your favourite make-to-impress-without-spending-hours-in-the-kitchen meals?

[binny]

I am a fairly accomplished cook ( if I do say so myself ) but with MIL coming in a few weeks I need some meals that I can make ( preferably ahead) that will be good enough for her but be easier on me.
So do you have any recipes that you love but are pretty easy to put together?

 

[newmousecateer]

Yep, thanks to Martha....(is she in jail yet?)

One of my favorite programs....an Italian sauce with sausage in it (you can even make this way ahead of time and freeze it), along with PAO's (a restaurant in New York) lemon chicken. The lemon chicken is very fast and easy.

Serve a salad and crusty Italian bread with it (to soak up the sauce from both dishes). Pour a glass of wine and you are set!

 

[browneyes]

A quick and delicious side dish-hashbrown casserole.

1 pkg. of Oreida's O'Brien frozen hashbrowns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 - 2 C. grated cheese (I usually use kraft's fancy shredded cheddar)

Preparation:
Put olive oil in a large pot, then add the O'Brien hashbrowns.
Cook until the potatoes are translucent. Mix in the soup and the cheese, add some salt and pepper if you want to, then pour the mixture into a buttered 9 X13 pan (I prefer a glass pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so, or until it looks brown.

Check out www.copykat.com for recipes from her favorite restaurants.

 

[Kermit]

This is simple but good, and it's great for company since it doesn't take much prep time. I bread boneless pork chops with seasoned bread crumbs and then brown them in olive oil in an oven-proof frying pan. Once browned, I pour a jar of spaghetti sauce over top and bake them at 350 covered for 30 minutes. Serve with spaghetti, salad, and bread.

 

[CamColt]

We recently found a George Foreman grill while cleaning out FIL's condo. We used it for the first time tonight and made a recipe that was included in the directions Its a Polynesian strip steak and it was very good. Unfortuantely it cant be made ahead of time though.

Mix 2TBLS Soy Sauce, 1 tsp honey, and 1 clove of garlic minced. Marinate the steak in it for 1 hour.
Preaheat the grill for 3-5 minutes. Cook the steak for 3 minutes. Add some extra marinade and cook for 1 more minute. The steak was cooked perfectly and it was very tasty. I also served rice pilaf with it.

 

[newmousecateer]

Another idea...Get the Reynolds cooking bags.

You can use a nice beef roast, pork roast or chicken pieces. Add quartered red potatoes, those baby carrots in a bag, a quartered onion, salt & pepper and whatever seasonings you want. Add a little wine to the liquid required.

Buy jar gravy, add the liquid from the cooking bag to the gravy.

Make a salad and serve bread.

While the cooking bag meal is in the oven, you can do whatever you want. The meal comes out great every time.

 

[bsnyder]

Take out!

 

[pumba]

cook fettuchini according to directions....
toss with butter and put aside
in sauce pan saute garlic and olive oil and about a dozen shrimp....more if they are the medium size....add a wee bit of water ....not much...and put aside....add a half jar of low fat alfredo sauce and a little bit of water to that....and mix it all together....toss and add a salad and a loaf of garlic bread.....delicious

 

[Wagamama]

crock pot!! There are tons of recipes on this site for it. My favorite is the cream cheese/italian dressing chicken one.

 

[Serena]

Everything I make to impress people takes forever to fix. sorry I'm no help.

 

[bumcat]

Lasagna since you can make it ahead of time and cook it later.

 

[mrsv98]

Are you soup people? I have some delicious and very easy soup recipes including potato-leek and won ton. The won ton can take a bot, but you can make the fillings ahead of time and then throw the actual won tons together at the last minute. It is great if you have kids who can help because it is easy and kind of fun. Hmmm, also carrot soup and a wonderful chicken and dumplings. If you want a recipe just pm me and I will be happy to oblige!

 

[ChiTownZee]

bumping because my MIL is coming too, next month. My MIL....the Italian, everything tastes amazing MIL.

 

[binny]

Thanks everybody!! You guys are GREAT!!!