Don't get me wrong - living on junk food and snack is great. But after a month of milk and Oreo cookies I start craving for something more nourishing (you know, meat, salads, something) For those of us who are, or are planning, on living alone a few easy recipes wouldn't hurt. Toss anything you know here - pasta, meat, fish, salads, Sandwiches! Anything that's remotely eatable goes here (a few cocktail recipes will also be welcome). Only one but - please don't post stuff that takes 5+ hours to cook, few of us have the time (my guess is 3 hours is ok).

So, begin. If your mom has any secret family recipes, try to steal them from her :shifty:

You can't beat Toast and Beans as a student.

so you did make it! ^_^

yer cheese on toast is great too or grated cheddar with baked beans on toast!

Also a grilled chese sandwich is great. :heh:

easy dish = meat + veg + sauce of choice + mash on top...in the oven it goes + grated cheese when nearly done = your dish for a day or two!

bake cookies!
cookies are healthy..right?

lol.. cookies are never good for you =P home bake just isnt as bad as the cookies you buy... lol

anywayz.. try omelettes? they are easy to make.. i think..
jus beat up one... add a few little things here... maybe salt and pepper...
add some vegies and stuf.. and cook it.. and there ya go...
bobs your uncle!!! well maybe he isnt... but anywayz..

~If you're doing a combination meal e.g. cooking vegies in one pan, frying meat in another and rice in yet another, have a look at the cooking times for each one and figure out what order you need to start them off in so that they're all ready at around the same time. It means a bit of rushing around at the end but it's worth it to have all your food hot and ready at the same time instead of one part going cold while the other part is still cooking!

~When frying meat e.g. pork, chicken, beef, don't have the pan temperature too high when putting the meat into the pan because as soon as you do the oil will start spitting and bubbling like a mad thing and it hurts to get splattered! Don't do a me and stand about three feet away from the pan slinging the meat bits in with a pair of tongs XD

~One of the tricky things with cooking is estimating when things are ready:
White meat - Is ready when the thickest bit of meat in the pan is cooked through, you can check this by spearing it to see if it's tender or cutting it open to ensure it's white and flaky all the way through. If any bits are transparent it ain't ready!
Pasta - Depends how you like it; scoop a bit up on the spoon and cut it in half - if it's tough to cut it needs to be in there longer, but if you like yours al dente chew on a bit to see if it's the right texture.
Vegetables - Potatoes are ready if you can stick a knife through the middle with no difficulty. If the potato falls apart when you do this it's overcooked!

~Marinades are fun to make and really add taste to your meat - just get a bowl, chuck in some olive oil, chopped onion, random herbs/spices of your choice, any sauces that take your fancy (great way to use up leftovers - sweet'n'sour, soy, tomato, whatever) and anything else you think might taste good, then cut up your meat bits and chuck 'em in. The longer they marinade, the better they taste, so do this right at the start and then put it in the fridge while you're doing everything else.

~Adding cheese to mashed potato makes it taste heaps nicer!

General tips from experience ;)

Quickie Chicken/Ham Salad sandwiches:

Empty 1 can (drained) each of Chunk White Chicken Breast (large [10 oz.+] can preferred) and Chunk Ham into a medium (2 quart) bowl. Use fork to mash it all together until viscous. Stir in mayonaisse (approx. 1/2-3/4 cup or until smooth) and approx 1/8 cup Sweet Pickle Relish. Spread liberally on bread, bagels or burger buns and enjoy!

Mock Strawberry Shortcake (No, I don't mean that you should insult the cartoon character... :rolleyes:):

Whip 1/2 pint of Heavy (whipping) Cream in bowl. (Be careful *not* to let it turn to butter!) Fold in one can of Whole Jellied Cranberries. Serve on Angel Food Cake wedges or cups.

(I'll probably edit this as I think up more stuff.)

I really really hate to say this but...

How do you make all this??? :heh: :heh:

HELP!!!!! for example, recently I tried to make fried rice, but it doesn't look a bit like the fried rice I usually eat at the local chinese take out. How come?

Hints: If, you're making omelete, add cheese so that when it cook you get, uh, omelete with cheese

A good recipe for shrimps: just take a frying pan, add oil (w/ garlic) or just make some sort of garlic sauce) and throw raw shrimps onto it (they'll be Green). They cook in a few minutes, just remeber to turn them over after some time

HELP!!!!! for example, recently I tried to make fried rice, but it doesn't look a bit like the fried rice I usually eat at the local chinese take out. How come?


I think it's because they add some additive stuff in there sometimes. They put stuff excessively in I reckon. You should heat the oil, then put some chopped onions in first. Cook for a while before adding the rice. Drizzle the egg randomly and add anything else you want to add. I think that's how you do it. I've never tried but from what I remember seeing my parents doing it should work. I just hope I remembered it right... :heh:

^its right!

Get a sirloin steak, prefeably an 8oz steak,

lightly flame grill to medium/rare, or to the rest of europe medium/well done. making sure to turn continuosly. then melt on some herb and Garlic butter and serve with chips and salad.

more accurate description requires a PM ^_^

Originally posted by Alone@May 28 2005, 01:08 PM
I really really hate to say this but...

How do you make all this??? :heh: :heh:

HELP!!!!! for example, recently I tried to make fried rice, but it doesn't look a bit like the fried rice I usually eat at the local chinese take out. How come?
I think they also use a different kind of rice. I'm not sure which kind, but you can ask at your local chinese resuraunt and they will probably tell you. Here's my quick recipe for friend rice.

Ingrediants: Instant rice, 2 eggs(beaten), soy sauce, various veggies or meats...

First, make your instant rice by using the instructions on it. Make as much as you want!
Sencond, break out a pan, but some oil (vegetable oil or similar) and put the 2 beaten eggs in it. Make sure it forms a very thin layer. When it's done, remove it from the pan and chop it up in tiny little pieces.
Put the rice in the same (hot) pan (add more oil if needed), then add the chopped eggs and fry, STIR CONSTANTLY. We don't want it to stick to the pan, now do we? Also, you can add in any veggies you want. I like to use stir fry veggies that come frozen. You can add meat too, if you want, but make sure you cooked it before hand. Just about anything will work in fried rice and it's good for using leftover meats. After you've added in your eggs, veggies, and whatever, slowly add in soy sauce while frying. Add as much as you want, but stop when it gets golden brown.


Enjoy! ^^ I make this all the time, it's way yummy and fast.

my family recipie..................well, its not a "Family" recipie, but my family makes it...

NON-instant rice (the fresher the better. look for a really recent harvest date on the bag) about 2 cups

a whole, guttet chicken, un cooked

tomateo, letuce or cabbage>wouldnt recomend cabbage though, green fresh spices, other vergies if youl like

1) as you soak the rice in warm watter, you chop the limbs off the chicken and boil it untill its cooked.
2) take out the chicken stuff and put the rice with out the watter in it. pour out the chicken stock untill there is only about an inch of stock over the rice ( dont use canned stock! use the one you get while boiling the rice!
3) as the rice is cooking VERY SLOWLY, cut/peal the chicken untill they are very small, thin peices. about half the thickness of your pinky and an inch long.
4)about 20-30 min after you started cooking the rice, cheek it, it should be almost done and a little mushy. stir every few min.
5) when the rice is done ( a LITTLE musshy) take it out. but if you want come crunchy rice, leave it in and stir alot. you will soon get a few peices of very brown rice that is very cheewy but not burnt. those are very good!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

@ shashiro.

heres another way to add the rice and egg. get a wok and put the cooked rice on the sides so there is a hole/crater in the center. then pour in the eggs and let it stand for 30 seconds and start to stir constantly. when your done, the rice will be compleatly coated with egg's!
6) place the rice on a plate and the veggies over it. last comes the chicken and spices of your choice.

For fried rice: I just remembered that you use leftover rice. So if you ate a meal before you would boil the rice. If the rice is still not finished, then you use it. Don't use rice that you haven't already boiled.

ok, well i was recently taught how to cook fried rice recently on msn.. :heh:
so here goes...

firstly, you start fryin up some vegies and meat and stuff and whatever else you want in your fried rice....
then you add COOKED rice... add some water so its not too dry and so that the rice doesnt stick...
and erhh... thats all i was taught O_O" so dont ask me about adding salt or anything.. lol

well hoped that helped XD

Easiest ever choc chip cookies (my fave recipe!!! One I can't screw up XD)

Ingredients:
-75g butter
-50g caster sugar
-125g self-rasing flour
- As many choc chips as you want

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Melt the butter and then mix it in with the caster sugar until all the lumps are gone
3. Gradually add the flour and mix in (if it's too dry, add a little bit of milk to help it mix)
4. Add the choccie chips and stir through well
5. Put in the oven on trays which have been lined with baking paper and make until they are light brown and not too squishy to touch.

Conclusion:
EAT AND ENJOY! (They're yummy :D)

once i've learnt a reicipe, i generally don't use it anymore and go by instinct etc. I have now mastered cakes, cookies, muffins, scones...um...can't think of any more. I'm a baking demon! If you need help I'll see what i can do ^_^

with rice, here's little tip

If you can, get one of those nifty little plastic micrwave containers. about the size of three bowls put together. Put in desired amount of rice, wash three times (habit taught by my mum ^^) then put in water about a cm above the rice level, or however much you want, depending on how soft/hard you want your rice.

Microwave it, stirring every ten minutes for 20-30 mins. if you make more rice, stir in intervals of 10-10-20. Well, I THINK that's what my mum does...and what i do ^^;



my recipe for cakes and cookies just include eggs, milk, sugar, self-raising flour, oil, other ingrdients depending on flavour of cake

if anyone wants an indepth whatever of bakey stuff, just post. I'll do my best! *punches skyward*

How do you stir something in the microwave O.o Do i have to take it out, stir, and put it back in???

Does anyone know how to make a sauce or something of that kind...

Heh, I don't know how to cook anything but I do know how to make an 'interesting' side dish (I guess you can eat it as a main course...). :lol:

'Bacon and Corn Mash Potatoe':

Duration: 30 Minutes if you have all the ingredients you need.

Ingredients: -2 Potatoes
- Bacon bits (as much as you like)
- Corn nibblets (as much as you like)
- one or two slices of cheddar cheese
- Ranch Dressing, or Mayonnese Dressing
- Milk

Procedure:

1. Bake the potatoes in microwave for like 2-3 minutes.
2. Peel the potatoes.
3. Now mash the two potatoes with a fork or a spoon while continuosly adding milk in it, but don't add too much milk, or else it will get all soggy and yucky in the end.
4. Once the mash potatoe look 'mashed-up' enough, add in bacon, and corn and mix it all up.
5. Now, after all the mixing and mashing, the mash potatoe will be cooled so now put it in the microwave and cook it for like 2-3 more minutes, but before that, put slices of cheese on top of the mash potatoe.
6. When you take it out from the oven, you can now add any kind of dressings you like and voila, you have a 'somewhat healthy' yet tasty mash potatoe! ^.^

tip: when cooking with mushrooms, to get the best results of taste DO NOT wash the mushrooms with water!!!! if the mushroom is dirty simply grab some sort of cloth thingy and wipe it. because under the mushroom is those pores thingys which will absorb heaps of water and therfor will not absorb much flavour when cooking

^_^ C..O...O..K...I...E...S...! ^_^ I'll try that sometime! (If I remember)

roasting a chicken:-

wash and cut off all the unedible bits (e.g. neck and ends of feet), cut away all the icky excess fat, season with salt and pepper generously, prod holes into it with knife and stuff a clove of garlic into each hole (NOTE: optional depending on your taste! Also I think cookable herbs can be placed instead of/with the garlic), preheat oven to 220 (fan assisted), shove chicken in after it has been left to marinate for a few hours (longer the better), after 15-20mins turn heat down to 180 and after about 1 hour- 1 hour 15mins it should be ready! Yay! ^_^

In addition to this, if you stuff a whole orange inside the chicken it helps it to retain its moisture a bit :)

Incidentally... self-catering students starting at Uni next year or in the years to come, would you be interested in a website that lists what things you might need to take, useful start off recipes, start-off food list for the first week etc? Obviously your parents would be teaching you stuff too, this is just like a guide for people who don't know where to start - if it's worthwhile, then I'll make one :)

Well I would be interested. I think zach should enlighten us with his food experience at uni :P baked beans on toast all the way baby!

Okay, so that's one... any others?

Wow! My mom makes the same thing as your family Radical Dreamer! But slightly different. That dish is like the comfort food in my house ^^. Um...you could also try making potato wedges? It's a bit healthier than the packaged fries. You just wash the potatoes, peel if necessary, cut in wedges, drizzle with olive oil (just enough to coat slightly), salt and pepper to taste, any additional herbs and bake it . The time depends on how big the wedges are. I saw this on tv and was bored one day so I tried it and it was actually pretty good and easy to make.

Yea! A Rice porrage lover! I love that stuff, I get it all the time at resturaunts....

Also, about fried Rice, dont try to make it complacated or get the red color unless you already know how to, becuase I found out the simpler the better with fried rice. I make a really simple kind:

2 cups of cooked and cooled rice (room temp)

1/2-2/3 of a bag of frozen veggies (kidney beans, carrots, green bean etc.)

All Spice (as much or little as you want)

Sliced meat (any thing you want, chicken, beef, pork, even burger patty, but it has to be cooked first)

5 beat eggs (Cooked and sliced in strips)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just add the rice and meat and stir around, and then turn down the heat and add the veggies, then everything else, stur more and your done...

Yea! A Rice porrage lover! I love that stuff, I get it all the time at resturaunts....

Also, about fried Rice, dont try to make it complacated or get the red color unless you already know how to, becuase I found out the simpler the better with fried rice. I make a really simple kind:

2 cups of cooked and cooled rice (room temp)

1/2-2/3 of a bag of frozen veggies (kidney beans, carrots, green bean etc.)

All Spice (as much or little as you want)

Sliced meat (any thing you want, chicken, beef, pork, even burger patty, but it has to be cooked first)

5 beat eggs (Cooked and sliced in strips)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just add the rice and meat and stir around, and then turn down the heat and add the veggies, then everything else, stur more and your done...

Everything has a different cooking time. Your method risks giving yourself food poisoning unless you're actually willing to burn the rice to cook the meat. All the extras should go in the pan before the rice really.

I sid the meat HAS to be cooked before added into the rice. The only point of turning up the heat it to heat it up and un-freeze the veggies. Everything is pree cooked with fried rice. All you do when everything is ready is mix it together :)

So, hungry now *drools* . So, any holiday recipes/hints out there?

Yes....

Cangie/Baba (rice porage for the rest of you)

1 medium, boiled chicken (bones taken off and meat shreaded by hand)
Some Lemon Grass stalks

Meat Balls

Rice and Water

TIP My tip for cooking rice is you add water so that an inch of standing water shows above the rice. But for Rice Porage you would add enough water so that 2 1/5 - 3 inches of standing water shows above the surface of the rice.

~

Well theres nothing much to do. Just add everything together and sense the Chicken is already cooked and the meat balls should be cooked too, all there is to do is wait for the rice to puff up thats it. BUT, the porrage needs to be soupy, like a stew thats not to thick.

And to top off the Rice Porrage put some black pepper over it, some lemon wedges, celentro and thats that.

ALTERNATIVE

Just over water some rice, cook it and add Soy Sauce to taste.

oops, wrong post. hehe. anyway, dont use liquid fat in baking pies. use margarine or butter^_^