida fruit vs Tx fruit...well i am going to differ with you there. the valley in south tx the brownsville -mcallen area (south tx) all that is orchards/groves/and all types of fruits..we texans go down there SPECIAL for those oranges/fruits/// and thats a LONGGGG way to go for fruit... so there..:)divvi
and yeah i admit yours is prolly just as good..haha..
It used to make me so sad, way back in the 60s, to see orange groves in California just slowly dying. The owners would turn off the irrigation (without which where would be no citrus industry there) and leave the land fallow, trees dying, until they could sell it for a new subdivision at great profit.