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I'm so hungry...help me cook lol

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Dogenzaka

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I realized that part of the reason food has become so boring to me is because I don't know how to make it well enough.

I know how to make the basics, eggs, omellettes, sandwiches, cereal, bake stuff, make fruit salads and smoothies, fry some meat/chicken, rice, pasta, but then that's about it.

What are some good recipes that don't require a ridiculous amount of ingredients or time? I'm not looking for like an Iron Chef gourmet oddball dish with an insane amount of ingredients in it, but something delicious, easy to prepare and enjoy.

I'm heading off to college next semester and I'll be all by my lonesome, so I gotta learn to address my culinary skills soon.

Maybe a new way to prepare chicken and steak or meat loaf, or maybe a new breakfast recipe? I'd love to learn how to prepare more Asian food recipes, Italian food recipes, Colombian food recipes, or just decent soul food, or new ways to prepare pastas and stuff.

Any ideas GAF? Got any good recipes to share with the community?

I don't like:
-Seafood (I have not yet tried sushi, however, so I can't speak for that.)
-Pickles, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, *tomatoes, *onions (there are occasions that I like them...like when the tomatoes/onions are pretty subtle like in a soup or omellette or something)
-Mustard/ketchup/ranch/mayo
 
Dogenzaka said:
I don't like:
-Seafood (I have not yet tried sushi, however, so I can't speak for that.)
-Pickles, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, *tomatoes, *onions (there are occasions that I like them...like when the tomatoes/onions are pretty subtle like in a soup or omellette or something)
-Mustard/ketchup/ranch/mayo
Click to expand...
What do your sanwiches consist of?
 
NoRéN said:
What do your sanwiches consist of?
Click to expand...

I usually eat rather plain sandwiches/burgers, they usually just consist of cheeses, meats, sometimes bacon, but that's usually all I'll eat in a sandwich. I can't stand things grown from the ground in my burgers/sandwiches for some reason. :lol
 
Buy green onions, red pepper, bok choi, ginger, some kind of meat, oil, and stir fry sauce of your choice. Cook all the veggies together in a pan with some oil until they begin to brown. Take them out, and throw in the meat, cooking it until its no longer pink. Now throw the veggies back into the pan with the stir fry sauce, and there you go. Serve with a generous portion of rice or noodles.
 
Aaron said:
Buy green onions, red pepper, bok choi, ginger, some kind of meat, oil, and stir fry sauce of your choice. Cook all the veggies together in a pan with some oil until they begin to brown. Take them out, and throw in the meat, cooking it until its no longer pink. Now throw the veggies back into the pan with the stir fry sauce, and there you go. Serve with a generous portion of rice or noodles.
Click to expand...


Sounds pretty good.

Should I season the meat with anything special?

BTW I had to Google bok choi......:lol I'm such a newb.
BokChoi.jpg

What do I do with it? Just cut off and slice up the white part and throw it in?
 
buy spaghetti, a tin of cottage cheese, some bacon, mushrooms, a chicken breast and some spinach leaves.

Boil up spaghetti, throw bacon, chicken, mushrooms in frying pan, add cottage cheese just before it's finished, then pour mix in with spaghetti and fold in some spinach.

quick, easy and awesome.
 
keyboardcat said:
buy spaghetti, a tin of cottage cheese, some bacon, mushrooms, a chicken breast and some spinach leaves.

Boil up spaghetti, throw bacon, chicken, mushrooms in frying pan, add cottage cheese just before it's finished, then pour mix in with spaghetti and fold in some spinach.

quick, easy and awesome.
Click to expand...
This sounds real good!
Pastas! try different types with different sauces. You don't even have to make the sauces.
Get a George Foreman grill. use it to grill up some chicken to add to pastas.
 
Dogenzaka
Member
(Today, 06:59 PM)
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pULJT.gif


-Seafood (I have not yet tried sushi, however, so I can't speak for that.)


?
 
Dogenzaka said:
Sounds pretty good.

Should I season the meat with anything special?

BTW I had to Google bok choi......:lol I'm such a newb.
What do I do with it? Just cut off and slice up the white part and throw it in?
Click to expand...
Yeah, just use the white parts. You just cook it with the rest of the veggies. Easy stuff.

You don't have to do anything special with the meat other than cut it up. The stir fry sauce will likely overpower any seasoning. It'll work with beef, pork, chicken, etc. There's also a variety of stir fry sauces to keep it from getting boring. The ginger makes things a bit spicy, so if you don't like such things leave it out. You can also substitute mushrooms for the red pepper if you're prefer that.

I second the George Foreman grill. I have one and use it all the time. Another easy recipe is lemon chicken. Take one boneless chicken breast in a ziplock bag, put in the lemon juice and zest (the scraped off rind) of a single lemon and 1/4th cup of Italian dressing. Mix it up and let it sit for a few hours, then put it on the grill, pouring some of the sauce on top after its done cooking. I like to serve this with some rice and corn myself.
 
matt404au said:
Dogenzaka
Member
(Today, 06:59 PM)
Reply | Quote

pULJT.gif


-Seafood (I have not yet tried sushi, however, so I can't speak for that.)


?
Click to expand...

Well I don't like seafood.

And I know sushi is seafood, but I haven't tried sushi before so who knows if I may or may not like it in sushi form over the previous forms I've tried it D:

Yeah, just use the white parts. You just cook it with the rest of the veggies. Easy stuff.

You don't have to do anything special with the meat other than cut it up. The stir fry sauce will likely overpower any seasoning. It'll work with beef, pork, chicken, etc. There's also a variety of stir fry sauces to keep it from getting boring.

The ginger makes things a bit spicy, so if you don't like such things leave it out. You can also substitute mushrooms for the red pepper if you're prefer that.
Click to expand...


Nah I prefer peppers.
Thanks!

I think I'm gonna write these down for a grocery list tomorrow.
 
I'm Pakistani, so I have created weird dishes

1 of my favorites is Rice-A-Roni + Shredded Beef

Shredded Beef (Beef Cubes) cooked in a pressure cooker:

Spices are mostly indian/paki (think spicy)

I add 2 cups of water to the beef (meat gets very tender, + extra broth for another reason)

I start up the rice mix, I put butter in the pan/pot, then roast the rice with the seasoning mix (like a dry rub, but for rice)

Put the required water, but put 1.5 cups water less, that is where the spicy beef broth from the shredded beef comes in, just pour and let simmer

You try to dry out the water from the shredded beef, so the spices can fuse into the beef, then just serve

The rice-a-roni gets such good flavor from the spices

Prepare time 40 minutes, can live off for 2-3 days depending how much you make
+ 1-2 day old rice-a-roni (spicy type) gets better with age

I mostly use chicken, mexican, the cheesy one, herb & butter flavors

Beef is a little to salty
 
Buy a frozen bag of mixed mushrooms. You can use them for:

- Ommelettes / scrambled eggs -> put them on the frying pan with a little oil until all the water evaporates, then add eggs.
- Pasta and rice sauce.
- Stir-fry with meat. In this case, cook meat before adding the mushrooms.
 
GraveRobberX said:
I'm Pakistani, so I have created weird dishes

1 of my favorites is Rice-A-Roni + Shredded Beef

Shredded Beef (Beef Cubes) cooked in a pressure cooker:

Spices are mostly indian/paki (think spicy)

I add 2 cups of water to the beef (meat gets very tender, + extra broth for another reason)

I start up the rice mix, I put butter in the pan/pot, then roast the rice with the seasoning mix (like a dry rub, but for rice)

Put the required water, but put 1.5 cups water less, that is where the spicy beef broth from the shredded beef comes in, just pour and let simmer

You try to dry out the water from the shredded beef, so the spices can fuse into the beef, then just serve

The rice-a-roni gets such good flavor from the spices

Prepare time 40 minutes, can live off for 2-3 days depending how much you make
+ 1-2 day old rice-a-roni (spicy type) gets better with age

I mostly use chicken, mexican, the cheesy one, herb & butter flavors

Beef is a little to salty
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by put the required water, but 1.5 cups of water less? Do I just pour the spicy beef broth in with the rice?

That sounds soo good. I'm not too much of a spicy fan, but I do like a bit of spice, and I can adjust the intensity, of course.
 
The last thing I actually made was dijon pork. You can google a recipe for it, but it's pretty easy to make and very delicious. Chicken curry is also another easy to make but delicious option if you're okay with slightly more spicy stuff.

You might just want to go to a bookstore and browse the budget books section. There are always cheap cookbooks in there, most with simple recipes to get you going.
 
Dogenzaka said:
Well I don't like seafood.

And I know sushi is seafood, but I haven't tried sushi before so who knows if I may or may not like it in sushi form over the previous forms I've tried it D:
Click to expand...

Are you thinking of sashimi?

Please tell me you've at least tried a california roll. That shit is delicious!
 
Dang you're kinda picky. Disliking more than one or two items in the vegetable section is wrong imo. :lol

If you have a DS maybe get that Test Kitchen software. I heard it can suggest dishes if you put in some ingredients.
 
rpmurphy said:
Dang you're kinda picky. Disliking more than one or two items in the vegetable section is wrong imo. :lol

If you have a DS maybe get that Test Kitchen software. I heard it can suggest dishes if you put in some ingredients.
Click to expand...
I think you can also do that on foodnetwork.com
 
Dogenzaka said:
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by put the required water, but 1.5 cups of water less? Do I just pour the spicy beef broth in with the rice?

That sounds soo good. I'm not too much of a spicy fan, but I do like a bit of spice, and I can adjust the intensity, of course.
Click to expand...

The Rice-A-Roni boxes tell you to put certain amount for each box you use (Instructions)

Like chicken flavor asks for 3 cups, while Herb & Butter might ask for 2.5
If you get the 50% larger size the water intake increases

So say you will be making my recipe, you use 1 cheesy + 1 chicken flavored boxes of RAR (Rice A Roni)
The total water would be 3 cups for cheese and 3 for chicken = 6 cups, but you really add 4-4.5 cups, you should start cooking the beef beforehand, so you take that broth, and use that as the rest for water requirement

Great thing is the rice + seasoning suck up all the beef's juices + spices concoction

Put a little oil in the shredded beef if you cook in the pressure cooker, keeps the meat from sticking, keeps it loose, + the water drys, no need to add anything, and just cook the meat and it will start caramelizing

BTW if any NYC GAFfer up for it, I'll make it and you can try it for free lol
 
rpmurphy said:
Dang you're kinda picky. Disliking more than one or two items in the vegetable section is wrong imo. :lol

If you have a DS maybe get that Test Kitchen software. I heard it can suggest dishes if you put in some ingredients.
Click to expand...

I've gotten less picky over the years. You should have known me as a kid.....I ate like....nothing. xD

Please tell me you've at least tried a california roll. That shit is delicious!
Click to expand...

I think so. Yeah.
 
My
(Nintendo's)
recipe for chicken kebabs:


----------------------


1. Prepare the chicken
- Buy 500g of chicken and cut it into chunks (~2cm wide/long)

2. Prepare the sauce
Mix the following ingredients:
- 1/2 onion, grated
- Garlic (it says "1 clove", but I just bought this paste stuff and take like a teaspoon)
- Teaspoon of salt
- Tablespoon of sugar
- Tablespoon of vegetable oil
- Teaspoon of tumeric powder
- Tablespoon of coriander power
- 1-2 tablespoons of lemon squeeze
- 60 mL of coconut milk

3. Marinate the chicken
- Dump the chicken in the sauce, make sure its submerged, stick it in the fridge and leave it for >1 hour

4. Take the chicken out of the sauce stuff and thread it on skewers

5. Cook the chicken
- Get a pan on medium heat and put some cooking oil in so stuff won't stick
- Plop in as many chicken-filled skewers as possible
- Turn them over every now and again. When they start going yellow/brown they're ready (you'll kind of know it when it happens because they'll look so yummy)

------------

Advice:
- The prep is relatively simple; it's either cutting, grating or measuring. Don't forget the (at least) one hour wait though
- Cooking it requires some time/attention. Last time I took my laptop out to the kitchen and used it while I monitored the cooking
- Grate the onion with the smallest hole of the grater. I used medium-sized holes the first time and it wasn't that awesome
- All of the ingredient volumes were somewhat over the top of my head. I don't think it matters a great deal
- I don't bother doing anything with the sauce after marinating the chicken. It picks up enough flavour as it is
- Goes great with those packets of microwavable pasta
 
Dogenzaka said:
I realized that part of the reason food has become so boring to me is because I don't know how to make it well enough.

I know how to make the basics, eggs, omellettes, sandwiches, cereal, bake stuff, make fruit salads and smoothies, fry some meat/chicken, rice, pasta, but then that's about it.
Click to expand...

Err, this is more than enough to make some excellent meals.

Russian Chicken - a sweet, tasty, easy to make chicken and rice dish.
1. Make rice.
2. Cook a chicken breast.
3. Cut up chicken breast as necessary, put in casserole dish
4. Dump one jar of apricot jam into the dish.
5. Dump one bottle of "Russian" dressing into the dish.
6. Mix.
7. Put casserole dish in oven at 350 for, I don't know, 45 minutes, to let the sauce cook in.

Tada!

Like wraps? Wrap + chicken + orange ginger sauce + rice + corn + whatever veggies you like is a tasty combination.

Don't bother trying to learn specific recipes for cooking. Learn flavour profiles. Every flavour profile gives you a set of flavours that work well together. Actually cooking a dish that makes use of one is easy to do once you know the main elements.

Alternatively, look at restaurants you've eaten at. Been to an Italian restaurant? You probably know pesto, tomato sauce, bechamel (white sauce). You probably know the basics of different kinds of pasta. You probably know the basics of adding herbs and spices to your dishes. You already know how to cook chicken, beef, and sausages. Just combine these things.

Unlike something like baking where a very careful consideration of individual ingredients and ratios is important, cooking meals is pretty easy and free-flowing.
 
I'm getting into cooking lately and one recipe that is fuck easy to do and is pretty good for the efforts is chicken curry.

Ingredients :
-Chicken (obviously)
-onion (half a onion per person I'd say)
-20cl of coconut milk
-curry paste (one tea spoon per person)

Cut the chicken in dices, the onion too. Have some oil on high heating in a pan. Throw the chicken and onion in the pan, put the lid. Mix thé chicken in the regularly, once most of the chicken looks cooked (should take 5 min) pour the coconut milk, add the curry paste and get rid of the lid. Once the coconut milk is bubling put the fire on low, so that it cooks slowly (tiny tiny bubbles!). Let cook 15-20 minutes. Serve on rice. Taste the rainbow.

Once your confortable with this recipe go get some lemonherb or some raw peanuts to enhance the dish.
 
I like to go through allrecipes.com when I want to try something new. You can search by ingredients and/or browse through all kinds of categories if you have a place to start.

canova said:
Real men don't cook :D
Click to expand...

*tag quote*
 
You have pretty similar tastes to me, I know from experinece how hard it can be to find interesting meals when you're a picky eater. That's why i've been more interested in cooking this past year as I want to expand the range of meals I can make for myself - here's an easy recipe for steak & ale pot pies I often use;

Cube two pounds of steak, then in a medium sized pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-high heat - chop two onions and chuck them into the pan, cooking until they soften (don't worry, they won't be too noticeable when done), then add a clove of crushed garlic and some thyme followed by the steak cubes. Cook the steak cubes until they're browned all over, then ladel them from the pan and set them aside. Add a dusting of flour to the pan and wait till it disolves, then very slowly begin to add the ale, using a touch more flour if the ale sticks to the pan. Mix in a few beef stock cubes and a dash of salt and pepper - if the mixture seems too thick, use a bit of water to loosen it up. Return the steak cubes to the pan and bring the whole mixture to the boil, then add any carrots or other vegetables you want to use, cover and cook in the center a pre-heated oven (gas mark 3) for 3-4 hours until the steak cubes are tender enough to easily break apart. Once it's done, spoon the mixture into individual pie pots if serving immediately, or use as much as you need and ziplock bag the rest - this recipe should be enough for 6 pies, btw. Brush the edges of the pie pots with a beaten egg, then cut the ready-rolled puff pastry to size and place over the pie pots. Glaze the top of the pies with more egg, then finally make a hole in the center of each pie and place on a baking tray, cooking for 30-35 minutes.

The choice of beer is an important part of the recipe and greatly affects the taste, so it's fun to experiment with different varieties of beer - I personally favour a dark bitter/porter ale, but the common choice seems to be a stout ale like Guinness.
 
Spicy Chicken Nuggets:
-about a cup of flour
-about a cup of hot sauce
-a pound of chicken

Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes give or take. Coat them in flour. Cook in oven at 375 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven dip in hot sauce and return to oven for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy spicy nuggets!
 
Buy a chicken. Drink half a can of beer. Stick the unfinished half up the chicken's butt. Put that over indirect heat on a grill for an hour and a half. Enjoy.
 
Here's what I'm going to make today. It DOES require a lot of ingredients, but it IS easy to make and is one of the better things I've eaten in my life. It's a wicked chili.

Ingredients:

* 2 teaspoons oil
* 2 onions, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 lb lean ground beef
* 3/4 lb beef sirloin, cubed (I just use all ground beef, 2 lbs)
* 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 1 can dark beer
* 1 cup strong coffee
* 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
* 1 can beef broth
* 1/2 cup brown sugar (I'd actually only use one tablespoon)
* 3 1/2 tablespoons chili sauce
* 1 tablespoon cumin
* 1 tablespoon cocoa
* 1 teaspoon oregano
* 1 teaspoon cayenne
* 1 teaspoon coriander
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
* 4 chili peppers, chopped

There are a lot of ingredients here, but they're mostly just spices that you should have anyway. If you don't have them, then go buy them right now.

How to make (in a big pot):

Heat oil.
Cook onions, garlic and meat until brown.
Add tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth.
Add spices, stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and peppers.
Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Add 2 remaining cans of kidney beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.

You'll see that there is about ten minutes of actual work, and the rest is just playing video games while it simmers. It makes about six big servings of chili and keeps for a while, and it's cheap. This is EASY, and makes GREAT chili. Just follow the directions.

I got it from this link originally:

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/The-Best-Chili-You-Will-Ever-Taste-73166

Here's a link to simpler and even easier recipes (university website)

http://www.mnsu.edu/shs/healtheducation/bmc/

Another:

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/studentlife/student_recipes.php.en
 
grumble said:
Here's what I'm going to make today. It DOES require a lot of ingredients, but it IS easy to make and is one of the better things I've eaten in my life. It's a wicked chili.
Click to expand...

I'm HUGELY offended by the taste of coffee. So much so that even the smell makes me salivate as if I'm going to vomit. That recipe sounds good. How much of the coffee do you taste in the final product?
 
Davedough said:
I'm HUGELY offended by the taste of coffee. So much so that even the smell makes me salivate as if I'm going to vomit. That recipe sounds good. How much of the coffee do you taste in the final product?
Click to expand...

Hmm, never heard that one before. I haven't found that it has a significant coffee taste. Tastes like chili, the coffee and beer just give it a hint of darker flavour that rounds it out nicely. It's won a fair number of low-level competitions, according to the reviews on the site. Take from that what you will. If you don't want to risk it, then just don't add the coffee; add water (and/or more beer) instead.
 
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