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Making Stuff at Home

King Salmon

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I enjoy getting really blazed and cooking an elaborate meal. Of course, it's also much more challenging and you're prone to mess something up.

Having a glass (or two) of wine while cooking is also fun.

P.S. - the best way to cook a King Salmon is to put it on the grill with some sea salt.
 

Brian SD

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Thanks all. As for my gf, she does cook for me a couple times a week but that still leaves some 15 meals I have to do for myself
crazy.gif
 

Homme

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I find pasta salads are fairly easy to make, and are filling. Use tuna, stuffed olives, capsicum, celery etc.
 

thinman

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Shortcuts I use all the time:

frozen, boneless chicken breasts
frozen veggies
mashed potato flakes, rice, pasta
jars of pasta sauce (the good stuff; forget Ragu)
frozen tortellini, ravioli
bagged salad, bottled salad dressing
peeled baby carrots
minced garlic in oil (I never chop garlic anymore)
fully stocked spice cabinet (acquired gradually as needed)

If you keep this on hand, you can whip up a stir fry in 15 minutes from chicken, frozen veggies, soy sauce, and a jar of terikayi baste (or your favorite bottled sauce). You could have pasta and a salad in the time it takes to boil water.

I cook 3-4 times a week and cook enough for 2-3 meals. Then I rotate pre-packaged meals I've cooked for myself through the microwave. Some of this stuff is expensive, but it's less expensive than eating out.
 

BigSur

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From mens health. Really fast, really easy.

I use regular diced tomatoes and add jalapenos

BARBECUE-SAUCE CHICKEN PIZZA

You'll need:

2 Tbsp barbecue sauce

8" Boboli pizza crust

1/4 c canned diced tomatoes with chile peppers, well drained

3/4 c precooked chicken, mesquite flavor

Plus: 2 Tbsp sliced scallions, 1/2 tsp cilantro, 1/4 c grated smoked mozzarella

How to make it:

1. Smear the barbecue sauce evenly over the pizza crust.

2. Add the remaining ingredients in order.

3. Bake in a 450ºF oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Extra credit: Add 1/4 c mixed-color peppers for a vitamin C boost.

Eat with: A simple tossed salad--mixed greens, sliced onions, and cherry tomatoes

Makes 2 servings

Per serving, including salad: 324 calories, 21 g protein, 41 g carbohydrates, 8 g fat (2 g saturated), 3 g fiber, 835 mg sodium
 

Margaret

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Aaron

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I'm a very visual learner so I find the best thing to do is watch cooking shows. They're usually geared towards the beginner/intermediate cook and you learn a lot about the basics after you watch them for awhile. I now know enough I just watch them make something and then go try it myself. If I forget an ingredient I just improvise. It helps to have some basic skills and ideas about mixing flavours and what to cook when but really it's just a matter of trying stuff out. Yeah, you're going to burn and/or undercook a lot of stuff, I cringe at the stuff I tried to make when I first lived on my own. However, for every 3 disasterous dishes I made one really good one. Then I hooked onto that, made it a lot, and perfected it. That being said I don't get too fancy. My main meal during exam times was usually grilled chicken/beef/pork on a Forman grill, some steamed vegetables and a baked potato in the microwave. I mix it up with different sauces and dressings (and sweet potatoes, mmmm...sweet potatoes). The whole thing takes 10-15 minutes to cook. Cooking shouldn't be a chore, it should be something fun that you can share with others. You just have to start trying to make different things and follow what you like from there. A. P.S.>Thinman's suggestions are a great place to start. Except for the potato flakes....
wink.gif
 

raley

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People always say to look at recipes but this seems like a pain. If you figure you are making dinner 7 times a week, that is 7 different recipes. How often do you need to go out to the store and buy new, fresh ingredients, and how much time are you going to spend per day preparing all these dishes?

I don't even want to think about it. I probably should though, I end up eating out at something really unhealthy and usually only eat 1 meal per day.
 

Stu

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Someone mentioned chicken breasts. Keep them on hand. It's very easy to slice them, stir fry them in a little oil with just about any vegetable you can think of -- broccoli, bok choi, whatever. You can ad a little sauce made of chicken broth, soy, hot peppers and starch for thickener if you want. The point is chicken breasts are very healthy and easy to cmbine with vegetables for a nice meal. Steam some rice and you are all set.
 

javyn

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It's very easy to say "Hell with it" and go eat out here in Houston isn't it?
 

Mentos

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For getting a routine toward healthy, cheap eating, I picked up a book called A Guy's Gotta Eat a few years ago. I assume it's still in print. It's cheesy, but there are some great ideas in there for healthy, fast eating. One of the ideas is to keep as little fresh food on hand as possible, as single guys have inconsistent schedules and tend to waste food. Use frozen meats, frozen veggies, and canned legumes for most purposes. You can make nice pasta sauces out of canned ingrediants that are 5x better than anything Ragu can serve up. Using fresh ingrediants you get to 20x better.

You can always marniate some meat (chicken in teriyaki sauce, pork in some type of lime sauce, etc.), broil it, steam some frozen veggies, and have cous-cous on the side. That takes absolutely no effort.

Chicken breasts are indeed key. Buy frozen ones and just defrost when you need them. Frozen juice concentrate and plenty of eggs also are important.

If you're busy and your town has grocery delivery, consider using it. It's usually a $5 delivery charge, but that way you won't get stuck when you feel too lazy to get to the store on Sun and then have no food in the house all week.
 

raley

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Originally Posted by javyn
It's very easy to say "Hell with it" and go eat out here in Houston isn't it?

Very easy. In fact that is what I am going to be doing tonight. What are some of your favorite places?
 

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