For way too long my wife, sons, and I have lived off of frozen foods
or eaten out due to too many busy schedules. I'd like to start
preparing a good meal at home a couple of nights a week while my
schedule is open for a while.

Is anyone aware of a cookbook or website that covers complete meals
and some that aren't extremely over the top? Everything I've seen
seems to be primarily individual recipes without much on what else to
prepare with them and many of the recipes are fairly complicated.

I've searched here and elsewhere without much success. Any
recommendations greatly appreciated.

Folk...

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:06:12 -0600, Folklore > wrote:

>For way too long my wife, sons, and I have lived off of frozen foods
>or eaten out due to too many busy schedules. I'd like to start
>preparing a good meal at home a couple of nights a week while my
>schedule is open for a while.
>
>Is anyone aware of a cookbook or website that covers complete meals
>and some that aren't extremely over the top? Everything I've seen
>seems to be primarily individual recipes without much on what else to
>prepare with them and many of the recipes are fairly complicated.
>
>I've searched here and elsewhere without much success. Any
>recommendations greatly appreciated.

Search on "menu cookbook" The first hit turned up

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...30411?v=glance

which looks like exactly what you want.

"Folklore" > wrote in message
...
> For way too long my wife, sons, and I have lived off of frozen foods
> or eaten out due to too many busy schedules. I'd like to start
> preparing a good meal at home a couple of nights a week while my
> schedule is open for a while.
>
> Is anyone aware of a cookbook or website that covers complete meals
> and some that aren't extremely over the top? Everything I've seen
> seems to be primarily individual recipes without much on what else to
> prepare with them and many of the recipes are fairly complicated.
>
> I've searched here and elsewhere without much success. Any
> recommendations greatly appreciated.

Look for Martha Stewart's new publication at the supermarket called
"Everyday Food." It is a small format magazine with good, but simple meals
that use a minimal number of easily available ingredients. You can see more
information he
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jh...page=1&si te=

Do you have a used bookstore around? To make it even easier on
yourself, look for a one-pot-meal cookbook. They can often be made in a
crockpot, and all you need to add is bread or fruit or dessert to have a
complete meal.

If not, don't panic. There are no "meal police" who will come around
saying "you shouldn't have served green beans with that dish, a salad of
mezclun greens topped with Russian dressing or olive oil/balsamic
vinegraitte should have been used."

Are you familiar with the food pyramid? (I'm not being patronizing, I
simply don't know what information you have already found.) It's a good
rough guide to what a nutritious meal SHOULD contain. Lots of complex
carbs: bread, potatoes, rice, pasta. (Potatoes can go in the bottom of
the crockpot, rice steams in an hour in a steamer, pasta can be ready in
1/2 hour from starting cold water to boil on the stove -- I assume you
don't have tons of time for cooking.) Generous amounts of fruits and
vegetables -- I stock up on frozen veggies when they are on sale and
often add them to main dish recipes. You *can* use fruit in main
dishes, but it is also a nice light end-of-meal finish. Small amounts
of meat/cheese/fat as flavoring. Not the typical meat-and-potatoes diet
you probably grew up on, but quite manageable.

Also, consider your family's tastes. First, remember that if the kids
are used to fast food, it may well take them a while to get used to
something that isn't loaded with salt and preservatives. The rule at
our house is that they have to TRY everything with a genuinely open
mind, but if they really don't like something, they can stay hungry or
eat bread. (I have a bread machine and always have homemade bread on
hand; since it's the bottom of the food pyramid anyway, I don't mind if
they fill up on it.) You'll learn that some dishes just won't be
appreciated. My DH doesn't like pork, mustard, onions, garlic, anything
spicy, olives, pickles, tomatoes (except spaghetti/pizza sauce), and a
few other things I can't remember. I generally omit these items unless
I'm trying a recipe that calls for them, and then he just keeps his
mouth shut and tries the recipe like the rest of the family. My
daughter doesn't like onions or mushrooms, my son is weirdly
unpredictable. While I love a thick hearty soup when it's cold out, no
one else likes soup, so I've reluctantly put aside most soup recipes.
(I'm not a short-order cook, and the rule in this house is "you have two
choices for dinner: take it or leave it," but I do try to accommodate
their tastes.)

Do you have a crockpot? It really makes nutritious one-pot cooking easy
and is a lifesaver to busy cooks. I thought I had a make-your-own
crockpot dish recipe but couldn't find it so I wrote this up:

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.04

Title: Make-Your-Own Crockpot Dinner
Categories: Crockpot, Favorite
Yield: 4 servings

MMMMM-----------------COPYRIGHT 2003 S. STEIGER----------------------
2 lb Meat; chicken thighs or
-cheap beef or pork cuts

MMMMM-----------------------START WITH ONE----------------------------
4 Potatoes; washed & quartered
1 c Barley; pearled
1 c Rice; not quick-cook

MMMMM----------------IF USING RICE OR BARLEY, ADD---------------------
2 c Water

MMMMM-----------------------ADD SEASONINGS----------------------------
1 Onions; thicksliced or whole
4 Garlic cloves; crushed/whole
4 ts Spices, dried; basil,
-rosemary, tarragon, dill
-weed, oregano, thyme,
-celery seed but NO SALT

MMMMM---------------------ADD AT LEAST ONE:--------------------------
1 c Wine; red or white
1/2 c Vinegar; wine or cider
1 c Juice, orange; or other mild
-citrus juice
1/2 c Juice, lemon; or lime
1 c Tomato sauce
28 oz Tomatoes, canned

MMMMM----------------AN HOUR BEFORE SERVING, ADD---------------------
16 oz Vegetables, frozen; green
-beans, corn, squash, peas

MMMMM-------------------LAST MINUTE SEASONING------------------------
1 tb Honey
1 ts Cinnamon, ground
1/2 ts Black pepper, ground
2 ts Worcestershire sauce
1/2 ts Liquid smoke
1/2 ts Tabasco
2 ts Soy sauce

Layer the rice, potatoes, or barley on the bottom of the crockpot
first.

Cut the meat into serving-size chunks if desired; makes serving
quicker but isn't necessary. Layer it on top of the rice, potatoes,
or barley. Tougher cuts of game meats are fine if you like, but I
recommend no fish or chicken breasts. Fish cooks too quickly and
chicken breasts toughen to cardboard during the long crockpot cooking.

Add seasonings to taste. Since my family doesn't like to taste
onion, I leave it whole and throw it away after cooking; if your
family likes onion, chop it coarsely. Anything chopped finely will
turn to mush before the cooking is done. Dried leaf or seed spices
work great, but if your family will complain about bits of dried
spice in their teeth, use half the given amount of ground spices.
Also, if you're not experienced at using spices, use just one spice
at a time to start. Later, you can remember what the different
spices taste like and try (for instance) half tarragon and half
basil, or one teaspoon each of oregano, thyme, basil, and celery
seed. BIG WARNING: NO SALT! It toughens the meat and keeps the
starch from softening. Have salt on the table if people want to add
it, but don't be surprised if you find it's flavorful enough to not
need salt.

Pour your liquid of choice over the meat. Generally you'll just
choose one liquid, but if you feel adventurous, try combining them.
The acid in the liquids helps tenderize as well as flavor the meat.

This is easy to put together the night before and start cooking on
LOW in the morning. About an hour before you plan on serving dinner,
add the frozen vegetables. Even a child can do this if taught to
safely take the crockpot cover off, distribute the frozen vegetables
evenly around the top, and put the cover back on.

Stir in one or more of the last-minute seasonings if desired; they
aren't necessary.

Serve! Most crockpot dishes finish with much more liquid than they
started, so you might want to serve in bowls. Or use a straining
serving spoon and thicken the liquid into gravy, or save it for a
soup later.

Recipe courtesy of www.SteigerFamily.com: written 11/1/2003 based on
years of crockpot cooking. This is a GUIDE, not an ironclad recipe.
If you don't like garlic, leave it out. If you think of another acid
liquid you'd prefer to the ones given, try it. If the seasoning
amount is more or less than you like, change it! If you find
something I haven't listed that works fabulously, please Email me
through my website and let me know!

MMMMM




--
Sylvia Steiger RN, homeschooling mom since Nov 1995
http://www.SteigerFamily.com
Cheyenne WY, USDA zone 5a, Sunset zone 1a
Home of the Wyoming Wind Festival, January 1-December 31
Remove "removethis" from address to reply

Folklore > asked in message
...
> For way too long my wife, sons, and I have lived off of frozen
> foods or eaten out due to too many busy schedules. I'd like
> to start preparing a good meal at home a couple of nights a
> week while my schedule is open for a while.
>
> Is anyone aware of a cookbook or website that covers complete
> meals and some that aren't extremely over the top? [..]

Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker book
[A search at barnesandnoble.com offered several dozen other slow cooker book
choices.]

Betty Crocker's Cook Book
Pillsbury Cook Book
Better Home & Garden Cook Book
(All three of these are binder books. Search any used bookstore.)

Taste of Home magazine
<
http://www.tasteofhome.com

Quick Cooking Magazine
<
http://www.quickcooking.com

I follow the simple rule of providing a main, a side starch, a side
green/vegetable, a side salad, and beverage. I will generally make one side
dish that everyone likes so that when I introduce a new item (or one that
doesn't normally get added) to our rotation, the potential dramas will be
minimized. This is also a great time to introduce your sons to cooking for
the family. The sooner you do this, the better prepared they'll be for
college when they're off on there own.

The Ranger