Inspire me - easy good family dinners for a novice

[TheHorneSection]

But to make it fun, with the proviso of no white sauces or cheese. I can get away with the odd bit of cream or yoghurt mixed into a sauce but that’s it, not even dairy replacements 🙄

I'm a pretty crap cook but can struggle through a Hello Fresh recipe if it’s very step by step. I need to up my game!

Roast dinner, straightforward and really good.

Soup

Pasta & sauce

Spag bol
Paella
Salmon teriyaki
Chicken/ chickpea curry

Jambalaya
Ramen
Fajitas
Sausage traybake
Cottage pie.

These vegetarian fajitas are fairly easy and very nice. We're not vegetarian but we all enjoy them

Also have a look at Taming Twins lots of ideas, even some easy weekly meal plans and shopping lists too.

Sesame chicken stir fry realfood.tesco.com/recipes/sesame-chicken-stir-fry.html

Tuna pasta www.asda.com/good-living/recipe/tuna-lemon-and-spinach-pasta?recipe_id=f808cff7-9a8c-11ee-9d2c-67e0ac5999e9

Fish tacos https://www.oldelpaso.co.uk/recipes/quick-fish-tacos

Just thought of another one. We had Chinese Chicken & Broccoli the other night and that was good too

Okay, I am going to disagree with a lot of posters on here. I don't think many of these are genuinely easy for a novice. A roast dinner? In theory, sure, but the stress of cooking the meat just right is a bit much for a novice. Ditto things that have to be cooked hard and fast - in theory, it's easy. But I find beginners find this difficult. One pot/slower cooked options that are more flexible and forgiving are better.

Spaghetti bolognaise - definitely. Here's a simple, easy version (you don't have to use a mix of pork and beef if you don't want to) or you can get fancier with a more authentic version with a quick google search.

Also any type of dish that's basically mince, flavoured, and then cooked for a while. So shepherds pie, cottage pie etc.

Casseroles like a sausage casserole - good shout.

Chicken tray bakes are also great - use bone in, skin on thighs as they're usually more forgiving and then just pick a recipe that speaks to you. There are about 100 mn of them out there! Or if you have a slow cooker, chicken thighs in the slow cooker are usually a winner.

I didn’t want to say but a roast dinner is definitely beyond me if the family want something edible 😅

Some really tasty dishes there, the jambalaya in particular, thanks all

Sausage tray bake

Sausages, new potatoes - cut in half if big, sliced onion, red pepper cut into chunks, tomatoes - cut in half or quarters depending on size.

Sprinkle with herbs of choice - fresh or dried, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

Roast in oven (180degrees) until its done.

Do you have a slow cooker - you can stick all kinds of meat and veg in there and virtually forget about it. A few herbs or spices or wine or stock and you've got a great meal.

Jamie Oliver Ministry of food is a good place to look

I agree with this. 👍

Nadia's chicken satay traybake is one of our absolute favourites. Simple and, barring flash boiling some gnocchi, all in one pan, thrown together quickly and so delicious!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-traypeanuttchicken19540/amp

(The crushed peanuts and fresh lime juice added to the end takes it next level)

That sounds awesome.

Meatballs in tomato sauce on spaghetti

My teens use a series of cookery books called The Roasting Tin when they are making dinner.

Basically lots of tray bakes that you stick in the oven.

It is good for beginners because you don’t have to worry about timing or overseeing multiple pans or doing lots of things at once.
Take as long as you need to put the raw ingredients together in a roasting tin, stick it in the oven, set a timer to take it out, serve up straight from the dish.

My favourite is The roasting tin around the world.

The taming twins book is a really good call. Very easy, tasty and no hard to find ingredients. Just nice food.

Try a roast in the bag chicken. All you need to do is bung it in the oven. Instructions on packet tell you temp and how long.

But ready to roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and boil up a few vegetables.

@MinervaMcGonagallsCat I am afraid I am doubling down on my theory that even with convenience versions, a roast dinner is still hard. For a start, the timings are always a bit different in everyone's oven. So you have to know enough about cooking to adjust accordingly.

Yorkshire puddings - easy as piss for me. But there's a reason that I seem to be in charge of yorkshires at every Christmas/Easter/Family Sunday lunch, no matter whose house it is - a lot of people find them really difficult.

Sides - boiling broccoli and carrot sure, relatively easy (although I'll point you to DH who still regularly over cooks them and has not yet figured out that carrots take longer than broccoli), but if you want to make it NICE you need to know how.

I’m really grateful for the suggestions and there are a couple here I’m definitely trying, so thank you.

@GingerIsBest I agree. I’d love to give a roast a go but fairly certain the chances of it all coming out at the right time being edible might be quite slim 😃 But will slowly try and different elements, roast chicken with salad etc.

One thing that always amuses me is how many recipes assume a basic level of cooking and say things like “sweat the onions until ready” or “simmer until the sauce is the right consistency”, but if you’re a real novice that means very little to you!

Traybakes and one pot dishes look a great way for me to increase my repertoire while still making sure the kids get fed a decent meal at a reasonable time.

Yup @TheHorneSection I totally agree. In our house, I do all the cooking. It's fine, it's our process and dh is, genuinely, grateful and surprised every single day! If I say I'm not cooking, he will figure out beans on toast or oven food or whatever.

A few months ago I was sick or working late or something. The DC wanted meatballs which is a very easy recipe that I make. So DH said he'd give it a go if I gave him instructions. Which I did. But when I said, "brown the meatballs on all sides" I didn't take into account that he didn't fully know what this meant. The resulting meal was totally edible, but the meatballs were a bit squishy because he only lightly browned them rather than getting a really good caramalised crust. It just hadn't occurred to me to clarify that.

To that end, I highly recommend watching Jamie Oliver's shows as a way to learn. He does a really good job of explaining what he's doing and showing the outcomes. I think I've probably learnt a great deal over the years from dipping in and out of his various shows. (reminds me to go check his new air fryer show). I actually cook very few of his recipes in their entirety, but I have most of his books for the ideas and learning I get from them. And I agree with a PP - MInistry of Food is a good one and genuinely is quite helpful for beginners.

In the meantime, go forth and tray bake!

Oh, and when you ARE ready to try a roast, go for something like a lamb shoulder you can cook low and slow like a lamb or pork shoulder. That way you can focus on the sides/yorkshire puddings without thaving to worry too much about the meat. Another good option is actually rib of beef. It tends to be quite fatty so it's also a bit more forgiving - if you under cook it you just stick it back in and if you over cook it a bit, it will still be lovely and tender and tasty. Give it a few months though before you go that route!

Another huge fan of a chicken traybake - one of my favourites is a chopped up red pepper (about 2cm pieces), a handful of whole cherry tomatoes, a courgette (cut about 1cm thick slices and then halved), a few halved baby potatoes chuck it all in a roasting dish, sprinkle over some salt & pepper (1tsp each) oregano (1tbsp) and dried chilli flakes (1-2tsp - depending on how hot you like it) smush it all together with some olive oil (2 tbsp or so), top the veggies with chicken thighs (spread the skin out so it gets all crispy) and then sprinkle them with salt, pepper & oregano and pop in the oven at 180c for 45 mins. I then sprinkle it with feta just before serving - this might not be ideal for you, but a nice option.

This lady has a great variety of relatively easy one pot/one pan recipes. All have videos taking you through the steps

https://www.recipetineats.com/category/one-pot-recipes/

Non-cheesy favourites of ours are

https://www.recipetineats.com/ground-beef-and-rice-recipe/ - this one is really easy, fast and everyone likes it.

https://www.recipetineats.com/oven-baked-chicken-and-rice/

https://www.recipetineats.com/one-pan-sausage-and-vegetable-bake-with-gravy/