That’s very similar to how I make spaghetti and meat sauce (which my husband would probably eat every night), except I toss in a can of no-salt tomato sauce to reduce the sodium in the canned spaghetti sauce.
If we didn’t eat frozen veggies, we’d hardly eat veggies at all. My standards in the freezer are peas, corn, and broccoli. I usually have a bag of peeled carrots for snacking in the fridge, and I can easily heat up some of those for supper, too. Whenever green peppers are on sale, I buy a couple and cut them up and freeze them in baggies, too.
Oh, another tip for having fancy shredded cheese on hand all the time - buy a big bag of shredded mozzarella blend and portion it into baggies and freeze them, too. I was buying shredded cheese and having it go moldy on me quickly (because of the shredding - the mold likes all that extra surface area), but it freezes beautifully and when you’re ready to use it, it crumbles up easily from a fully frozen state, too.
Peg Bracken claimed that she hated to cook, and that life was too short to stuff a mushroom. She wrote a couple of books about it, and her daughter has put out a 50th Anniversary Edition of her I Hate To Cook Book, with some updated recipes. For the most part, these recipes are NOT showstoppers. But they’re tasty, and quick, and they’re just fine for family or for casual friendly dinners. Some are even suitable for fancier dinners. Peg felt that she had more interesting things to do than to slave over a stove for hours when the meal would be eaten in 15 minutes. I have the older versions of the books, and I also have the new edition. There are some recipes that I wouldn’t make, but there are some old favorites in there, too.
Get the book. Work your way through it. It will repay itself very quickly.
Ooh, I see you’re in Canada, too - not all frozen veggies are created equally. My favourite brands are Safeway house brand broccoli cuts and peaches-and-cream corn, and Safeway Selects Petite Green Peas. I tried the cheaper Superstore broccoli, and it was nothing but woody stems. Other corn than peaches-and-cream corn can be very large and tough kernels, too, which you might like but we prefer the smaller, juicier ones.
If you let your kids experiment with various seasonings (maybe seasoned salt, middle school and high school boys tend to love a hot sauce of some sort) they can eat 1/3 of a pound of them in one sitting. It’s great.
Like Cat Whisperer said, don’t buy cheap frozen veggies. They are awful. Buy good brands on sale whenever possible.
Have you considered Craigslist for a cheap used freezer? Right now I’m setting up an appointment to get a wireless router for my future MIL for $5. Retails on Amazon for $37. If that one falls through there’s another for $10, retail $50.
I don’t have the space for a freezer. My house is only 1300 square feet and we are using every inch. It’s one of the things we had to sacrifice for a lower mortgage.
Yes, let the kids experiment with not only seasonings, but sauces, too. My deal with 10YO mudgirl is she can put any kind of sauce at all on her food, as long as she’ll eat it! (Being 10, her go-to is ketchup). I also talk to her about seasonings and such as I cook; for instance, I’ll explain to her “I’m putting this Italian herb rub on the pork chops because it has all kinds of wonderful aromatic tastes like rosemary and thyme that really brings out the flavor of the pork!” I explain reasons for different cooking techniques (“Raw garlic is pungent, and if you cook it in oil that’s too hot, it gets burnt and bitter; but if you simmer it gently in oil or butter, it gets sweet and nutty and delicious and buttery-tasting!”) She is of a very curious and analytical mind, so explaining things to her really makes her more likely to eat them with an open mind!
For me, this is true of some veggies, but not all; sugar snap peas, broccoli and corn should all be good brands (I look for sales); peas mixed with diced carrots, mixed veggies and spinach can all be the store brand. JMHO, of course.
We have actually outlawed sauces at our house (barring putting things on hot dogs and burgers and ketchup for fries). Our kids were eating far too much ketchup (on everything) when they showed up (they were placed with us at 5 & 6). There was initial resistance but now they like all kinds of food in a fairly natural state (veggies get a little salt and/or pepper at our house).
Honestly, put ketchup on anything (even stinky cheese) and all you will taste is ketchup.
Yeah, I know. I am a weirdo. And a mean parent. Heard it all before.
I have a crock pot but stink at thinking what to put in it. Direction? I cook stew in it and that’s it but it takes about 30 minutes after I get home to thicken.
Another mean parent here- we called it “candy coating your dinner” when they overused ketchup!
I have a nice homemade (though uses some purchased stock) chicken noodle soup.
1 small chicken, or bone in parts up to about 3 lbs
1 box high quality chicken broth (4 cups?)
handful of dill, fresh
handful of parsley, fresh
2-3 large carrots cut into large chunks
2 med parsnips cut into large chunks
1 onion, whole, peeled
A few cloves garlic, lightly crushed.
2-3 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
1 bay leaf
water to cover
All day in the crock pot on low. Remove onion and bay leaf before serving. Cook some pasta or add to pot in last hour.
Note: Jewish chicken soup requires dill and parsnips or it just doesn’t taste right!!
This recipe came from the Mumpers (MMP) recipe blog: http://mumpersrecipes.blogspot.com
Corned beef and cabbage, or New England Boiled Dinner are also good ones:
1 Corned beef with spice packet
About 30 new potatoes, or 6-8 yukon gold, quartered
15 baby carrots
1 head of cabbage, quartered.
Add all ingredients except cabbage to crock pot. Cover with water and simmer 8-10 hours on low. Add cabbage near the end for about 1 hour.
I wouldn’t say don’t by cheap veggies - shop around and figure out which brands are the best tasting. Two of my three favourites are the cheapest brand; Safeway happens to have very good house-brand frozen veggies. I guess my warning would be don’t try the cheapest frozen broccoli you can find and get turned off of it because it’s crap; try other brands and other types of veggies.
In the morning, throw in a roast with some carrots, a few halved onions, a can of cranberry sauce, and a couple tablespoons soy sauce. Cook on low for 8 or so hours. Come home from work and enjoy.
Many recipes can be adapted to a slow cooker, too. But add less liquid than you would if you were baking it or cooking it on the stove top. Not only does water not evaporate in the slow cooker, but as the food cooks, water condenses on the lid and drips back down! I’ve successfully made everything from meatloaf to lasagna in a Crock Pot. Roasting chickens are divine and easy, too; season the chicken inside and out, then stuff the cavity with a half of a lemon, a half of an onion, one stalk of celery (cut in half) and one large carrot. Cook on low all day, come home to a falling-off-the-bone and delicious chicken!
I would season the roast first (just salt, pepper, and maybe some granulated garlic), and probably add a few stalks of celery to the onions and carrots. But I can totally see how combining the miripois with cranberry sauce and soy sauce could work! The umami of the soy would counter the sweet/tartness of the cranberry sauce.
I think I’ve shared this one before, but hey - we just had it again last night!
Almond Tilapia (tilapia is CHEAP & readily available)
Thaw fish if necessary, season with salt+whateveryoulike (onion/garlic powder, paprica, thyme, etc.) and lightly coat both sides with mayo. Yes, mayo - it keeps the fish moist and you can’t taste it at the end unless you totally overdo it.
Press crushed almonds* into both sides.
Bake (I use a toaster oven to do 1-2 pieces, you can use a regular oven if you’re making more) at 375 for about 12 mins. or so, until the almond starts getting golden-brown and toasted. The fish will at that point be done. During your 12 minutes, fix some veggie side.
I get sliced almonds when they go on sale and run 'em through a food processor.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to add “always salt and pepper your meat”. I don’t like the flavor of cooked celery, so I never add it (especially not in the crock pot - it just doesn’t, you know, fit, in my opinion.) I add plenty of onions because when I was a kid my mom would put one onion in every Crock Pot pot roast and I’d fight over it with my dad. Now that I’m a big girl I have realized, hey, I can put as many onions in as I like!
I don’t bother to sear pot roasts, though. I know a lot of people do, and I sear plenty of other meat things that go in the crock pot, but the point of throwing a roast in while you’re at work is that it’s in one dish and you do it when you’re half asleep.
Agreed about the not searing it first. It comes out fine just like it is, and if you want to make a gravy out of the drippings that are left in the pot, just make a little slurry of corn starch and maybe beef stock (or dry red wine, or just plain water), pour the drippings into a small pot, bring to a boil, whisk in the slurry, there you go! Gravy! Or you could be really lazy (like me!) and buy Boston Market savory brown gravy in a jar!
