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I also love the crock pot, I don't use it as much as I should, but it's so convenient and quick.
If I really don't know what to make, I search for fast recipes on the back of containers. My French's mustard bottle has a recipe for easy sloppy joes, homemade. I made them last week, took 10 minutes to make 'em, we had french fries and a salad. Took about 30 mins including the fries. It was fun to make too.
Sometimes soup cans, salad dressing bottles, Bisquick boxes, BBQ bottles, etc - they'll have a ton of easy recipes. Campbell's Kitchen online has a ton of real easy ones to choose from. And all are very good.
and the wonderful thing about todays crock pots, they come in all sizes. I have a 1.5 quart one I use for the 2 of us, a 3 qt when making sauses, like today and the 6 qt one when we are having a gang overy for soup or I can use it for all kinds of things when preparing the holiday dinner.
I also say to start with the crock pot. There are so many delicious recipes and many cookbooks on crock pot cooking. I didn't read all of the posts but Reynolds has crock pot liners you put in your crock pot and clean up is virtually nothing. The nice thing about cooking this way she can put everything in the pot at night and put in in the refrigerator, plug it in before going to work and dinner is made when you walk through the door.
29 y.o. daughter lives 400 miles away with SO in studio apartment with very little storage. She is discouraged by her cooking attempts and says she is too tired coming home from work to even want to cook so grabs a sub or cereal for supper. She gets a great free lunch at work every day so I don't know how much incentive she has to really learn how to cook. She says everything she makes is a failure but once in a while she posts pic on her FB. Money is tight between the 2 of them as he is in graduate school.
How can I help her? I've started off by making a list of bare essentials in way of equipment, herbs, appliances she will need. I also suggested she won't learn to love cooking until she has a few successes under her belt so she shouldn't try anything except basics like baked chicken and pork chops, meat balls, pork tenderloin, etc. I think SO would like to join in as they are spending way too much money on eating out.
What else can I do to boost her confidence or help her learn to cook. She was so involved in extra curricular activities after school that she rarely helped me in the kitchen and here she is with no cooking skills. very sad. I had even less experience when I was newly married but I quickly learned how to cook and enjoyed it very much. My two 10 y.o. girls know their way around the kitchen better than oldest daughter does!
It sounds to me like it is not a priority to her. You can't change people. If she comes to you asking for help, then offer it, but trying to force her to change her lifestyle is going to be frustrating and ultimately futile. Maybe when she meets a fella she will get interested in learning wife skills.
It sounds to me like it is not a priority to her. You can't change people. If she comes to you asking for help, then offer it, but trying to force her to change her lifestyle is going to be frustrating and ultimately futile. Maybe when she meets a fella she will get interested in learning wife skills.
20yrsinBranson
you did not read the OP. She has been living with her SO for several years now in a very small studio apartment. he is in graduate school and has no time to cook although he is the better cook.
Talked to her last night and she says her crock pot runs too hot so she isn't comfortable leaving anything in it all work day. I told her to get online and find the crockpot she likes the most, a recipe book and a quality immersion blender wand and a good set of freezer containers and I will order them from Amazon for her for Christmas. She was almost crying with joy. I'll also send her some of my own tested recipes. and when she is here for Christmas I will have some recipes ready for us to work on together here to give her some practice. She desperately wants to learn how to cook but her few attempts have not been successful and I know that is discouraging.
Talked to her last night and she says her crock pot runs too hot so she isn't comfortable leaving anything in it all work day. I told her to get online and find the crockpot she likes the most, a recipe book and a quality immersion blender wand and a good set of freezer containers and I will order them from Amazon for her for Christmas. She was almost crying with joy. I'll also send her some of my own tested recipes. and when she is here for Christmas I will have some recipes ready for us to work on together here to give her some practice. She desperately wants to learn how to cook but her few attempts have not been successful and I know that is discouraging.
It sounds like she has a very wise mother.
Yes, having someone give you a hand up when you are struggling can be a powerful empowerment.
Start with the basics, the simple stuff, the things she can master quickly. that will give her the confidence to go farther as she has the time and opportunity.
you did not read the OP. She has been living with her SO for several years now in a very small studio apartment. he is in graduate school and has no time to cook although he is the better cook.
Talked to her last night and she says her crock pot runs too hot so she isn't comfortable leaving anything in it all work day. I told her to get online and find the crockpot she likes the most, a recipe book and a quality immersion blender wand and a good set of freezer containers and I will order them from Amazon for her for Christmas. She was almost crying with joy. I'll also send her some of my own tested recipes. and when she is here for Christmas I will have some recipes ready for us to work on together here to give her some practice. She desperately wants to learn how to cook but her few attempts have not been successful and I know that is discouraging.
What did she try that was not successful? Did she try something too ambitious or just roast the chicken too long and dry it out? When you see her, help her deconstruct the disasters and see what she did wrong. We all learn from our mistakes.
I think one of the hardest things to learn about cooking is coordinating it all so one dish does not get cold while another is still cooking. I have been known to actually make a time line for when things need to start in order to be ready at a specific time.
Sending her your recipes is a great idea. Remind her that some can be doubled: one for now and one to the freezer for another day. Things like chopped veggies for soups and stews can be prepared, then frozen and used as needed. Even with a small apartment, there may be a place to tuck away a small chest freezer if the freezer in the refrigerator is too small. Throw a tablecloth over it and tuck it in a corner somewhere.
When time is short, convenience items can help. A rotisserie chicken can be the foundation for many quick meals. Just add a salad and a simple side dish. Asparagus cooks in the microwave in a bit of water in five minutes.
My mother was a great Southern cook. I basically knew what she did, but I did very little cooking while I lived at home. Then I lived in dormitories for a few years, at a time when there were no heating appliances allowed in the rooms and microwave ovens did not exist. So I still had no need to cook.
When I married, my mother wrote down the directions for me for the basics. My mother in law gave me The Joy of Cooking as a wedding gift, and I went from there. DH and I were both in grad school and super busy, but we had something to eat for dinner each night. Ultimately, my mother's brother gave me the superb compliment when he said I cooked just like my mother and their mother!
I can cook just about anything that has a recipe --- it's just chemistry! I never learned to make scratch biscuits for that reason: Mama did not have a recipe!
suzy- I remember the hardest thing I had trouble with as a new cook was timing everything to be ready at the same time and my mother told me the same thing I told my daughter "It will come with experience". There is a magazine or recipe site which actually does give directions with a time line about when to do what. haven't seen it in awhile. Anybody remember what I'm talking about?
suzy- I remember the hardest thing I had trouble with as a new cook was timing everything to be ready at the same time and my mother told me the same thing I told my daughter "It will come with experience". There is a magazine or recipe site which actually does give directions with a time line about when to do what. haven't seen it in awhile. Anybody remember what I'm talking about?
Heck, I have been married 54 years, started cooking way before that, majored in foods and nuitrition and I still sometimes have trouble with the timing, specially breakfast and holiday meals.
Heck, I have been married 54 years, started cooking way before that, majored in foods and nuitrition and I still sometimes have trouble with the timing, specially breakfast and holiday meals.
For holiday meals, I have to make a menu, noting when to prepare what, and then check and make sure everything is on the buffet when we get ready to serve. I have lots of side dishes, so it's easy to forget something that I made the day before that's in the refrigerator.
The crockpot idea was very good, since she works...and she can prepare satisfying soups, stews and chili in it...and even pot roast. The first thing to do is find out what her favorite dish is and help her find a beginner's version of that. Entrees like casseroles you bake one dish meals are the simplest, she could focus on that, starting out. Are you well heeled financially? You could hire a personal chef to go over to her place and he could coach her on putting together basics. You could buy or rent her some cooking basics videos, or purchase some lessons at a culinary arts school as a gift.
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