What does a useless cook feed sporty DS 18?

[pencilsandpens]

Firstly, a confession: I don't seem to be able to cook anything edible from scratch. If I use packets and jars etc it usually turns out okay. So my DS 18 lives on breaded fish, breaded chicken, pasta with chicken and a jar sauce etc, hardly any vegetables. I know I'm bad and useless a hopeless cook and should have sorted my inadequacies out years ago, but I didn't

But now my lovely DS is in sixth form, doing exams and lots of sport, and is lacking in energy which I'm sure must be wholly in part due to his diet.

DS cooks things himself, but it tends to be the same rubbish I cook.

Help me feed my lovely DS properly. Simple recipes, please that even I can't mess up. Oh, he doesn't like onions which I've bizarrly perhaps used as an excuse for not feeding him properly as all the stew type stuff seems to need onions.

Pencilsandpens, how many are you feeding altogether, i.e. do you have other family members to feed? How much time have you got to cook?

A couple of staples in this household to feed two teenage sons:

Roast chicken, with roast potatoes if I'm feeling kind, and vegetables like carrots and broccoli, or whatever. My oldest easily eats six or seven roasties, but they aren't too unhealthy. Roasting a chicken isn't much work, but does need someone available to put it in the oven about two hours ahead of time.

Spaghetti bolognese, with lots of chopped onions (if he can't taste them), chopped carrots and celery and chopped tomatoes from a tin. Make it up in bulk, serve it when it's needed with as much pasta as the boy is hungry for - gives him carbs, protein and vegetables in one meal.

This looks fancy, but is very easy. Buy a pack of ready-rolled puff pastry (it may be cheating, but puff pastry is not easy to make). Chop up some spinach (roughly or finely, whatever you like) and mix into a pot of ricotta. Add some grated lemon rind (use an unwashed lemon, they'll be labelled as such in the supermarket) and/or some nutmeg (grate it or use powdered stuff). Then you have two choices about assembly: (1, Easier) Spread the spinach and ricotta mix over the puff pastry and whack it in the oven for about 20 minutes; (2, Slightly fancier) spread the mix over the puff pastry leaving a 2-3" gap at one end, then roll it up to make something like a roly-poly cake, but with spinach and ricotta where the jam would be. Brush some beaten egg over the bare bit of pastry and use that to stick down the top flap of the roll. Stick it in the oven for about 40 minutes (it takes longer to cook when rolled up). Serve with new potatoes and salad (or some veg).

If he's sporty then lots of protein, chicken, fish, eggs, etc.

You could make roasted veg, chop up peppers, sweet potatoes, red onion, courgette and cherry tomatoes and roast in a tray with some olive oil and salt and pepper until starting to get a little crispy (my preference anyway!) about 40 minutes.

Omelettes are easy enough to do, once again you can put ham, veg etc in them.

Jacket potatoes with different fillings.

Noodles (not supernoodles) are dead easy. Boil them in a pot with frozen peas, peppers, sweetcorn, etc (all in the same pot) for five mins. Drain. Return to the pot and add a splash of sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce and some ketchup to sweeten if you like. I do this then throw cold cooked prawns on the top.

You can add a stock cube to the water in a pot of rice and add well chopped veg. Hey presto - savoury rice without anything artificial. You could stir in heated up tinned kidney beans for protein.

We have roast lamb quite often, which is amazingly easy. (Needs a long time in the oven though - but almost no effort).
I put a shoulder joint (just from the supermarket usually) in a roasting tin which is not much bigger than the meat. Roast at 200 for 10-20mins (depending on what else I happen to be doing at the time, eg sitting at MN), take it out of the oven and turn it over, cover the tin with foil and cook for 2hours ish at 175 degrees ish. All of this is very 'ish' and it won't matter. Crucially though- you must leave it to 'rest', as they say, for AT LEAST 20mins and preferably longer. The main idea is: a short blast at a high temp, then long and slow and plenty of time between coming out of the oven and eating.

My teenage boys will eat most things and I always cook from scratch but they are both wussy about onions. They are fine with any other veg and don't actually dislike the taste of onions. So whether it's spag bol, curry or anything casseroley I sometimes whizz up the sauce separately to blend in the onions.

have you considered going on a cookery course? you might find one locally that you and ds could go on together? that way you could both learn at the same time?

We regularly have chicken breasts with boursin (garlic and herb) cheese on top, cover with foil and bake. Served with potato wedges, just slice potatoes into wedges drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs, spices, onions, garlic whatever to add some flavour.

Homemade pizzas, buy the bases if you cant make them, and cover with passata (from a tin or jar until you learn how to make it) and them smother with veg that he likes and some protein (tuna, leftover chicken, ham etc). In fact Ds uses flat breads direct from the freezer and bungs them in the oven whilst he get changed after school and they are done in 10 mins.

Will think of other stuff and come back.

Thanks so much for your wonderful suggestions. They don't sound at all impossible, so I will definitely give them a go.

ToBeFair - its just me, DS and a younger DS who will try most things. I work part time from home so really have loads of time to cook if only I could.

thisisyesterday - I had actually considered a cookery course but feel I need to gain a little bit of cooking confidence first.

Any more ideas would be very well received.

If you are working at home and have three to feed, then I would suggest a roast chicken. It is good value and a lot less work than you might think and is usually enough for two meals - once hot, then leftover chicken pieces fried up later with cooked rice, peppers, celery and chopped tomatoes for a second meal.

OK, to roast a chicken. Roughly two hours before the meal is due, heat up oven to No 5 / 375F / 190C. Put chicken on roasting tin, ideally one with a trivet or tray that holds the chicken above the tin (so it gets less fatty). Put salt, pepper and mixed herbs, if you like them, on chicken skin. Put chicken in oven and cook for 20 minutes per 500g plus 20 minutes over (so 100 minutes for a 2kg chicken, which is a good size to last two meals).

About an hour before the meal, peel potatoes (ideally King Edward or Maris Piper, say two or three per person, more if the potatoes are smaller or the people are hungrier) and cut into pieces. Boil for about 15 minutes until just cooked. Meanwhile, put another roasting tin/tray into the oven with whatever fat or oil you have - maybe olive oil? Let heat through for 5 minutes, then put cooked potato pieces onto tin/tray, turn potatoes in fat/oil so that they are coated and put in oven on the top shelf. Turn potatoes over after, say 20 minutes or when you remember. Just keep an eye on the potatoes to stop them burning, or turn up the oven to No 7 or equivalent for the last 10 minutes if they look very pale. Prepare and cook any other vegetables as you like.

Written down, this looks more work than it is, and the timing doesn't need to be very accurate, except for boiling the potatoes. The roast potatoes are more work than the roast chicken, but so popular with my DSs it is worth the effort. I hate to confess this, but I tend to make lots of extra potatoes and they are always gone by the end of the evening - down the DSs' throats, not mine! They snack on them through the evening, when they get those teenage hunger pangs an hour after the last meal.

You can ring the changes by stuffing the chicken with packet stuffing (and increasing the cooking time by about 10 minutes for the extra weight) or by putting bacon rashers over the breast at the chicken, but both are completely optional.

You could also ask at your local college/adult ed centre. There's a cookery evening class here called 'Dim ping' ie 'no microwave' which is aimed at people who can't (or think they can't) cook at all, so maybe something like that might help with confidence?

If you are really so unable to cook dare I suggest Delia? Her recipe books are really foolproof. Assuming you can prepare fresh veg then just try a few casseroles or roasts which are the easiest meals to do.

SecretSqirrels I had a look on Amazon for Delia's How to cook if you haven't got a clue book, but its £25.90. Is there a cheaper alternative?

Second hand! See here

Just thought I would check this one out and have decided for dinner tomorrow we are have that dinner idea from "Idontknowwhyicare" sounds blooming scrumptious and I would never have considered Boursin on my chicken breast yum yum thank you can't wait x

I really like Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook, which is exactly aimed at people who don't know how to cook. Very family friendly recipes, lots of step-by-step pictures. I love Delia, and learned to cook from her Complete Cookery Course, but I think How to Cook has a few more poncey recipes than a beginner cook needs.

Pencilsandpens: I couldn't cook at all (used to stuff up boiling pasta) when I was younger but now regularly cater for any number from 6 to 50!

pencilsandpens - could you get the Delia book out of the library (they're bound to have it even if you have to order it) and see whether you like it, then at least you know whether it's worth coughing up for!

This lady does a good blog aimed at what you are asking about jensfoodandphotos.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/balsamic-honey-roasted-sausages-veg.html

He needs lots of carbs for energy and sport, but if he isn't getting vitamins from fruit instead of veg he could still be malnourished and that won't help his energy levels

Actually, the library is a great idea, Takver - I tend to borrow cookbooks first to see if I get on with them and then buy them if I am using lots of the recipes.

Tuna and sweet corn bake. Cook pasta according to instructions. Add a tin of drained tuna and sweet corn. Add a tin of condense mushroom or chicken soup. Sprinkle liberally with grated cheese. Cook for 30 mins at gas 6. Serve with green veg , salad and crusty bread.

If he is off to uni or planning on moving out soon a cookery course is a fab idea. My DH (who I met at uni) was one of the few lads (& girls to be fair) whose mum had taught him a few staple recipes. I was brought up cooking but remember being impressed that his mum had spent a chunk of the summer post a levels teaching him.

Learn in stages

Buy

1 tin of mince and onion in gravy
a packet of frozen mixed veg
Either smash or ready made mash from a supermarket

Switch the oven on
get a pyrex dish
boil the kettle and make the smash if using

pour the tin of mince in the pyrex dish, add a layyer of veg and mix it in, top with the mash, put in the oven for 30 mins.

The next time you make it do 1 thing yourself, maybe the mash? then the next time do something else, maybe use fresh veg.

If you buy prepared veg from a supermarket you can open the packet and cook in the bag for 2 mins in a microwave so you could just serve them with the breadded chicken.

OK recipe two, if you don't have a slow cooker then buy one - this can be done in the oven but better slow cooked

Buy
1 piece of brisket
root veg - potatoes, carrotots, swed, turnip
1 leek, 1 onion
stock cube
plain flour
dried mixed herbs

Peel and chop all the veg
boil the kettle
Switch on the slow cooker

Rub a bit of flour over the surface of the meat

Put the meat in the middle of the slow cooker, place chopped veg around the meat - really pack the veg in

sprinkle the stock cube over the meat and veg, add a teaspoon of herbs and salt and pepper

pour booiling water over so the veg is covered

leave for 6 hours