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So bored with cooking the same things over and over

Posted: Dec 18, 2010

Sad to say that I end up cooking the same five or six things every week. I think my taste buds have atrophied. Anyone have any ideas for something really good (also fairly fast and easy to make)? My husband doesn't like things that are too spicy (100% Norwegian--family story was that his mother still had the same spices she got for her wedding 50 years on the spice rack ) but I'm looking for a change.

;

oh... me too! - I was just saying this to my hubby

[ In Reply To ..]
Spaghetti, meatloaf, soup and grilled cheese, pizza or a pork chop casserole.

That is it... my whole entire arsenol of cullinary skills.

For 22 years, I have been cooking the same food,except for the rare occasion where I will try a new recipe, only to screw it up royally, and then go out to eat.

Someone help us!

We don't eat spicy foods, but not bland either - Some ideas

[ In Reply To ..]
The fastest thing I make takes me about 5 minutes prep time: Rice, grilled chicken thighs and spinach

Rice - 5 seconds to throw in the throw in the rice cooker, set the timer for 40 minutes.
Spinach - I buy frozen. After I set the rice steamer I throw a frozen package of spinach in a pot and it simmers while rice is cooking.
Chicken thighs. We buy thighs because they retain the most moisture. I buy them already and packaged. Foster farms sells them this way. 4 thighs in each package. Take them out and I sprinkle Morton Season All. Its a good spice, not real spicy. We use it on chicken, lamb, steaks, pork, shrimp. Its just good overall. Then I grill the chicken on the Foremans grill. About 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Actually DH does the chicken, but that only takes us maybe 5-10 minutes at the most. On our spinach we use a little Neumans own italian dressing. Gives a little kick to it.

If you do a little prep on a weekend and make a lasagna you can make enough to freeze and then just heat up and that wouldn't take much time.

I just made something the other night that my DH and I absolutely love. White rice, spinach, and a can of white beans. Talk about very fast and the tastes together are really good. You could serve it with meat too.

I also make meatloaf and we have meatloaf sandwiches the next day.

On Sunday's I'll make a pot of chicken vegetable soup and that will last us 4 nights. All we have to do is heat it up.

I also bake pork chops using cream of mushroom soup and we have it with garlic mashed potatoes.

I will also buy a ham and have that with mashed potatoes. Ham and eggs, ham and potato salad, ham sandwiches, after we've eaten it up I use the bone to make ham and beans. I recipe my MIL gave me and we'll have that for about 3 days with corn muffins.

Those are some of the things I make that don't take very long, especially the stuff I re-heat.

oops on the chicken thigh - I meant to say - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
We buy chicken thighs already deboned and skinned. Foster farms sells them already done up, so I don\'t have to cut off the bone and take the skin off.

Sorry

Maybe stay with tried and true meals but experiment with - different desserts. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Don't know how many family members you - have that come but

[ In Reply To ..]
we always look forward to all of the same things cooked at my mom's and mother-in-law's. We look forward to it every year and hopefully they are recipes that will continue on for years.

I make a lot of different things all the time. - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
I try a lot of new recipes to see if picky DH would eat them more than once. He doesn't like mushrooms, melted cheese unless its pizza or grilled cheese (he doesn't make sense). Can't eat a lot of greens because of the Vitamin K. He'll only eat fried or unfried (baked coated) chicken. Doesn't like meatless meals or cream sauce either. Won't touch hamburger stroganoff (which I love) or macaroni and cheese (which I also love).

I make a double batch of lasagna and freeze one for later on my lazy days. I also do that with haplupkies-(stuffed cabbage with hamburger mixed with rice, a little bit of tomato sauce,and some seasonings). These I do in my Nesco and make enough for 3 meals and freeze the rest.

Stuffed peppers in the crock pot is good; made with the same mix as the halupkies.

Leftover Beef, chicken, or turkey pot pies. Simple. You use Pillsbury pie crust (in the grocer's dairy dept). Put one crust in a pie pan, your choice of meat/poultry, a can of mixed veggies, a can or jar of gravy or even a packet of the powdered crap mixed with water. Put the top crust on and bake at 350 until the top crust browns, about 35-40 minutes depending on the oven.

How about Shepard's Pie? I make mine with hamburger, canned mixed veggies and a little gravy with roasted garlic mashed potatoes on top and sometimes sneak extra sharp cheese into the mashed potatoes.

Once in a while, I'll make taco salad, a recipe my cousin's wife gave me. Very time consuming with her recipe but much better than some I've seen.

I also used to make a low cal steak salad a lot. Only uses 1/2 pound of steak sliced thin, or even deli roast beef, on a bed of spinach with mozarella cheese and a vingarette dressing.

Pepper steak can be done in a crock pot or simmered on the stove using round steak, steak sandwiches, etc.

There are a lot of places on the 'net to get receipes. Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Rachel Ray (only ever made 2 recipes DH liked, though), Paula Dean (love her fried chicken recipe), and Food Network. I also have a wall of cookbooks that were my mom's and mine and dig through them once in a while for something different.

Thanks everyone--now I'm drooling!! - stsrstruck

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for all the suggestions. I love to watch the Food Channel, but I'd much rather have a recommendation from someone who has a favorite recipe and uses it often. And they can often make a suggestion that improves a recipe just from experience. Also helps to have ingredients I might actually have on hand. Now ... I want to come to all your houses for dinner!!

Here's one more recipe so easy and fast - The whole family loves it

[ In Reply To ..]
Tater tots
Hamburger (browned and seasoned how you like it)
One can french style green beans, drained well
One can cream of mushroom soup diluted with enough milk to pour over top

Spray a pie pan or other baking dish with some cooking spray. Put a layer of tater tots on the bottom, then put the green beans on top of that, then the hamburger and pour the soup over the top. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour or til hot and bubbly.

It's so good I can eat the whole thing by myself. Very little prep time.

I add to this - mt2

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I add some onion on top of the meat and have substituted peas for green beans. This is fast and easy and one dish that everyone likes.

something else easy and good - mt2

[ In Reply To ..]
Have you tried open face turkey or roast beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy? I usually buy a pound of roast beef or turkey right in the deli and have them slice it a little thicker than usual. Put that in a pan and heat it up, add gravy (the dry stuff mixed with water or a jar), continue heating and make mashed potatoes. Quick, easy, hot, comfort food.

Are we married to the same guy? - Samantha

[ In Reply To ..]
My husband is allergic to mushrooms, definitely would not eat any meal without meat in it, and the only vegetables he will eat are potatoes and corn, definitely nothing green. Yet he complains that he wants me to put more variety in our meals!

Wow. There are some picky husbands out there. - cooks it all

[ In Reply To ..]
My husband started out that way. When we were dating I could barely stand going anywhere to eat with him. He'd fuss and pick about everything. But then he came to my house for dinner once. I lived with my grandmother then, and she was Slovak. We also make things like stuffed cabbage (can't spell the slovak name), pierogi, lots of great roasted pork dishes, home-made bread. I thought my poor sweetie's stomach would explode! He ate so much of everything!

When I went to meet his family, I realized why he had been so picky. His mother, who is a sweet lady, is a positively horrible cook. Everything she makes tastes the same. The texture of everything she makes, even her soup, is dry. No wonder he disliked so many foods!

For a little while into our marriage, hubby would say he didn't like this or that. I'd remind him of two things. "You don't like your mother's version of that food." And, "If you don't like what I cook, you can always learn to cook for yourself."

In nearly 26 years of marriage, I've only found two things that he truly hates, brussels sprouts and asparagus. That's fine. I like them, and since he only dislikes two things out of my large repertoire, I make him something else.

Another thing DH doesn't like is pasta except - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
where spaghetti and lasagna. I like to make buttered noodles and/or noodles with parmesan cheese. Chicken and noodles, a left over ham casserole with noodles, etc. He won't touch that stuff.

He can cook, but won't. He was on his own at 17 and had no choice but to learn to cook and his meals were steak and baked potato, sausage and home fries. I can't make home fries to suit him so one day I told him if he didn't like mine to make them himself. He does....and they're great, but I don't tell him that. i just say they're okay just like he says to me about some of my meals, although he'll have 2 helpings. LOL

Does he pander to you in anything, as you pander to him - at meal time? nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Nah. I grew up in the 'old society' and could never - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
shake some of the old-fashioned ways of treating the person who 'brings home the bacon', even if he doesn't anymore, as king. He does work very hard around the place doing what I can't do and he appreciates what I do for him.

In all honesty, I would hate it if he would 'pander' to me. I would feel "obligated" to him (strange, I know) but I love doing for him. He's all I have anymore.

You sound like a mother more than a wife. I love DH but I got - tired of "doing for him" but he never SM

[ In Reply To ..]
doing for me. I used to get him small gifts but rarely got a thank you, much less a little gift from him now and then. Got tired of cooking meals only to be told they were ok, or worse, having to toss most of it cause he "wasn't hungry." I earn just as much as he does and certainly dont feel obligated to him, any more than he feels obligated to me. We are partners. I am not his cook, maid, laundress, shopping service. A man doesnt think of doing these things for his wife. Why do wives feel it is there job to do these things.

There's nothing really wrong with... - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
gender roles. I do most of the cooking and cleaning and my hubby does most of the outside stuff. I don't mind cooking dinner and it keeps me from having to put up fencing :) I do try not to keep score, though. Chances are, I do more for him than he does for me, but I know he appreciates me and it makes me happy to make him happy. :) That, and he does do all of the laundry when he's home. He got back from deployment on Thursday and has already done at least 10 loads--LOVE my man!

It is a problem when one gender is master and the other - gender is servant. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

I don't consider your master/servant theory true. - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
If some of us want to make our spouses happy by doing for them, what's wrong with that?

I certainly don't want to be outside cutting grass, racking leaves, planting trees, hanging Christmas lights, digging up a septic system, and all the other stuff my guy does and he doesn't want to cook, clean (although he does clean the bedroom and bathroom), preserve food, etc. So, it works out fine for us.

I was the one who suggested who did what when we bought this property and he went along with it. He also never, ever complained when I worked 3 jobs and couldn't keep up with the housework each week.

We are happy with the arrangement made so why is that a problem with you? We do not master/servant relationship; we have a equal partnership.

He didnt complain when you were working 3 jobs?? I guess not, especially - since you are the main breadwinner. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

lol, he didnt complain about you working 3 jobs. How - big of him. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

And he didnt even complain when the house was messy during - that time. What a guy! nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

To each their own - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Like the others, I find the cockles of my heart warmed by the fact that this saint of a man didn't complain when you worked three jobs to support the family.

However, I think one of the things that women's rights was all about was the ability to make choices. Even though your situation would definitely not work for me (and it's more the severe restrictions in what he will eat than the actual traditional gender roles), bras were burned to give you the right to make that choice.

If he is not beating you and you are happy and/or content, then it is nobody else's business, and good for you to finding a lifestyle and spouse that makes you feel loved and secure.

Thank you for that. I tried the other method - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
in the beginning. He couldn't put me on a pedestal high enough and I couldn't stand it. Besides I can't stand heights. LOL

...and no, I didn't have 3 jobs at that time. I didn't have any job. He never wanted me to work, but I come from a family of workaholics. I just can't stand not working. Although he still doesn't want me to work, he won't say anything.

BTW, he makes more money than I do. He makes $50-$75K a year in a good year and it's only the past 2 years that road construction has gone downhill. So, sure I'll pick up the slack if I can.

He really doesn't sound that bad to me... - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
I think that people might be getting the wrong idea here. It sure didn't sound to me as if you were a slave and I can sympathize with the picky eating. I am the picky eater, but since I do the cooking, I can be picky and only make stuff I will eat. My husband occasionally makes us a "special" meal and, truth be told, I usually don't like what he makes, but I do try to choke it down anyway. Merry Christmas to both you and your husband!

Myself, I dont want a DH that is "not that bad." As - compared to what? I want DH that is "that good." n

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Enough with the nastiness... - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
Does this somehow make you feel better about you? I said that I think that you all somehow misconstrued what she said. I am sure that her husband is a perfectly wonderful man.

...and BTW, guess what he's doing today. - Backwards Typist

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The rest of the Christmas shopping for the DIL and other son's girlfriend, plus he goes grocery shopping when I ask.

That's great. Glad he got home safe and sound. - Backwards Typist

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That has to be the greatest Christmas present of them all.

Glad to hear your husband is home Kendra! - Sunshine State MT

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Happy Holidays!

Thank you Sunshine State MT and Backwards Typist - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
It was a long 10 months and we are ecstatic to have him home! Merry Christmas!!!

I make vegetable casserole - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
It is 2 cans of Veg-All (the others don't have potatoes), 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup shredded cheddar. Mix it all together and put in casserole dish and top with French's Fried onions.

The recipe calls for water chesnuts and onions also with buttered Ritz on top. I have issues with water chesnuts, so do not use, and I use the canned fried onions on top instead of the onions in the casserole. To make up for the water chestnuts and onions, I will usually put in extra veggies of my choice, usually corn or green beans.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes. I am not a fan at all of mixed veggies usually but love this casserole.

I\'m really enjoying stir-frys these days sm - a cook/MT

[ In Reply To ..]
They\'re so easy, and you get your meat, veggies and starch all in one easy dish. I did an Internet search for a good sauce and use chicken, beef, pork, add egg rolls and it\'s really very tasty.

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