Not A Cook

[kugrrly]

I have never really got into cooking. My mother never really cooked, so I never really learned or got good recipies. I currently live by myself, and I would love to start cooking things that are good for me! I am tired of the frozen or prepackaged meals. I would also like to cook dinner for my boyfriend. Does anyone have any good suggestions for a beginning cook like myself?? Thanks!!! :D

[BooeyJ2]

Spaghetti is super easy and you can even use jarred sauces (like Prego).

All you do is get a big pot, pick the type of meat you want in it (if you want meat - ground beef and ground turkey are always great) and cook that first (and drain any oil/fat afterwards - you can also soak it up with a papertowel if that's easier for you) and then throw in the jarred sauce. After that you can add vegetables if you like. I usually chop up mushrooms and onions and add those in. Then let it all cook for an hour or so (of course stirring occasionally) or until the veggies are as soft as you like them and then boil your pasta (either spaghetti noodles or whatever pasta you like). That's it :)


It SOUNDS like a lot of work, but once you do it one time, it's super easy after that :)


Hope that helps!

[BooeyJ2]

Here are some websites with "Quick & Easy" recipes :)


http://quickandeasy.allrecipes.com/default.asp


http://www.bhg.com/home/Easy-Recipes.html


http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/rcp/q_e.shtml


http://www.absoluterecipes.com/quick-easy-rec/

[Holls]

YAY keep posting girls! This is my kind of thread! I am known for making "box food" :p !

[wendalah]

This is my absolute favorite easy dish to make, and my husband thinks I'm a genius every time I whip it up. Bonus: It's vegetarian! It uses veggie ground beef crumbles. (And I've fed it to meat-eaters who liked it just fine.)

You can substitute real ground beef if you like, but the pre-cooked veggie beef makes it that much easier (and healthier). You don't have to cook them or drain the fat.

Veggie Chili
1 bag Morningstar Farms (this is the brand I use, but you can use any brand you like) vegetarian crumbles
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can pinto beans, undrained (not sure of size--probably 12 oz or so--not the big huge can, anyway)
1 package chili seasoning mix

Combine crumbles, tomatoes (w juice), beans (w juice), and seasoning in a large pot. No need to defrost the crumbles, you can throw them in frozen. Mix well. Bring mixture to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered for 15 mins., stirring occasionally.

You can serve the chili with whatever toppings you like--black olives, sour cream, shredded cheese, saltines, chopped onions. It is also really good served over spaghetti. You can add a green salad (made with prewashed, precut greens) to round it all out. I seriously make this once a week.

[tlew12778]

My mom never really cooked either. I mean, she did, but her idea of cooking was just throwing whatever into the wok basically. So I never learned any traditional recipes or even how ingredients work (still working on that actually).

What really changed my whole perspective on cooking was a cookbook called Lauren Groveman's Kitchen. I found it on sale on my way to the checkout at a bookstore once. It's the best $9.95 I've ever spent! Basically she has a cooking school and she really explains all the toold and basics to you in the beginning of the book. Then before each recipe, she goes into more detail about the various ingredients. It's really enjoyable to just read even. She's got a website if you google it. You can probably get an idea of what her books are like.

There's also a book called How to Cook without a Book that a lot of ppl on WC recommended. I bought it but I don't really like it. The recipes are super simple though if you want to check it out of the library or something. Personally I don't think that they are anything spectacular.

The first and probably easiest thing I "mastered" were pasta dishes. This has a lot to do with the fact that I learned to cook when I moved to Italy. Cold pasta dishes are probably the easiest out of all of them bc all they involve is cooking the pasta with the right amount of salt to the right consistency. Then you just toss it with your favorite ingredients. I will never forget when an old coworker called me a "galloping gourmet" bc I had brought in an extremely simple cold pasta dish made with penne, artichoke hearts (from a jar and cut up), fresh tomato (chunks), fresh mozzarella, and fresh chopped basil. It was tossed with some olive oil and grated cheese. So simple, very delicious, and it looks fabulous. I actually couldn't believe that she thought it was hard to make!

Another super easy summer pasta dish is fresh chopped tomatos with basil and a touch of garlic over linguine. I use vine tomatos to make this dish but you can also use Plum/Roma or San Marzano if you can find them.

Bruschetta is also extremely easy to make. You have to use the bread that is a round loaf... I have no idea what this is called in the US. Here in Italy we use Apullia-style bread ("pane pugliese") which is typical of that region of Italy. My guess is that they call this "Italian bread" in the US. It looks like this:
http://www.pandimontagna.com/images/panepugliese.jpg
but you can use any bread that isn't super soft. Slice, grill it, rub it with a piece of fresh garlic, and top it with whatever comes to mind. The most common topping is fresh chopped tomatoes (tossed with salt, olive oil, and maybe fresh basil) but you will also find bruschetta with olive pate, mortadella, salamis, cheeses... I had a really awesome one a couple weeks ago with melted scamorza and trevisana (red chicory). These are really great appetizers.

Leaving Italy behind... quiche is also really easy to make if you buy a ready-made crust. I love the quiche lorraine (http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipeId=36826) recipe on the Betty Crocker website. Basically you take broken up bacon bits, swiss cheese, and onion, mix it into the egg-heavy cream mixture, bake and you're done. You can use a regular pie dish if you want. Just make sure it's like 10" and deep otherwise you will have too much liquid left over.

My latest thing is Greek food. I think bc I am off to greece in a month :). I just tried this super easy bean recipe the other night. Take a can of beans (I use white ones... any type), rinse them (makes you less gassy afterwards ;)), add them to a pan with some olive oil and a couple of cloves of garlic. Saute for a couple minutes (until it smells nice and garlicy :p), add half of a chopped red onion, a bay leaf, 2-3 TBS of tomato sauce, the juice of half a lemon and abuot 1 cup of vegetable broth. Top off with some oregano (eyeball it) and let it simmer (covered) until the sauce gets thick (maybe 20-30 minutes). I served this with a modified Greek salad (cucumbers, tomato, olives, feta, oregano -- I left out the onion basically).

Anyway Happy Cooking!

[kugrrly]

Thanks for all of the great ideas girls. They all sound yummy and not to hard!!! Keep all of the ideas coming! :)