Help--- I HATE TO COOK

[OceanAnnie]

Have you tried those pre-made Italian meatballs? They are so good (and versatile!). You can put them in the crockpot with some ready made spaghetti sauce and let it simmer on low all day. Boil some noodles, add a pre-made salad and some garlic bread and you have dinner.

It's also good for meatball subs, & meatballs and gravy over mashed potatoes, soups, all sorts of things.

Another quick recipe I really like is from Kraft:

Shortcut Chicken Parmesan

Prep: 5 min Total: 30 min.

4 frozen breaded chicken cutlets (about 1 1lb.)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian-style diced tomatoes
1/2 cup Kraft Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
2 cupst rotini pasta, cooked & drained

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange chicken in single layer in 8 inch square baking dish.

Spread tomatoes over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 25 min. or until chicken is ehated through and cheese is melted. Serve over pasta

Makes 4 servings.

(Tastes like you went to a lot of trouble!)

Kraft has a food & family quick fixes recipe book that it sends out about 6 times a year for free. If you are interested go to: kraftfoods.com/share to sign up. (It's free.) I love my books. I've kept them all over the years!

 

[kilee]

I have written down so many ideas and websites you all have given. I am going to be assembling my grocery list tonight based off these ideas so I know exactly what I'm going to make each night. Thank you to everyone- and keep them coming.

I went to one of the sites mentioned here- and got this one for tonight- since I had chicken out and didn't know what I as doing w/ it.

"AuGratin Chicken"

4 Chicken Breasts
1 Box AuGratin Potatoes
3 3/4 cups water

Put all of it including the seasoning from the box mix in a crock pot for 3-4 hours on low. Now-- I don't think I can go wrong with this one. So, we'll see.

 

[TerriP]

She baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the cheese was all bubbly and browning. It will look just like a regular pizza when it is done, except that it is in a casserole.

Yummmmm, *thanks* for the new recipe!!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Oops. Sorry for the double post.

 

[luvwinnie]

Recipe Name: Taco Taters (American)
Ingredients:
1 can (2.8 oz.) french-fried onions
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (15-1/2 oz.) Mexican-style chili beans (Allen's)
1 package (32 oz.) Ore-Ida Tater Tots
1 envelope (1-1/4 oz.) taco seasoning mix (McCormick)
1 can (6 oz.) Italian-style tomato paste with roasted garlic (Contadina)
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) stewed tomatoes with onion, celery and green peppers (Contadina)
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Layer Tater Tots in bottom of a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown beef; drain. Add beans, tomato paste, seasoning mix, tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in onions.

Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese over hot Tater Tots. Spoon meat mixture over cheese; top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until hot.

 

[grlpwrd]

The next 29 days? That may be difficult to go thru such a drastic change. It might be better (and more realistic ) if you take small steps, really. Perhaps start with the easier dishes, like spaghetti and then build up your repertoire. Even add some meals with rotisserie chicken. There are some recipes online to make a few meals using one rotisserie chicken.

I mix up my cooking repertoire with favorite dishes, using the crockpot and indoor grill, and having some constant meals in our house, like spaghetti night, taco night, etc., plus sometimes a day for trying new dishes.

Is there a particular cuisine that you/your family prefers? Perhaps add a few meals every week with cuisine you really enjoy and balance them with more budget-friendly yet healthy meals.

Also, your crockpot and grill are your friend. I do at least 2 meals a week using my crockpot and one meal a week using a grill or stirfrying to feed our family of 7.

GL!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Oh! Bertolli makes some great tortellini! Such an easy meal. Just boil the tortellini and add whichever ready made sauce it calls for. There are so tortellinis to choose from.

Can't get any easier than that!

 

[Brianne]

We use the crockpot a lot here--even a crockpot lasagna, which is actually rather good, but does take some prep work, although only for the meat. You don't need to cook the noodles.

"Pigs in a blanket" is popular with my family as well--it's just hot dogs with cheese wrapped in crescent rolls. I think the recipe's even on the tubes now.

Breakfast foods---we do a lot of scrambled eggs, bacon & english muffins for dinner.

I'm making a meat "pastry" for dinner tonight---ground beef with seasonings (I use onion & garlic); a couple tubes of crescent rolls, taking two triangles & flattening them out to make a rectangle; cheese (we use mozzarella, but you can use anything). Fill each rectangle with some meat & cheese, pinch the four corners together & seal the fillings up. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. It's simple, but pretty filling.

 

[icebrat001]

I'm making a meat "pastry" for dinner tonight---ground beef with seasonings (I use onion & garlic); a couple tubes of crescent rolls, taking two triangles & flattening them out to make a rectangle; cheese (we use mozzarella, but you can use anything). Fill each rectangle with some meat & cheese, pinch the four corners together & seal the fillings up. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. It's simple, but pretty filling.

I'll try that soon with ground turkey, sounds good.

 

[doxdogy]

How about shepherds pie?

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
1 pound ground beef
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup
1 (10.5 ounce) cans brown gravy
1 (7.6 ounce) package potato flakes
shredded cheese

Brown ground beef in a large skillet and drain off grease. Return to skillet and mix in the mushroom soup and brown gravy. Transfer 8 or 9 inch square baking dish. Mix the mashed potatoes according to package directions. Spread over the top of the beef mixture. Sprinkle cheese over top of potatoes. Bake for about 15 or 20 minutes.

I use a cheese that is colby and monterey jack cheese mixture. I grate about a 1/2 of brick of cheese. The best part about shepherd's pie is that you can add drained canned veggies if you want. Just would need to use a bigger dish. DH and I don't like the veggies. This is not my recipe. I just combine several recipes from allrecipes.com to come up with what would appeal to DH and I.

 

[EthansMom]

I didn't read all of the responses, so pardon if it's been mentioned already, but a baked chicken is waaay easy. Buy a whole roasting chicken, remove giblets from the cavity (don't forget this or your chicken won't cook fast enough!), rinse the outside of the chicken and pat it dry. Put the chicken in a roasting pan, liberally shake Lemon Pepper on the outside and inside of the chicken, cover the chicken and cook for two hours at 350 deg. (remove cover for last hour). Check for doneness.

Add some frozen veggies that have been microwaved in the oven and some store bought bread or Pilsbury dough rolls (I love the lower fat versions from Pilsbury).

You can use the leftovers to make easy chicken soup, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken casserole, etc.

 

[sm4987]

some great sounding receipes here. I love to cook, but it's worth trying some of your receipes!

 

[luvmyfam444]

30 days is a LONG time! I'd change that real quick especailly since your dh gets to eat out when he's @ work...you're gonna fell like your punishing yourself real quick. And you think you hate cooking now....
If I were you I'd cut back eating out - not doing away with it all together...so only eat out 1x a week - the busiest day - if there's soccer practice or something of the sort.

Here's a great website for all kinds of recipes..

www.tasteofhome.com
look on there there's thousands to search thru & then there's a wonderful message board there where you can post this question & get TONS of recipes....go to chat with other cooks then click on recipes that'll get you to the message board.

Something to try is Hamburger helper Lasagna flavor (YUMMY!) also a no fail one is Velvetta macncheese - we add hotdogs or ham to this (kids FAVORITE!) ALso on the back of the macncheese box is a good one called hamburger mac -it's REAL good too...our other quickie meals are tuna fish sandwiches/chicken salad sandwiches & sloppy joes (manwich).

Tonight I took chicken breasts (2 frozen boneless) & cooked them in toaster oven (too hot for the real oven) & cooked minute rice in the microwave. Cut up the chicken & added in to the rice & 1 can of cream chicken soup. Stir & heat back up 2 mins (to heat the chick soup) & serve with canned veggie or salad. SUPER easy.

Good LUCK

 

[DisnyMama]

I have found that Most of the Hamburger Helper's taste better the next day. I know this sounds a little nutty but sometimes while I am cleaning up the dishes from dinner I cook a box of Hamburger Helper for the next night's dinner. It only takes one pan since you just brown the ground beef and add the noodles, water and sauce package and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes and then it's done. I have done this many times, especially during baseball season when I know we won't be home till almost 8:00 p.m. and I can just take it out of the fridge and heat it up. The flavors have had a chance to blend overnight and it is really good. Our favorite is the Itallian.

Also, it was mentioned earlier about dipping the chicken in ranch dressing and the shake and bake. I have done this before and it is great. Youcan also use seasoned or plain bread crumbs that you season yourself.

Another good suggestion was the Pork Chops cooked in Creme of Mushroom soup. My mother taught me this when I was very young and it is one of my favorites.

I have an easy recipe (no measuring) and can be made low-cal for Hawaiian Chicken. Take Chicken breasts or cutlets and place in a baking dish. Pour in a Jar of Pineapple/Apricot preserves, a bottle of Catalina salad dressing and a can of chunk pineapple. Mix all the ingredients together. Just buy the medium size jar/bottle/can. There are no exact measurements for this recipe and no way to screw it up. Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour or till the chicken is done and serve with white rice. **You can make if low-cal by changing the preserves to sugar free and the dressing to either light or fat free. Either way it is Delicious!!!

 

[florida-again]

I'm a student and in my first year I couldn't cook a thing, I ate toast and fries. Now that I'm near to graduating I can cook almost anything.

I'll be diverse and give you a british favourite:

Sausage and mash:

Chop large potatoes (2-3per person) into quarters or smaller and put into cold water, boil the water with the potatoes in until the potatoes are soft.

Chop an onion into slices.
Cook however many (link) sausages your family can eat in a frying pan (heat oil in the pan first), fry until they start to brown and then add the onions.
Cook until the sausages are brown all over.

Mash the potatoes with a ton of butter and cream until they are the consistancy you like.

Pour over gravy made with gravy granules

Eat and enjoy!

 

[pjshaff]

Bumping for some new ideas

 

[Swimnoid]

Here is an idea I was looking into just minutes before I read your post. I don't know if you've heard of it already, but it seems like you'd be the perfect candidate for it!

It is a trend of companies that allow you to select a dinner package and set up an appointment to go in to their facilities and make a whole bunch of homestyle, delicious meals that can be taken home, frozen, and then cooked as needed.

They do all the planning, shopping, chopping, and prep. All you have to do is go around to each station and assemble the meals following their simple directions. It takes anywhere from 1-2 hours to assemble the family meals. They give you instructions with each meal how to cook it at home.

I was just reading the description of how it works on Letsdish.net and it sounds awesome! Although the initial price appears a little pricey, they demonstrate that for the amount of food and servings you get, the price per serving is only $2 or $3 (or something like that) so it actually can save you money.

Here are a list of companies that all have this service. I found these from a quick Yahoo search, there are probably more! You will first need to check each website to see if they have a location near you.

www.dreamdinners.com
www.supersuppers.com
www.dinnersready.com
www.letsdish.net

Laura

I second this idea. I have done Dream dinners and really like it. The food is GOOD! and not having to clean up and having all the prep work done for you is great. Then you have a few things to jsut thaw and cook. When I get home at night I am just too tired too plan and prep. These dinners have gotten me back into the habit of good eating and hardly any eating out.