cherry | (no subject)

It is possible -- nay, probable -- that I have been heard many a time to proclaim that I have neither interest nor aptitude when it comes to all things domestic.

Seriously, people, I have set off the fire alarm while boiling water. I wish that was hyperbole, but, alas.

With my fancy new apartment, however, and this "taking lunch/supper" places kick I'm on, I am reaching out for help. I have decided that I am going to try to cook at least once a week.

What are your favourite recipes? Where do you find said things? What would you recommend to someone starting out?

Really, I'm very open. I don't eat red meat or bananas, but other than that ...

I adore vegetables and fruit and trying new things, but I appreciate classics. I enjoy both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. I am partial to fast and easy, but am stoked to try things that are a little more involved. I am especially willing to put in the effort for things that are a little different (read: non-North American fare).

I often take lunch and supper to my full time and part time jobs, so reheatable/cold foods are good, and I am also interested in your favourite sandwiches and any awesomely interesting sandwich/salad combos you've tried.

Please: Educate me, mock my ineptitude, it's all good.

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From:

fullycompletely.livejournal.com

Okay, I'm like cooking retarded, so here are my totally easy beyond easy "recipes", if you can even call them that.

For salad I like to just make a huge bowl with (obviously) lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red pepper and cheese, but you can put whatever you like in it. Then add a can of tuna (drain it first or the salad is soggy) and that's my whole meal. I usually use Italian dressing, but again, whatever. Any oil and vinegar type one is good.

If you want a salad that's so good it practically tastes like dessert, I use the spring lettuce mix with a small can of fruit cocktail of some sort (the tropical mix is good, with pineapple and passionfruit ... again, drain it first), some dried cranberries (Craisons!), almond slivers, and then instead of dressing use vanilla yogurt. Mmmm.

But my absolute dummy-proof supper recipe is to take a chicken breast, put it in a pottery-type oven safe dish and spoon salsa over it. Whatever kind of salsa you like, cooking makes it a little less spicy. Cover it with tin foil and bake for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees, then uncover it and bake for 10 more to brown it up a little. I like my chicken pretty dry so you can adjust the baking time however you like. It's pretty much impossible to mess up, and it tastes GOOD. I think so, anyway.

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/

Here's a few that are all quite simple. Use an oven timer to remind you to stir them and as a reminder to check on them. They're all in the put them in a pot and check back every ten minutes if it's on the stove, every half hour in the oven category. :) They all make at least four serves, so you've got a few meals out of them and they're all freezable and microwavable. :) They're not that fast but they are very much low effort once you've got them in the pot.

(If it's all okay with you, I'm probably going to be hanging out for a chance to cook something, anything, oh, god, please after four and a half weeks of travelling.)

psuedo chilli - I think I learnt to make this one when I was eleven. It's the simplest meal I know.
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 onion, finely chopped
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can of equal size, diced tomatoes
three bay leaves

Fry onion, garlic and ginger in a small amount of oil till onion is soft. Add everything else and bring it to the boil. Put a lid on and bring the temperature down to low, simmer it with lid on for half an hour, stirring every ten minutes.
Serve with rice, corn chips, grated cheese and shredded lettuce.

THINGS in the rice cooker used to save my life when I first moved out. And then my family caused my rice cooker to die and I was very upset. It's just rice, some pre-cooked garlic, onion, ginger, mince, spices or whatever and with stock used instead of water. Possibly with soy sauce or tomato. Add chopped vegies about five minutes before it stops cooking or just stir through microwaved chopped veg at the end.

Vegie Stew
1.5 cups chopped, peeled sweet potatoes
1 cup green beans
1 diced eggplant
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced, peeled mushrooms
1 tin canellini beans
1 tin kidney beans
750 ml pureed tomatoes
2 cups stock

Put everything in a pot, bring it to a boil, reduce to low and simmer with a lid on until the larger pieces of sweet potatoe are soft - this should take between 45 minutes and an hour. Serve with couscous. Makes enough to feed a small army.

Vegie Lasagna

FINELY sliced vegies - eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, baby spinach leaves.
Lasagna sheets
1 - 2 large bottles of premade pasta sauce. Add garlic and onions to it.

Layer sauce, lasagna sheets and vegies - sauce, lasagna, vegies, sauce, lasagna ect. The final layer should be sauce. Top with grated cheese, bake, covered for 45 minutes to an hour at 180C/350F

Tomato bake

fry onion with cardamon, cumin, corriander, chilli and tumeric. Add 600 ml tinned tomatoes, simmer for ten minutes while preparing vegies.

Slice tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant.

Layer vegies and sauce in baking dish. Cover, bake 45 minutes at 180C/350F. Serve with rice. :)

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/

... I can't believe I forgot these two.

Leftover rice, 1 tin drained tuna, microwaved vegies. Stir through 1 spoon mayonaise or soy sauce. :)

Long life noodes, tuna, veggies, with fish sauce and sweet chilli sauce OR chilli sauce and kechap manis. Cook the noodles with a little bit of stock instead of pure water.

From:

sprat.livejournal.com

I don't cook from recipes very often, mostly because I am lazy. (And I like simple stuff, anyway.) So I don't know if I can be much help in that department. However, here are some Things I Make Often:

* chicken breast! I like it fried in a little bit of oil with salt and pepper, or marinated in balsamic vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and garlic and then broiled (basically, you put some foil on your oven rack, stick it in the top spot with the chicken breast on it and turn the oven on to broil -- it's important to keep a close eye on it, though, because this will cook it pretty quickly). You can do chicken breast a bazillion other ways, though, and it's good for you, and if you're only cooking for one, it's not too pricey.

* Yves veggie Burgerburgers, with all the fixings and some kinda fancy cheese from Sobey's deli section. Fat free, tasty, full of soy and stuff, and if you get the ginormapack at Superstore, cheap, too.

* Microwaved whole red potatoes. Shut up, they're really easy! You just wash the potato, poke some holes in it and stick in in the microwave for about 3 minutes. And you can put plain yogurt on them and it tastes like sour cream, only it's nutritious! Sort of.

* Plain rice, a can of tuna and cooked veggies. You drain the tuna, because otherwise it's yucky, and for the veggies, I like to steam or boil some broccoli, carrots, mushrooms and sprouts, but you can use whatever. I put soya sauce all over it once it's cooked. It's cheap, you only use the one bowl, and it's surprisingly yummy.

* Blackened tofu and mixed green salad. It's really important to use pressed firm tofu for this, because it just doesn't work otherwise -- the green Mandarin tofu fourpack is best. What you do is: get some oil nice and hot in a frying pan, then stir in some spices (I like cumin, curry powder and powdered ginger). While that's sizzling, chop the tofu into tiny cubes. Throw the tofu into the pan and coat it in the oil/spice mix. Let it get a little bit brown and then mix in about a tablespoon of soya sauce, letting that coat the tofu too. Cook it until it gets kinda smoky -- it should be dry and chewy by this point -- then pull it off the heat. Make a salad of mixed greens (a la the spring mix stuff, or just baby spinch if you want) and whatever else you like in salad (I'm partial to roma tomatoes, english cucumbers, raw broccoli, baby carrots, avacado and chopped pecans) and pour the warm tofu on top. Eat with some kind of vinagrette dressing for best result. *g*

My favourite weird sandwich combo is avacado and smashed ketchup chips on toasted whole wheat bread. This is what I lived on as a teenaged vegan. Not very nutritious, but waaay yummier than they sound.

Hmm. I have more ideas but this is getting epic. If you want them, ask -- I will email them to you. In the mean time, I can recommend

food_porn for recipe-type recipes and general cooking inspiration. They post pictures! It's awesome!

From:

gurrier.livejournal.com

Vaguely Asian noodle soup! It's amazingly simple and versatile.

Start with 500ml chicken stock/bouillion. Add some finely chopped garlic and ginger, and bring it to the boil. Turn down the heat so the surface is bubbling slowly, and leave like that for 5-10 minutes. While that's happening, put a single serve of rice noodles in boiling water to soften.

Now is also a good time to get the rest of your ingredients ready. I like any of: tofu or chicken (fresh or pre-cooked), gow gee dumplings, grated carrots, spinach, corn, baby bok choi, coriander, basil, scallions, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, coconut milk, curry paste, sesame oil, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, shrimp,... You get the idea. Cut them into bit-size pieces, or what you can manage with chopsticks. With fresh/frozen poultry and fish, heat the soup to boiling point again before adding them, and then simmer again until cooked through. Vegetables really only need a minute or two, and the herbs you can add just before serving.

To serve, drain the noodles and place as much as you want in a bowl. Top up with soup, and there you go. The only limit is your imagination!

Apart from being simple, the thing I love best about this is that I usually have enough in the pantry and freezer to make even if I haven't been shopping in a while. Noodles and coconut milk from the pantry, and corn and scallions from the freezer, for instance. Enjoy!

From:

raucousraven.livejournal.com

Uh, I'm hopeless with cooking right now, but my solid no-fail recipe is fried rice. You just need some leftover rice out of the cooker from last night (or fresh will do too, I guess :), some veg (any veg, really), meat, soy sauce and garlic. Onions, too, if you like 'em. Cook garlic, optional onions and meat all through (turkey works, and adding something like turkey sausage is a good way to bring the flavour), drain and set aside. Cook veg with more garlic and not much oil; you can steam these, too. I like eggplant, or broccoli and snap peas, but adding whatever's in the fridge is part of the fun, here. Set those aside when they're tender. Then coat a big pan with some oil and put your leftover rice in, stirring to keep things as nonstick as possible. Add soy sauce to taste; if you want to add chili oil or any other sauces (teriyaki is popular), now's a good time. Then add back the meat and veg to heat them all up and give the rice more flavour. Then just serve and eat! If you have them, sprinkle some sesame seeds on, too. They are yum.

I try to make enough for dinner and lunch, with possible snack in between. I like this dish because it's not difficult, it uses the crazy stuff in the fridge, and it's never boring.

If you are comfortable in a lab, try looking through cooking for engineers -- they have a great shepherd's pie recipe I adapted for turkey-lurkey by adding cumin and coriander curry, and changing the potatos out for sweet potatos. MMM GOOD.

From:

dkphoenix.livejournal.com

Ok, non-North American (Lebanese, to be specific), and a salad/sandwich combo:

This is a little time-intensive, as in lots of chopping, but not really difficult. It gets better after sitting in the fridge (up to a point - a week is about the limit, if it lasts that long) so, it's good to make on the weekend to take to work. Measurements are all approximate, so you can adjust the veggies.

Tabbouleh

1 pkg (around 12 - 16 oz) bulgur wheat (can be found in Middle Eastern groceries, if not in the regular ones)
1 large can diced tomatoes, drained, OR 2-3 large tomatoes, diced and seeded
1-2 cucumbers, peeled and diced
2-3 bunches parsley, washed and diced (this is the hard part - I suggest a big cutting board and a cleaver or very large, very sharp knife)
2-3 bunches green onions, diced
2-3 bunches fresh mint leaves, diced (optional - only if you can find them easily)
1 bottle Italian or Greek salad dressing
lemon juice (from a plastic lemon is fine)
salt
pepper

Soak the bulgur using a little less water than the package calls for, with a squirt or two of lemon juice and a little salt. Chop the veggies, salting the tomatoes and the cucumber lightly. Combine veggies and bulgur in a large glass bowl (glass works best because the mixture is acidic), pour the salad dressing over it (around 3/4 of the bottle, depending on size), add black pepper to taste, stir well to coat, cover with plastic wrap and leave in refrigerator overnight for flavors to mix.

This goes really well with pita bread sandwiches. Take falafel, and/or the meat of your choice, and/or feta cheese, and/or sliced cucumbers, and/or tomatoes, and/or hummus, and/or sliced black olives, sprinkle with Greek seasoning mix (from the spice aisle), drizzle with olive oil, and stuff into half a pita bread.

For desert, get some canteloupe, honeydew, or other melon (apples and/or pears would work, too), cube 'em up, drizzle with honey (sprinkle with lemon juice first if using apples or pears), sprinkle with cinnamon, and chill in the fridge for a few hours. You could also add chopped walnuts or almonds, or make a dressing out of vanilla yogurt, honey, and cinnamon.

Any kind of pasta salad is also great for making ahead of time, and taking to work. My personal favorite uses that tri-color "garden" rotini, diced canned tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives, cucumbers (if I feel like it) and that Greek or Italian salad dressing again.

From:

laurashapiro.livejournal.com

I have many, many quick-n-easy recipes I could share, so let me know if you want to take a look. I only have a few in memories, here (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=laurashapiro&keyword=Recipes&filter=all).

My rule of thumb for cooking dinner is: if it takes longer than 45 minutes, forget it. I amend that for stews, because you can just walk away and let them do their thing for a few hours. I prefer one-pot or two-pot meals for their simplicity and heartiness, and rarely do anything with more than two courses.

My best advice is to start simple, and with things that are rewarding to eat and forgiving to cook. Thick soups -- chicken, vegetable, or bean-based -- are delicious, healthy, and easy. You chop, you toss in the pot, you simmer until veggies are tender. The end. Stews require a little more prep work but they're basically the same thing. And pasta dishes are great, too. I particularly like sauces that will cook in the time it takes the pasta to boil. All of the above make great leftovers.

Holler if you want specifics. I will provide. (:

From:

groovekittie.livejournal.com

I have an excellent recipe for borscht. :)

From:

pixelarious.livejournal.com

If you like vegetables, I suggest ratatouille. It's totally easy, the only effort involved is chopping the eggplant and zucchini, and sauteeing them a little before you dump everything in a pot and let it cook for a bit. Then you have a delicious dish you can have as a side or a main meal, and it keeps for a few days. My two cookbook staples are Fanny Farmer and Joy of Cooking. Both are great all-purpose books, with a recipe for practically everything. I don't recommend How to Cook Everything, simply bc I find some of the recipes rather bland. It's a good starter, but once you've figured out your way around, stick with the better books.

From:

Catch the August Rain

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