Anyone want to help a newbie cook?

AtroposZ · August 2012

Warning: You are entering a serious "oh my gosh, how did she ever live on her own?" zone :noway:

Im soliciting book or website recommendations, specifically. I've got a wish lists, but obviously I know I wont be able find all of these in same recipes. Hope springs eternal!

1) Low number of / relatively simple ingredients. Looking at a recipe that has 10 recipes and uses 3 different ways of cooking (boil, bake, then broil) intimidates the heck out of me (however, I am familiar with quinoa, which I know weirds out non-healthy cooks)

2) Easily understood. I've got the cooking experience of.. oh, a college freshman on their own for the very first time :drinker: I can boil water (I think - stove top might have actually broken a few years back), Ive got a microwave, a toaster over, and a full sized oven. Im pretty good with the microwave, especially the one-touch button that adds 30 seconds each time :laugh:

3) Quick. My biggest beef with recipes is they take too long to prepare and cook. I know this is a terrible habit, and I have only myself to blame, and Im *trying* to overcome it, but I tend to wait until Im starving before I notice I need to eat. And then I see a recipe that lists 20 min prep & 25 cook time? Pffffffft. Sorry body. I can be to the deli and back in 7 minutes. Also, I work a lot. It's not uncommon for me to get multiple 12 hour days in a week, and when I come home Ive got maybe 30-60 minutes before I crash, and in that period of time I need to get stuff done besides just cooking

3) Im familiar with the concept of batch cooking/freezing, but Im really not sure what time of items freeze well and ... all the stuff that that style involves. Whatever it is.
The few times Ive seen week long menus/lists in magazines or whatnot, they have weird stuff I just wouldnt eat like.. pork loin in roasted garlic sauce with sauteed shallots (That's a kind of weird green onion right? Ooops, sidetracked) or similar (not that Im sure that wouldnt be good, maybe, but with my luck Id give myself trichinosis)
Im simple folk. My dad raised me on basically some sort of red meat (though now I prefer chicken/fish, red meat is hard for me to eat) cooked on the BBQ, a vegetable like canned green beans or an iceberg lettuce/tomato/mushroom salad, and a roll. He used to tease me I was "bread meat and potatoes", and that's not that far off

As I said, Id be willing to give batch cooking a shot, and Ive got a crockpot, I just havent ever really used it or know what top put in it. You can do, uh, some sort of stew and a roast with carrots and stuff, right? I think?

Oh, and George Foreman grill! The more info you deem to give me, the better chance I'll have of not living off a cereal diet for the next month.

I know Im not going to find all my wishes together, but I've lived basically the last 10 years on reheated-processed-frozen-deli-fast food and Im really trying to make better decisions. Ive read a few books on eating clean and locally, and then I'll go to the store and stock up on cereal (Kashi, Im not terrible!) and Lean Cuisines. And chicken tenders from the deli, mmm, those are my fav- no! NO! Bad

Help me Obi-Wan(s), youre my only hope.

Thank you for taking the time to read my long-winded ramblings.

shae68143 · August 2012

Since you mentioned one of my staples (Vegetarian) here's a really good website: http://www.cookingquinoa.net/

I love that site. I have made lots of their dishes, haven't had a complaint yet. Some are simple, some not, you have to venture out of your comfort zone, trust me it's not half as bad as you think it might be

and for Desserts, I highly recommend http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

Happy cooking and baking girl!

kayeklier · August 2012

I have found that when I do it, the freezing several meals thing works well for me. This website will tell you how to freeze many items if you do a search. All the other websites that I looked at were poorly organized:http://www.ehow.com/how_5149211_items-can-freeze.html.
Other than that, I try to keep many healthy snack items (like granola bars, trail mix, nuts, etc. on hand so I can eat a small handful with a big glass of water when I get too hungry to cook. This usually works- not all the time or I would be on this site, haha.
I also make a lot of marinated salads around that I can make ahead of time. They will keep for days. These can be as simple as very small diced broccoli and carrot pieces with a store-bought vinegarettte dressing on them. I just toss the veggies with the dressing so that all the pieces are coated, and stick them in the fridge. Almost any veggies will work-except alas- not iceberg lettuce.
Hopefully some more people will have some great suggestions for you, and good luck!

zestyzaftig · August 2012

There's a bunch of 5-ingredient cookbooks out there that have some pretty good recipes. Amazon has a bunch.

Nobody in my family cooked, so I had to learn culinary skills on my own (I'm now a food writer and photographer). One of my favorite cookbooks (okay, my cooking Bible) is 'The New Best Recipe' by Cook's Illustrated. In fact, it's pretty much the only actual cookbook I would never need: they go into a lot of detail about technique, as well as their experiences on developing the best techniques (i.e.- five ways to cook something, and exactly why four of 'em didn't work out). It also has a bunch of illustrations. It's not health food, but it's easy enough to use their recipes as a base and then do your own thing. It's kind of like cooking school in hardcover.

McLifterPants · August 2012

As an easy book, this one is my absolute favorite:

http://www.amazon.com/Pillsbury-Fast-Healthy-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B0072M0U72/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1345747431&sr=8-8&keywords=pillsbury+cookbook

I had some basic cooking knowledge but not a ton, and my fiance and I basically learned together with this one!

rainbowgrrl · August 2012

I would definately research crockpot recipes. I use mine constantly and it is a lifesaver. Stick everything in in the morning before you start your day and by dinner time you have a great meal. My favorite thing to cook is Chicken Cacciatore. You can use all white meat to keep it healthier and add extra veggies for bulk. I serve it over brown rice. Bonus - it reheats perfectly for quick meals the rest of the week or you can freeze it for a later date! Good luck!