food help for a non cook

danielleindebt

hi i would really like to be able to cook food properley and save money.

my ability is i can cook scrambled eggs.

i think its because my mam never cooked and i never learned anything at school.

i hear the people at work talking about cooking chicken etc i i think wow i would love to know what to do.

so does anyone have any nice simple recepies for me to try.

p.s oh says he wont eat my food as i tried making him sheapeards pie and never put any gravy in the mine which was burnt and i used smash.

i am also a picky and only eat white meat.

floss2

OK - baked chicken breasts with rice

1 bag basmati rice
salt

2 chicken breast - boneless, no skin (they come like that in the supermarket)
1/2 lemon, sliced
1 teaspoon (tsp) garlic puree (in a tube from supermarket)
1 tablespoon (tbsp) mixed dried herbs (jar from supermarket)
I tbsp olive oil (or sunflower)
small glass white wine or water

Turn oven on to Gas 5 (not sure of electric equivalent)
Get a roasting tin & a big piece of tin-foil
Put the foil into the roasting tin, so there is an equal amount each side to wrap over the chicken
Put chicken into tin
Mix oil, garlic puree and herbs together in small dish, then spread onto chicken with a knife
Put sliced lemon onto chicken breasts
Add wine or water
Fold over tinfoil & seal at the top like a bag

Put into oven for 45 minutes.

After 20 minutes, boil kettle of water & add boiling water to pan
Add 1 tsp salt & turn pan on
When pan boiling, add weighed out amount of rice (see back of packet)
Cook for required time

Remove chicken from oven
Share rice out between 2 plates
Add chicken & spoon some of the juices over the rice.
Serve!

floss2

Then go out & buy a copy of Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie Oliver and get cooking!

Bobbykins

or how about Delia's "how to cook" books 1 to 3 - I'm sure you'd be able to pick them up second hand and they are REALLY basic - I found them brilliant.

thriftlady_2

Go to your local library and borrow a basic cookbook My library has all the Jamie Olivers, Nigella Lawsons etc as well as Delia and loads of others. Don't dimiss the children's section for cookbooks either, there are some brilliant ones about. My 12 yo son likes Sam Stern's books written by and aimed at teens, fantastic modern recipes.

newlywed

Have you tried grilling pork chops? Just put under a medium grill for approx 5 mins each side - keep checking them so they don't burn. They are done when they look kind of grey all over (instead of pink) - to double check especially if they are thicker ones - just get a sharp knife and cut through one of them (usually this is my one) and check there are no really pink bits in the middle of the chop.

You can serve them with frozen veg (cook by boiling for the time stated on the pack) and Bisto gravy (just add boiling water to the granuals and stir it)

Easy Peasy.

danielleindebt

thanx for the tips. mmmm cant wait to try that tonight floss2

Mutantk

Hi - don't want to discount others advice to borrow/buy cook books but I get many of my ideas and inspiration here online. The BBC website has a good food section where you can search recipes and another section where you can type in 1, 2 or 3 key ingredients that you already have in your cupboard and it will come up with some ideas for you. I also use MSE and do a search in the forums section if I have a particular ingredient in mind - in many cases someone else has posted something...for example recently bought some red lentils - put it into a search and found lots of threads with good ideas in....HTH

Dumyat

https://www.deliaonline.com has a beginners guide for basic items like how to roast a chicken. has photos too to help.
I also find some of the freebie magazines in supermarkets, like somerfield (asda do one too) have easy recipes and have ingredients which they sell which makes it easier to follow..if you know what i mean.