Cooking-challenged bachelor needs your help!

Cafe Society
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Hi all. Now that the Chinese New Year is safely behind us, I guess it’s finally time to get my ample ass in gear with regard to my New Year’s Resolution (same as it has been for the last several years - “Get in shape!” - but I mean business this time). In addition to the obvious lifestyle changes (regular aerobic exercise, regular sleep schedule, no more beer), I have to eat healthier. This is where I need your assistance.

I live alone. I work until 8PM six days a week. My kitchen facilities are primitive. I live in a small town with a limited range of groceries available. I have the ability to cook adequately (I make a great Bolognese sauce and was a baking wiz in my youth), but I am largely ignorant of many of even the most basic cooking tasks, such as cooking a roast or turning raw chicken into something edible.

I would be most grateful if you could:

  1. Link to a website with quick, tasty, simple, healthy recipes.

and/or

  1. Provide your own quick, tasty, simple, healthy recipe.

I’m not fussy about a particular type of cuisine, and I’m open to trying nearly anything as long as it’s quick, tasty, simple, and healthy. Also, the only meal I need help with (for now) is dinner. For breakfast and lunch, I’m drinking soy-based nutrient-rich milkshakes.

I implore you - please! Dig deep! Together, in 2008, we can make it happen!

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I highly recommend Weight Watchers recipes - even for those who aren’t looking to lose weight. They are all mind-bogglingly simple, requiring only a few ingredients, and they’re scaled small, being, y’know, Weight Watchers. You could make a “4 serving” recipe and have one or two for dinner. Many of them freeze well, so you can make your own “frozen meals” for nights when even a three step recipe is two steps too many. They emphasize whole grains, low-fat meats, lots of vegetables and very little fat in preparation, so they’re healthy even if you’re not on Weight Watchers.

You can browse through their recipe selection without being a member.

My plan for this week is:
Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms
Fusilli With Sausage, Spinach and Peppers
Low Fat Mini Meatloaves
Weight Watchers Lowfat Taco Soup

(The other nights are 2 junk food nights, while I’m at school, the husband and kids order in or eat delectables like frozen chicken kiev that I’m abstaining from at the moment, and 1 “fend for yourself” night that uses up leftovers and saves Mom’s sanity.)

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Here are three recipes that I fall back on when I don’t feel like doing anything new. They’re really tasty and healthy. The first two I serve with salad and steamed vegetables, and the last one is more of a soup (crockpot needed) and you can toss in anything you like at the end (cheese, black olives, lettuce, yogurt for example).

Moroccan Chicken
Ingredients

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 chicken breasts (or desired chicken part), trimmed of fat
Directions

1.) If working with chicken breasts, be sure to tenderize well.

2.) Combine all of the ingredients except for the chicken in a large bowl. Add the chicken last.

3.) Let the marinated chicken stand for at least one hour.

4.) Place in a pan over medium heat and cook for around 20 minutes, or until chicken is thoroughly white and juices run clear.

Chutney/Salsa Apple Pork Chops
Servings: 4
Ingredients

4 boneless pork chops, trimmed
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 c ketchup
1/2 c mango chutney (or a salsa of your choice)
1 tbsp dijion mustard
1 apple, sliced
Directions

1.) Saute onion, apple, and garlic in olive oil until tender.

2.) Brown the pork chops 3 minutes on each side.

3.) Place contents of pan in lightly greased baking dish and cover with ketchup/salsa/mustard combination. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Salsa Chicken
Ingredients

4-8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
2 chicken boullon cubes
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1 jar salsa (of desired spiciness)

-Optional-
Shredded lettuce
Shredded cheese
low fat yogurt or sour cream

Directions

1.) Turn crockpot to low. Mix together water, boullon cubes, salsa, minced garlic, and taco seasoning and pour in crockpot.

2.) Place whole chicken breasts in crockpot. Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

3.) Ladle contents into bowl. Top with lettuce, cheese, and yogurt if desired.

4

There is no substitute for Mrs Beeton’s book. I’ve found Delia Smith’s One is Fun very useful.

How often do you want to eat hot food? One thing you might consider is cooking yourself a large joint at the weekend and having cold meat on weekdays. Have a hot meal at the work canteen.

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@ WhyNot - Thanks for the link! I know there are probably a jillion different recipe websites out there, but I’d much rather have a Doper “vet” one for me than wade through the morass on my own. I took a quick look through the website, and I liked the overall layout. Looks like I’ve got a lot of reading to do later this week…

I probably will have to get used to freezing/reheating, but I will try to minimize that for now, as my freezer space is very limited.

@ nikonikosuru - Those recipes do indeed look tasty and (fairly) simple, especially the Moroccan chicken (I love spicy food). Thanks! Unfortunately, I have no crockpot, so the salsa chicken is out.

@ Quartz - Thanks for the tips. Are you referring to the Mrs. Beeton website, or an actual cookbook? The website looks a bit daunting, but also seems to contain a lot of general cooking hints, which is good for a kitchen doofus like me.

As for hot food, it’s not necessary every night - maybe 3-4 times a week, though. And if my workplace actually had a canteen, I’d simply take the lazy route and have them prepare the food for me. Unfortuantely, seeing as how I’m the only full-time employee, I don’t see that happening anytime soon…

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I’ll mention a couple of cookbooks:

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Lots of general cooking and shopping hints. For example, for lots of different fruits and vegetables, there are hints on choosing a good one from the market, basic cooking instructions, and “when is it done?”

Martin Yan Quick and Easy, by Martin Yan, if you like Chinese food. Quick, easy recipes, and most of his recipes actually turn out pretty well for me. Most of the recipes don’t use stuff you’d have to go to a Chinese market for, or there’s something more accessible that you can substitute.

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Dear Fiji:

What got me going on cooking was James Barber, sometimes referred to as the urban peasant. There are several collections out there, including 'The Urban Peasant", “Flash in the Pan”, “Ginger Tea Makes Friends”, “Fear of Frying”. While his recipes aren’t especially healthy, they aren’t exceptionally unhealthy, either, and his whole attitude of ‘So, you’re out of chicken stock - use white wine, or beer, or…’ is what got me into the kitchen and has kept me there these last 30 years. A gift from my sister that I still thank her for…

Healthier, well, we’re low fat around here these days, and so I’ve been cooking out of the Bonnie Stern “Simply Heart Smart Cooking” and Janet and Greta Podleski’s “Looneyspoons” cookbooks.

Here’s a recipe for ‘Carribean Fish in a Packet’
2 Sheets Aluminum Foil
2 5 or 6 oz firm fish fillets or steaks (I like catfish, myself, but whatever’s around)
1 small tomato or bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (tastes great, parsely if you can’t find cilantro/coriander, skip it if you can’t find anything)
juice of 1 lime
1/2 a fresh chili, minced or a few dashes of Tabasco sauce
dash of salt and ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven or BBQ to 450
Put half the stuff in the foil, add the fish, put in the rest of the stuff. Fold it up & crinkle it. Stick it in the oven for 20 minutes. Watch for steam when you undo the packet(s). If the fish is cooked all the way through, it should be flaky. If it doesn’t flake away yet, give another couple of minutes.

Note that this recipe used to call for 2 oz of olive (or other) oil, but by putting the more liquid stuff in the middle, I can cut the oil. Once you know what you like, you have the freedom to modify recipes as much as you like.

Have a great time!

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I’ll add that you should look into a slow cooker or crock pot. Some very easy recipes that you can do some prep the night befor and leave in the fridge and then put in the cooker in the morning and then, when you get home, it’s ready. That way, you can eat at 8 and not 9 or 10pm (which some people don’t recomend). Now you will have leftovers but you can take some to work with you for lunch and save money that way as well.

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@ Anne Neville , Le Ministre de l’au-delà , and Zebra - Thanks for all your suggestions. I’m now off to enjoy my day off this week, but I’ll be back at work and getting down to some serious dietary planning on Wednesday.

To everyone who contributed - thanks, again. I’ll give y’all an update in a few months after I’ve lost a few dozen pounds…

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My simplest recipe for vegetables:

  1. Take almost any kind of vegetables (I recomend potatoes, carrots and onions.)

  2. Wash, peel and cut into largish pieces (the size only affects cooking time - smaller pieces, faster meal.)

  3. Take an oiled square baking pan, fill it with vegetable pieces.

  4. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200-250 degrees Celsius, or untill edible (all vegetables should be somewhat soft, but not burned.). You may wish to stirr them from time to time.

  5. Season as needed.

  6. Eat.

Meanwhile, you’ll just about have time to cook some meat or fish or whatever you want to have as a main food.

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Baked salmon is really easy. Season a fillet or two with salt and lemon-pepper seasoning. Drizzle with oilve oil. Bake on a foil lined pan at 375° for 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness.) Fish is done when it flakes easily. Squeeze a lemon slice over it, and serve with a salad. Bagged salads are nice and easy!

Baked fries are easy, too. Cut up a baking potato (Idaho) into fries. (No need to peel.) Toss with olive oil, season salt or creaole seasoning and pepper. Bake on a foil lined baking sheet at 400° for about 20 minutes.

Stir-fries are easy peasy! Slice up some bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, cabbage (regular or Chinese,) zucchini - whatever you’ve got, really - and some kind of meat like lean steak, chicken breast, shrimp. Leftover meat works well, too. (Add leftover meat at the end and just heat through.) Heat up a skillet really hot, add a tablespoon of canola or peanut oil, and stir in the uncooked meat. Keep stirring until about halfway done, then add the veggies and stir-fry until tender crisp. Add some soy sauce towards the end. Ginger and garlic add some flavor, too. Serve with rice. (Instant is fine, or reheat leftover rice.) If you want a sauce, add about 1/4-1/2 cup of chicken broth mixed with 1 tsp of corn starch. Stir until thickened.

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Also, take Septima’s recipe with cauliflower (even if you don’t like cauliflower – trust me), cut into popcorn-sized pieces, but instead roast at 350-400, until golden (not burnt).

Perfect healthy snack instead of junk food. Amazing how the taste changes, and that taste is nothing like cauliflower cooked other ways. Refrigerate what you don’t eat (unlikely to come up). It does have a bit of a sulfurous odor, though, so best done when you can open up the windows.

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Mmmmm…I love roasted veggies. My favorite is root veg: sweet potato, parsnips, white potato, carrots, sliced red onions and a mess of peeled garlic cloves (no need to chop, mince or crush) tossed with a little olive oil and salt and a few sprigs of rosemary (or dried rosemary if you don’t have fresh). Great Og, the delight that is sweet potatoes and rosemary! I add some fresh ground black pepper after cooking, so I don’t run the risk of burning it. (Salt won’t burn, it’s a rock, but pepper burns at surprisingly low temps.)

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Ooh! Make pasta prima vera! Toss the roasted veggies with hot cooked pasta of choice, and add a little olive oil and good grated parmesan…some fresh basil would be nice, as would fresh parsley…

Y’all are making me hungry. :frowning:

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I have a very young child and a job that keeps me out of the house late at least three days a week. My wife and I have found that we can time-shift our cooking to Saturdays and Sundays when we have time, and then freeze dozens (!) of servings of food and have dinner for a month afterward with little or no cooking. On a given Saturday we cook up dishes like a pot of chili (stove top), a dry rubbed pork tenderloin (oven), and lamb and vegetable stew (stove top).

This doesn’t mean we’re eating the same three dishes all month, though. The pork can then be shredded into omelettes, rolled in tortillas with sauteed veggies, eaten as a sandwich on toasted English muffins, sliced and served alongside applesauce, and more. Chili turns ordinary microwave mac-and-cheese into something with more nutritional balance; it can also be eaten alone, or thickened with bread-crumbs to get spicy stuffed mushrooms. A single roast turkey will also give you crazy flexibility.

If you Google OAMC (once-a-month cooking) you’ll get lots of ideas for how to use half of one Saturday a month to replace an hour of prep and cleaning every night.

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Sorry, I missed this. I’m referring to the book. Mine’s the ‘New Edition’ - 1906! It’s mostly wasted on me, of course.