I’m home, he’s home-so maybe it’s time we started cooking real food.

Aneeda72

Well-known Member
We have a lot of hamburger in our freezer and usually make hamburger patties. We have them plain or on a bun. But I’ve decided, or my doctor decided, i need to eat a lot less carbs since I am diabetic, as is he. Cooking, real cooking once a week seems doable.

Got an iPad, found an easy recipe and we are off. Found an easy recipe for enchiladas which we both love; which lead to a recipe for taco seasoning; which lead to a recipe for enchilada sauce. First we read it, then to the store to buy the spices (we had nothing but salt and pepper), and a one pound bag of flour.

With all the ingredients, my husband was ready to cook. We decided he would cook, I would find the recipes. We both will eat 😂. First he put together the taco seasoning for one serving. Then he make the enchilada sauce. I didn’t have canned fire roasted tomatoes, but I had some canned tomatoes with garlic.

We didn’t buy garlic because I don’t like it and don’t want to be stuck with it, so the canned tomatoes with garlic worked fine. He added the spices and cooked the sauce, smelled great! Tasted wonderful. Cooked the hamburger and onions, then assembled the beef and cheese enchiladas, covered with more cheese, baked in the oven.

Was yummy. The only downside to the whole experience was the amount of dishes that got used in the process. WOW. I don’t see how anyone cooks from scratch 2 to 3 times a week. It’s a lot of work, takes a lot of time, and produces a lot of dishes. But maybe it will become faster and more streamlined over time.

If you left the beef out this could easily be a vegetarian dish 😃.

Next week it will be Salisbury steak patties with mushroom, onions, and brown gravy. What do you all cook from scratch? How often do you do it? Suggestions welcome!
 

It's not an ideal time of the year for hearty casserole dishes, but if you make the likes of stews, hams, roasts (beef and pork), and a whole host of other similar meals, you can do the entire meal in one pot, and you'll have leftovers and extra that you can freeze for a rainy day, and meals prepared all in one pot (aside from being so tasty), are super easy to make.

I cook from scratch 3-4 days a week, sometimes more, and I don't notice the mess, dishes, etc. Been cooking from scratch for so long now I've become all but numb to the cleanup process afterwards.
 
Easy stir-fries. Use veggies you have on hand .. carrot, broccoli, onion, zucchini, celery, mushrooms - whatever. If you want to, add chicken, beef or pork. Throw it all into a well-heated wok or frypan, stir till done. Add a sauce if you want .. teriyaki or sweet chili (not too much sauce). I sometimes add pasta too (spaghetti or rotini). Kills my Chinese food craving.

I tend to clean up as I go along.
 

Next week it will be Salisbury steak patties with mushroom, onions, and brown gravy. What do you all cook from scratch? How often do you do it? Suggestions welcome!

My wife is a very good cook, and she like to try new stuff in the kitchen. She watches the Food Network quite often, especially the episodes featuring Ree Drummond....the Pioneer Woman....and at least once a week she makes something new.....And Delicious.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/the-pioneer-woman/recipes
 
I do 99% of the cooking. I'm not a fancy cook, but 99% of what I cook turns out well.

The Spousal Equivalent, on the other hand, loves to watch cooking shows. He will get very inspired by a recipe, go to the grocery story and buy $50 worth of esoteric ingredients, most of which the recipe calls for a quarter teaspoon of, comes home and dirties up every damn pot, pan and mixing bowl in the kitchen. He'll work himself into a frenzy over the recipe and it will, a good portion of the time, turn out inedible or close to it.

Which is why I cook 99% of the time.

He does, however, do absolutely delicious carry-out. For which I am grateful.......
 
I've cooked from scratch my whole married life. Like Pinky said I clean up as I go along.
I start first thing in the morning and get everything prepped that way if I'm in the middle of a project or feel to tired to cook all I have to do is throw it together the last minute.
I couldn't survive without casseroles. So easy and great for leftovers.
 
I cook once or twice a week.

One of my favorites is Crack Slaw or Eggroll in a Bowl.

Another easy meal is a small boiled dinner with cabbage wedges, carrots, onions, potatoes, and a vacuum-packed ham slice or ring of kielbasa simmered on the stovetop until the vegetables are tender. The leftovers make great hash.

You can still eat a fairly healthy diet without doing much cooking. Try using things like microwavable frozen vegetables, frozen berries, bagged salads, rotisserie chicken, etc...
 
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We usually have microwave everything besides hamburger patties. Frozen veggies, I like the ones from smiths. Small bags just right for us. We’d buy them and never eat them, never. Now the rule is, eat one veggie a day.

Before he was eating French fries and tater tots 2 times a day. Bought one of those machines, a small one, that makes crisp potatoes without oil. We found we could not eat another TV dinner. We are not buying anymore of those cheap awful Microwave meals! After two months of this, even he could hardly stomach it. Before virus, hmm BV 😂, we ate out a lot.

We did buy an occasional chicken from Costco. I think we will try and buy a chicken one once a week. The other thing we love is the honey walnut frozen shrimp that Costco sells. OMGosh so good. He cooks it in the machine and adds a veggie. With the sauce, you can hardly taste the veggie, 😂.

I actually think the cooking think will improve our relationship which I am always trying to do-for decades. He was quite proud of his home made dish. The week before he made a casserole. A simple one pan dish.

Cooked ground beef, onions to which we added celery soup instead of mushroom, since we did not have mushroom. Then we added a veggie into the mixture, due to our new rule. Put in a baking pan, placed frozen tater tots on top, shredded cheese, and baked until hot.

He really needs to lose 50 pounds and keep it off-that is my current goal for him. At 350 pounds his breathing is really impacted by pressure on his lungs. This time instead of nag, nag, nag him, I made it about me. My doctor said try using reverse psychology on him.

When I got so mad over the lawn (still am but calming down) and threw all his sweets away which were almost gone anyway. I said I didn’t have the will power to avoiding eating some of them. True. And since my A1C was too high and my kidney function was down (true), sweets could no longer be in the house.

Aw, poor little weak willed wife 😂. Mr. I don’t have an eating problem (yup, he insists he doesn’t) agreed to go along with the eating plan for my sake. Hopefully, he, we can stick to it. Either way, eating out is pretty much off the table due to the virus and our finances.
 
Aneeda, as you watch hubby's weight go down and your health and finances go up, I am betting within a few months time you will be on your way to dreaming of becoming the next Julia Child.

Maybe a few basic all round cookbooks for inspiration. I bought the new limited edition of Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for the grand sum of $3 at a thrift store.....mint condition, not a mark on it.

And what you save in DIY cooking might pay for a dishwasher eh?
 
Aneeda, as you watch hubby's weight go down and your health and finances go up, I am betting within a few months time you will be on your way to dreaming of becoming the next Julia Child.

Maybe a few basic all round cookbooks for inspiration. I bought the new limited edition of Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for the grand sum of $3 at a thrift store.....mint condition, not a mark on it.

And what you save in DIY cooking might pay for a dishwasher eh?
There is a very old dishwasher in the house which I think still works, but we hand wash. Always have. Besides our electric bill in this house for the first couple on months in the winter was 160 each month 😮. Using as little electric as possible.

Trying to save enough to insulate the attic, but before we do that we need more electric work and HVAC work and I’ve spent all my saving already. With 95 degree weather, already, I had to buy room air conditioners as I could not afford a system.

We did go on the monthly program plan with the electric company to try and lower our bill, but it will costs a lot to run those air conditioners. No choice as we do live in a desert.

Well, no Julia Child in this house, however with no sweets and plenty of yard work, he/we should lose weight 😂.
 
Scratch cooking - simple recipes with basic plentiful ingredients is a far more economical means of nourishing the human body. Usually healthier too.

A good source of easy recipes is a cookbook written for young or beginning cooks: children, young adults and college students.
 
One vegetable a day and one rotisserie chicken each week is a great start.

Gradually increase the number of vegetables each day and find six more main dish items to add to your weekly rotation.

How about some meatballs or meatloaf made with lean ground turkey. I add a packet of GOYA beef bouillon to a pound of ground turkey and a shot of Worcestershire sauce along with the other ingredients to help increase the meaty flavor.

Keep experimenting until you find a routine that works for you.
 
Was yummy. The only downside to the whole experience was the amount of dishes that got used in the process. WOW. I don’t see how anyone cooks from scratch 2 to 3 times a week. It’s a lot of work, takes a lot of time, and produces a lot of dishes. But maybe it will become faster and more streamlined over time.
That is the downside for sure! I cook several times a week and always make enough for leftovers or freezer meals for that reason. I hate the dishes but love my own cooking. At least I am only cooking for one now. I try to clean up while in the process of cooking.
 
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I try to clean up while in the process of cooking.

Me too!

When I was starting out I didn't have many kitchen things so I had to wash up as I went along and eventually it became a habit.

Now I've downsized my kitchen things to the point that I'm back to just about where I started!

The circle is almost complete. 😇
 


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