<p>Sumac! One of my favs!
But it takes us longer than 20 mins just to get the grill hot enough.</p>
<p>My go-to dinner for unexpected company would probably be pasta with meat sauce…I add a lot to the meat sauce, so it’s more like a bolognase sauce…garlic bread, vegetables, salad…basic meal! I also make stuffed peppers quite often too…</p>
<p>Costco Rotisserie chicken also sounds like a great idea…that would be for very short notice, which almost never happens anymore! Usually I’m given a whole days notice…I’ve also made meatballs or Shrimp Scampi & Salmon for company with a few hours notice…</p>
<p>In the summer, it’s grilling meat or fish & veggies. Even cutting and grilling potatoes too.</p>
<p>I work from home, but I do enjoy cooking. Not gourmet, but somewhere in the middle between gourmet and takeout! ;)</p>
<p>I would SO rather clean up than cook, which works out well.</p>
<p>“There’s a reason they sell boneless chicken breasts.”</p>
<p>Yep! And there’s a reason they sell calculators!</p>
<p>I would SO rather bone a chicken!</p>
<p>Doesn’t always work out so well. But I save a buck or two to pay for a bit of clean up, and I do have the bones for stock.</p>
<p>Years ago, I took my calculator and figured out that the price per pound for boned vs unboned chicken breasts was virtually identical, so unless you need some chicken stock, boned is well worth it.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap–I too am a huge fan of Costco’s frozen, peeled & deveined, 20/pound shrimp but they have not had them in stock for months at my Costco. The larger ones are too large and the smaller ones gets mushy. Hope they solve that supply problem soon as they represent half of my grilled scallop and shrimp dinner.</p>
<p>LoookingForward–Re: food processor. I received one as a gift when newly married when I thought I needed a Kitchen Aid stand-up mixer and a full set of All Clad pots. I am now much happier with a sharp knife and a wood cutting board. I find it difficult to clean every bit of the food processor so only use it when I cannot achieve the same outcome with a knife or blender. Ina Garten’s pasta, pesto & peas recipe forces me to use the food processor a few times each summer, but otherwise, it gathers dust. I have given up making pesto and instead purchase it.
[Pasta</a>, Pesto, and Peas Recipe : Ina Garten : Recipes : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pasta-pesto-and-peas-recipe/index.html]Pasta”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pasta-pesto-and-peas-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>A friend brought a corn/bean/tomato salad to dinner the other night and I lamented that I stopped making that years ago as the thought of cutting the kernels off the cob was too overwhelming. She confessed her use of canned kernels so I will be trying the dish again. </p>
<p>I agree with those above who state that we do not need to be slaves to the recipes. I have only watched cooking shows while on Jet Blue, but felt them unrealistic as the ingredients were all laid out already prepped.</p>
<p>“Years ago, I took my calculator and figured out that the price per pound for boned vs unboned chicken breasts was virtually identical, so unless you need some chicken stock, boned is well worth it.”</p>
<p>Interesting! I wonder if that is always true. I do like my skin and bones, though, and a bit of dark meat, and I like my breasts to be of similar size (ha ha!),all of which is easier when you buy a chicken whole. But it’s also true that when I can get bone in, skin on breasts, that’s what I buy.</p>
<p>For chicken soup we buy a whole chicken or a whole chicken cut up. Occasionally I buy a package of drumsticks. We used to buy both thighs and breasts bone in more often than we do now.</p>
<p>For chicken soup I throw the Costco rotisserie chicken (after we have eaten most of the chicken) into a pot and simmer for awhile - good stock for soup.</p>
<p>Ok…I really love to cook big special occasion meals…Thanksgiving, Christmas, parties. But the day to day? BLEH! I just find that day to day cooking to be tedious and repetitive. We rotate chicken, salmon, pasta, with salads and other veggies. I’m not at all interested in being overly creative on a day to day basis.</p>
<p>But if I invite you to dinner…I’ll enjoy preparing and serving the meal…and will prepare something special.</p>
<p>Now back to the topic of this thread…if you drop into my house at the last minute, do NOT expect a home cooked meal.</p>
<p>If guests were coming for dinner on short notice, I would have to go to the store. My quickest meal that is guest-worthy is beef and broccoli. I also make a delicious fish chowder that is a favorite of my family.</p>
<p>Like Thumper, I do like cooking Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. We don’t entertain other than on those holidays. Partly because we don’t cook, I suppose! Plus, I really don’t know what to do to ‘entertain’ people. No social butterfly here!</p>
<p>Meat: I hate dealing with meat. I do think sometime we should be vegetarians, but I like meat, and, like many others, think of the meat first then the sides. But I will not be de-boning chicken anytime soon. The more I have to work with the meat, the less likely I am to want to eat it when I am done. I get grossed out. Then I overcook it because I want to be certain it’s completely done. We feel that we should be eating more fish, but I look at it in the grocery and feel like it may not be fresh, and know I will just overcook it too, or sit and pick at it because I am not sure it’s completely cooked.
My D is starting to like cooking, so that is wonderful! She makes a big mess doing it, but like Pizzagirl said, I’d rather clean up than cook!</p>
<p>Meat thermometer, especially since my husband has taken to broiling me filet mignon. There’s a story behind this. :)</p>
<p>“i hate dealing with meat”</p>
<p>We went to a dinner party at a friend of D’s a few weeks back. When we arrived she was busy skinning and dressing the rabbits that she had slaughtered earlier. Oh, these new young carnivores. </p>
<p>But they were delicious.</p>
<p>I’ve had a great deal of exposure to Asian cooking over the years, and with the right sauces, and rice in the rice cooker, or noodles stir fried, meals can be thrown together quite quickly. Thai red curry with frozen shrimp is one of the quickest and more yummy meals, and ingredients are usually on hand. Just made it for a camping crowd with canned shrimp and a lot of vegetables from the CSA. </p>
<p>I like the creativity of figuring out meals from what is in the garden and fridge, but find there are many more interesting and essential things to do with my time these days.</p>
<p>^^ Aw, geez. I have limits.<br>
I can talk about a really great garlic pasta.</p>
<p>I do have a hand crank pasta machine- only really worth the effort for lasagna noodles. Yup, gotta really be in the mood.</p>
<p>Musica, interesting! Young folks after my own heart! We have a little too much rabbit on the hoof running around my yard and city, and I’ve been thinking it needs to come back in style as a protein source, given lack of predators. Butchering seems to be ‘in’ in certain foodie circles these days. Why not rabbit? Personally, I’m happier with tofu, but most folks like meat.</p>
<p>These young carnivore hipsters are an interesting breed. The kind of people that in my day would have been attracted to tofu are now buying big knives and they are not afraid to use them. I have no problem dressing fowl or fish, but little mammals…I am far too squeamish.</p>
<p>We eat a lot of chicken and turkey, so one of those two is what an unexpected guest would most likely be fed because that is what we have in the house. Or maybe we’d take them out to a favorite Chinese restaurant or a little place we like nearby.</p>
<p>99.999% chance we wouldn’t be feeding them rabbit.</p>
<p>There is a butcher near S2’s school where he can get tasty little wabbits. I think that’s why he wants to go back to school this fall…</p>
<p>S2 and DH are resident chefs around here. S2 has a feel for the chemistry of food. so yummy, but so bad for me!</p>
<p>I like canning and baking. Daily cooking – I can do without. </p>
<p>We have lots of leftovers from the wedding stored in our freezers. Will make for many dinners, including for surprise guests.</p>