My "Cooking" Tips

This post would be more accurate if I titled it, “My ‘Ways to Get Around Actually Cooking’ Tips.” You have already learned that I don’t like to cook, but what you don’t know is that I am good at making it look like I cook. Thankfully, Chuck and the girls are pretty easy to please when it comes to dinner. I knew that I found a man that even I could cook for when the first meal that he ever made for me included a square piece of fish! He tried! Here are my cooking guidelines:

Recipes

1. A recipe cannot have more than 5 ingredients. However, if several of the ingredients are canned items, I will modify my 5 ingredient rule.
2. A recipe cannot have more than 3 steps.

Cooking Meat

1. Buy the pre-marinated meat at the grocery store.
2. Grill it because most husbands will want to handle the grill or at least make sure it’s cleaned properly before it’s put away.
3. If you want to get fancy and marinade your own meat, a Ziploc bag and either salad dressing or one of Stubb’s marinades are fabulous.

Side Dishes

1. Frozen vegetable are just as healthy for you and your family than fresh…and you don’t have to clean or cut them yourself. My new favorite frozen vegetables are Birds Eye Steamfresh. You simply throw the bag in the microwave for five minutes and you get vegetables that taste like you just picked them out of the garden, cut them into bite-sized pieces and steamed them. Yummy and easy! There isn’t even water to drain!
2. I would be happy with only having vegetables for a side dish, but Chuck and the girls like their carbohydrates, so I usually serve up rice or pasta. Again, I try to avoid actually taking a pan out, so my usual choice is Rice-A-Roni Express. They have a bunch of new varieties and my family loves them!
3. If I feel like “really cooking,” I’ll cook up some Knorr/Lipton Rice or Pasta Sides. It requires a saucepan, but only water and what’s in the package.

Miscellaneous

1. Look into one of those places where you go to put together the ingredients for your meals and come home with a variety of dishes that are easy to throw in the oven or cook on the stovetop. There are several in our area – Super Suppers, Dream Dinners, and Dinner Station. What I love about these places is that I don’t have to do the prep work for the recipes and I don’t have to clean up when I’m done! It also helps me get around deciding what to have for dinner.
2. Every once in awhile I’ll say to Chuck that I’m craving some of his spaghetti sauce or chili. These two items are the two special things that he makes in the kitchen (in addition to cakes!). We can get a few meals out of the chili or spaghetti sauce!
3. When I don’t want to cook, I’ll say to Chuck, “I don’t have a plan for dinner tonight. Any ideas?” He’ll usually say, “Let’s go out.” To which I will enthusiastically reply, “Okay!”
4. Designate one night as pizza night. We go out for pizza every Thursday night.

If you have any tips to help me get around cooking, please share! What are we having for dinner tonight? We’re going to Cristina’s!

**I do not have any affiliation with Birds Eye, Knorr, Lipton, Stubbs or Rice-A-Roni!