Nancy, Apollo, Vanity?  Any thoughts?

Four-year olds are easy to please.  There's a reason why Little Caesar's pizza is so bland.  :)

My favorite dish of all time, during my single-digit years, was as simple as a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup thrown into a pot of cooked macaroni noodles.

I like to bake a nice sweet cake once in a while.  No law says it has to be a birthday.

Or try a home-made pizza, if you want to turn dinner into a big project that the kids will have fun watching.  Make the dough from scratch, roll it out, apply some Ragu and mozzarella, and you've turned dinner into an afternoon of fun and expectation.  :)

Thanks, Apollo.  You know, my husband makes homemade pizza, and it's really good.  He's a better cook than I am, I think, but he has a problem with being a slob, so I do most of the cooking.  He could go in the kitchen to scramble an egg and use 3 frying pans, a colander, a turkey baster, 2 wooden spoons, a cheese grater and the food processor.  I go in the kitchen later and wonder what the hell happened.

It's funny you mention the tomato noodle soup--sadly it's one of my 10 "rut" foods.  I make it for lunch at least once a week, and the kids still aren't sick of it.  Add a yogurt and a cut-up apple, and they'll eat it up...while I'm hiding in the kitchen scarfing the last of the Valentine's candy.

I like a good pot roast in a slow cooker so that you can throw it on and add the veggies while the kids are asleep.  Add salad and french bread and no muss no fuss.

When I cook for the family I do all I can ahead of time and sometimes that means peeling potatoes the night before while watching TV and put them in water over night.  (kids are asleep)

Since I'm a carnivore most things I make are meat lovers delight but here's one you may like.  I call it Spanish Rice Casserole and it comes from my 8th grade home ec class.  Still a favorite.

Lightly brown 2 cups of Minute rice in a half stick of melted margarine.  While it's browning add some onion (I use dehydrated since I don't keep it), a little minced garlic.  Pour into a bowl and reuse the skillet or use another.

Brown 1-1/2 lbs hamburger and drain.  Add the minute rice mixture - one to two cans tomato sauce (depending on how strong you like it) - at least a half can of water for each can of tomato sauce you use -a teaspoon or so salt and heavy shake of black pepper.  Bring it to a boil and remove from heat.  Let it stand 10 minutes or so and check to see if it's about right for you.

Serve with salad and french rolls or bread and there you go.

It's basically fool proof and the great thing is you can add things to it.  Granddaughter used canned diced tomatoes.  The original recipe called for chopped bell pepper.  It' s versatile, wonderful reheated, and easy to do ahead if you like.

Fool around with it making it your won depending on what your family likes.  Or change it up for variety.

Really quick snack -  Take a flour tortilla, a little grated cheese, a dash of BBQ sauce and a hot dog, roll into the tortilla and nuke for 30-40 seconds. My nephews love my "weineritos"...add tater tots for a easy lunch.

My favorite dinner is chicken rice casserole made with boneless skinless breasts, rice-a-roni, cream of mushroom soup and a little cheese sprinkled over during the last 10 minutes of baking.

Speaking of those.  I used to roll up a weiner in a flour tortilla, skewer it with a toothpick and fry on both sides til brown.  Awesome and the kids love it.  You can do a pan full  at one time.

Appetizer/snacks...cover a cookie sheet with foil and pile tostitas on it.  Cover with shredded cheese and sprinkle with Ortega green chilis.  Broil til cheese bubles. 

Catherine..take those canned peaches, drain, sprinkle/cover them with a mixture of flour, butter, sugar and a dash of ginger.  (crumb topping) and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Instant Peach Crisp

Excellent, you guys!

Nancy--that rice dish sounds perfect 'cause it's all in one pan.  AND I already have all that stuff.  I love recipes that call for stuff I already have.

Rickldo--LOL!  I gotta say, I have no doubt that my son would absolutely love that since it has hot dogs in it, and as you know, hot dogs are like manna to 4-year-olds!

I've got some great suggestions ... especially for special diets. I'll be back! 

The nephews are 4 and going on 3. Hot dogs are a staple...

Here's some typical "rut" dinners of mine:

meatloaf, mashed potatoes, boiled zucchini, canned pineapple

hamburger helper (I'm so ashamed,) spinach salad, canned pears

baked chicken thighs with barbecue sauce, egg noodles, canned green beans, cut-up peaches

{You get the idea.  The four basic food groups.  Over and over again.  Is it any wonder I'm skinny?  Who could eat this day after day?  I think I need to go to cooking school or something.}

Go get a Pork Loin and a McCormick Roasting Bag. Make a little Maccaroni & Cheese or peel and mash (cream) some potatoes. Simmer some green beans (or blackeyed peas/purple hull peas) with a cut up piece of bacon (fry a bacon strip, cut it into small pieces, add the grease and pieces to your green beans). Bake a loaf of french bread. Instant good!

Make a batch of Chicken and Dumplings with some Corn Bread. Easy and good.

If you want to know how, shoot me an email. I'll be more than happy to explain it.

Try a stir-fry. Chicken, beef or even pork, frozen stir-fry veggies and a little teriyaki sauce over white rice.

I don't have kids, so I have to do the next best thing and remember being one.

You know your kids' tastes better than I do, and I figured you tried all the everyday stuff.

Home-made lasagna.  Spaghetti with home-made meatballs.  Home-made ravioli.  I have a ravioli crank, but you don't need one.  You can quilt ravioli from two layers of home-made pasta.

(Can you tell that I like Italian?)   :)

Nancy--that's a really good idea about getting stuff done ahead of time when the kids are asleep.  I think I need to start exercizing or something, to get more energy.  All I know is that when I get the kids to sleep my butt refuses to get off the couch.  ; )

Tony--I'm ashamed to admit that I have never made homemade mac & cheese.  My Mom makes it, so I guess my reasoning is that "why should I have to make it when I can get her to do it?"  That's stinkin' thinkin'.  I'll never improve with that attitude.  Same with chicken and dumplings.  My Mom is the Master of chicken and dumplings, but I've never made it.

I'm seeing a pattern here.

Am I just lazy?  You guys can tell me the truth.

I told you what to do with your canned green beans / blackeyed peas / purplehull peas.

NOW, what to do with youur mashed potatoes........................

For starters, cook with BUTTER not Margerin. More flavor and more natural. Your body knows how to digest it. When you mash your potatoes, add some evaporated milk and BUTTER, salt and a little pepper. Do it to taste. The butter and salt add flavor. The evaporated milk makes them smooth and creamy. Kids and adults love em". they shouldn't be too firm or too soft. Just creamy, mut able to eat them with a fork. If you do it right, they're great even without gravy.

Hey Witters--I see you over there.  I know you can cook, so what's up?

Apollo--You're right.  I should branch out with more Italian stuff.  Everyone in this house likes it, and it's good and filling.  I haven't made lasagna in a long time.  Good idea.

I do make mashed potatoes now and then, but I've never made them with evaporated milk--I always just use regular milk.  And butter?  You know it!  We don't use margarine around here.  Is evaporated milk really better?  I even have some in the pantry.  Now I'm gonna try it.  : )

You're fine. Kids actually like Kraft Mac & Cheese better than anything else. It comes in a box.

Chicken and Dumplings are WAY easy. send me an email and I'll explain.

Will do, Tony. : )

Back when I had a family to cook for I made up a menu for the two week period between paydays, posted it on the fridge and shopped from it.  It was so easy to look at it for that day, pull out what I needed from the freezer and cook.  No decisions to make.  If it met with any opposition, I could switch days and it worked fine.  The worst part of cooking dinner is deciding what to have.  With a ready made menu, that decision is already made.

When my ex was in the army we had NO money to play around with so the menu and shopping part were automatic.  I hit the day old stores for snacks for packed lunches and froze them.  Toss them in the lunch bag and by noon they were thawed and like fresh.

If I had tacos one night I made extra meat and later in the week made enchiladas.  Now I save any left over taco meat, freeze it, and when I have a reason to fix a big pot of chili beans, the meat is already cooked and seasoned.

Make extra barbecued chicken and use it for tacos later in the week.  This is nothing new to restaurants..that's how they survive.  Left over baked potatoes become twice baked, potato skins and potato pancakes or hash browns.  Try not to cook "just enough" because then you're cooking twice.  Save yourself the extra work.

Evaporated milk makes them creamy and not watery.

Tony, I knew you were my kinda guy.  That's EXACTLY how my mom made them and the way I make them too.  I don't always have evaporated milk handy but I ALWAYS have butter.

I agree about the mac and cheese, kids love that stuff.  I can't stand it but that's ok.

Nancy,

We do the menu think and put it on the frige door every Saturday morning. You're right. Shopping and weekly meals are much easier. We even switch days on occasion too.

Same with country gravy, evaporated milk makes all the difference in the world.

I'm not a big mac & cheese person either. I can eat a little of it, but not like the kids.

The bacon grease adds a lot of good flavor to green beans, blackeyed peas and purple hull peas. BELIEVE IT! Everyone likes them cooked this way, wheather they know it or not.

When I got married 23 years ago, I could burn water in a microwave oven. Between my Wife and her mother, I've learned to be a BAD MAN in the kitchen.

Once i built confidence, I've learned to cook all kinds of things that are out of the ordinary (just because I like to eat them).

Another favorite meal of mine is Hamburger Steak.  Good quality hamburger, form nice patties about  1/2 to 3/4 thick, roll in flour and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and fry in olive oil till crispish on the outside but still tender on the inside (olive oil is good for you).

Peel potatoes and cut in chunks.  Boil, don't mash.  Serve them on the plate and let them mash them up there with a fork and drizzle butter on them.

Canned green beans finishes off one of my favorite meals.

Chicken fried steak is also a breeze.  Cube steaks - - roll in flour, then beaten egg then flour again.  Fry til lightly browned.  Serve with anything you like but us okies like them with mashed taters and country gravy with biscuits..

Don't forget whole boiled potatoes in their skins and serve like baked potatoes.  Easy and actually faster than baking.

I can make gravy for breakfast in the morning, to put over my biscuits, that'll make you wanns slap your Grandma.

Every Sunday morning, I COOK BREAFAST for the family. When it's ready, I wake em all up and feed em. Just the smell starts em stirring in bed.

Mac and cheese with whole or cut up hot dogs and a veggie, Pork 'n beans with hot dogs and butter bread and a veggie.  When I make tacos I use spaghetti sauce instead of taco sauce on the meat and I make a truckload so the next day I just warm up the left over meat & sauce and cook spaghetti and some french bread and wha-la another dinner!  Homemade soup and sandwiches is good.  I loved slow cookers for the very reason you can put them on in the AM and forget about it and it is all done by dinner!

Loveeeeeeeeee red potatoes any way shape or form!!! boil 'em, fry 'em with onions, bake 'em, make potato salad yuummmmm!!!

"Porn 'n beans"

That's creative.  ;)

You can hate me for immortalizing that.  ;)

That reminds me...  Avatar time.

Wrap  potatoes in plastic wrap and put them into the microwave for 8 minutes. turn them over for another 6 or 8 minutes. they're like a baked potato, only quicker.

I'm partial to sweet potatoes in the microwave (6 minutes and 4 minutes) with butter and brown sugar after they're baked. Theay're really good with that pork loin in a roasting bag thing that I talked about earlier. They taste like yams at thanksgiving. It's really easy.

Porn and Beans sounds GREAT, but I wouldn't serve it to my kids............................lol

Hey--mother-in-law called--we just set up our video conferencing thingy.  Now she can see the kids in all their sticky glory anytime she wants. 

I just realized I can actually add something worthwhile to this blog--I like to make winter squash.  I think it's an acquired taste because no one in this house likes it but me...but I LOVE it.  Get a butternut squash, cut it in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the microwave for 12-15 minutes (the sticker on the squash will tell you how long.)  Then put butter and syrup on it and it's the most delicious thing you ever tasted.  Plus, it's really good for you (if you don't put butter and syrup on it.)  It's full of vitamin A.

Biscuits & gravy!  Mmm.  I can actually make good gravy...now.  My poor husband had to choke down many a weird, creepy gravy before I figured it out.  I finally asked my mom and she said: "Equal parts hot grease and flour.  So if you're gonna use 2 tablespoons of grease, put in two tablespoons of flour.  Stir it on low until it gets thickened, then start adding milk until it starts looking like gravy."  Voila!

And the best biscuits I ever made were homemade, from flour--no lie.  I was out of Bisquick one time and my husband was whining and crying for biscuits and gravy.  I kept telling him to shut up, but he was persistent.  I finally got sick of it so I found a cookbook and did it from scratch.  I think the secret was the kneeding.  Those biscuits were sooo tall and light and fluffy.  And the gravy turned out good that time, too.

One thing I never learned was the art of making biscuits.  I've used dozens of recipes.  Had hints from excellent biscuit bakers but mine always come out looking like hockey pucks.  My mom never measured anything when making biscuits and used a big old bowl of flour where she made a well and put stuff in.  Then she stirred it til it looked right.

I can make pie crust that will melt in your mouth but can't make a decent biscuit.  Now I just make Bisquick drop biscuits.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!  OK K I FIXED IT!!!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Freudian slip????

Porn & Beans sound like a typical Saturday night for your average Okie guy, Witters.  Unfortunately, my husband is married now, so it's just beans for him.

I'll see if I can find that recipe, Nancy.  Those were the best biscuits I have ever seen or tasted in my life.  It was amazing.  I really think it was the kneeding.

frozen buscuits in a bag are better than bisquick biscuits.

I make em' from scratch, like I do corn bread. My Wife (after she taught me) started just buying them in a bag from the frozen section at the grocery. We haven't done busquick in years.

P.S. She works full time too, so we split the chores. I like to cook and she doesn't mind if I do...........

I don't measure anything when I make biscuits either. The secret is in not working the dough any more than you need to. Be gentle with it when you lay it out flat. I use an old soup can to cut them out.

It just works every time............

I think this is the recipe, Nancy, from my "Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes"--excellent cookbook!

2 c all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 c shortening

3/4 c buttermilk (which I never have, so I probably used regular milk)

Heat oven to 425.  In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Cut in shortening until crumbly.  Stir in buttermilk just until moistened.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth (1 min.)  Roll out dough to 3/4" thickness.  Cut into 8 biscuits; place 1" apart on cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 14 min or until lightly browned.

BTW--I'm too scared to make pie dough.  Everyone tells me how hard it is.  I guess I'm going to have to buck up one day and just do it.

My pie dough ended up on the floor, ceiling, me and finally the garbage disposal!!!!!

I don't use shortning, I use an egg and a dash or two of vegetable oil. Buttermilk makes a lot of difference. It makes the biscuits more like.............biscuite and less like rolls or bread.................

I also use half that much baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of baking sida.

We don't have a garbage disposal. We live in the country and have a ceptic tank. My flops go to the dogs outside. They always like em. lol

A secret about the buttermilk.  Since it's so hard to keep around (I can't stand the stuff to drink and my ex used to guzzle all I bought) I discovered powdered buttermilk.  Works like a charm and you always have it around.

A secret about pie crust, you make it so similar to the bisquits and never work it.  It's usually a little crumbly when I put it on the floured waxed paper.  I just roll it gently and it sticks together.  The little balls of shortning rolled flat blisters in baking and that's what makes the flakes.  If you work it too much you destroy the little balls and it gets tough.  Never ever push hard when rolling, you don't want to stretch it or it will shrink back when baking.

Then again, Pillsbury makes a fine pie crust in a roll that works great.

For a main dish, I like to make up big batches of chicken caccitore sauce. Take two 28-30oz cans of tomato puree, one 28-30oz can of crushed tomatos, 1-2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts (more for those that like lots of meat) and dried spices (garlic, onion, black pepper, salt, parsley and a dash of oregano). Simmer for an hour. Serve over pasta or rice. You can leave the chicken breasts whole, but I prefer to dice them so the meat stretches for more meals. If you want to leave the chicken breasts whole, use smaller cans of the tomato products or you'll have more sauce than meat.

For a tortilla based snack, cut flour tortillas in fours and then fry in oil, butter or margarine until crisp. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar immediately after taking it out of the pan.

Shwaine: my hubby's aunt used to make the flour tortillas with cinnamon sugar!! AND, she made her own tortillas. Wow I sure miss those. My mother-in-law used to make her own tortillas also then make H-U-G-E enchiladas! Just one was a meal!!

Start experimenting with a crook pot..you'll find some neat ideas in their cook book(s)...that's why I look the way that I do.... :-))