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Wraps!
This isn't a fancy meal, but it's healthy and fast.
Get a wrap (about 12 inches in diameter), and fill it with whatever you think is healthy. For us, that's cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, black beans, cheese. We've also included bacon, chicken, salsa, and rice. Add some seasoning, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Anything I can make in a crockpot. I can do a pretty mean pot roast.
I make biscuits and homemade gravy from either sausage or bacon grease (whatever I happen to cook up that day).
Now's a good time to learn then (when they will forget your mistakes.)
Rather than specific dishes, focus on techniques. Learn to make pan sauces and your food immediately goes up several levels. Be generous with herbs and spices (those little pots you get in supermarkets are not supposed to last long). Serve white rice on the side and mix noodles in to the dish (pasta is a kind of noodle). Learn to make stock and bone broths, if you cook a whole chicken you can serve the best cuts as part of the meal, save the rest for a stir-fry or sandwiches and you can use the bones and connective tissue to create a broth that you can freeze for later. Vegetable soups are also great and can use up all sorts of bits and pieces. In cold weather you can put them in a thermos as a hot packed lunch.
If you want to make something sweet, store bought rolls of filo pastry can be quite good these days, add some fruit, fresh or tinned, and cook.
Experiment, most importantly. If you don't know how to cook with something, find people from where it comes from and see what they are doing with it.
Anything casserole. Beef stew, Reuben or golumpki. Just dump stuff in a pan or slow cooker.
Costco short ribs in the instant pot. With the random Asian spices I have in my pantry. Freezer to table in 50min. The instant pot is my favorite tool.
This one:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/keith-youngs-chicken-cacciatore-recipe-1946896
You want to cut the quantities in half, the batch is absolutely huge if you do the recipe as-written. It basically cooks enough chicken cacciatore for an entire team of firemen.
It's a flexible and forgiving recipe, though. You can play around with it, do substitutions, etc.
Bean burritos.
Store bought tortillas. Canned or crock pot beans. Chopped lettuce and tomatoes. Shredded cheese. Avocado mashed with salt and pepper, and lime when I remember. Sour cream. Salsa for those who want it. Can be enhanced by adding taco meat by browning some ground beef and adding taco seasoning.
1 pot spaghetti "non-carbonara". Cook 130g spaghetti while whisking an egg with some good pepper and fresh-grated parmeggiano. Drain noodles, keep a little bit of the noodle water in the pot. Noodles back in, egg-cheese goodness on top (no heat, just the hot noodles and warm pot). Mix until everything is creamy. Enjoy.
Lately, I've been eating a lot of farro instead of rice, pasta or oatmeal. It has a nice nutty taste and chewy texture that I like.
Mix it up with some veggies like sliced carrots and chickpeas for a complete meal.
https://cookieandkate.com/roasted-carrots-recipe-with-farro-chickpeas/
https://www.thekitchn.com/one-pot-farro-carrots-chickpeas-recipe-23012504
Farro is great. For a side dish I tend to cook it in spiced broth (chicken or beef depending on the main course) instead of water. Another one you might like is kamut.
Baked chicken - There are a ton of these recipes but they all come down to basically the same thing: Brine, put seasoning on, cook it in the oven, let it rest a few minutes, done. It takes a little time from start to finish, but the total investment of actual effort is like 5 minutes. (I keep a little tupperware of premixed seasoning.) Combine with a tray of vegetables in the same oven and/or some rice or something. (I actually do this with skin-on chicken thighs instead, but it's basically the same)
Steak - Learn to cook a good steak, it's fuckin magic. Again you can find recipes online. Let it warm to room temperature first, put salt and pepper on it, sear the outside 30s or so on high heat including picking it up and hitting the edges, then lower the heat and flip it every 60-90 seconds to let it cook, and at the end dump some garlic and butter in the pan to flavor it. Let it sit a minute or two and you're good bb.
Blueberry pancakes - Use fresh blueberries.
One pan chicken and rice! It's a forgiving dish, and even if it does not turn out great it has never gone uneaten in my home.
Preheat a pan to medium high (medium if nonstick).
Start with chicken thighs, laid flat in a single layer with a bit of olive oil until they're seared on both sides. Take the thighs out and put them on a plate. It's ok if they're not completely cooked through, we'll finish them later.
Reduce heat to low and slowly add half a cup of warm water. Use that to deglaze the pan.
Add a cup of rice. Stir every once in a while. Add liquid as needed in half a cup increments when the rice gets too dry. You can use up to one cup of chicken or vegetable broth for flavor, but don't overdo it because it'll get too salty otherwise. Water is fine otherwise.
Once the rice is starting to soften on the outside but before it's fully cooked add the chicken thighs back in to finish cooking them.
If you want to get fancy you can add chopped onion and carrots to the rice. You can also change the flavor profile by adding spices (a sprig of rosemary works well, not loose leaves unless you like the feeling of eating sticks), acid (lemon wedges served as a side, or a splash of red vinegar while cooking), or even raisins (early enough so they absorb some of the liquid and plump up).
I’m from the Midwest so wild rice casserole (almonds on top for sure)
I've never heard of a wild rice casserole, with, or without almonds. Where do they make this?
If it's a casserole, there's a 90% chance it's Minnesota.
Casserole and wild rice brings that to like 95%. The other 5% would be neighboring states
Hahaha you are correct it's Minnesota
The biggest thing with getting better at cooking is to just find a recipe that looks tasty and go for it. Follow the directions and see how it comes out. Try to understand the directions too. Why are we cooking things in X Y Z order? Why are we cooking at this temperature? Etc. You might still mess stuff up, Ive been cooking at home for 10 years and still have meals I just have to trash because theybare unsavable, but try to figure out what went wrong, and then try making that meal again but looking to fix your mistake.
There are also some great cookbooks and resources out there to kickstart your journey of understanding cooking. Salt Fat Acid Heat is a fantastic book that dives into the four pillars of what makes something delicious. It was also adapted into a Netflix series so you can watch that as well. The Food Lab is all about nerdy food science. Kenji Lopez Alt has spent his time figuring out the science behind cooking so you dont have to. Also, a lot of info from the Food Lab is also available on Serious Eats's website, where Kenji was a writer for a long time.
Also if you have kids, get them involved! Learn with them so they have a jumpstart on being comfortable in the kitchen!
Now to answer your actual question, my go to recipe is pizza. Ive been making it pretty much every week since I was 22. I've built up a collection of tools for pizza making, so I have a propane oven that reaches 900°F for neopolitan pizza, a baking steel for regular oven pizzas, pans for south shore bar style pizzas, etc. Its all nice to have but you can make pizza on a cookie sheet or in a cast iron pan. The first pizzas I made were store bought dough in a greased cast iron pan with jarred sauce and some shredded mozz. Nowadays I make my own dough and sauce.
For an easy NY style pizza I use Kenji Lopez Alts same day dough recipe (https://youtu.be/uXkT8LbCPOY), and for the sauce I do
Often times Ill just leave it at that, but you can also add dried oregano, dried basil, a pinch of sugar, or some red chili flakes to spice it up.
https://damndelicious.net/2014/06/13/one-pot-zucchini-mushroom-pasta/
This recipe is really easy and quick. The only thing to watch out for is to move the pasta around a bit at the beginning as it softens so it doesn't all stick in one clump. It's really good if you toss in some thawed pre-cooked shrimp for the last 5 minutes or so.
https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/no-knead-bread/
Also don't underestimate the comforting smell of home made bread. It's easier than you think but just takes forethought. Fresh buttered bread turns a simple soup or stew into something special.
Want to impress impress at a family gathering with a relatively simple dish?
Potatoes are stupid versatile and easy to get right.
For me, my goto in this area is:
Get a pack of Yukon goldens. You could do baby reds, but don't get Russets for this. They don't saute well.
Preheat a saute pan or skillet to medium, cut each potato into a half or a third (bigger ones to a third) and rinse.
Mix potatoes in a bowl with about a tbsp of vegetable oil or butter and liberal seasoning of choice. There's this parmesan-garlic blend I like, but it's pretty hard to go wrong on the seasoning because potatoes work with basically anything.
Throw the mixed potatoes into the saute pan, add about 1/4 cup of water and cover. Cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly seared and tender. 'Tender' means no resistance when stabbed with a fork.
Stir occasionally with a spatula so that they don't stick to the pan. Add a little water when you uncover to stir, the steam is important.
Put it on a fancy plate and bam. The compliments roll in.
For a meal, add onions (or really any vegetables) and choice of protein. My goto is chicken thighs cooked separately in a cast iron.
Cheap, easy, flavorful, versatile, substantial.
We recently discovered you can do this same prep, and then just roast them in an air fryer, and they're awesome
Nice. I'll have to give that a shot
My first suggestion is to learn to cook and use a whole chicken.
Take a whole, air-dried chicken, remove the gizzard package (if present) and season liberally with a poultry seasoning blend (or whatever—salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary).
Bake, starting at 450 for 10-15 minutes, then at 325 for an hour and a half.
Eat the legs and thighs, reserve the breasts to us as an ingredient for chicken-anything—pasta, salad, or chicken salad sandwiches.
Boil the carcass for several hours with some more seasoning, onion, carrots and celery, then strain, reserving solids and broth.
Over the broth pot, rinse the solids with cold water, cooling them and getting everything tasty into the broth.
Pick the meat off the bones, skim the fat off the broth and recombine (or not, for stock).
Boil excess water away, until it tastes like bland chicken, then salt until it tastes good. It's ok to use some bullion to add flavor, too.
That gives you a base that you can use to make any chicken soup. Simplest is to throw in some fresh veggies and cook for 10-15 minutes.
My current favorite cooking channels are Alex's and Ethan's .
The classics that I learned from are all public TV shows:
Jacques Pépin (playlist)
Mario Batali (turned out he's a creep, but the show was amazing)
Fried rice. You make rice to be part of some other dish, then the next day fry the slightly dried out leftover rice in the fridge with soy sauce and an egg and whatever else you have onhand that would go well with it (garlic, onion, cabbage, tomatoes, etc).
Make rice, but use chicken broth instead of water.
Take a large pan, and heat it on medium with a bit of oil in it until it's hot and the oil kinda shimmers or ripples (past flows like water, before it smokes)
While it heats, cover some chicken breasts in salt and pepper. Slice an onion into discs.
Turn the heat up a bit, wait a few moments and then put the chicken in the pan. Turn the heat back down in a few moments. (You're compensating for the chicken dropping the pan temperature. When the pan gets cold it makes the meat stick more, but you also don't want things to be too hot, lest you have burnt on the outside and raw in the middle) Cook on both sides until it's browned (a mild tan color with places that are a little darker). Don't flip it too much, and it should take something like 5 minutes per side.
Dump a can of diced tomatoes into the pan. It's going to sizzle a lot. If it's a pre seasoned can that's cool, otherwise add a bunch of oregano, pepper and some salt.
In the gaps around the chicken put the onion slices and pepper them generously. Put a lot on the pan to hold the steam.
Gently stir occasionally to keep the tomatoes from going funny, and flip the chicken.
Something like ten minutes later, the chicken should be done and you can check it with a thermometer. The onions should be edible. This recipe is generous to overcooking so try not to, but don't stress.
Once the chicken is done, put a bit of butter on it, a little on each of the onion slices, and some more in the tomatoes. Replace the lid to melt the butter, call it ten seconds.
Remove the chicken and plate. Leave the lid on the give the onion a few more minutes to sit.
Put the rice in the plate.
Return to the pan and serve the onion.
Stir the tomato to incorporate the butter, and portion it out over the chicken and rice or whatever looks good.
All told, maybe half an hour and it looks fancier than the work that went in. Steamed broccoli also goes well.
Another good one is to cut chicken into thirds, and put in a bowl. Coat in oil. Coat in pepper, salt, and whatever seasoning powder you have on hand. Let sit for a few. Bake at 400 for like, 20 minutes or until it temps. Serve with anything, but a blend of butter, water, and whatever seasoning you put on the chicken makes a good sauce. You'll need to really whisk it to make it incorporate, a little electric whisk is a good idea.
Get premade Greek flatbreads (small, like for a gyro), put a few spoonfuls of pizza sauce on them, cheese, garlic powder, pepper and some toppings (sparingly for plant toppings, generous for pepperoni and friends because of the moisture). Bake at 400 for 10 minutes for four, eight for two, and you've got super easy personal pizzas.
A basic spaghetti bolognese is relatively easy and very tasty. Also learn how to make a curry, it's very easy and allows for almost infinite variation in veggies, meat spice combinations, etc... I would also advise you to learn how to make a basic soup, because that also allows for infinite variation once you know the basics.
Both curries and soups are also quick to make. Both can be done in 30 minutes (at first it will take longer of course, but with practice it will go faster).
Look for recipes you like or want to try online then save them, this is how I started. I always try to aim for making one new meal a week, sometimes it's a flop, but at least I'm broadening my culinary horizon.
Once you get into cooking you will realize it's really not that hard to make good food and it's a fun activity that lets you be creative.
If you enjoy YouTube tutorials Binging with Babish (older videos) and J Kenzi Lopez both have excellent videos and recipes online that helped when I first started cooking.
Homemade chicken fettuccine alfredo
Marinate the chicken in Italian dressing overnight in the fridge, sprinkle some salt and pepper into a pan with a small amount of the marinated liquid and cook on medium heat until you feel the chicken is done.
I use store boight fettuccine noodles but I do make the Alfredo sauce from scratch with heavy cream, garlic, cheeses, etc
And usually the thick garlic bread you pop in the toaster/oven on the side
I'd like to get a proper side dish that I can make alongside it but haven't found anything that fits my personal taste.
So far the only complaint I have recieved was from a recent gall bladder removal patient had some bathroom troubles because of the chicken I think.
I'm going to go with pancakes. They're simple, quick and you almost always have the ingredients on hand. And somehow, people are always genuinely happy to be served good pancakes. If you want to spice things up, you can branch out to crepes and waffles. Crepes are even easier than pancakes, but you have to have something to go in them. Our standard is strawberries, nutella, walnuts, and whipped cream, but I also love savory crepes (I don't make them though).
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/crispy-cheesy-pan-pizza-recipe
I've been making this pizza recipe for a couple years now. The downside is that you have to prep the dough the day before, but the end result is really good.
Otherwise, Japanese curry is so easy and consistent using curry tablets.
Puttanesca or risotto. Both relatively easy to make, tale about 40 mins and are delicious!
Chili in a slow cooker.
Start it in the morning with mostly fresh ingredients. Put extra sharp cheddar and sour cream on it to serve.
Some ingredients that I like: stew meat ("steak"), onion, mushrooms, garlic, habenero, lime juice and cans of kidney/garbanzo/black/great northern beans.
Tater tot hot dish
Soups (secret is to start with beef stock and add things you like. Just heat it on the stove, very quick and easy.)