<p>So a hungry boy is home for fall break, so dinner tonight is homemade pizza. lunch tomorrow will be lasagna and the evening will be homemade pork baos. Hopefully he will feel stuffed.</p>
<p>Roasted tomatoes (one ingredient, sprinkle with salt and chopped basil).</p>
<p>steak on the grill. Marinade it in EVOO, balsamic vinegar, red wine and Montreal Steak seasoning. </p>
<p>For pork chops:</p>
<p>1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh if possible
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon evoo
3/4 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped</p>
<p>salt and pepper.</p>
<p>Throw everything into ziplock bag in frig for a few hours.</p>
<p>Roast chicken or pork tenderloin on a rotisserie:</p>
<p>Salt and pepper chicken or pork tenderloin and put it on the rotisserie–start rotisserie.
Baste every 10-15 minutes with a basting sauce made of bottle of beer (I use Sam Adams) and a stick of melted butter.</p>
<p>It’s delicious.</p>
<p>Just realized posted in the wrong thread. Ignore previous post that belongs in What’s for dinner" thread.</p>
<p>My new favorite is pork tenderloin marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette marinade. I can’t remember the brand, but it is delicious! I serve it with a spinach salad.</p>
<p>Even easier, and IMHO even better tasting, is making the key lime pie without the egg yolks. You don’t have to bake the filling at all. After several hours in the fridge, the filling holds it shape but is still very soft, so it just melts when you take a bite. Perfect for summer when you don’t want to heat up the oven unnecessarily. I strongly recommend buying at least 1 lime and grating the zest into the filling.</p>
<p>This does make a rather shallow pie, so you can double the filling using two cans of condensed milk and the same lime juice ratio. OR – use a single can in the filling, and then heap the pie with fresh blueberries. Warm some red currant jelly in the microwave and brush it over the berries to hold them in place. If you make your own graham cracker crust and good berries, you will literally never eat a more delicious dessert than this one.</p>
<p>Pesto–half a blender or so of basil leaves, several peeled garlic cloves, small handful of pine nuts, some parm cheese, enough good olive oil to blend (I never measure, so it’s basically to taste for all ingredients.)</p>
<p>Over pasta–I like whole grain rotellis with it.</p>
<p>Salad on side if you want. Or just cut up a couple tomatoes and drizzle on some o oil and balsamic, and if you like some onions, garlic, basil.</p>
<p>That’s dinner for us all summer long, once or twice a week. But we froze enough basil to have pesto all winter, too.</p>
<p>@kathiep, that is the way to make guacamole. No tomatoes, and no onions. When I make it this way, people think I am Daniel Boulud, but it could not. Be. Simpler.</p>
<p>(I would probably use lime juice, though.)</p>
<p>(And the real secret is perfectly fresh avocados.)</p>
<p>And do not resist! this is power food.</p>
<p>We like our guacamole with avocadoes, tomato, onions, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a touch of mayannaise. Stops it from turning brown and adds a touch of deliciouseness.</p>
<p>^^Oops…I always add a spoonful or two of salsa to my homemade guacamole. Yes, lime juice! :)</p>
<p>Easy peasy recipe I gave once to another thread:</p>
<p>Steak Pizzaiola</p>
<p>cut thin steak into large pieces. Marinate all day in a teriyaki sauce.
saute sliced onions and peppers. set aside.
saute the steak. Then add in peppers & onions mixture. Also add in cut up tomatoes. Add in plent of garlic and a few spices.
Add in some tomato sauce and serve with pasta, rice, potato or whatever.
Yum.</p>
<p>My easy quiche recipe:
Store bought frozen pie crust (not deep dish)
1 small can evaporated milk
1 beaten egg
1-1 1/2 c. cheese (whatever you have - tonight was Swiss and cheddar)
Add in any meat/ veggies you want (ham, cooked bacon, onion,mushrooms )
Toss in a little salt/pepper and a dash of Worcester sauce</p>
<p>Stir it all together, pour in pie crust. Bake at 400 about 30 mins or until set.</p>
<p>I like to cook, but can’t bake a thing, so this cake is perfectly stupendously easy and quick even for me, and is a big hit wherever it goes. Its just a few ingredients mixed together for ultimate yumminess. I always get asked for the recipe.</p>
<p>Mandarin Orange Cake</p>
<p>1 package yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange segments
1 (8 0z.) container Cool Whip
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 (3.5 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix</p>
<ol>
<li>Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease an flour a 9x13 pan.</li>
<li> In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and mandarin oranges with juice, beat until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.</li>
<li> Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean, cool.</li>
<li> In a large bowl, mix Cool Whip, pineapple with juice, and dry pudding mix until blended. Spread on cake.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have posted this before, but it’s so stupidly easy that I had to add it in case someone hadn’t seen it.
Fresh pasta doesnt have to be boiled if you cook it in another liquid!</p>
<p>Easy tortolini , Or other pasta:
Put one refrigerated package of fresh tortolini into a casserole dish (at this point my adult children chug one swallow because their mother has used the word casserole in the dinner drinking game that I didn’t know about until the oldest was 28. Next points for “buffet style”. additional points are evidently added when someone suggests that the silverware not actually used can be returned to the drawer…and so forth…my children are incorrigible but fun as adults. )
Add one jar of pasta sauce,
Cook Covered at 350 until bubbly, and if you want uncover, add cheese an cook until the cheese is melted.</p>
<p>Oh I love guacomole. I used to have a boss who’d bring in his own recipe and he used cream cheese and plus some other ingreds. I’ve long-lost the recipe, but it was really good!</p>
<p>*Here’s another super easy one. </p>
<p>Italian beef for sandwiches</p>
<p>1 beef roast (I’ve used all kinds and all sizes so get whatever your family likes or what is on sale)
1 package Good Seasons zesty Italian dressing mix
1 12 oz jar of pepperoncini (exact size is not important)
12 oz bottle of beer or water</p>
<p>Mix seasoning packet, pepperoncini with liquid and beer in the crockpot. Add beef and cook until fork tender. Serve on toasted bakery rolls. Also good with a slice of melted provolone.</p>
<p>Don’t serve the pepperoncini stems.*</p>
<p>This sounds amazingly easy yet very tasty!! Do you cut the stems off before cooking?</p>
<p>Dragonmom…so all that is needed is to put fresh stuffed pasta in a casserole pan and then cover with a jar of pasta sauce, cook, and maybe sprinkle some cheese on top? Wow…sounds super easy. Also could easily be “dressed up” a bit by adding some fresh basil or chopped sun-dried tomatoes for company.</p>
<p>Saucy Chicken Bake:</p>
<p>Chicken, works well with skinless, boneless
Mix together then spoon over chicken
Salsa, any kind
Brown Sugar
Honey dijon mustard, or just dijon mustard, and honey</p>
<p>For 2-3 half breasts: Usually about a cup of salsa, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and a tablespoon or so of mustard and a teaspoon of honey. Adjust if you like less sweet. </p>
<p>Bake 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.</p>
<p>^We like avocado, I do not bother to make guacamole.
Avocados are staple food in our family, they get consumed very quickly without any prep. Just peel and eat. Or the way my D. does, cut in a middle and scoop with the spoon. I can easily have the whole thing to myself, but usually share one with my H. We put it in various salads or just have it with Feta, another staple food that is added to many other foods. Or add Salsa from Costco, yet another regular item in fridge.</p>
<p>My trick for guacamole is Taco bell “fire” sauce in the little packets. Two or three "fire’ packets, a ripe avocado and lime juice makes a fantastic guacamole.</p>
<p>Roasted Cauliflower:</p>
<p>There is a mediterranean restaurant that serves this which is wonderful so I thought I would try.</p>
<p>I think you could use a whole head but I just cut up a few flowerettes and dusted them with coriander/cumin powder and salt then drizzled some olive oil on top. Bake in a 350 oven till tender. Didn’t really look at the time but it was not very long. Easy and absolutely wonderful like the restaurant.</p>
<p>Chicken broth. Beat an egg with grated parmesan - can use romano. Typical amount is 1/4 cup to an egg, but it doesn’t matter much. Pour in soup. Stir. The egg binds with the cheese to make fluffy goodness in soup. That’s stracciatella.</p>