What are your favorite meals to make?

[rsowers]

You ladies are going to make a cook out of me with all of these great ideas. My husband thanks you.

[whatnext]

OK. one of my favorites from the Three Rivers Cookbook series: No Peek Chicken. (I love things you throw in the oven for hours.)

a cut up chicken or i use just chicken breasts, skin off
1 box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice mix
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 can of water
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix

throw everything but the chicken into a big casserole. mix it up. put chicken on top, kind of pushing it into the mixed stuff. sprinkle the onion soup mix over top. COVER. bake at 325 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours.



i also am a fan of beef brisket. another thing you can put in the oven forever. it's a little pricey, but i ususally get a few dinners out of it. just buy a big brisket, put it in a deep-ish baking pan, dump in a lot of beef broth, COVER and cook. you can mess with the time and temp. i usually set the oven to 350 degrees, put the brisket in the oven, then turn the heat down to 300 degrees. cook for at least 6 hours, theh remove brisket from the pan and let rest on a cutting board. make gravy out of the broth, cut up the brisket into slices, return to pan now filled with gravy. you can serve it now, or put it back in the oven for even longer while you make your sides.

[rsowers]

My friend passed this recipe along to me after we had it for dinner at her house. I just made it tonight, and it is very yummy.

Baked Ziti Recipe

1 lb. lowfat cottage cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 oz. grated Parmesan (about 1.5 cups)
1 lb. ziti or other tubular pasta (I used penne)
2 tbl. extra-virgin olive oil
5 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I also used 2 extra cloves and finely chopped them)
1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 c. alfredo sauce (I used store bought)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 c. plus 2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves
4 tbsp. sugar
ground black pepper
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 c. heavy cream
8 oz. low-moisture mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes (this is important...do not shred cheese!) You will have 1.5 cups of cubed cheese

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Bowl pasta al dente, 5-7 minutes. Drain and leave in colander.
2. Heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but NOT brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, alfredo sauce, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in half cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper. Make sure heat is off and sauce is sitting.
3. Stir in cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl, and transfer to 4 quart pan (I used the same pan that I boiled the noodles in) set over medium heat. Bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 2-4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottae cheese mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce (from skillet), and half cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.
4. Transfer past mixture to 13-by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evely over pasta. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cubes and remaining parmesan cheese over top. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining basil and serve.

[jan31]

well I`m not the cook in our house any more and my husband does some tasty meals but I love his stuffed chicken breast
He flattens a chicken breast and lays ham on the top, then sliced cheese, sometimes he puts some herbs in the middle before rolling it all up and then wraps it all in bacon, secure it with a tooth pick so it doesnt unroll and roast.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by whatnext

OK. one of my favorites from the Three Rivers Cookbook series: No Peek Chicken. (I love things you throw in the oven for hours.)

I love No-Peek chicken. My grandmother made it all the time, but my husband has banned it from my repertoire. Along with Shepherd's Pie, chicken & dumplings (I have a slow cooker version of that that is out of this world!), beef stroganoff, and pot roast. I can't make any of those dishes, and they are all my favorites! I even made stroganoff one time with filet mignon, homemade pasta on the side, fresh herbs, and he looked at it and said, "Isn't that beef stroganoff?" My mother-in-law is not a good cook, and those are all dishes she made when DH was growing up.

Oh, well! Tonight I'm grilling some balsamic-soy marinated chicken and serving it with a cream cheese---pepperjack bechamel sauce I made up. Yummy!

[Chris]

I do a variation of the No Peek Chicken, and love Shepherds Pie. Brunswick stew is a favorite of ours in the winter that I make quite speedily with the pressure cooker. We also like beef stews and homemade soups. I used to love pastry wrapped salmon but don't do that anymore. Now it's salmon basted with maple syrup mixed with soy. I need to make a book of this thread, I love to try new food things.

[Steph]

I'm so glad this thread came back to the top! Great ideas!!!

Here are my usual meals:

Chicken Noodle Soup in the crockpot
Pot Roast in the crockpot
Beef and Noodle or Rice Soup in the crockpot
Chili
Italian Chicken
Pasta
Lasagna
Tacos (soft shell & hard shell)
Homemade Pizza
Sloppy Joes
Nachos with Beef and Beans
Grilled Chicken Salad
Lemon Herb Chicken with Rice
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Chicken Enchiladas

[anxela]

So funny this thread came up again now! I was thinking about starting a veggie thread since I (which also means my family) should eat more vegetables. Here's one I've been using a lot lately:

Tandoori vegetables:
A tandoori marinade/sause (make it yourself from tandoori spice mix and creme fraiche, or buy. If I mix myself, I use about 1 cup of creme fraiche, 1 1/2 cup of water and a couple of tablespoons of tandoori spice mix. Please post if you have another recipe for tandoori sauce!)
1 cauliflower
1 green paprika, 1 red paprika
1-2 spring onions
pineapple

Cut the cauliflower and damp/cook it for a couple of minutes. Cut the other vegetables, and fry them in a pan for a couple of minutes. Put everything in a oven form(?) and put the tandoori sauce on top. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (have no idea what that is in degrees Fahrenheit). Serve with nan bread or whatever you like.

If you want to use meat, you could add chicken or anything else, but then it has to stay in the oven a little longer if the meat isn't cut in pieces. When I use chicken, probably about 35 minutes.

Some friends of mine have a 5-week menu. I'm thinking that I want to do something like that too. They save a lot of time (and money) not worrying about what they're having for dinner.