E-Z Recipes wanted! Intro to Cooking 101

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Get some boneless-skinless chicken breasts. Salt/pepper them. Put them on a plate and go wash your hands.

Now melt 1/2 a stick of butter in the microwave. Use more or less, depending on how dangerously you like to live.

To the melted butter, add several teaspons of Grey Poupon or other mustard you like. Mix it up as well as you can.

Have a bowl of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs on hand. These are sold in cardboard canisters; Progresso is a good brand.

Dip the chicken breasts in the butter/mustard mixture, and then thoroughly coat them with the breadcrumbs. Place in a casserole.

Again depending on how dangerously you live, pour the remaining butter/mustard mixture over the chicken in the casserole. Or not.

Bake uncovered at 375 for about 20 or 30 minutes. Underdone chicken is not fit to eat, so cut one open, and if it’s still pink inside, bake some more. But it’s a shame to cook them till they’re all dried out.

22

The easiest thing is to start with something you like and add to it.

Like canned chili? Add some minute rice and cut-up peppers and mushrooms and onions. Simmer until the peppers look clearish and you have stew.

Like frozen waffles? Fold diagonally and add sour cream and fruit.

Like instant mashed potatoes? Add a can of peas and pearl onions as part of the liquid.

Etc. The key to cooking is not using recipes, but being open to adding ingredients.

23

Once again, wring has correctly interpreted my flawed words. :wink: I’m defining prep time as “the time that you have to be there” In my stir-fry recipe, the time the stuff spends marinating wouldn’t count. In a recipe that involves baking, the baking time doesn’t count.

(Frying stuff would be an exception. Usually, if you have to stand there and stir (a la stir-frying) the cook-time is short enough that it’s not really a factor. And let’s avoid deep-frying (like fried chicken). That may be a little advanced for someone who once wanted to know how to make hard-boiled eggs)

Fenris

24

Monkeybread - a lightly spiced pull-apart bread that goes great with pasta, chili, soups, etc. So easy that my son was making it when he was 9 years old. It’s simple, it’s easy, and fairly quick. It was designed to work with a bundt pan, but regular bread pans will work also.

(Note: This recipe will make one large loaf, or 2 small ones. It can be halved if you have only 1 bread pan)

Your ingredients are:

2 loaves frozen bread dough
1 egg
1 tablespoon each of parsley, poppy seeds, and garlic powder. Don’t use garlic salt!
1 stick (4 oz) butter. Margarine will work, but not as well.

Thaw the bread dough in the fridge.

When thawed, melt the butter in a small bowl, and stir in the spices. Break the egg into the butter mixture, and stir well. Spray the pan with non-stick spray. Cut the bread dough into chunks about the size of a walnut. Dip the chunks in the butter mixture, and drop them in the pan until it’s about half-full. If you have puddles of butter in the pan or start running out of the mixture, add a few chunks of dough w/o dipping them. Put the pan in a warm place to let the dough rise.

When it’s almost filled the pan, or you can’t stand waiting any more, heat the oven to 350 degrees, and slide this puppy in. Wait about 30 minutes or until golden brown, and remove. Cool on a rack or plate, and serve warm. Serve by pulling off a piece - don’t worry about trying to slice it.

25

Good corn dish, courtesy of my sister-in-law, the corn freak

One box cornbread Stovetop Stuffing.
One large can creamed corn

Heat stuffing herbs in 1 cup water (no butter). Simmer five minutes. Heat creamed corn.

Put herbs and corn on dried stuffing stuff and mix. Eat.

People who try this tell me it’s also good with different stuffing mixes and creamed stuff, including cream of whatever soup.

26

Tuna Casserole

1 can Tuna
1 can Campbells Cream of something soup (condensed)
1/2 bag egg noodles

Boil the egg noodles in a pot of water until they’re all soft and noodly, drain.

Mix well with the other two ingredients in a small casserole dish, shove into hot oven (325 or so).

When it’s all hot, let’s say 20min , remove and enjoy!

You can also add peas, cheese, paprika, and whatnot.

27

This is the simplest recipe I know, and exceedingly good, if you like steamed cabbage.

Steamed Sausage and Cabbage

Procure a pound of Polish sausage, or Oktoberfest sausage, or Keilbasa or whatever you like. Likewise acquire a medium sized head of cabbage. The round green kind.
Get out the largest pan you have that has a lid, hopefully it’s a big one. Slice the sausage into bite sized chunks, and put it in the pan. Turn the heat on medium. If your sausage is kinda dry, put in a little cooking oil and smear it around. While the sausage is heating up, slice the head of cabbage into 4 quarters, top to bottom. Cut out the core[s] at the bottom, they’re kind of chewy. Now slice the cabbage wedges into half-inch strips, across the grain, as it were. When the sausage is hot and the pan is well greased, pour a quarter cup of water in, dump all the cabbage in on top, or as much as you can get in there. Be optomistic, it’ll cook down. sprinkle on some salt and pepper, lots of pepper. Fresh cracked from a pepper mill is better, but don’t let that stop you. Put the lid on, turn the heat down to medium low, IIRC, (it’s been a while) and let the cabbage steam for about 20 minutes, or until it’s the way you like it. I like mine to still be kind of crisp.

Here’s another. You’ll need a salad or veggie to go with.
Get a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Put them in a casserole dish. Salt and pepper both sides.
If you want to branch out, dump on some seasoned salt, lemon pepper, whatever.
Get a jar of good chunky salsa, the kind with black beans and corn in it is best for this IMHO.
Dump a bunch of salsa over the chicken breasts and stick them in the oven at about 350 for about 1/2 hour. (my oven runs a little hot, YMMV). Pull them out and put a slice of cheese on top. Or grated cheese, whatever. Cheddar is better! (We use grated Cheddar and Cojita(sp) a Mexican cheese that smells like old sweat socks, yum!)
Put them back in the oven until the cheese melts. That’s it. We like to eat this with rice, and a salad on the side.
(BTW, Zatarain’s Spanish Rice is pretty darn good, have your friend try that.)

If I have time this weekend, I’ll try to look up some casseroles from my college days. We were poor, but we ate pretty well, considering.

28

You know, I like to cook and I’m good at it. But when I’m in a crummy mood I aim for cheap 'n easy comfort food.

Tell your buddy to buy a box of Bisquick and buy the ingredients for whatever trips his fancy off of the recipes on the box.

Of course, make sure he knows that if the recipe calls for a pie plate that he actually needs a 9x9 pan.

29

There’s a pretty simple recipe for simmered brains at 脱毛 - Just another WordPress site
unfortunately, we in Scotland can’t eat it because of BSE - shame :slight_smile: The rest of the site’s good too.

**Simmered Brains **

  1. Wash beef, veal, lamb or pork brains in cold water.

  2. Soak 1/2 hour in salted water, allowing 1 tablespoon salt per quart water.

  3. Remove membrane.

  4. Place in pan; add water to cover, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar for each quart water.

  5. Cover; simmer over low heat 15-20 minutes.

  6. Drain; drop into cold water; drain again.

  7. Serve with Mushroom, Tomato, or Butter Sauce.

  8. Allow four servings per pound.

From Cutco Cook Book of Meat and Poultry Cookery, Margaret Mitchell, Wear-Ever Aluminum Company, 1956.

30

I’m an abysmal cook. Seriously abysmal. I’m rarely allowed in the kitchen to make anything while I’m home with my parents. The two exceptions are pasta and this recipe.

Corn Souffle

1 pkg Jiffy corn bread mix
2 cans creamed corn
1 egg
1 c. sour cream

Mix them all together and put them in a baking pan. Bake at 350 deg for about 30-35 min. or until hot all the way through.

It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s a great side dish! I made it for my best friend one year when I went to her house for Turkey Day dinner, and now it’s a holiday standard.

31

Here’s a really simple recipe to get your friend started.

Ingredients:

Hormel pre-cooked Beef Roast au jus
1 Bag egg noodles
1 or 2 Jars beef gravy

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. While they are cooking, heat roast in microwave according to package directions.

Pour water out of noodles. Put roast in the pan. It’s in fairly large chunks. Break these chunks up with a spoon. Add a jar of gravy. If you like it really gravy-ful, add the second jar.

Heat til gravy is warm. Sprinkle with lemon pepper if desired.

One thing that will really help your friend is teaching him how to brown ground beef. I ate spagetti with plain sauce out of a jar for years. Then I learned to cook ground beef, and I could have spagetti with meat sauce.

Here’s a quick Chili-mac recipe:

1 Bag macaroni noodles
1 Can Manwich
1 Pound cooked hamburger.

Cook the macaroni according to package directions. Drain water. Add Manwich and COOKED hamburger. Heat. Yum! (If you don’t like Manwich, use spagetti sauce.)

I am a truly terrible cook. It took me years to get to the point where I could make these simple dishes. When you are helping your friend learn, make sure you’re right there with him. My brother once left the room while I was trying to make Stovetop Stuffing, and I ruined it. I made sagey paste. It was awful.

Good luck.
http://www.hormel.com/Hormel/recipe.nsf/$$ViewTemplateDigitalRecipe?Open

32

good evening friends,

for some reason, this dish is known locally as “spanish hamburger”

Spanish hamburger:
[ul]
[li]2 lbs lean ground beef[/li][li]1 envelope of Williams chile seasoning[/li][li]hi Opal! (also my first)[/li][li]1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped[/li][li]1 46 oz can of tomato juice[/li][li]1 12 oz bag of your favorite pasta.[/li][/ul]
start a sauce pan of water for the pasta to boil.

mix chopped onion, seasoning and ground beef, and brown lightly in the bottom of a large saucepan. ( i use a 5 qt. dutch oven for this) add tomato juice and reduce to a simmer.

when water is boiling, add pasta, and boil till done. drain and add pasta to meat and sauce mixture. serve with fresh french bread.

33

PASTA WITH SPINACH

1 skillet; 1 pan

Water
Pasta of choice
pine nuts
bag of washed, ready to cook fresh spinach
olive oil
garlic (1-2 cloves, finely minced)
parmesan cheese

Put goodly amount of water in pan; as much as it will hold and still leave a few inches headroom at the top for boiling. Bring water to a rolling boil, i.e. big bubbles plopping up. Add @ 1 tsp. of salt to water. When it’s dissolved a little, put a small handful of pasta into the water. (For spaghetti/linguini for 1 person, add a “stalk” of noodles about 1" or so across. Or wing it.)

While that boils heat up skillet (no oil yet) and lightly toast pine nuts–just until they’re barely gold and smell good. Dump 'em out in a dish and set 'em aside.

Pour a few Tbsp. of olive oil into the skillet; keep this over medium-low heat. When oil is warm, add minced garlic. Stir a bit until garlic takes on just a bit of color and gets soft; DON’T let it get brown. When garlic is barely golden colored, plop spinach into the skillet. Turn the heat down to simmer, i.e. as low as it will go. The spinach will barely fit but just toss with the hot oil/garlic for a few minutes; the heat will wilt it down amazingly. Toss a few more times.

Drain the pasta but don’t rinse it! Jiggle the pan a bit to get as much water out as you can, then dump the pasta into the skillet with the spinach. Toss well to mix; sneak a bite and add salt if needed, a bit more oil if it seems to dry, whatever. Dump the pine nuts off of the plate, into the skillet, then scoop a bunch of pasta back onto the plate. Top with parmesan.

Whole thing takes 15 minutes, max.

FAST, EASY PIZZA VARIATIONS

1 flat cooking sheet or pizza pan

Ready made pizza crusts (Boboli, etc.)
shredded cheese
toppings of choice:
only limited by your tastes and possibilities

Preheat oven to 350-375 (or whatever package directions say). Put pizza crust on pan. (It can help to smear a titch of olive oil on the pan to help prevent sticking; makes the bottom of the crust slightly crispier, too.)

Plop on toppings of choice, sauce first if using it; then other stuff. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until it looks done.

Prep time: @ 10 minutes. These ready made crusts are life savers to have around. If you buy the ones that aren’t “Italian seasoned” you can really improvise with 'em. Top w/ leftover chicken, barbeque, taco fixin’s, marinated artichoke hearts–or just leftover veggies and cheese. Diced leftover chicken, corn and pepperjack cheese is great. Just wing it.

Veb

34

Melt butter and marshmallows together. Add rice crispies and stir. Push flat in pan. Wait ten minutes. Cut into squares and eat.

35

Depending on your friend’s skill, he might want to try these:

http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-tvdinner.html
http://www.brunching.com/features/idiotsandwich.html

I’d contribute a recipe as well, but sadly I’m still between the “toast” and “boil water” levels.

There’s also a weekly comic called “Cheap Thrills Cuisine.” Not always easy, and sometimes not even appetizing, but interesting nonetheless.

http://www.unitedmedia.com/wash/cheapthrills/
Dirx

36

Ingredients:

One (1) box of Mrs. T’s pierogis
Soy sauce
Mushrooms, sliced
Onions, chopped
Butter

Directions:

Boil some water in a saucepot. When the water is at a rolling boil, toss some pierogi in. They will be frozen, so the water will temporarily stop boiling. That is OK. Wait three minutes and then remove them from the boiling water.

Melt some butter (let’s say two tablespoons) in the saucepan over medium high heat. Throw in the mushrooms and onions. Stir them around with a wooden spoon (or whatever implement you happen to be using) until the onions are transparent. Add the soy sauce (let’s say three tablespoons, but use however much you want). Then add the pierogi. Let them cook about two minutes, flip them over, and cook them a couple more minutes on the other side.

Slide the whole mess of pierogi, onions, and mushrooms onto a plate, and enjoy them with some sour cream and maybe a vegetable on the side.

37

Hijacking here:

Eh, Fenris, you are in Colorado?

I am starting a new website geared towards Colorado and Colorado Living, including recipes…email me when you get a chance and I will email you back with the link when it’s up and running.

< don’t worry, it’s a not for profit site…hopefully that will change but eh, who knows, it’s more a time waster for me >

38

Remembered another one: (cause I’m making this tonight)

Need: one large frying pan, large food quality plastic bag (ie, can use the bag the vegetables came in, but not the grocery sack).

Scallops (either bay or sea depending on preference)
cooking oil (can use vegetable oil, corn oil) or margarine
flour
pepper
limes
Cilantro (fresh is better)

Take plastic bag, put enough flour into the bag to coat the scallops (about 1/4 cup for 10 oz or so of scallops) Add pepper (fresh ground if you have, don’t sweat it if ya don’t). Add scallops to bag, close bag top, shake to coat scallops with flour, set aside.

Squeeze limes to obtain a couple of teaspoons of juice (more to taste).

Chop cilantro (mostly leaves, please) into fine pieces (you shouldn’t be able to see what the leaves looked like, there should be just shreds of green) This is to taste - I really like cilantro, others would prefer to have it be an accent flavor. Start with a pile that would loosely fill your fist for a 10 oz package of scallops.

Put pan on burner, over medium heat, either melt butter/margarine in pan or pour cooking oil into it. (you’re looking for an amount to just coat the bottom of the pan with a small pool in the center of the pan). When oil/butter/margarine is hot, add scalllops (you can just dump ‘em from the bag, tho’ if you’ve got a whole pile of flour left in the bag, you don’t really want to have that dumped in. add cliantro. Refrain from stiring frequently, you want the flour coating to stay on the scallops and get nice and brown. But, you do have to stir a few times, in order to get all the scallops cooked on all sides. Add lime juice after the first stirring (if you need to add more butter/margarine, you can do that too). Cook until the flour coating has a medium brown look, and the scallops are cooked through.

yum.

39

I thought of another one. We call this “goulash”.

1 lb hamburger
1/2 onion
1/4 green pepper
garlic (frwsh or powder, to taste)
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 15 oz can tomatoes
1 8oz (or maybe it’s 12 oz) pkg of elbow macaroni

Brown the meat with the onion and pepper. When it’s almost done, add salt and pepper, and the garlic. When done, drain the meat, then add tomatoes and sauce. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon (or squish them in your hand as you add them to the meat). Add 1-2 cans of water. Bring to a boil, and taste for seasonings. Add more if needed. Add the pasta, and stir stir stir from the bottom. It will stick! Keep an eye on it for about 10 minutes until the macaroni is done. I like to add cheese to my bowl, but my husband likes it plain.

40

Lemon Chicken with Herbs

(longer than 15 minutes but sure to please most people.)

1 can Healthy Choice Cream of Roasted Chickn with Herbs condensed soup

1/4 cup skim milk

2 tbsp. (each) parsley and lemon juice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast havles (available everywhere)

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped red onion

In small bowl mix soup, milk, lemon and parsley;set aside. Heat large non-stick skillet, sprayed with cooking spray (stuff like Pam) on medium for 1 minute. Add chicken; brown 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken. Add mushrooms and onions to skilett, cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in soup mixture; return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5-10 minutes (till chicken is no longer pink in the center).

Serves 4