I like to cook, but lack inspiration

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I like to eat, food is a necessity. And I like to make the food, if I feel I achieve something by doing it. If not I just make frozen pizza. This is why I've decided to put up a forum, for people to share recipes and other kitchen chit chat.

Making the food is only 1% of the work, 9% is eating, 90% is cleaning up afterwards. What do you like to make for dinner?

Nope, I'd rather just go to McDonald's

I make a mean pizza burrito. Yummers!

Love to cook, love to eat well-prepared food (doesn't have to be 'gourmet'... sometimes a cheeseburger can taste better than some swanky 5-star food), I just hate the cleanup... but I do it anyway.

stian...cool, heading over there now...finally somewhere to post my recipes other than the back of a napkin

It's funny... in our house, I do the cooking, especially anything involving meat, and my wife does the baking. It suits us quite well given that my cooking style is fairly loose (out of X? use Y, it's similar and most people won't notice. Used too much A? No biggie, try some more of B) where, with baking, you can't do that... it requires fairly precise measurements and if you get the ratios off, it's screwed.

Burgers are great, I love it. And I sometimes even crave a good burgerking burger However, over here a decent burgerking meal costs as much as a homemade meal for two/three, so I don't go so often

I make a mean low-fat, low-salt, lotsa-veggies hamburger, and I'll post a recipe for that one soon

I live alone, and don't cook enough as I should. I guess it's kind of boring to cook for just one person, eating alone, cleaning alone and all that. I invite my father and my mother from time to time, a good tactic to get with the cooking and not doing it all alone.

A local activity center is setting up a dinnergroup for "people like me", which I think I'll join.

Great thread. I enjoy cooking, but never really feel like doing it since I live alone, and it almost seems like more of a hassle than its worth. If anyone has good recipes for solo-meals, please please please post them. I'm getting tired of frozen meals, sandwiches, and overpriced delivery.

I liked Rock Cornish hens ever since I discovered them. They made very good meals for one person, and their size is perfect for either one meal or two, depending on how much you normally eat. The recipe is usually printed right on the package. Follow that recipe for the most part, although you can make minor modifications, such as what spices to add. (I like thyme and rosemary, mixed with melted butter, then rubbed onto the bird.) If you want a side dish with that, which I recommend, any Rice-A-Roni that's not chicken-flavored will work great; follow the directions on the package.

i just search through the kitchen and add in everything that seems tasty. i usually end up with a very yummy dish. unfortunately, as i'm making my meal i wander everywhere and the ingredients are scattered around the house.

"Why is there a chopping board in my room?"
is a common thing i hear from people

Cooking and eating, my two greatest passions in life.

I've never been able to understand people who say they "cant cook." Its so simple. Even for myself with a rather limited imagination. I never follow a recipe, except for in rare situations like the other week when I cooked a duck for the first time and wanted to make it "a l'orange."

The reason I dont follow recipes is because everyone's taste is different. The recipe may say use 1 tsp of salt, but who's to say I dont want 2 tsp or no salt? Cook to your taste, unless you have a special guest you're trying to impress.

One thing I love about my current GF is that she loves to cook and eat as much as myself. The last one was a vegetarian and never once in the 6 months I dated her did we share a meal. It was impossible for me and her to agree on anything, as I am the complete opposite of a vegetarian.

As far as sharing recipes goes, here's two that are staples in my diet and I find myself cooking at least once a week.

Chicken Fried Rice:
A friend introduced me to this a few years ago, before then I had never been one for Chinese food but this one had me hooked from day one. The CFR you get at a Chinese restaurant blows, they use tiny pieces of chicken and there's maybe 1/10 of a chicken breast in the whole order. Plus they put peas and other vegetables in it (yuk).
I start off by throwing a frozen chicken breast in a frying pan with some water. I usually put a splash of white wine vinegar in it, and maybe something else for flavour. I boil it until the chicken is no longer pink, then I break it apart into large chunks with a spatula. Then I pour off the water and add a splash of olive oil and crisp it up. Meanwhile I have rice cooking in my rice cooker, I usually grab the ones that are preflavoured. If the rice is done before hand its no problem, you're goign to refry it anyways. When the chicken is done push it into the corner of the frying pan and crack an egg or two in the pan. Use the spatula to scramble it, never letting it sit for long. Then as it is done stir it in with the chicken,and pour the rice over top. Now stir it in the pan again as it cooks. Everything is already cooked, so it doesnt matter how long you fry it for at this point. However I like my rice a bit more dry so I keep stirring it up for a bit before I serve it. When its done, slap it on a plate and cover it in soya sauce.

Caesar Salad:
I used to hate salad when I was a kid. I was crazy. Now I eat 2-3 salads a day. I love them. I make this one often for lunch, or some variation of it.
I often use precooked chicken breasts, the ones you nuke for 3 min and they're ready. Then I cut them up and put them on the frying pan with some precooked bacon so they're crisp and dont taste like they've been microwaved. While those are cooking I lay out a bed of salad in a bowl, break up a bunch of feta cheese on it, as well as whatever other cheese I have. I'm a cheese addict, I often have 3 or more types of cheese on my salad. Cheddar, asiago, parmesan, sometimes even blue cheese. Then instead of croutons (there's something about stale bread... I just dont get why people use it) I use peanuts. I break them up into halves and scatter it across the salad. Then I pour in the chicken/bacon and a bunch of caesar dressing and my personal touch, cayenne, and stir it all up. Voila, the bestest fricken caesar you'll ever eat

I'm vegetarian and everyone else in my household seems to think that this limits my food selection to almost nothing. All they make that doesn't include meat is pasta and roast vegetables.

But I've started cooking on my own and have been making up a lot of recipes in the process!

I've been making all sorts of salads, quiches, breads, sauces, juices, weird fruit slush, and many other failed recipes... Eg: you'd be surprised what fetta cheese melted down combined with parmessan cheese and mixed with herbs and garlic will taste like as a sauce. Tastes good at first but makes you feel like throwing it all up a few minutes later. But creativity in the kitchen is fun and that's one of the reasons I do it.

But you're right. Cleaning up afterwards is the most boring and time-consuming part of cooking.

Wrong category!


Cooking is something I enjoy when I do it infrequently. Too often and it gets a drag. But if you don't eat you die!

Well yes and no. I like it if I feel like doing it or want to learn, but most of the time I'm just too lazy. That's why tv dinners are a genius invention.

Bravo, well said!

However, here's a healthy, yummy recipe I never get sick of eating (or making!):

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

3 cups re-hydrated couscous
2 green onions, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 cup chickpeas (cooked)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup crushed nuts (any kind is gewd! )

Dressing
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 Tbsp (dry) basil (or fresh basil to taste)

Add salt, pepper and parsley to taste.

Mix all ingredients together (making sure the couscous and chickpeas are cool, otherwise they will ruin the other ingredients and make them mushy... eww...) and enjoy!

Makes a bunch of servings depending on how hungry you are. Keeps well in the fridge for about 5 days.

Here is what it looks like as a side to steak and asparagus, and topped with pea sprouts:

I printed tons of recipes from recipe websites, but I have never had an opportunity to actually cook any of them.

Tim

Hmm, whats for dinner tonight for Corvus? Oh, he has a coupon for a special place!

As well, a shout out goes to Campbells for their ready to serve soups and chili - I'd be dead without them

Just found this place tonight and already I can see that it's going to come in handy
Cooking For Engineers!