I found recipe cards recently that said that, and I had to buy them for myself. I am not a good cook. I don't enjoy cooking, which means I don't do much to get better. I like to bake, but only if I am in the mood. Mostly because I hate to clean up.
I am a substitute teacher for the rest of this school year, which means I generally only work a couple of days a week. However in November and December I worked several weeks for one teacher, and for the first time in about 13 years, I was working a forty hour week. I hate to cook under normal circumstances. Exhausted after teaching kindergarten all day? I did NOT want to cook! I think I spent half of my subbing salary on the take out we ate that month. I managed a few good meals, most from the crock pot.
Next school year, I hope to be teaching full-time. This means I need a plan to keep away from the take out, or I will weigh 700 pounds in short order. I need to figure out some resources for freezer cooking and crock pot cooking to keep us eating in a fairly healthy way.
I like A Year of Slow Cooking, and I own the first cookbook. In visiting the site to get the link for this blog post, I noticed there is a second book out. Somewhere, buried deep in my Iomega storage drive is a file a friend sent me a couple of years ago with tips and recipes for freezer cooking. I think I'm going to need more than that. What tips do you have or resources can you point me to that will help me get a handle on simplifying the dreaded chore of cooking dinner?
I struggle with this too! Granted, I'm usually just cooking for myself but after 8 hours of work, perhaps an errand or 2 and 2+ hours of commuting, I'm often wiped!!
Things that work well for me:
Cook 2-3 things on Sunday that can be reheated throughout the week. I never did this when I was eating meat because I hate reheated meat (many people don't mind it) but I like most vegetarian dishes reheated just as much so that makes it easy for me. I'll make chili and maybe roast some peppers or other things to put on veggie burgers and soup or something, and rotate those dishes throughout the week.
Freeze things. If you make the chili or some soup or something like that- make a bunch, freeze some right away if you know you won't use it all. If you get half way through the week and everyone is sick of tomato soup- freeze it before it goes bad and use it as a back-up during a hectic week.
Do a fend for yourself night. Em's gotta be old enough for that now... Cereal, english muffins, eggs, sandwich, frozen pizza etc... to each his/her own :)
Really its the weekend cooking thing that saves me! If I am not home especially on Sunday I have a really hard time, unless I can come straight home and Monday and get myself back on track.
Hope this helps! Good luck!! :)
p.s. I love that year of crockpotting blog!
Posted by: Jen | January 19, 2011 at 08:46 PM
"Fix it and forget it" is another good crockpot book. We could always go to one of those make and take kitchen places ( dreamdinners.com ).
Posted by: Jenni Booth | January 19, 2011 at 09:09 PM
My problem with slow cooker cookbooks is that most of the recipes seem (at least to me) to call for the most random ingredients. While some are easily substituted, others are not. And you can't sub everything without totally changing the dish (and probably rendering it inedible!)
You're probably better to Google recipes for what you know you guys like and will eat, and what you have in the house. For example, I have a few cans of pineapple I'd like to use, so did "pineapple slow cooker" and came up with this http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Crockpot%20Pineapple%20Chicken/task/display/itemid/87182/recipeid/86835 which looks yummy and doesn't call for ludicrous ingredients that no one actually has in their kitchen.
Having said that, I do recommend Better Homes and Gardens Slow Cooker Family Dinners http://www.amazon.com/Better-Gardens-Cooker-Family-Dinners/dp/1572156325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295800285&sr=1-1 which I found at Christmas Tree Shop for a whopping $7. I've made several of the soup recipes already and they've all been tasty. A few call for random things that aren't readily available in your standard pantry, but for the most part, they're far easier than other books I've seen.
If you want, I can bring the book for you to look through in March, to see if you like it and it's worth buying. I also have several freezer recipes I like that I can bring along as well. And can maybe offer some helpful tips then too :)
Posted by: Tini | January 23, 2011 at 11:35 AM
I really love the recipes on Kraft's website. There are so many quick and easy ones. I recently downloaded their free Big Fork Little Fork app for my iPad, and was excited for even more easy to prepare recipes.
I have to admit - I only ever use my crock pot for roast. I have never found anything else that I love in it. I'm sure there are things, just nothing that I've made.
Posted by: Angie @ Many Little Blessings | January 29, 2011 at 11:19 PM
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