DD says all the food I make is rubbish.....I think she may be right.

[VivaLeBeaver]

She is a good eater - for other people. Came home raving about the CM's cheesy, chicken pasta bake. So I found a recipe, showed her the photo, she said it looked the same as the CM's. I cooked it today, before I even got it out the oven she was moaning saying she wouldn't eat it as it would be awful as all my food is.

Hubby won't eat my food. Its like an episode of Butterflies round here. Anytime I cook I'm the only person who eats what I've made.

DD lives on pasta with grated cheese, pizza and jacket potatoes. At home, she'll eat other stuff out and about.

Just don't know where I'm going wrong. I have plenty of recipe books, Ministry of Food, Nigel Slater, Leith's bible, Nigella, Good Food, etc.

I make fantastic cakes so I can follow some recipes. I think I follow normal meal recipes ok but it turns out wrong.

Do I give up and just buy ready meals?

aw poor you. Such a drag cooking for thankless family.

Does it taste good to you?

No, it mostly tastes like crap to be honest. Some stuff I think is fine. I did a recipe from the MN recipe section the other day and it was lovely. DH said it was OK, DD wouldn't try it but it was full of aubergine and corgette.

Tonight I made pad thai and it was crap.

I like baking but not cooking and I know I am better at baking than cooking.

Maybe you need to keep it simple. Sometimes it is the simpler things dc like best.

Viva, you could be me - Butterflies often crosses my mind here also. The only dish I make that everyone thoroughly enjoys is spag bol, my DH has eaten some crap in his time since we have been together!

Maybe what you need is a limited repertoire of simple dishes which are 'safe' to cook for her, and then you can tweak these slightly to introduce more variety.

OK i am going through my standard list of meals, which we use to compile our weekly menu and hence shopping list . I am no great shakes in the kitchen so these are all easy things for week nights!

Pasta is great as you can do lots of different sauces using virtually anything you have in the cupboard.

Pizza - do you make your own? As a baker you could prob do the base and then you and DD could do toppings together - she can hardly complain then!

Soup and garlic bread - again can use any veg or just really simple recipes which are yummy eg stilton and broccoli, sweet potato and cumin, leek and potato etc.

Roasted veggies (we use sweet pots/butternut squash, peppers, red onions, tomatos, anything except broccoli really! Can have those with whatever she likes - home made chicken gougons or fish fingers, again easy and can't go far wrong.

Buy sheets of puff pastry (near the butter in the chilled cabinets) and make savoury tarts eg goats cheese and tomato or whatever tickles your fancy - very very easy and quite impressive! Serve with salad and bread.

Risotto? Easier than many claim, no need to keep stirring just stick it in the oven once simmering and leave for 20 mins. Basic risotto incl rice, butter, onion and parmesan, can be tarted up with virtually anything.

CAT me if you want more ideas!

nooooooooooo was a good post but I don't know hwat you mean with tarting up with risotto with just about anything

Ugh, I hate cooking - but will do it. How old is your dd? could you get her to help you with cooking (if she helps she may eat it regardless)? And if DH refuses to eat, he better bloody well getinvolved on the cooking side too.

Love risotto though - impossible to muck up.

last week i ended up throwing a piece of gammon and a "poached" egg in the bin.

DH nearly wet himself when he realised i couldnt even cook bacon and egg...

Another vote for a selection of simple recipes

1. Spag bol
2. Carbonara
3. Risotto
4. Roasts
5. Steak and salad
6. Pizza (but you must get them to make it)
7. Chicken casserole
8. Thai yellow/green curry
9. Beef strips with spicey rice

10. Chicken kebabs

And work out how to adapt them so that they like them. And involve them in the cooking and the decisions over what they eat

Do you remember to season your food? Or is it over or undercooked? Cooking is, in the first instance, something of a science so it should be difficult to make something taste rotten if you're following a recipe to the letter.
Perhaps you should taste your food as you're going along to see if you can identify whys going wrong. And tell your dh and dd to stop being blinking ungrateful - at least you're trying!

I do season the food, don't taste it as I go along at all - I'll start doing that.

I do make good soups actually, DD does love some of the soup I make. Forgotten that over the summer!

GingerKirsty - don't hate you at all - that list is very informative. Never tried making our own pizza. What do you use for the sauce, do you make your own or can you use Dolmio?

Will definetly try savoury puff pastry tarts as well.

I've never tried a risotto - will have to give it a go. I can make a good roast dinner but DD refuses to eat it as she says she doesn't like meat. But will happily eat a rotisiere chicken from the supermarket. She does like my roast potatoes though.

I've tried making curries before - both Indian and Thai. I think they're ok, DD says they're bad. Yet she'll eat curry from a restaurant. Obviously mine aren't that standard but its not that she doesn't like curry iykwim.

Thanks for all the advice.

Yep you can use whatever sauce, if you buy a jar you could freeze what's left over in pizza size portions for future use. If you can't be fussed to make the base you can just buy bases in the supermarket.

Oven baked risotto recipe here - i find it easier to make a basic risotto ie without the bacon and tomatoes, and then throw in whatever else i want to add at the end. eg bacon/pancetta etc with either mushrooms (fry in butter first) or a tin of cherry tomatoes, baked butternut squash and wilted spinach (bloody lovely) seafood mix - serve with grated parmesan and toasted pine nuts on top and salad, a guaranteed crowd pleaser!

Recipe for really easy tasty curry....

2 onions chopped

tin of chopped toms

Garlic chopped

Sweet pepper

curry powder (what level of hotness you desire)

Garam masala

salt

pepper

chillis fresh/dried (if you like)...

Right...

Fry onions till golden/translucent

2 table spoons at least of curry powder mixed with water to make a paste...

mix and fry with onions till you smell spices...

add tomatoes and fry some more...
you will get a sauce/ paste...put to one side

fry meat of choice

add peppers and garlic fry for 2 mins

add sauce/paste fry for 2 mins
then add water..(to cover meat)
add salt to taste/chilli

pepper

and simmer

for about 1hr

add spoonful of garam masala

simmer till sauce thickens and meat is tender

can add more garlic if desired...

brill curry...recipe has been well used by many and not super cooks..soo easy and tastes so good!!

Right will try that curry recipe on Weds and then the risotto one at the weekend. Will let you know how they turn out. Thanks.

Just another idea - perhaps if time allows you could get dd in the kitchen with you while you're cooking and get her to help out and taste stuff too so she can't just turn it down flat. I've got a really nice Carbonara recipe which I'll post if you want it. Good luck!

Or you could tell her not to be so rude and ungrateful and there's always plain brown bread and fruit if she doesn't like what's on offer.

How old is she?

cottage pie - I use deliahs and it is fab, you use tommatoe puree and never tinned tommies in cottage pie, a little cinnamon aswell with very small carrots and flour to make it yummy

I made this shepherds pie last night and doubled the quantities to freeze - it was really really nice but please don't mention where I got the recipe from!!!

I think cooking savoury meals is not an exact science like baking. It is all about tasting as you go and getting a feel for the flavours.

When I started making spag bol from scratch I always felt there was something missing and after a couple of attempts I realised it needed a dash of balsamic vinegar.

With cottage pie I add a squirt of tomato ketchup to the mince towards the end and it really lifts it. For my chicken soup I add some tumeric and it helps the colour and flavour.

hth

see I seem to find the tinned tomatoes goes a bit bitter and swap it for the purree and cinnamon instead of the worcestershire,

Agree with seeker. She sounds like a cheeky little madam.

You've said a couple of times that she's refused to try things...she can't blame your cooking if she's not tasting it, can she?

She's 9 so old enough to know better.

She did try the chicken pasta bake last night and declared it to be as bad as what she thought it would be. I told her that she could only have a cheese sandwich or cereal to eat as I wasn't cooking anything else.

She threatened to tell her childminder that I'm not feeding her!

In my house I get this a lot, and I am a qualified chef! I think it's just kids being horrible and flexing their muscles the only way they can control. I have an eat it or go hungry rule! I cook what takes my fancy, as I'm the one who buys and cooks the food, and if they don't like it, it's tuff shit! anyone who wants to cook can, or just shut up!
It's funny, nobody ever complains when DP cooks cheap processed crap when I'm not there!

Ever since my kids started talking and commenting - NO to having new food I introduced the rule - they have to try at least one spoonfull then they can refuse the next one.

This allowed them to expand their tastes without me shouting etc.

I think it is rude of herto say that she is threatening you in any way.

Sometimes people (young and old) just get used to treating us in certain way.

Taste for junk food and other people's dishes may be due to her seeking the taste of MSG which is used for flavouring foods and is in stuff liek Oxo cubes.

Cooking is an art, you may have different taset buds from the rest of us, but some general rules apply.

I would suggest one dish.
Boil potatoes to the point they fall when you stick fork in one. Drain but keep few tablespoons aside.
Mash potatoes with a masher, add a knob of butter, some salt to taste and a bit of cooking water. Make sure you mash all the way to the bottom so there are no lumps.

Meanwhile fry breaded chicken.
First wash your chicken breasts and dry with a towel. Cut your it endwise into several strips about finger wide size ( 2 breasts should be more than enought for 3 people), season with salt.

Arrange 3 plates: one with flour, one with lightly beaten egg, last one with breadcrumbs.

Cover strips in flour, shake excess. Put it into egg s oit gets well covered, then lastly cover it with white breadcrumbs. Shake off excess of breadcrumbs or they will burn.

Heat frying pan with vegetable oil, 1 cm deep.
Fry on both sides, but be carefull not to burn them.
Oil should he hot enough to sizzle when you deep one end of the chicken strip in it.
I serve it with any veg, my kids like green giant sweetcorn.

Those are much tastier than shop bought goujons.