June 2009 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
INTERVENTION.
I think we need to have an intervention for Mamie and set up a week of easy, cheap, non frozen meals for her to prepare. And then she should blog her progress, then turn it into a book. And then a movie -- Just like KB's SBTB project.
Re: INTERVENTION.
HAHA, you sly minx.
I could do this. But keep in mind how utterly lazy I am and how recipes of more than 5 ingredients freak me the eff out.
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
This could be like everyone's good deed for the month - help a new wife stop living off of sodium and preservative-laden boxed meals.I don't even have the excuse of no time. I have loads of time. TONS.
JD/ML - how long did you last on the couch to 5K program?
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
I started with homemade mac and cheese - well, at least more homemade than the kraft box I grew up eating.
1. Boil water
2. Add pasta
3. Remove water
4. stir in cheese (or more than one type of cheese... then it could be 4 cheese macaroni which sounds super fancy)
voila. that's seriously the first thing i ever made that didn't come from a box/wasn't a piece of toast.
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
I have been wanting to try that pot roast in the crock pot idea. What kind of cut do you get? That's where I get discouraged.
DH requested I made a roast. If it was as simple as buying any cut of beef and plopping it in my roaster I could do it, but I think there's more to it, involving making gravy and testing the internal temperature.
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
My best advice: don't be afraid of it! When I first started cooking, half the stuff that I wouldn't attempt would turn out inedible. The majority of the other stuff was just okay. Every now and then I'd find something that was amazing and I'd store it away as a keeper. Now I can cook just about anything and am not afraid to try things. I've got my "wow" dishes and plenty of regular, but good dishes. I've learned how to tell if a recipe is going to be good by reading the ingredients and techniques involved, and I can throw together a great dinner out of anything. It just takes time and practice. Don't be afraid to fail and call in a pizza. You're so crafty and inventive as it is, you just need to get the ball rolling. Think of cooking as another creative medium, and enjoy it. You're already at an advantage in that you've got plenty of tried and true recipes from your good friends on J9 to get you started!
How about some shrimp pesto?
1 box noodles of your choice
1 package pesto mix (make to directions - usually just add some olive oil & water) I also add sundried tomatoes.
Some peapods and shrimp (I get the frozen, already cooked kind).
Boil water, add noodles. When they have a couple minutes left, add the shrimp & peapods. Cook til noodles are done. Drain. Put in bowl. Pour pesto over the top, mix, and voila. Insta-delish meal! Serve w/salad or bread, or whatever. Sprinkle parm over the top. Love it! Easy and quick!
^this. Or, if you're afraid of that, you can buy gravy in a jar to serve with the potroast.
Thanks for the suggestions and advice.
What's crazy is I used to bake all the time when I was around 12-13. NONSTOP. Homemade apple pies, ginger cookies, pancakes, muffins, biscuits. But cooking (especially with meat) has kind of baffled me. I'm afraid I'll overcook or undercook it.
I'm pretty good at breakfast. And chicken and rice. But I want to do more with vegetables.
I'm going to make a ziti recipe tomorrow that I modified that includes italian sausage (the kind in patty form that doesn't need de-cased). I'll let you know how it goes!
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
What about a simple stir fry? We do those all the time. Cook up some rice. Chop up a bunch of veggies. Pick a meat (steak, chix, shrimp) & chop it up. Put the meat in a pan or a wok and start cooking. Add veggies. Once cooked to the doneness you prefer, put some stir fry sauce over it. Serve over the rice.
Also, I have a fabulous White Chili recipe that is so easy:
1 onion, chopped1 clove garlic, chopped
1 T oil (I typically use canola for this recipe)
1 15 oz can northern white beans
1 15 oz can chic peas
1 15 oz can corn
2 t chix bouillon
1 4 oz can chopped chillies
1 t cumin (I typically do more than this but we like a little spice!)
2 boneless chix breasts, cut into chunks
Don't drain any of the veggies/beans...put it all into the crockpot, liquid and all! Set it and forget about it for a few hours & enjoy! We usually put cheddar cheese on top when we eat it, tastes good that way! ENJOY!! And, the leftovers freeze up well for a meal in the future!
Lucy Elizabeth 10.27.12
Don't listen to 'em Mamie! You keep rockin' your frozen dinners! We could start another club!
I get intimidated with meat as well. Begin with whole beef cuts and pork because there's a range of what temperatures you can serve those with. I get nervous with chicken because I'm scared it will be undercooked, so I tend to overcook it and get it dried out.
Here's a good way I learned to cook red meats: Heat cast-iron skillet or oven proof skillet (non-stick can't go in the oven usually), to medium-high heat on the stove (around 7 or 8 on the stove dial). Take your steak and sprinkle salt or pepper on one side. Put the steak seasoned side down in the hot skillet without using oil or butter. Let it sit there, undisturbed for 2 minutes. Flip the meat over and let it sit there for another 2 minutes. You have now seared both sides and gotten them brown and crusty. To cook the inside, pick up the entire skillet and put it in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Cook it in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
The best part about this method is that the steak is crusty on the outside and cooked slower in the inside. If you've cooked it too short, just call it rare, and if you cook it too long, call it well-done and dump BBQ sauce on it. You don't have to be as afraid of the cooking times on these cuts of beef and pork because they can be served at a range of temperatures. I've done this method with pork chops, beef steaks, pork tenderloin and other cuts. When you have it down, you can alter the meat by marinating it or seasoning it before you put it in the pan.
For vegetables, an easy way to cook them is to roast them. Take a yellow squash or zucchini and slice it into round disks about 1/2 inch thick. Put them in a bowl and drizzle them with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add one teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Mix that all together so that your vegetable is well coated, then dump it onto a metal sheet pan. Try to spread them out into one layer on the pan. Put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Take one slice out and taste it--is it cooked enough (is it still too firm?). If it's not cooked to your liking, leave them in for another 5-10 minutes and repeat your taste test.
The good news is that it's a vegetable, so no matter how you cook it, it's not going to hurt you. You can use this oven roasting method with almost any vegetable--potatos, asparagus, green peppers, sweet peppers. When you get more comfortable, start adding more flavors into the olive oil--lemon juice, rosemary, oregano.
Just start learning some simple methods of preparation and work your way up from there.