HELP

[kmchenry254]

ok im a newly wed as of january
and im a stay at home wife..im trying this whole cooking thing out and
imma be honest i suck lol
so far im good at hamburger helper,spaghetti....hamburgers....eggs,pancakes
lol oh yea my favorite is grilled cheeese
but we are tired of the same ol' things and i wanna make a good dinner for my husband when he gets off work
so any suggestions on something good but simple and directions and ingredients would be very helpful


thanks!

[TrudieC]

Good for you!  What do you like to eat when you go out to a restaurant?  Cooking what you like helps you along.  There are also lots of free cooking videos on the web that can help you learn more.

If you go to the main page of this healthy cooking forum you will see in blue at the top a reference to archives.  Click on this.  You will then see a list of types of posts.  If you click on recipes you'll get all the great recipes that have been entered on this forum.  Some are easier than others.  If you want to find something just for a certain ingredient you can try the Search This Community on the right.  Start off with easy chilis, pot roasts, salads and pastas.  Please come back and let us know how it is going.

[have 2 kids]

Do you have a crockpot?   You can do roasts and stews in it.   What about baking a chicken?

[bt1026]

U get "shake n bake"  in stores which is so good for baking chicken. Its healthy too

[kmchenry254]

yes i have a crockpot
lol its never been used

[Piparskeggr]

Young lady;

The crockpot is your friend ,-)  I own 3 of them, plus a rice cooker/steamer, amongst other small appliances...my cooking mentor from the CIA would approve, I think.  He concentrated on good, solid "peasant" cooking, and always encouraged me to do the same.

Here's an easy, crockpot, spaghetti sauce, for which a little skill with a fry-pan is needed:

Foodstuffs: 1# bulk Italian sausage, 3 T olive oil, 1 med onion - diced, 6 cloves garlic - crushed, 1 T each dried oregano, basil and parsley,  1 t fennel seed - crushed, 1/2 c dry red wine, 1 large can diced tomatoes with juice, 1 large can crushed tomatoes

Method:  In a fry-pan over med-high heat place the sausage.  Using a spatula to turn it and break it up,  cook until the meat is lightly browned.  Scoop out the meat into the crockpot, which is set on warm at this time, reserving the pan drippings.  Add in the2 T oil and sweat the onion and garlic until limp, scoop these into the sausage.  Add in 1 T oil, the herbs and fennel; toast these while stirring for a minute or so.  Scoop all of this, including the pan drippings, into the crockpot, turn it up to high.  Add in the tomatoes and red wine.  Stir well, cover and let stew for at least 2 hours.

My wife and I prefer very thin spaghetti and a mix of Parmesan and Romano cheese.

Cooking is not hard, not even fine cooking.  All it takes is good ingredients, time and attention to detail.

You'll do fine.

Pip  

[kmchenry254]

ok thanks imma look into this one this coming week!

[Lucey12]

Baby, your my girl. Im newly married too (August 9th 2009) and a stay at home wife. I know what you mean. For the first month or two it was spaghetti, buritoes, chili.... repeat!
Go to the grocery store and pick a veggie that you havnt made before ( mine was yam, red potatoes, that sort of thing) then get a meat, a sauce that would go with it, some onions or celery to saute with it. Be creative with spices, but smell them before to see if you think it will go.

The other night I made: red potatoes, boiled then mashed (skin on) with onion finely choped. Fine garlic (FREAH, dont use the powder silly) cream cheese and sour cream , a bit of butter and bit of milk, all mashed up. Boiled broccoli (i dont have a steamer) and cheese sause (tble spoon butter melt it in a sauce pan, add a bit of flower till you can form a ball, then add a tiny bit of milk at a time whisked in. once you have the right amount ans consistansy, add grated chedder. I sauted onions and made some steak with a bit of soya sauce on it and montrealsteak spice. MMM MMM GOOD.

[gracefromHHP]

I learned to cook better by watching the food channel ( back when they still cooked and didn't have contests all the time ).  I'd watch what they were making and anything that looked good, I printed out from the computer to make on my own later.  Lots of things I never understood by reading about that I better understood once I saw them doing it on tv.  lots of videos on cooking to watch on their website too.  Watch alton brown anytime you can - he explains the science behind why you do what you do when cooking as well as many times tells you what the common screw ups of a recipe are so you can avoid them.

Also pick up cooking magazines too once a month and you both can page thru those, see what looks yummy and try a new recipe once a week at least. You'll get better the more that you cook :)  Cooks magazine is a good one - really goes into detail about cooking each month.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/red-peppers-stuffed-with-corn-and-fresh-mozzarella-recipe/index.html

this is something just a little bit different and yummy for this time of the year. If you have a local farmers market you can pick up the ingredients extra fresh and cheaper than at the store too.  Serve it with salad, other veggies or even grill some meat if you are a meat eater . It's simple, healthy and looks far fancier than it really is :)

grace

[JillyHemp316]

Probably the best cooking magazine out there
is Everyday Food, its a Martha Stewart thing.
And its awesome, easy, yummy, and new. In every
issue they introduce new veggies that r in season
And tell you new cooking methods, and little
information about all types of things. And Food
Network during the day, that's when all the cooking
shows are on.