PLEASE help this Kraft Dinner Queen learn how to Cook?

Question

So you see here folks...I tend to kick it ol skool with Mr.Noodles, Aunt Jamima and uncle ben lol :P therefore I seek your help as I attempt to become domesticated. I promised my boyfriend that because he is so great and does so much for me that I would learn how to cook just for him. I'm 26 and used to single life cooking (if its not out of a box or can or can be nuked in under 10 min I don't bother with it!) I am looking for tips and tasty (healthy) recipes to try that don't take a lot of time to prepare and that will satisfy the needs of a "meat and potato man" with a healthy appetite. I'm no rachael Ray, I do not wish to make a dish which name I cannot pronounce nor am I going to prepare something with a million spices/ingredients. Id like those type of recipes where you say "a monkey could do it!" so please feel free to comment on cooking basics and essentials, use links and let me know what has gone over well with you! I'll thank you as soon as my boyfriend thanks me!! *wink*

Answer 1

It will be very helpful to you if you purchase two basic cookbooks, The Illustrated Good Housekeeping Cookbook and the latest Betty Crocker Cookbook. Not only do they have good basics but they offer information on how to stock your kitchen, proper utensils and pans to use and even pictures of different cuts of meat etc. so you can recognize what you are buying. The online sites I use the most are Yahoo Foods, All Recipes and Kraft Kitchens. You will find once you throw yourself into it that good cooking isn't always about lots of ingredients. Patience and the proper utensils and cookware are.

Answer 2

You'll learn in time I'm sure. Basics: hamburger, onions, potatoes, carrots. A chuck roast every now and then. Do you have a crock pot? Get one. They're so easy to use.

Meatloaf is a great easy favorite. There's a good recipe on the back of Del Monte (check brand) diced tomatoes with green chilies.

A simple chuck roast would be flour the roast on all sides. Add some salt and pepper, just a dash of each. Brown it in a skillet. Put it in the crock along with some carrots. Carrots take a really long time to cook, that's why it's best to add them first.

The add some onion (a nice plump one, a yellow one), a stalk of celery (1 piece, not the entire stalk), and finally some potatoes, red potatoes work best. Just wash them, dice into quarter or 1/8 chunks, and leave the skins on. Set the crock to cook slow...slow...slow...slow is important because that is what will make the meat juicy and tender. Set it to cook in the morning and it should be done in the afternoon.

Then, make a pan of cornbread. A basic recipe is at http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=261823

You can cut the ingredients in half if it's just you and hubby. For milk, I'd use buttermilk instead. Leave out the sugar.

Now, before the cornbread, get yourself a small cast iron skillet. You can get one at K-Mart, Sears, Wal-Mart or any cooking store. Make certain you season it well before you use it. Most skillets include some no-nonsense instructions on how to season it. But...whatever you do...only use it for cornbread...AND DO NOT WASH IT in the dishwasher. I usually just wipe mine out with a paper towel.

Does he like fish? Buy a salmon steak, season with salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil (extra virgin). The olive oil will be a little pricey for the extra virgin, but it's worth it. Then, you can either bake it or if you don't want the house smelling like fish, grill it, use aluminum foil as your cooking surface. The non-stick kind works best.

Keep at it, you'll do fine. And a Kraft dinner is ok every now and then.

Answer 3

You will never learn how to cook if you don't wean yourself from those disgusting boxed food products. Just reading the ingredient lists makes me nauseous.

I would like to suggest you get a copy of "Thirty Minute Meals" by Rachel Ray. It's a real easy cookbook for new cooks. Here's a simple meat and potatoes dish for you to make:

Easy Beef Stew

2-lbs lean beef stew meat
2 potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped coarse
2 bay leaves
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Using a 4-qt pan, heat oil to medium. Add meat, salt and pepper, and cook until browned (about 5 minutes). Add in remaining ingredients, bring to boil, cover, and put in 325 deg F oven for 1-1/2 hours. Remove, let sit for 15 minutes, serve.

Answer 4

meat loaf is easy, you can even use ground turkey just meat ,bread crumbs, an egg, chopped onion, seasoning then bake for like an hour and 15 min at 375. make some homemade mashed potatoes, peel and chop potatoes, boil in water till they're tender, drain water put a little butter, a couple tablespoons of milk and salt and pepper, and mash with masher (I use a hand mixer, they come out real creamy)if they taste too potato, put in some more butter and maybe a little more milk.
stuffed peppers-
cut top off 3 or 4 green peppers and take out seeds, boil in water till slightly cooked (don't over cook, only like 8-10 min) then put them in a baking dish that is tall enough for them (no metal) and has a cover (or use foil)
meantime, brown 1 lb ground beef in skillet and make some rice in another pot, about 4 servings (instant is OK!)
once all the rice and meat is cooked mix them together with an egg and stuff into peppers. pour a family sized can of condensed tomato soup over the top (no milk added) and bake for 1 hr at 375 till the soup is nice and bubbly! Yum!!

Answer 5

Ok--By 1lb chicken cutlets/1/2 lb of deli ham/1/4 lb of swiss cheese. Take the cutlet lay it flat/lay a piece of ham and a piece of swiss on it/roll it up/put t toothpick through it/roll that in breadcrumbs/put in pan/drizzle olive oil on it and bake for 1/2 hour to 40 mins. Make sure chicken is cooked inside, just cut it open in the center. Sort of like chicken cordon bleu......family loves it. Put some potatoes in the oven for baked potatoes and make a salad.......enjoy!

Answer 6

It's not that you haven't learned how to cook, you just haven't tried enough variety just yet.
If you can cook Kraft dinner, you can make almost ANY pasta dish.
The only difference is in the shape of the noodles and the flavour of the sauce that you're going to add to it.

Here's a quick and simple dish. Cook some pasta 'bows' and take some grated cheddar cheese, mix it with a can of white mushroom soup, cook it gently thin
with a bit of milk. Use the sauce either mixed in or poured on top. You don't want it TOO thin or too thick.

Make spaghetti sauce. If you want really good spaghetti sauce, use a can of tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, and a can of tomato sauce. Add LOTS of basil and a pinch of oregano, a small pinch of celery salt, and black pepper. Add some chopped red peppers, and some chopped celery and a couple of chopped onions. The AMOUNT is not critical. Cook this for a couple of hours, simmering, meaning cook it at low temperature, not burning it.
Cook the spaghetti al dente, meaning, NOT cooked to mush, meaning not cooked too much, but with some 'bite' left.
Use a lot of water cooking pasta so it does not stick together. Put a teaspoonful of butter or oil in the water before you drain the spaghetti and it won't stick together.

Try simple things. Peel and slice big potatoes 1/4" thick, lay them flat on a platter, and slice cheddar cheese on top of them, and grind some black pepper on them. Microwave for 7 minutes or so.

Get one of the little indoor grilles (something like the Hamilton, or George Foreman style, just a SMALL one)
Spray some non-stick oil on it, preheat by setting the button, and put a couple of boneless pork chops, chicken or beefsteak in it after the pre-heat is finished.
It takes 7 minutes more or less with boneless pork, beef, or chicken. When the timer goes off, put a couple of pieces of pre-cooked bacon on top of them with some mozzarella cheese and bake them for ten minutes in the regular oven, until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle black pepper on top.

Make stew. Cube some beef, SEAR it hot in a frying pan, don't burn it, then put it into a stewing pot or slow cooker. Add some sliced carrots, chick-peas, a can of tomatoes, and some beef gravy stock, or beef cubes. Add a dash of lemon juice, some Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of thyme, parsley, and a couple of cubed potatoes. Cook for a few hours, you'll know when it's done.

Cooking is simple. You can make stew, thicken it a bit and put a crust over top of it. "Meat pie". Use a little bit of corn starch (say a teaspoon) mixed up into COLD water and add that mix to the gravy for the stew, and simmer for a while. The stew will thicken up, the more cornstarch you put in, the thicker it will get. You can do the same with white flour. Corn starch makes CLEAR gravy, flour makes gravy that is NOT clear.
You can take the same chopped meat, pre-heat a wok, sear the meat, add some soya sauce, lots of vegetables chopped up, cook them for a few minutes, and guess what, =Chinese food. Make sticky rice to go with it, wash the rice ONCE in cool water, and boil and drain it without rinsing it, it will stick together, you can eat it with chopsticks.
If you DON"T want sticky rice, wash the rice two or three times and boil it until cooked,and perhaps add a tiny amount of butter to the water before you drain it, the rice will NOT stick together.

Next day when you have all of that rice left over, slice up a bunch of mushrooms, put some butter or oil in a frying pan, cook the mushrooms a bit and add the rice. Fry the rice and mushrooms all together mixed.

Simple desert, take a couple of nice apples, cut the core out of them, stand them in a dish, and put brown sugar in the middle of them. ( Remember that you can peel the the apples or not, but make sure you wash them carefully.)
Cook for about 5 minutes in the microwave or bake them in the oven until it's easy to poke a fork into them. Serve them hot with vanilla ice cream.

Good luck with all that cooking, try baking next, it's simple too.

Answer 7

for a meat and potato man huh? try this: for you two ,peel three medium size potatos cut ito triangle add oleo and packet of ranch dressing to the butter and mix then add potatos cover ,microwave on high bout 6min. meat: chicken (italian) melt oleo in lg. bowl 3chicken breasts.soak in oleo.coat both sides, take regular corflakes and crush to make a batter on chicken , roll chiken over to coat w/cornflakes place in baking pan and drizzle each breast w/italian dressing bake in oven @325 for 20 min. serve w/ green tossed salad and bread . good luck and enjoy those kisses.

Answer 8

At 13 I was making the entire Thanksgiving dinner for my Grandma. He's milking this.

Answer 9

Here is a great place to start...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Quick-and-Easy/Main.aspx

Bert

Answer 10

try joy of cooking. along with the Kama sutra