I need to learn to cook !!!

want2bmortgage3

i thought a cheese sauce was made with cheese, milk and flour. never seen it with greek yoghurt.. is it nice? i like the thought of mixing curry paste with yogurt to make a curry sauce...

scrappie_2

Hey want2be - my dad had the same issue and I bought him the book 'Cooking For Dummies'. It's really basic, tells you 'why' you do stuff and what you can 'miss out' if you want. He thought it was great. My mum now gets more dinners cooked for har and dad has decides to try his hand at pastry - he's supprisingly good!!!

Try Amazon - the book is on sale for £1.51 (used) + £2.75 p&p, so it's not too expensive. (it won't let me post the link as I'm new to the site!)


Just keep on with the experimenting - you will find our what works and what you like!!!

pretz_2

have you looked at http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ they have some really nice veggie dish i even get oh to eat them every now and then and he is a strict meat and 2 veg guy where as i am mainly a veggie i only eat meat because i cant be bothered to cook at least 2 different meals a night if not 3 i was veggie before i met oh but more because i didnt like the taste or texture of meat. if you want easy protein you can buy tinned pulses and beans for convience not very mse unlike the dried but you may not want to faff with all the soaking and pre boiling

Fire_Fox

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

i thought a cheese sauce was made with cheese, milk and flour. never seen it with greek yoghurt.. is it nice? i like the thought of mixing curry paste with yogurt to make a curry sauce...

A proper cheese sauce is usually is usually milk, flour and butter roux ... I did say I couldn't cook! I invented the Greek yoghurt version (NB does not work with low fat yoghurt) and I liked it's slightly sharp flavour.

Curry paste and yoghurt work really well too and dead easy thrown over veg and lentils.

Stephen_Leak

I've just done my basic tomato sauce with a 140g tin of tomato puree. A definate improvement for just 29p (14.5p per serving).

You're never too old to learn.

hotcookie101

Fire_Fox wrote: »

A proper cheese sauce is usually is usually milk, flour and butter roux ... I did say I couldn't cook! I invented the Greek yoghurt version (NB does not work with low fat yoghurt) and I liked it's slightly sharp flavour.

Curry paste and yoghurt work really well too and dead easy thrown over veg and lentils.

I often use greek yoghurt to make topping for moussaka-I use 0% and it works fine But it does involve adding eggs also, the recipe calls for full fat but I use 0% when I can, also use half fat creme fraiche mixed with cheese for a quick cheese sauce with pasta bake

MediSin

Hi,
How's it going so far? I couldn't cook when I left home, mostly used to live on potato waffles and economy cottage pies. Grim! But I saw a recipe for mushroom risotto, made it and loved it, and that was the only thing I could cook for about 2 years until I started watching cookery programmes. I love my risotto but 3 times a week and it gets boring!

If you find your food not tasting of much, it's usually improved by adding more herbs and salt. Salt is a flavour enhancer, and if you're used to eating ready meals you're probably used to quite a salty taste. Eventually you get used to things tasting fresh - now I find ready meals and burger king type stuff too salty to eat, even though I don't have a low-salt diet or anything like that. Another flavour enhancer is sugar. Sometimes if you make a tomato sauce it can taste quite sour. Try adding about half a teaspoon of sugar (caster because it's smaller grains so it dissolves more easily), it usually makes a huge improvement.

A really quick way to make a basic tomato sauce is in the microwave, for when you can't be bothered to do proper cooking. For one person, chop 2 or 3 tomatoes and put them in a bowl with a bit of salt and pepper, half a teaspoon of sugar and about a teaspoon of butter. Add a couple of pinches of dried basil and/or dried oregano. You can also use a clove of garlic (chopped) if you like. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and poke a hole with a knofe. Microwave for 2-3 minutes (depending on how nuclear your microwave is!) then uncover and stir in a good tablespoon of puree. Taste for salt, sugar and herbs - you can add more and nuke for another minute if you need to. Serve with pasta and top with cheese. There's no serious protein in this, but it's just a basic emergency recipe. You can add other veg like peppers or courgettes if you want, but this is a good place to start.

A lot of fresh herbs can be chopped and frozen, which is really handy. I usually freeze coriander, chives or basil. But basil is easy to grow the lazy girl's way - not from scratch! If you buy one of those pots of growing basil in the supermarket, put it on the sunniest windowsill in your house and water it every day. When you pick the leaves, don't take too many (plants need leaves to stay alive), and pinch off the stem just above the point where two leaves are growing. That way the basil will grow nice and bushy instead of getting tall and falling over. Mint is quite easy to keep alive and so is sage, but coriander tends to lose the will to live quite quickly. I find this is a reasonably priced way to get fresh herbs, as I have no garden, just a balcony that gets no sun.

Most of my cooking is veggie-ish but heavily reliant on cheese (oops!), so if you like cheese, I can give you more suggestions.

Good luck and happy cooking!:D

want2bmortgage3

just a quick one i've got some filled pasta (spinach/ricotta) that just needs a few mins of boiling. if anyone else eats this, do you serve it by itself or with some kind of sauce? i usually serve by itself with a little oil and garlic bread, but i have a tin of tomatoes and passata i was thinking of using.

*Maya*

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

just a quick one i've got some filled pasta (spinach/ricotta) that just needs a few mins of boiling. if anyone else eats this, do you serve it by itself or with some kind of sauce? i usually serve by itself with a little oil and garlic bread, but i have a tin of tomatoes and passata i was thinking of using.

Use the tin of tomatoes or the passata, they'll both work with the filled pasta. It's up to you to choose what you like anyhow. If you like the sound of it try it, if you don't then don't. Sometimes on this site I think people want everybody else make their decisions or buy cook and eat the food for them. :rolleyes:

Go on lady be brave! Try it and see what you like. Its the only way you'll learn what you like and don't like.

Gigervamp

I usually just put loads of butter and pepper on it, but I've also used some cherry tomatoes gently cooked in oil with a little pepper and basil.

You could use the tinned tomatoes or passata if you wanted. I wouldn't use too much though, you don't want to smother the pasta.