<p>Subway Fridays? At our house, we’re even more embarrassing than that. We come home and crash in front of the TV and after What Not to Wear (9 pm!) we drag ourselves out to eat. </p>
<p>Of course, now that the 15 year old is on varsity drill team, it will be Football Fridays…which, I guess, is concession stand Chik Fila.</p>
<p>Kelowna, that’s fine with me!</p>
<p>We’ve found this fabulous new diner near our house and go there way too often.</p>
<p>I also cook every day. After a while, it just becomes a habit. None of my three live at home now, but they still stop by almost daily for dinner. So do their girlfriends and an occasional friend and sometimes family members. Yesterday I got a text request at 4:30 for shepherds pie and had it on the table by 6.</p>
<p>I love it.</p>
<p>Yes, missypie - we have had that discussion as well. When I was single, I lived on hard-boiled eggs, Lipton cup-a-soup, and apples. And a box of chocolate covered donuts every Saturday about midnight. 
My friends used to tease me that my idea of a balanced diet was a Snickers in each hand.</p>
<p>My H isn’t happy with that. He’s a meat and potatoes guy. I keep insisting that if I could eat what I want, rather than what he wants, I’d be much thinner.</p>
<p>But I love my crock pot. I actually bought a smaller one for when it’s just the two of us. It’s a great way to do a small beef or pork roast, or a couple boneless chicken breasts. A couple boneless pork chops with a package of sauerkraut.</p>
<p>In the big crock pot, I make various beans, soups, chili, and stews, then freeze individual portions. So as people come and go at odd hours, it’s easy to grab a bowl out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave. We had stew last night. D ate early - was meeting with a friend later. H, S2, and I ate after H got home from work. Crock pot is great for meals at varying times.</p>
<p>Since I teach piano from after school until supper time, I need something that can be cooking while I teach.</p>
<p>A couple of my favorites:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>BBQ beef: chunk of beef with bottle of barbecue sauce. (I usually put in onions, green peppers, celery, etc as well). After it has cooked, shred the beef. Serve on buns. Freezes well. Couldn’t be easier!</p></li>
<li><p>Turkey in the Pot: 4 peeled, cut up sweet potatoes (or white potatoes), a cut up onion, a couple chicken bouillon cubes, basil, salt and pepper as you like. (Can add other vegs, too.) Add a half-cup of water (or broth). Put a 3 pound turkey breast on top. Good enough for company!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Zoosermom, I had a secretary a few years back who grew up In the Days Before Fast Food; she said her mom never cooked and they ate every meal - including breakfast - at a local diner. (Like on Gilmore Girls, but I bet the charm was missing out in west Texas.) She said that lots of the kids in her elementary school went home for lunch so one day SHE went home fior lunch. Her mom said, “What do you think I’m going to feed you here?” and sent her back to school. </p>
<p>At least I’m not THAT bad.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention this. I just bought a bag of frozen Rhodes rolls in anticipation of the school year. I always make up a batch of meat and spinach pies and freeze them. They are easily reheated and great with a salad or other veggies. And easily portable so we’ve been known to eat them in the car on the way to a practice or game.</p>
<p>3bm103, we all want to be married to you!</p>
<p>No you don’t. I cook. Others clean up.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, everytime the cooking thing is mentioned my new DIL says “I don’t cook, but I DO clean up.” I don’t take it personally.</p>
<p>Um. YouDon’tSay, what are Rhodes rolls??</p>
<p>Yes, I think we need recipes, or at least rough directions, for tortilla lasagne and spinach and meat pies.</p>
<p>They are these little frozen rolls. You let them sit out for a few hours on the counter to rise and bake them. But for the meat pies, they rise, you fill them, fold them over and then bake them. My record is 108 at a time. Uh, that’s making, not consuming.</p>
<p>Ugh, I don’t have anything written down. Season how you like. I brown hamburger meat (90% or leaner) and drain the grease, add cinnamon, lemon juice and some onion that’s been run through the baby Cuisinart. This is an Arab version, but I could see seasoning with comino (cumin) for a Mexican version, or Italian seasonings for an Italian version. Make sure they cool completely before freezing.</p>
<p>I’m running out to get S1 his driver’s license. If I’m still alive after the drive home, I’ll try to find a real recipe and post.</p>
<p>I only buy food once/week. However, I made full course nice dinners for my family every night. My kids are now out of the house but I continue to make the same dinners each night for two as I did when there were four of us. </p>
<p>During the dinner time of day, we were all in many directions with a GREAT deal of driving involved for each child’s activities since we live in a rural area and their activities (which both had every afternoon and night…at least two activities in a given day per child) and the locations could be VERY far away. Both parents were involved in the taxi driving. One parent also works 50 miles away. Even so, whichever parent was home first, made the dinner. If we could not all be here for the dinner at the same time, it was saved for the ones coming in later. Occasionally, a parent and one child would have to eat out in the city where the activity was and could not make it home for dinner. We tried to all eat together but sometimes there were shifts depending on the extracurricular schedules that night and who was driving where and when. I still managed to have nice dinners and we did not have take out regularly but a regular meal. </p>
<p>Some typical dishes (some are faster to make and so those might be on a night that my husband had to make the dinner or we had less time available to cook):</p>
<p>fresh tuna steaks marinated in an oriental sauce cooked on Barbeque and side dishes
salmon with ginger/****ake mushroom sauce and side dishes
linguini with home made clam sauce and salad
beef fajitas w/ homemade guacomole
filet mignon and side dishes
homemade shrimp scampi
Prime rib and side dishes
mussels in white wine sauce over linguini
baked chicken dish (a mix of cornflake crumbs, parmesan cheese, spices) and side dishes
skewered chicken with Thai peanut sauce and side dishes
London Broil and side dishes
rack of lamb and side dishes
barbequed chicken wings with a chinese spare rib sauce to coat and side dishes
chinese style shrimp dish with string beans recipe made in a wok by scratch
chinese style chicken dish (it’s an oyster sauce recipe) made in a wok by scratch
barbeque ribs and side dishes
beef tacos with homemade guacomole</p>
<p>Side story…my older daughter has taken many of my recipes. Last night, in NYC where both she and her sister are working this summer, she had a little dinner party at her apartment (inc. with her sister and actually this is her sister’s apartment for the coming school year but is her apartment for the summer itself). So, all summer, the stove at the apartment was broken and it took almost all summer to get the landlord to fix it and so my D finally had a dinner party and planned to make the salmon with ginger/****ake sauce I make and also chocolate covered strawberries for desert and so on. So, she makes every thing in advance except the salmon itself which she planned to broil. The guests arrive and she goes to broil the salmon fillets and finds out that while the landlord had fixed the stove, he had not fixed the oven itself. So, OK, plan #2…she owns a George Forman Grill and knew she couldn’t make all the salmon at once on it but would grill it in shifts. She goes to turn that on and blows a fuse because I guess they had two ACs and two fans and two computers plugged in and it was too much! So, she cooked the salmon in a pan! I made that same dinner for hubby and myself last night by coincdence. I am proud that my D can cook. I strongly believed in having nice dinners with my family every night even if their activities made for some nutty schedules.</p>
<p>By the way, I usually am the cook and that means my husband must do the dishes. He likes to cook but given his 50 miles (each way) commute, it makes more sense for me to make the dinner as I am here (now that I am not schlepping kids to ECs anymore).</p>
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<p>youdon’tsay, Literally laughing out loud at this post. Thank you for that! :)</p>
<p>Tortilla lasagna:</p>
<p>-A package of 10" whole wheat tortillas (you can adjust to suit your family’s size, I make a large pan so use the large tortillas)
-2 lbs of lean ground beef
-one onion, diced
-one green pepper, diced
-one red pepper, diced
-one small jar of medium salsa
-one small container of sour cream
-shredded cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)
-one jar of tomato sauce</p>
<p>Brown beef, add veggies and cook til soft. Add salsa and sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Put tortilla on a plate and place a large cooking spoon full of beef mix on tortilla. Roll it up and place in lasagna pan which has thin layer of tomato sauce on bottom. Repeat until bottom of pan is covered by rolled tortillas. Thin layer of tomato sauce, sprinkle layer of cheese. I also put a layer of the meat mixture in this layer. Then do another layer of tortillas. Sauce and cheese on top. Bake in 350 oven for 40 minutes. Easily reheated in the microwave. Can also be made the day before or be frozen prior to baking.</p>
<p>I love to cook, always have. My H’s idea of ‘cooking’ is a bowl of cereal for dinner. I cook every night as long as there will be someone here other than just me. I even cook for just myself sometimes. We eat a lot of fish and we have some sort of salad (everyone in the family has a different favorite!) and the above-mentioned fruit salad every night. I always love getting new recipes so look forward to seeing what others post here.</p>
<p>I am a littel bit like you, Soozviet - even though the four of us are involved in a lot of activities, we almost always eat dinner together. Times vary - sometimes it is 5 P.M. sometimes it is 9 P.M. </p>
<p>I loved your story Could you share the recipe please? I love those mushrooms!</p>
<p>Crock pot Stew:</p>
<p>1-2# cubed beef- brown it in the crock pot
Add one cut up medium onion (larger than diced)
Add one cup cut up celery
Add one cup carrots- baby or big, your choice
add 2 cans tomato soup
add 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
add 2 cans water
Add 1 package lipton onion soup</p>
<p>Cook all day
Add a cup each of frozen corn/peas/lima beans 30-60 minutes before serving (you can add them in the morning but we think they get over cooked)
If you like, add 1/4 cup barley, cooked separately (or it absorbs all the liquid)</p>
<p>We also prefer the lipton soup added at the end, but either way works and the amount of canned soup needed varies with the moisture in the veggies & meat. I start with 2 tomato & 1 mushroom, then decide whether to add the other.</p>
<p>You can serve over mashed potatoes or just with French bread</p>
<p>Husbands who cook or wash dishes, all I can say is WOW. We have a running joke that my husband cooks once every seven years. I think he is now on his second cycle overdue.</p>
<p>I usually plan menus like this: one day meat, one day fish, one day poultry, maybe on day vegetarian, and on the weekend I need a break. I never really learned to cook properly, and it is a real struggle since my family wishes I was a better cook. I am going to look at these recipes carefully, and try to add new things to my menus.</p>
<p>Here is my recipe for meatballs, which don’t take that long. Make double if you want to freeze some. One pound of ground beef serves 3-4 after cooking. Mix meat (can be half beef half turkey or all ground turkey too), with one egg, about 1/3 of a small can of tomato sauce, and seasoned bread crumbs. The texture should not be sticky and should roll into balls without sticking to your hands too much. Brown on the top of the stove, then add the rest of the tomato sauce and about 1/2 jar of jarred spaghetti sauce, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Boil spaghetti or rice, add a vegetable (even canned) on the side and voila, a home cooked meal. The dogs love it as well as the family.</p>
<p>^^ I make my meatballs with mushroom sauce. </p>
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<p>LOL mine throws up after home meals. I hope this is not an indication of how I cook ;)</p>
<p>Soups are wonderful in cool weather, and I love my crock pot.</p>
<p>Simple family favorite (I usually make a double recipe and freeze it):</p>
<p>Saute 1 chopped onion with 1 chopped half pound of bacon
Add 1 pound of lentils
2 chopped unpeeled baking potatoes
1 chopped large carrot
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Bay leaf
Stock or water to cover all ingredients by an inch or so</p>
<p>Simmer for an hour or two and season generously with cider vinegar and sugar. If you like, add a few chopped hot dogs or German sausages before serving. If you have fresh dill or parsley, that’s great too. It will live happily in the refrigerator for several days and reheats like a charm.</p>