Top tips for rubbish cooks

[jugglingwiththreeshoes]

I didn't use to be that bad a cook, and DH is still full of praise for my efforts, as are the darling DC's. But the fact is my offerings are quite limited and lacking in imagination.
Tonight we had pasta with pesto and cheddar, though I did throw on some goats cheese for me and DH. Other staples include baked potatoes with cheese, humous, and sometimes beans, pasta with tomato sauce and cheese, the occasional BBQ, DH doe "rice and veggie 'bits'", once in a while veggie sausages and mash. As you might gather we happen to be a veggie family, but that doesn't have to be central to the idea of the thread...
Was just thinking there must be others like me who could do with some really easy tips/recipes.
I'll kick off with one, as the other day in Asian corner shop was inspired to buy a tin of mango slices. These have just gone down very well with DC's, who were delighted to get a pudding, and it's one for their five a day too

So, tip one - canned fruit !

Quick bread and cheese pudding: grease a dish, line with a few slices of bread (crusts cut off), add a layer of leeks (cook first - dice and put in pot with knob of butter aat low heat for 15 min or so), then a layer of grated cheese, a layer of bread, and a final layer of cheese. Beat a few eggs (3) with a little milk, pour over the bread and cheese, and bake for about 30 mins or so till puffs up. Serve with salad.

Basis for stews and casseroles;

Onion, celery and carrot

add stock and/or wine and/or tomatoes

add meat

add other veg and/or herbs

cook on low for ages

Thanks folks - these are great !
Hope there'll be more tomorrow -
MN meets Jamie Oliver

Quickest dinner in the world-
Packet of tortellini, 1/2 jar pesto, dollop creme fraiche, handful of frozen peas, handful of frozen sweetcorn.

With the rest of the jar of pesto-

Spread over a sheet of shop puff pastry, add a torn up ball of mozzarella and some halved cherry tomatoes, bake for about 20 mins at 200. Yum.

Mirepoix as a base or gremolata as a garnish. adds flavour to everything.

Ooh, that's a bit posh, slubberdegullion, but perhaps something I could aspire to one day !

actually juggling I use both Mirepoix and gremolata regularly but I had no idea that Mirepoix had a name . Not posh and does make a difference

2 packs of quick cook noodles [I use the basic ones]. Boil then rinse in cold water.
Heat tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok till very hot. stir fry ginger, garlic and chilli [you can use the lazy versions if you wish, probably a teaspoon of each] for about a minute.
Add some protein eg chicken/ quorn pieces/chopped cashew nuts, stir fry till cooked [obviously this will vary slightly.]
Open pack of stirfry veg, toss in and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Then add a good glug of soy sauce. You can also add some other flavours eg rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce. Chuck in some chopped coriander if you like.
Then add your noodles and heat for a minute or so.
The whole thing takes 10 minutes or so and obviously has loads of veg in.

My easiest 'wow, you've worked hard' (but not actually done much) dinner is: salmon fillets, wrapped in foil plus some seasoning, pop on a baking tray with sprigs of cherry toms on vine (looks more impressive on vine!). Bake for 20 mins whilst hydrating a sachet of flavoured cous cous in a bowl. When fish cooked this can all be quite artfully arranged! My DH is always impressed the mug. Sorry, just noticed the veggie bit, maybe adapted to stuffed mushrooms??

Use veg stock to hydrate normal couscous, cheaper!
crush new pots with olive oil, butter, chives
roast veg with cumin seeds
frozen fruit is cheap and easy pud
home made pizzas using muffins, pesto or toms, peppers, cheese

I especially like the noodles and the muffin pizzas, roast veg could be something to get into too, though I'm probably slightly nervous of my oven - it probably needs a good clean - I know there was a thread where MNers raved about an oven cleaning product ?
I do eat fish sometimes, so could fancy that nice salmon and cous-cous dish, (though DH wouldn't be so keen)

I would try the good food 101 one pot dishes book

Easy, imaginative, delicious food with minimal washing up

Thanks Cristiane - I've just got their "carrot cake and other classic cakes" book as my DD is keen to try some baking, and I'd love to be able to rustle up a nice carrot or banana cake on occasion. I'll look out for their "one pot" suggestions too.

How about chilli rice?
Fry a chopped onion, then add garlic, chilli and fry for another minute. Add a diced pepper, fry for another minute. Add long grain easy cook rice [about 5 ozs, though I don't weigh it] and fry for a minute or so.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, 1/2 tin of sweetcorn, 1/2 tin of kidney beans.
Then you need some vegetable stock ,pour over till the rice is covered.
Then boil for about 20 minutes. You need to stir it now and again and check it doesn't get too dry. If it does then add a little more stock. It is ready when the rice is soft.
This is enough for 2 people [I'm not very good with measurements though].
You can also add quorn mince if you want, or serve with some grated cheese, sour cream, doritoes etc.
Or use different flavours. eg curry powder/paste, peas and chickpeas instead of kidney beans. Experiment !

Juggling i just remembered the good food website is great, you could filter for one pot and veggie and I am sure there will be lots of ideas

get yourself a slow cooker there are threads with SC recipes on MN

Try making soups for weekend lunches, they are very forgiving and can be incredibly simple. Also healthy and cheap.

One I tried from a MN thread a couple of weeks ago was pea soup:
Chop an onion and bung in saucepan with some butter. Heat gently for a couple of mins, add a chopped/crushed couple of cloves of garlic. Then tip in 500g frozen peas, and pour in enough veg stock (oxo cube and boiling water) to cover the peas. Simmer for about 10 mins or until peas are cooked. Blend in food processor. This did me and DH a big bowl each. We also added some mint leaves from the garden.

Carrot and coriander is dead simple:
Chop up an onion, a leek, and a bag of carrots. Stick in a big pan with a knob of butter and heat gently for about 10 mins, occasionally stirring. Add enough veg stock to just cover the veg, and some ground coriander, about 0.5-1 tsp. Simmer for about 15 mins. Blend.

I made a slightly spicy lentil and tomato soup today which was nice.
Chop an onion and some garlic and heat in pan with some butter for about 5 mins. Add 0.5 tsp coriander, 1tsp cumin and some chopped chilli (we use the Lazy chillis jars in oil). Cook for another min or so. Add 175g red lentils straight from packet (no soaking needed). Add 1L veg stock, half a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of tomato puree. Simmer for about 25 mins. Blend.
We reckon that this could also make a very good curry sauce with a little tweaking of the spices - maybe by adding hot curry powder or garam masala, but that's an experiment for another day!

Most importantly, have fun

I hope nobody minds me plugging something here, it has been a life (and sanity) saver for me.

There's an Irish cookery magazine called Easy Food that I can't praise highly enough. It has step by step recipes for (mostly) every day recipes, including a weekly budget menu of 5 mains and a dessert. It's designed for busy families, not gourmet types - so no mad, out-of-the-ordinary ingredients. I'm pretty sure it's available in the UK, .

They have regular gluten-free, coeliac, and diabetic sections too.

They're also online, at www.easyfood.ie if you want to check them out.