Tired of Cooking

I always visit kraftfoods.com for recipes. They are easy and prep time is minimal. I have a hard time cooking things that are edible and these recipes even I can make!!

I don't have any quick recipes but i love Rachel Ray. She has cookbooks for 30min meals. I would try and buy one of her books and see what you can find. it has some very good stuff in there. You can get them at Wal-mart or any Book store.

I know how you feel! I like to 'kabob' anything and everything on the grill. No heating up the house, no cleanup, and it's almost always is good! I get chicken breast and marinate it overnight in Italian dressing and grill it and it's delicious! It's good as grilled chicken on salad, or as kabobs or on rice. It's so easy and so good. People say grilled fruit is good too. For me, i'ts anything that doesn't heat up the kitchen!

Hamburger stroganoff - my family loves this one!!

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, minced fine (or dried onion is okay)

Brown beef with onion. Drain the grease.

Add:
1/4 cup (approximately) sour cream
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. beef bouillon
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Heat until warm. Serve over rice or noodles. (We prefer rice because it's less slippery, but noodles taste great too.)

That's it! It only takes about 10-15 minutes to make :) This recipe feeds about 4 people.

Good luck with your cooking!

Oh - if you feel you need to be more organized, try making yourself a chart once a week for your meals for the coming week (I usually just plan out lunch and dinner since our breakfasts tend to be cereal or eggs). Pull out your cook books or sit down with your allrecipes.com (or whatever site you like) and write down some recipes you've always wanted to try or some family favorites (don't forget to write the cookbook name and page number on your chart). Then when you grocery shop, you can buy the materials for all those meals in advance, so you can be flexible if you planned one meal but don't feel like it that day, you can just eat something you planned for a different day since you already have the ingredients.

J. B (momma of two ages 6 and 2 1/2)

i LOVE my slow cooker LOL i fix stew and stroganoff in it and my fam loves it

Stroganoff

2 lbs stew meat
1can cream of mushroom soup
cook 4hrs high 8 low
add 16oz sour cream before serving
serve over egg noodles,potatos,or rice

I am a huge fan of the Eating Well magazine, and its Web site has all of its recipes. You can search just using a food, too. Everything there is simple and super yummy (and healthy). I highly recommend checking it out! www.eatingwell.com

Oh, and they have lots of slow cooker meals, too, which is simple and less time consuming.

Work the stir fry, baby!!!
make the rice whenever, or use leftovers. Lots of veggies and meat if you like that kinda thing,
one pan cook
one plate served
check epicurious.com for a recipe that fits your taste.
(or do a lo mein noodle stirfry and the 11mo. old can eat more easily if he's at noodle stage)

Other ideas are cold veggies with a dip (appetizer style, but the kids get the vitamins etc., who cares if they aren't served with a meal on a plate) and they are hot and ready for something cold and refreshing too.

do a breakfast for dinner night, what'seasier than eggs

use your husband's testosterone to your advantage...suggest barbeque night, but try something different than hot dogs...we did crab legs (not reccommended though, I ended up peeling them for my 4 year old and got very little for myself). Do fruit on the grill (pineapple, peach).

Everyday foods (a martha stewart mag) has great ideas that are designed to be quick and not a lot of ingredients.
good luck

Hi E.,

I use a slow cooker (aka-crock pot) a lot for my families meals. If you and your family like chicken-here is a good recipe. Put a little olive oil in the bottom of slow cooker-put chicken in (2 nice size breasts or 5-6 tenderloins) then pour a can of diced tomatoes with olive oil and garlic in it (DelMonte makes that kind). Put the lid on and let slow cook for at least 4 hrs. Serve with noodles or rice. If you have a big fam-double the recipe. You can even throw a can of green beans in there while the chicken is cooking.
Good Luck-M. H :)

Turkey enchalatas

2 cups turkey/chicken
1 jar salsa
1 8oz cream cheese
10 tortilla shells
cheese

mix turkey, salsa, and softened cream cheese. Spread it out on the tortilla shells and roll them up. Sprinkle cheese on top cook for 30 min at 350.

These also freeze well.

There are a lot of tastey ideas. Do you own a crock pot (slow cooker)?? Does everyone in your house like green bean cassirol(sp)? In a slow cooker put hasbrown potatoes, 1 lb of hanberger (already browned), green beans, two big cans of cream of mushroom soup and one can of milk. stir once in a while and let cook at lest 6 hours. It is great!!!! Other easy things are chicken breast and then pour mushroom soup over top and cook until done (like an hour) then make mash potatoes and use the mushroom soup over the potatoes as gravy. Take steak and golden mushroom soup and put that over the steak in the oven and that is really good too. Have a sub night. Buy some lunch meat, chease, hogie buns, lettus and tomato and onions if you like. Kids can serve themselfs and have chips with it. There are some ideas. I bought a sandwich maker at walmart for $10 and all you need is bread, butter and anything else. My son loves cheese and chip chop ham. that is an awesome invention and the older kids can do it themselves.

I am a Pampered Chef Consultant i have alot of ideas if you send me your address i can send you some my email adderss is
____@____.com , P.O. Box 24 North Webster,IN. 46555
###-###-####

E.,

Give us more to go on. You say you are verrrry tired of cooking. Is that because you don't want to cook or you are stumped for new ideas? I'm sure you will get a ton of ideas from people here, but have you checked out the recipe websites, like kraftfoods.com and foodnetwork.com?

How do you feel about cooking one day a week and freezing some casseroles? I love crockpot cooking, but some don't. Grilled sandwiches or open faced in oven are simple. How 'bout using what's on sale and in season as your starting point? Say you cook beef or chicken breasts and use that as your meat for a few meals made ahead to simplify?

Like I said, you leave it wide open! :) What have you been making? What are some old favorites? What does your family not like?

My specialties are chicken and dumplings (recipe on Bisquick box), meat gravy and mashed potatoes, beef stew, and chili, but these are the heavier comfort foods that I always get asked to make and bring to potlucks. Have you tried making your own chicken salad? You have young children so they probably don't want onions, celery, or spicy, right?

I have lost the "cooking urge" several times over the years. I find summer is usually more of a challenge for me than winter when I am into the roasts, baking, etc. mode. I freeze a lot of things over the winter so life is easier in the summer because I have meatloaf, chili, stew, all ready cooked turkey, etc. in the freezer to pull out!
Here are a couple of selections my family liked and weren't that hard to fix.

Boil up some macaroni, open a couple of cans of tuna (I prefer chicken, myself), a can of peas, chop up a little celery (one stalk), I usually throw in about a quarter of chopped onion but it is optional and about a quarter of green pepper optional as well, throw it in a bowl with enough Miracle Whip or other salad dressing and mix until moist (I also add a little salt and pepper), toss a lettuce leaf in the bottom of a bowl and fill with the mixture.

I make a quick chicken dish in the microwave with chicken breasts or tenders. Cook the chicken on high for five minutes on each side in a covered dish, drain, toss in a jar of spagetti sauce and cook another two to three minutes. Great with any type of noodles.

You can always take a box of Macaroni and cheese, a can of tuna and a can of peas, cook up the macaroni and cheese as instructed, add the tuna and peas. The children like it, my husband liked it, I don't care for it much but it is quick and simple.

I like stuffed tomatoes (when they are in season), you cut off the top, scoop out the inside and fill it with chicken salad, tuna salad, or ham salad.

Ramen noodles cooked up with smoked sausage sliced up and mixed in.

You can cook up minute rice, replace most of the liquid with the juice of canned fruit and add the fruit to the rice while it is sitting. Fruit cocktail, peaches, and pineapple work best.

Naturally we have the old stand bys, large box of jello, cup of cottage cheese, can of fruit cocktail (drained) a container of cool whip or other whipped topping. Watergate salad which is pistachio pudding, whipped topping, drained crushed pineapple, a handful of minature marshmallows, and you can add shredded coconut. Mix it all together and keep chilled.

Large can of boned chicken or turkey, grapes cut in half or quarters, a little chopped celery and some chopped nuts, mix together with Miracle whip. This can be served on bread or on a lettuce leaf.

There are always the old stand-bys of hot dogs with baked beans, hamburgers etc., out on the grill. Tacos, etc. are always a simple summer meal the thing that takes the longest is chopping up the veggies I want to use on them.

Just a few ideas that are quick, simple, and filling.

Hello, I don't know if your children eat vegtables very good but a quick dinner for me is to cut boneless skinless chicken breast in small pieces, brown them in a little oil, add a bag of frozen vegtables or fresh ones whatever kind you like (I add onions and garlic) cook until done and either put in over cooked rice or speghetti. This doesn't take very long and my family loves it. I hope this helps.
If it need liquid I use chicken broth.

Good Morning:

Do you have cable such as Cox Cable? They have the Food Network Channel on Channel 40 and you can get down home recipes from Paula Dean and Sandra Lee (Semi-Homemade). Sandra's early Saturday program showed how to make home made ravioli from wonton wrappers. This might be the route for you. For the holidays, I am signed up for their 'Twelve Days of Cookies' e-newsletter. Their website is at: www.foodnetwork.com

Other sites that I enjoy are About.com's Southern Cooking which is at www.southernfood.about.com and a classic is Southern Living at southernliving.com. Southern Living is a magazine you can find in the library.

Why take a closer look at southern cooking? Southern cooking offers every day comfort foods that people like and want without the pricy exotic ingredients. Last, but not least, bring out your crock pot and have it do some work for you. You can find crock pot recipes at the www.southernliving.com website.

As Paula Dean would say, 'Best Dishes to you.' Good Luck.

I know my advice won't be an immediate fix... but, I can tell you what I do to combat this. First of all, I don't enjoy cooking (at all) I prefer to bake. That being said, I still have to have meals for my family (cereal for dinner only works so many times!) So, a friend and I get together 1 time each month (sometimes more) and we make as many meals to put in the freezer as we can. We make meatloafs, meat balls, freezer jam, lasagnas, pot pie, stroganoff, spaghetti bake - it is a different theme each time. For example: all sausage dishes (to minimize our cost). The last time was all mexican themed with enchiladas and mexican wedding cake cookies. We also make all the desserts that we are going to need for the month. we both entertain alot so we make cookies, bars that can be frozen easily. It works great for us especially during the crazy summer months. One day of chaos for a month of cooking free!
The other thing we do is do meal plans together and try to do as much on the grill as possible during the summer months.
We utilize the Quick & Tasty website from Taste of Home. Kraft Foods has some great ideas too!

Hi E.!
Do I have the answer for you!! Check out my website at www.homemadegourmet.com/sherri20571 . If you have never heard of Homemade Gourmet, you will love it! I have been with the company for almost 3 years, and when I came accross it,I was in the same situation as you are. HG is easy to prepare, economical, made from scratch meals and meal solutions. I can teach you how to prepare your meals ahead of time and make cooking fun again. We have a program called the HG Perferred, no fee or contract, you can do monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly orders and can cancel anytime if you want. Each monthly bundle of products comes with recipes and grocery list to make the recipes provided for the month, with the products in the listed bundle. You get a 20% discount, Free magazine subscription, Free product offers and discounts, its awesome!!! Not sure where you are located but I do home parties also, I like to call them cooking classes!!
Check out my website, then let me know if I can tell you more. HG is designed for mom's like you with a family!
Hope to be able to tell you more!!!!
S.

One of my all time favorites is Chicken Caccitore. It is very healty and is done on the stovetop, so it doesn't make the whole house hot. I use Giant Eagle frozen chicken tenders, but you are able to use any chicken and any amount.

Chicken Caccitore
4 chicken breasts or tenders
1 sliced green pepper
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, sliced
1 small can of stewed tomatoes (like 15 oz or so)
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the chicken in a skillet (use one with a lid) until it is cooked all the way through. Add the green pepper, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, water,and Ialian Seasoning. Cover and let simmer for 5-10 minutes until all is hot and reduced down to about 1/2. Serve over rice or noodles for a complete meal.

Allrecipes.com is a great place to check out, too. People rate the recipes so you can read their suggestions to make the recipe great!

~J.~

I rely on Allrecipes.com they have TONS of easy and yummy recipes to try we've found tons of new favorites. One staple is Chicken Parmesan
8 drumsticks
1 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 t pepper
3/4 t salt
1 egg
mix parm, pepper and salt together
beat egg in seperate bowl, dip legs in egg mixture and then roll in parm mix to coat.
Bake at 400 for 45 min.
My kids and husband LOVE it we have it almost every week! You can use chicken breasts too.
Good luck!

I love www.kraftfoods.com everything seems quick and easy. Plus everything I have tried tastes excellent.

I make alot of "quick and easy" using egg noodles and soups. I make chicken and noodles w/ mashed potatoes using egg noodles and cream of chicken soup. After you cook the noodles, add soup and a little milk w/ some seasoning. Another one is fettucini. Egg noodles w/ the alfredo sauce and Tyson pre-cooked chicken pcs and broccoli. Cheesy Potato soup-Cook potatoes until soft, add campbell's cheese or cheese and broccoli, milk, bacon, velveeta cheese cubed, any other fun veggies ie:onion. Good Luck!

There is a great place on Polaris parkway called Entree Vous. it's a meal prep kitchen. They do all the chopping, dicing and everything is fresh. The meals are delicous and all you need to do is assemble them or order to be picked up. www.entreevous.com
Give them a try. Lots of grilling for the summer.

My children like oriental burgers. You can season the hamburger and make meatballs, hamburger patties, meatloaf or put the seasoned hamburger in wonton shells.

1 pound hamburger, 1/2 cup brownsugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or replace soy sauce with 4 tablespoons shoyu)

For meatballs I double the brown sugar for a sweeter taste.

For oriental hamburger patties, I use the recipe as written.

For meatloaf, use the seasoning listed instead of catsup or BBQ sauce for taste. Then add the garlic, dried onions, and oatmeal as you normally would.

For wontons, buy a package of shells (approx 40 per package). Put no more than 1 tablespoon of the mix in the shell. Rub a light coat of egg white on the border of the shell. Roll into a snake shape and pinch ends closed. Fry in pan of oil for 3/-4 minutes... should be golden brown. Serve with a drizzle of oil sauce over them.

My boys absolutely love the wontons, hamburgers and meatballs. It's a family favorite for three generations.

I found this website that turned out to be a God-send for thousands of people like you (and me). It is called www.savingdinner.com and she provides you with a meal plan each week, complete with shopping list. She has different plans for different situations (i.e. Healthy Heart, Frugal, CrockPot, Low Carb, etc), and every one of them is delicious, quick and easy to make, and healthy and well balanced. She also has several books that you can purchase if you do not want to subscribe to the menus on the website, all providing the same service as the website. Also everything is seasonal, meaning that the book is broken down into seasons, and the website sends menus based on the season, so that you can get the most out of your fresh produce department by not having to buy out of season ingredients that cost more.

Ask your children what they would like to fix, there are some great kids cookbooks out there. My mother used to have each child fix a meal one day a week and the family ate whatever they fixed and praised the cook, sometimes made suggestions too. Of course the menu had to be ok'd by mom or dad first. We had some very interesting sandwiches and desserts, kids have a great imagination.

There is a site, cafemom.com. There are several groups and 1 of them is crockpot moms. There are lots of cooking sites on there, but I like this 1 because it gives you menus and what you need for your shopping list. Just check the list against what you have on hand and you are ready to grocery shop. My email is ____@____.com, if you want I can invite you to join and I will need your email to do that. Just send that to me or you can go to to the site on your own like I did. I am grannymama13 on cafe.mom. Come be my friend.

this is a fav. at my house...

one box "steak ums" philly steak slices
1 package brown gravy mix
2 cans sliced mushrooms
hoaggie rolls
shredded mozerella cheese

break frozen steak slices into 2 in. pieces and fry with drained sliced mushrooms...drain grease and prepair gravy as directed on package & add to meat/mushrooms & return to stove and stir until gravy is thickened. then prepair hoaggies like sloppy joes & top with cheese. it takes about 20 minutes to cook & serve....enjoy!!

One of my friends gave me a great cook book called: "Great Fixes with Mixes". It basically takes pre-mixed/boxed foods and uses them in recipes. We love it and have recommended it to two other friends that love it also. Cheapest place I've found it is on ebay.

I am a personal chef that specializes with busy moms. I am a recent stay at home mom and I am starting my own business called Dining Divas. I can cook meals in a person's home than freeze them so all you have to do is thaw and reheat. I also provide instructional dinners parties so that I can educated women on simple recipes with a gourmet touch without having to go to expensive restaurants. Also this is a great way to entertain guests. My phone number is ###-###-#### if you have any questions.
A. von Eiff
Dining Divas

Hi E.,

I understand how you feel. With 7 people in the house I am always cooking for an army and I always tend to make the same things because they are easy and make a ton of food. Things like goulash, spaghetti, chilli.

Every month or so I go to www.recipezaar.com and look for new things to make. The great thing about this website is that it has a recipe sifter. If you go to recipes and open the recipe sifter you can click on the things you want in a recipe. For example, last time I put in "main dish", "30 minutes or less", and "easy" and it gave me all the recipes that fell into those combined categories. Then I sorted them by rating (because people will write in and rate them once they have tried them) and got the ones people tried and liked.

I make goulash alot and my kids love it. I will cut the recipe in half for you:

1 lb. hamburger meat
Lawry's season salt
onion powder
garlic powder
8 oz. (1/2 box) ziti or rotini pasta
1 lg. (26 oz. can) tomato soup
1 c. cheddar cheese
2 dashes worchestershire sauce
2 dashes soy sauce

Season hamburger with Lawry's, onion powder and garlic powder and fry. Drain.
While meat is cooking, cook noodles according to package directions then drain.
In large pot combine meat, noodles, soup, 2 dashes ea. worchestershire and soy sauce. Add cheese and mix thoroughly.

This recipe takes about 30 minutes and my kids and husband love it.

I also turn to my grill alot in the summer. I grill steaks, burgers, hotdogs, brats, chicken, pork chops. I peel and cube potatoes, coat them in olive oil, kosher salt, onion powder and minced garlic. Then I put them in a foil packet and grill them with the meat. They are done in about 20 - 25 minutes.

Good luck finding new stuff.

L.

I hardly ever feel the urge to cook, but sometimes get inspired by my Kraft Food and Family magazine. If you go to the website, www.kraftfoods.com, you can sign up to get a magazine sent to you periodically. Not only are the recipes easy, but there are pictures of everything, and the ingredients are pretty simple and affordable. It may be the inspiration you need.