Ugh! I can't cook!!!!!

[TruBlu]

So, my dinner last night was once again a disaster. My boys eat it anyway and are very good sports about it. DS9 said, well at least we know mom wasn't abducted by aliens. If they replaced her, the new mom would know how to cook.

Anybody got any foolproof recipes? I need intervention.

 

[lewdyan1]

Come over to the DIS Cooking board, you might find some good suggestions! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1922558

 

[Disney Ron]

1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 can corn
1 sm. can cream corn
1 envelope lipton onion soup
1 envelope instant mashed potato
1/4 cup water

Brown beef and drain. Add dry onion soup mix to the cooked beef, then add 1/4 cup water. Set aside.

Mix creamed corn and regular corn together. Set aside.

Make mashed potatoes according to box instructions. Set aside.

Layer in pyrex casserole. First beef mixture, second corn mix, top with mashed potatoes. Drizzle with a tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.

(So easy and yummy. Cream corn mixes with onion soup while cooking and makes a nice gravy after cooked.)

Good luck.
Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[Magic Mom]

What is it that you are having problems with? Bad recipes....clueless in the kitchen?
Try some new recipes, but stick with simple recipes at first, that include ingredients you are familiar with. Read the recipe through several times before you start. Pull all your ingredients out and pre measure any ingredients you can.
Crock pots are great places to start as they do all the cooking, and you just do the mixing.

A chuck roast with a can of V8, a half cup water and a half packet of onion soup mix makes an awesome easy pot roast in the crock pot.

When you are buying meat for your recipes, make sure you buy the cut that is listed in the recipe, especially with beef.
Do the semi-homemade thing. Canned spaghetti sauce with a can of diced tomatoes, a rough cut zucchini, some diced garlic, and a half pound browned ground pork is easy, fast, and very yummy.

Just start off easy and simple and then build from there.

 

[Disney Ron]

We have some good recipes on this board too... Please join us or lurk if it helps!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1899219

 

[Disney Ron]

1 lb boneless chicken breast or tenders
1 can mushroom soup
1/2 can milk
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup shredded swiss
1 1/2 cup stove top stuffing.

Brown chicken in a skillet, remove from heat and drain. Place in a butter casserole dish. Top chicken with mushrooms, then swiss cheese. Mix mushroom soup with a half can of milk and pour over chicken, mushrooms and swiss. Top casserole with dry stove top.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes until bubbling.

Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[Disney Ron]

*** This is a favorite on our What's for Dinner Thread, submitted by Tigerkat ***

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 c. chopped green onions
1/2 tsp. each salt, dry mustard, basil and cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. each garlic powder and thyme
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 c. heavy or whipping cream
1/2 c. shredded Muenster cheese

Heat a 10 inch skillet over high heat about 1 minute. Add butter. Stir in green onions and 2 tsp. of the seasoning mix; cook 1 minute. Add shrimp and garlic; cook stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in cream and remaining seasoning mix; cook 1 minute. Remove shrimp with slotted spoon.

Boil cream in same skillet, whisking constantly, 2 minutes. Stir in cheese, then shrimp. Serve over pasta or rice.

Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm the dinner cook in our house. DW is inspired by baked goods and sweets, so that's her forte.

Honestly, most of what I picked up was from watching Food Network for about 12-13 years. I'm a visual learner, and watching how they chop, dice, timing of adding ingredients, etc. helped me learn a lot. Alton Brown's show "Good Eats" is a good place to start, IMHO, as is Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

What did you make last night?

Perhaps we can give you some tips so you don't make the same mistakes.

 

[SC Minnie]

I can't cook either but I made this the other night and it was good- and suppper easy too!

Red Pepper Alfredo sauce- I think the brand was Classico but it is with the spaghetti sauces- I have used the sundried tomato alfredo too and it was good.

Chicken- cut up to bite size

Mrs. Dash or Natures' Seasoning

Tomato- cut up in larger chunks without the seeds

Pasta-- Fettucine or Penne or whatever

I cooked the chicken in a skillet after putting some of the seasoning on it. I then put the sauce and tomatoes and let it simmer while the pasta was cooking. Once the past was done- mixed it together. Fixed a veggie and garlic cheese biscuits (recipe on the Bisquick box).

 

[lovesmurfs]

The key is to definitely follow recipes until you have enough experience to make substitutions or guesses.

I'd strongly recommend www.allrecipes.com when searching for recipes. Not only does it offer really good recipes, but the reviews provide info on what experienced cooks have done or found with the recipes.

Our Parks & Recreation offers family cooking classes. If your cooking's to the point that your kids are complaining, I'd put them to work. Your strengths are in other areas!

 

[FormrCastMbr]

We have some good recipes on this board too... Please join us or lurk if it helps!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1899219

I also suggest looking at this thread...please feel free to join us!

 

[famofsix]

Simple things are the best....

Get a Reynolds cooking bag small size

buy a whole chicken...prepare the chicken according to the package on the reynolds cooking bag. Cut up potatoes. Place potatoes and a bag of baby carrots on the bottom. Place chicken on top. Dump a jar of Italian dressing on the chicken and bake. Serve with rolls.

Here are some more easy ones:

http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/recipes/recipe_search.asp


My kids love when we do wraps like the ones at McDonalds. We use soft taco skins.

We put chicken nuggets cut-up or grilled chicken, lettuce, dressing or bq sauce and cheese on them. They can be microwaved in the wrap for time or spray with non-stick spray and heat on one side in a skillet. Place all the fixings in it and let the cheese melt. Fold it over and serve right away.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Speaking of simple things, Mark Bittman writes a great cooking column for the NY Times called "The Minimalist." He also wrote an awesome cookbook called "How To Cook Everything." He focused on basic recipes and good, fresh ingredients. Excellent resource for good dinners.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

How bad could it be? I mean maybe you are striving for perfection. I remember when my son was little my mother invited him for pork chops. He declined and then my older son ( about 7) said, "NO, go nana's pork chops are not like mum's , they are good!" Once my son( about 4 yrs old) was in Kentucky Fried Chicken and eating mac and cheese. All of a sudden he yells, "Hey, they stole my mother's recipe." Of course once again my MOTHER was with him.

Look I have a friend who says, " What difference is it what you eat you are only going to xxxx it out anyway." Gross but true!

My mother and sister think they are the BEST cooks in the world. Who cares? I always thought I was so bad but then when I would have parties my friends would rave about my food and come to ME for recipies. Maybe your family likes to give you a hard time about your cooking and you take it to heart. Don't stress, if they are hungry enough they'll eat!

 

[RUDisney]

Ivan's Crispy Chicken
(You can't screw this up, it's very easy.)

Spray a baking dish with PAM
Place one layer of chicken breasts or chicken tenders in the pan.
Sprinkle it with white wine (Holland House Cooking Wine works well, too.)
Sprinkle some garlic powder onto the chicken.
Slice an onion into thin strips and spread that over the chicken.
Cover the chicken with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

The cheese will crisp up as the chicken cooks.

Serve this with some Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (90 seconds in the microwave) and a bag of frozen vegetables that you've microwaved.

The funny thing is that I found this recipe in the Atkins cookbook. My DS's name is Ivan and he absolutely hates this because it has cheese on it. He hates that this chicken is named after him. He hates cheese, so I usually put a piece of chicken into another baking dish and add everything except the cheese to his.

 

[TruBlu]

Thanks for all the tips!!!!!

My problem is that I TORCH all meat. I'm so afraid of making us sick, that I cook it until it is extremely dry.

Last night's dinner was a pork roast marinated in teriaki sauce. I started out cooking it at 350 for 45 minutes. When I cut it open it was bleeding, so I uped the heat to 450, cut it into four pieces, and cooked it for 20 more minutes. The result reminded my husband of the turkey on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I tried to get the kids to dip it in A-1 (that usually works for everything), but they just skipped it and had mostly bread for dinner.

 

[RUDisney]

You've gotta get over that fear.

When I ate at my DH's Aunt's restaurant and the chicken was so good and moist I asked her for her secret. She said you just cook it until it's done. She was right.

Use your meat thermometer to test for temperature. Use your crockpot and the meat will NEVER be overcooked and it will always be moist.

Remember that many people, myself included eat undercooked meat all the time and haven't had anything bad happen. Sure, I don't eat undercooked chicken, but I undercook pork just a little, not so it's bloody, but just a little pink.

Oh, another thing, if you have meat that isn't cooked as fully as you want it to be, you can also toss it in the microwave. Since it cooks from the inside out, it'll get the pink out of the middle faster than you raising the roasting temperature and making it inedible.

 

[mamacatnv]

Thanks for all the tips!!!!!

My problem is that I TORCH all meat. I'm so afraid of making us sick, that I cook it until it is extremely dry.

Last night's dinner was a pork roast marinated in teriaki sauce. I started out cooking it at 350 for 45 minutes. When I cut it open it was bleeding, so I uped the heat to 450, cut it into four pieces, and cooked it for 20 more minutes. The result reminded my husband of the turkey on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I tried to get the kids to dip it in A-1 (that usually works for everything), but they just skipped it and had mostly bread for dinner.

Ah yes, you have my Mother in Law syndrome! She was here in June, offered to make "her pork tenderloin" the kids almost gagged, but luckily I kicked them in time

Ground beef is the only meat I kill
Hamburgers - med. heat and slow

Steak - gotta be med. rare, DH likes done so he gets the ends and the kids and I eat the middle-6-8 minutes per side for 1 1/2" or so thickness

Pork Chops - high heat and fast - for 1" pork chops I bake 20 minutes (shake & bake) at 450 - let them sit a couple of minutes and they are perfect.
I also BBQ them, again, high heat and sear - I cook for 5 minutes per side, pull them off and again let them sit. Pork can be eaten pink, safely. Long gone are the days where pork was dangerous unless dead

BBQ bone in thighs and legs - 40 minutes, turning often
Baked: 45 minutes @ 375

I second the use of a good meat thermometer

 

[Master Mason]

Thanks for all the tips!!!!!

My problem is that I TORCH all meat. I'm so afraid of making us sick, that I cook it until it is extremely dry.

Last night's dinner was a pork roast marinated in teriaki sauce. I started out cooking it at 350 for 45 minutes. When I cut it open it was bleeding, so I uped the heat to 450, cut it into four pieces, and cooked it for 20 more minutes. The result reminded my husband of the turkey on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I tried to get the kids to dip it in A-1 (that usually works for everything), but they just skipped it and had mostly bread for dinner.

You need to invest into one of these

Then you just stick it into the meat, check the temp, pull it about 5 degrees shy of your desired temp, let it rest for 10 minutes and your good to go.