This site is exactly what this naive and lazy housewife needs! Now help me put meat on my husbands bones!
I am no cook so it very well may be my fault for his inevitable wasting away but I recently lost my job so I'm ready to focus more on home life and taking care of my skinny hubs. He never eats breakfast, rarely eats lunch and usually has 4 beers and jack in the box for dinner. What are some recipes I can make that will have him drooling for more? Let's also keep in mind I recently just learned how to cook oatmeal so be nice to me. Haha! Thanks :)
Recommended by Food52
7 Comments
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/tomato-sauce-with-butter-and-onions/
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/tomato-sauce-with-butter-and-onions/
A chicken sandwich made from the leftovers with tomato, salt, and mayo is one of my very favorite things. Along with BLTs (another good, easy idea).
*My mom's basic chicken coating was flour with some garlic powder, salt, and paprika, but she'd change it up sometimes by adding cornmeal and some Mexican-ish seasonings like cumin and chili powder, or (my favorite) parmesan cheese and crushed potato chips. I think just about any combo of spices or dried herbs mixed with enough flour to dip the chicken in would work fine as long as you don't use tons of any one thing.
Easy vegetables - frozen peas microwaved with a dab of butter and a finely chopped shallot.
Cooked spinach is great with a little butter and a sprinkle of vinegar, or fresh spinach with some sliced avocado, lime juice, and a little salt.
I love love love raw cabbage and coleslaw. There's a recipe here that my hubs and I love: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/coleslaw-recipe/index.html,
but if I need something quick, the bagged shredded slaw mix in the produce section with the dressing recipe on the back of the bag (I think it has mayo, vinegar, salt, and sugar) is pretty darned good.
Finally, I found this recently, and these beans are so good alone, in tacos, with rice, etc., and really easy to cook
http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2008/11/pinto-beans-three-ways.html
These are some of my favorites and easy to make.
http://food52.com/recipes/9151_tuna_noodle_casserole_redux
http://food52.com/recipes/2534_baking_sheet_macaroni_and_cheese
http://food52.com/recipes/11440_a_bowl_of_red
And finally, an incredible easy to make chicken
Cooking times in the recipe are for a 4 ½ to 5 pound bird. A 3 ½ - 4 ½ pound chicken will take about an hour to cook, and a 5 – 6 pound bird will take close to 2 hours. This recipe is developed to work with a 5 – 8 quart Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid. And always use organic.
INGREDIENTS
1 Whole Roasting Chicken
2 tsps kosher salt or 1 tsp table salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion chopped medium, about ½ cup
1 small stalked celery, chopped medium, about ¼ cup
6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed
2 bay leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 250 F.
2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper
3. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until just smoking
4. Add chicken breast-side down; scatter onion, celery, garlic bay leaf around the bird
5. Cook until breast is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
6. Flip chicken breast-side up and cook another 5 – 8 minutes
7. Remove Dutch Oven from heat and place a large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid.
8. Transfer pot to oven and cook until your brand new thermometer everyone recommends you get reads 160 F when inserted in thickest part of breast and 175 F in thickest part of thigh, 80 to 110 minutes.
Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil and let it rest 20 minutes.
Meanwhile strain chicken juices from pot through fine-mesh separator pressing on solids to extract liquid; discard solids (you should have about ¾ cup juices). Heat up the juices and you will have a fine sauce.