The Problem
Here is how it starts (I think these steps might apply to everybody - just take out the pregnant part)
Step 1: Get pregnant and now you don't feel like cooking
Step 2: Rely on your husband to feed the family for dinner. Dinners for weeks were frozen meals that you buy in the freezer section. Not the expensive ones the cheap ones. I don't think I can stomach anymore of them.
Step 3: Start to feel better but just don't know what to cook
Step 4: Have loads and loads of cookbooks sitting on your shelf but dread the thought of looking through them because you already have a 100 times.
Step 5: Realize you have a problem when you stop at Taco Bell on the way home because the idea of making dinner makes you cringe. Even though in the morning you pulled out chicken to thaw. (I must have had something in mind when I pulled out the chicken.)
The Road to Recovery
I don't think I need a 12 step program to help me fix the problem but maybe the following steps will help:
Recovery Step 1: Admit I have a problem (Check: got it covered with the post)
Recovery Step 2: Apologize to anybody that has eaten at my house in the last few months (Check: I think I apologize to Mike daily. Grant doesn't really care he will pretty much eat anything.)
Recovery Step 3: Seek Help
I can't seem to do this one alone so please post some recipes in the comments. Of course simple recipes because who has time to slave away in the kitchen we see where that led Martha Stewart.
Recovery Step 4: Cook my little heart out
Tonight I think I might use the chicken I didn't use last night. Hey, at least it is a start.
(So please begin posting your recipes now.....)
6 comments:
Our new favorite: Spaghetti
Bertolli's olive oil, garlic, basil sauce.
Add to the sauce:
Sausage
Costco Meatballs
mushrooms
peppers.
We like it on angel hair.
Pretty quick and easy...and it's GOOD!
I have soup night on Monday and homemade pizza on Friday...that way I have an idea for planning. I love doing chicken noodle soup with crockpot chicken. I usually have everything on hand and if you use a crockpot it isn't much work.
Cook the chicken with a couple of inches of water and a Italian dressing dry packet. Then I take out the chicken and cut it up (keep the broth). Then I grate come carrots and add a can of cream of chicken soup and put it all back in the crockpot. In the mean time, cook the noodles (sometimes I use the frozen, grandma something, long noodles... bought in the frozen section) I also like to use bow ties. 10ish minutes before you are ready to eat, add the noodles, some peas and a 1/2 tub of sour cream. Salt and Pepper to taste. This is my mom's amazing recipe...it also makes tons for a yummy lunch the next day.
I am excited to see other's recipes for ideas too! I need them. It seems that things slow down after Christmas and I need a little bit of motivation.
I so feel your pain and I hope lots of people post ideas. I'm totally making that chicken noodle soup. So I am SUCH a basic cooker--I bet you know these already but 2 easy crockpot things:
Italian chicken:
Put frozen chicken (4 breasts or so) in the crockpot with a can of cream of chicken soup and a packet of Italian dressing mix. Leave it in there all day. About 20 minutes before serving it add a half stick (4 ounces) of cream cheese. Serve over rice. My kids love this.
Roast: (I just figured this out, don't judge.)
Buy a roast. I like the tri-tip roast at Costco. If you have time, brown the edges in a skillet with a little garlic salt. Throw it in a crockpot all day with a can of cream of mushroom, 1/2 to 1 cup of beef broth, and an onion soup mix. Serve with mashed potatoes--there are some frozen ones (Ore-Ida Steam n Mash) that you make in the microwave that taste JUST like normal and are so easy. The roast makes it's own gravy. It's my new Sunday go-to since we have afternoon church. Throw in some crescent rolls and you're sure to wow!
I have some good freezer meal recipes for you. When I get home later today (I had better go to bed!) I'll get them to you. Hopefully that will help! Good luck! I'm not pregnant and coming up with something to cook is always hard!
I can’t believe I, a seriously challenged chef, have something to offer you, a gourmet chef. Tonight I made Dan’s favorite soup so it’s fresh in my memory. It’s supposed to taste like Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden.
Cook 4 slices of bacon in a pan (I cut the bacon in 2” pieces before I cooked it). Remove the bacon and in the same pan with the bacon grease, brown 3 or 4 hot Italian sausage links (I used 2&1/2) removed from the skins. Brown it like you brown ground beef. Add diced onion (I just sprinkled in dehydrated onion since I didn’t have onion in my fridge—oops) and 2 cloves garlic (I sprinkled in garlic powder—-pitiful, I know), drain, and set aside.
Wash and slice 4 or 5 medium potatoes and add to pot with 4 cans chicken broth with a couple more cups of water (I used four cups of water and a globe of chicken bullion paste). Boil till potatoes are just starting to get tender. Add sausage and cook for 10 more minutes.
Take out about a cup of potatoes, mash them, and combine them with 1/2 to 1 c. half and half milk (I used a stick blender and 1/4 c. of Morning Moo’s dry milk and 1/2 c. water). Add back to the pot. Add bacon and kale (we don’t like kale so I leave it out) and let sit for about 10 minutes till the kale gets tender.
I am with ya on the cooking rut, only I don't have the being pregnant excuse. But here's a meal I like to make, Shephard's Pie.
Brown about a pound of ground beef, drain grease. Combine beef with can of green beans and can of tomato soup in a casserole dish. Top with a layer of mashed potatoes and cover. Heat in the oven for about ten minutes, then sprinkle with grated cheese and place back in the oven till the cheese melts.
It's not a super fancy meal, but I like casseroles because they are good as leftovers. And this one especially because there are many leftovers that we end up throwing out, but we like this one.
Good luck, Jolynn!
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