[tomwed]

Originally Posted by Happinow

You must be a great cook! All suggestions sound flavorful and something my family would like. Thank you.

If you don't need to stick to a budget it's pretty straightforward to make something that tastes great in very little time. It's the little touches at the end that make a difference like crumbled blue cheese, fresh herbs, garlic and lemon. You will pay more at Fresh Market but the butcher and fishmonger will be doing all the prep work.

When my side gets together for a week or two during the year, I do the cooking although I'm not the only one that can cook. They know it's my little gift and they run out for the ingredients. Almost always my sister will show up with a spiral cut ham. I'll turn that into soups and casseroles for the rest of the week. And it brings back memories of the old Holidays days when my mom used to serve an early dinner and dessert and we would sit around talking in the dining room telling stories about the kids and work until it was time to start supper from the leftovers served earlier. I think food was central and the personal. And I hate to say it, but my mom was not the best cook and it didn't really matter.

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[jnieman]

Originally Posted by Happinow

Thank you all for your suggestions. You have me some good ideas!

Here's one for you. I was getting ready to make one of these recipes on Pinterest. It's for oven fajitas. It would feed a crowd. Looks like you could do it up ahead of time and everyone loves fajitas.

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pin...ajitas%7Ctyped

You could use the leftovers the following day and make quesadillas.

Enjoy!

[Jima64]

Originally Posted by lanabanana73

I learned this year that you can bake sweet potatoes in the crock pot! Just wash and pierce them first thing in the morning, put them in the crockpot on low all day and they'll be perfect by dinnertime.

There's a blog called 365 Days of Slow Cooking that I like very much. Always have some good recipes.

365 Days of Slow Cooking

Good luck and have fun!

We also put regular potatoes wrapped in foil in the crockpot. Helps with the heat in the kitchen.

[Jima64]

Spaghetti pasta with marinara sauce and fried chicken. I know it sounds wierd but my mother n law on the cape raised a bunch of kids on it.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by tomwed

If you don't need to stick to a budget it's pretty straightforward to make something that tastes great in very little time. It's the little touches at the end that make a difference like crumbled blue cheese, fresh herbs, garlic and lemon. You will pay more at Fresh Market but the butcher and fishmonger will be doing all the prep work.

When my side gets together for a week or two during the year, I do the cooking although I'm not the only one that can cook. They know it's my little gift and they run out for the ingredients. Almost always my sister will show up with a spiral cut ham. I'll turn that into soups and casseroles for the rest of the week. And it brings back memories of the old Holidays days when my mom used to serve an early dinner and dessert and we would sit around talking in the dining room telling stories about the kids and work until it was time to start supper from the leftovers served earlier. I think food was central and the personal. And I hate to say it, but my mom was not the best cook and it didn't really matter.

.

What a lovely post. It says so many things. I'm just wowed.

[keithwand]

Meat loaf. Flank steak or anything on the grill

[dittofred1]

I have a quick chicken recipe that my husband LOVES! I cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces, saute it in garlic and olive oil for about 5 minutes. Put it into an oven-safe dish and cover it with crushed Ritz crackers. Drizzle melted butter over the top and bake it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve over angel hair with garlic bread. 30 minutes prep and cooking time and you're done! You can play with the recipe and add sliced peppers and onions or whatever you like. It's a fun and easy basic dish.

[OCsun]

YUM! I love this post! Tomweb, I am impressed and you have inspired me to find a cooking class.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by dittofred1

I have a quick chicken recipe that my husband LOVES! I cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces, saute it in garlic and olive oil for about 5 minutes. Put it into an oven-safe dish and cover it with crushed Ritz crackers. Drizzle melted butter over the top and bake it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve over angel hair with garlic bread. 30 minutes prep and cooking time and you're done! You can play with the recipe and add sliced peppers and onions or whatever you like. It's a fun and easy basic dish.

Ditto, am I right in assuming boneless, skinless chicken?

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by OCsun

YUM! I love this post! Tomweb, I am impressed and you have inspired me to find a cooking class.

I don't thinks it's that complicated.

About 6 months ago I was cooking up a storm and spending a lot of time doing prep, following recipes and the clean-up. Basmati rice was on sale and I followed the directions on the bag. I put butter, salt and pepper on top in a bowl and realized that it tasted better to me than most of the other stuff I was cooking that took a lot of time and ingredients.

I started a thread about "If you could eat only 1 food for the rest of your life". Someone else just said in a previous thread, that they loved BLT's. So do I. And unless the tomato is not ripe or you burn the bacon or toast, it just works for me.

I started thinking about fruit too. I bought a watermelon and realized you could never make something in the kitchen for dessert that has the flavor and consistency of a $4 watermelon that will fill 10 people.

See what happens when some people get old and don't have a job. I think too much.

[rosygail]

Cook 6 chicken breasts on the grill do 3 with barbeque sauce, 3 plain. Eat the Barbeque sauce the first night. Use the plain breasts to make a salad with chicken for another meal!

[OCsun]

Originally Posted by tomwed

See what happens when some people get old and don't have a job. I think too much.

Seems like you are doing a good job of being creative in the kitchen.