I need recipe ideas! for cooking evening meals?

Question

My cooking skills are average but I always seem to cook the same foods because cooking books seem to list extravagant ingredients that i would spend hours around a super market trying to find.

All I cook is:

spaghetti bolognaise (and it's really nice!)

Chili con carne

Cottage pie

then your normal throw in the oven foods like fish fingers and chips etc.

I need inspiration please help!

Answer 1

Cheater's chicken parmesan - mix 1 cup breadcrumbs w/ 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Lightly coat chicken b*****s with mayo, then press into the breadcrumb mixture, until crusted on both sides. Cook at 400 degrees until done, turn once, when browned. Serve w/ boiled/mashed potatoes or pasta, and veggies.

Pasta Arrabiatta

Heat a little olive oil (or spray) in a pan, with minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Add ground beef (hamburger) and cook until no longer pink. Add a can of tomatoes (or fresh ones, peeled, seeded and diced), and simmer for at least 20 mins (up to 40) allowing liquid to evaporate and sauce to thicken. While sauce simmers, cook spaghetti according to pkg instructions. Drain. Toss sauce together w/ pasta, and serve (good with a salad, garlic bread)

Roast chicken and veggies for one - preheat oven to 375 degrees, sprinkle chicken breast/s with salt and pepper. Chop carrots and potatoes into similar sized chunks, toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs if you want (rosemary or thyme). Place in an oven dish, roast for about 30/40 mins (longer if chicken is on bone, or if it is still pink) until the chicken and veggies are done.  

Answer 2

here's a couple, the broccoli and cheddar flan is super easy and kids like it too.  Can be a little bland, but I just eat it with hot sauce and it's great.  The second recipe calls for short ribs, but I use a roast instead and it is one of the best pot roasts I've ever had!  epicurious.com is just a great sight in general.  Another good thing is stuffed zucchini that Giada from food network makes, you can find it easy on foodnetwork.com.  Their all crowd and kid pleasers. :)

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/v...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/v...

good luck!

Answer 3

- Baked macaroni (make your macaroni the usual way, toss it in a baking pan, toss some bread crumbs on top, bake it for 10 min or less)

- Beef / Chicken Patty

- Roti (easy, just need all purpose flour, water, and baking soda. Roll out the dough in a circular shape, and fry it in a lightly-oiled pan on low heat because it's thin. Lightly brown it on both sides. When you flip it, pat it down with paper towel that is lightly dampened in olive oil or whichever oil you use).

- dumplings (all purpose flour, baking soda, water, mix it real good, break up the dough into peices and roll it into balls. Then roll the balls between your hands until it elongates into a big fat worm but don't do it too long. Flatten it out with your fingers. You can make them round or oval, whichever you prefer. Heat up the frying pan on medium heat with extra virgin olive oil or whichever oil. Toss a few at a time in there and keep a close on them. Once the one side starts browning, flip it. Watch it puff up. Puffing up is a good sign. Once they're all done, you can eat them with some beans and sausage or spinach and sausage or whatever tasty meat stuffing you can think of.)

Answer 4

This is not extravagent or expencive, and has become a regular Wednesday once a week treat in my house. Everybody simply loves this and fills them with their own treats.

Some like syrup, others like cheese while other in my family prefer beef mince...

Try making this;

Bread Fritters;

Go to the bakery section of the store where you normally buy bread.

Ask the baker for an "unbaked" loaf of bread.

He must put exactly the same amount of dough he would have used to bake a bread with in to a plastic bag for you, and it would cost no more than a loaf of bread.

Take that home and in a pot warm some cooking oil to about half the depth of the pot. (Smaller pots take less oil than bigger ones do)...

The oil temperature should be medium hot. (About half the heat that the stove plate will go)

Now cut from the unbaked dough a slice about the size of your palm, and with a little water on your fingers (to prevent the dough from sticking to your hand), stretch out the dough in all directions until it is about the size of your whole hand including the fingers. That brings the cutting of dough to about twice the size it was when you cut it....

Now with care, drop the stretched out dough in to the hot oil.

It would rise almost instantly.

Fry it in the oil until it is golden brown all over, taking care to turn it over occasionally.

It would be puffy and crisp when done.

With a large ladle or sieve, scoop out the bread fritter and place on an absorbent kitchen towel to rid it of most of the oil still on it.

Repeat this process until all the dough is done.

These bread fritters are extremely filling, and can be cut open and filled with almost anything from grated cheese to minced meat to cold processed meat, syrup or jam.

Try it, you will probably have some left over for two or three days, which you can take to work if you like....

Bread fritters can be frozen and warmed up again if you have made too much, but the dough cannot, so rather make the whole lot and freeze what is left over for another day. If you decide to freeze them, do so without a filling. Fillings should always be made fresh.

Finger snack variety;

By making the bread dough cutting about half the size when cutting off the raw dough from the batch, you can make smaller sized bread fritters and fill them with fancy foods like tuna mince or savory beef mince for buffet snack parties

Answer 5

Indian food is easy enough to cook - just go to your local Indian grocery, and buy the pre packaged seasoning mixes.  That's what I do, so when ever I want Indian, I just need to pull out the basics, chicken, chick peas, tomatoes, onions....  and the seasoning mix, and follow the directions.

Also, what you can try is something like "Make and Take Gourmet" and try your hand out there, then once you find something you like, you can recreate it at home.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Instead of spag bol try making your own fresh pesto sauce and use this to provide a sauce for your pasta, serve with a nice pork chop or chicken breast, or turkey steak in breadcrumbs.  

Instead of chili con carne try making a paella, you can use whatever ever you can afford to put in it (i.e chicken and a few prawns) as long as the rice base is cooked correctly (you can buy the paella rice in a packet).

Instead of cottage pie try making moussaka - its the greek version of almost the same thing. The recipes for all these are available on the web - I use the BBC :   http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

Answer 7

Maybe you can try to learn how cook chinese food, venture into another registry, can be a good thing sometimes.

Answer 8

You said you cook stir Fry's?

cook some chicken pieces with fresh lime juice in the oven

make a stir fry with red peppers, red onion and cherry tomatoes (nothing else)

wilt down some spinach (tip it in a dry pan on a high heat) and mix it with some creme fraiche and brown sugar

fry up some noodles and mix the lot together....it's a not too adventurous take on a stir fry!