People always suggest salmon, but I think it's way too easy to overcook and then kids start hating salmon.

Are you on Fb? There are some pages for Trader Joe's where people share recipes that are good for beginners. "Trade Joe's recipes for busy moms" is a fun group.!

I appreciate the super detailed directions!

Sunday leftover hash:

Preheat your biggest, heaviest skillet (cast iron if you've got it) to a little bit hotter than medium (about 6 out of 10 on the dial). If your skillet is nonstick, do this at the last minute so you're not cooking an empty pan, and go straight-up medium (5).

Pull whatever dinner leftovers you want to use up out of the fridge and chop them up. Any kind of meat or combination of meat, veggies, and bread-like or potato-like carbs will do. Really, anything. (Probably won't work for pasta, soup, or stew.)

Peel and chop a large onion. If you have a bell pepper or a chile pepper (any kind, any color), chop that up too. (If not, no worries.)

If your leftovers already have veggies or bread-or-potato-like carbs, you're set. If they're mainly meat and not so much on the carbs, then wash and chop or shred one large or two small-to-medium potatoes (any kind, including sweet potatoes). You can peel the potatoes, or leave the peels on--your choice. If you don't have potatoes, you can chop an equivalent amount of carrots or any root vegetable you have on hand. If you shred the potato, press some of the water out of the shreds with a paper towel.

When the skillet is hot, swirl in some oil. (Never add oil to a cold pan.) Let the oil heat up till it shimmers (about 30 seconds). If you chopped a potato, fresh carrots or root vegetables, throw those in first to give them a little head start (maybe 3 or 4 minutes). Then add the onions and bell peppers or chile peppers. They should all make a happy sizzling sound. If they don't sizzle, turn the heat up. If they sizzle too violently, turn it down.

Fry the onions, peppers, and potatoes/root vegetables, stirring them up and scraping up any browned bits from the pan bottom every minute or two, until they're softened and starting to turn a little brown. A flat-bottomed wood or bamboo scraping spoon is best, or a wooden spoon. Then add your chopped leftovers, and your shredded potato if you shredded it. Salt and pepper the whole mixture, then keep frying and stirring. Once it's mixed in and your heat is adjusted, don't stir as often -- you can let it sit for 3-4 minutes at a time to get browned and crispy on the bottom, then scrape those browned parts up from the bottom, stir and re-mix, spread it evenly in the pan again, and let it brown again.

Repeat the browning and stirring until it's hot all the way through and you see enough crispy parts. Use this time to make your toast, freshen up your breakfast beverage, and summon the family. As you stir and mix, taste as you go, adding salt and pepper as necessary. When it's done, turn the heat off. You can serve from the stove, or take the whole skillet to the table on a couple of hot pads or trivets.

In a separate pan, fry some eggs. Do the eggs last-minute, so they're hot and not rubbery. Serve the eggs on top of the hash, with hot sauce.

Oh, and do get to love salmon. It's so easy. Skin side down on a lightly oiled roasting pan or baking sheet. For really easy cleanup, you can line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper. Spread a thin layer of mayo on top of the fish. Then pick one green herb -- any herb you like, it can be fresh or dried, but just one (e.g., just basil, or just dill) -- and sprinkle it on top. Then into the 350 degree oven until flaky all the way through, about 15-20 minutes depending on fillet size and thickness.

(Some recipes say do this under the broiler, and you can do that, but use the low broiler setting, and keep a close watch. It'll be fast. If you use the hot broiler setting, it'll brown and crisp a little bit, but if it's too close to a hot broiler, with that mayonnaise coating you can set your fish on fire.)

If you want the cook time to be quick and the pieces to be even, cut into individual portion sizes before cooking (or sometimes the salmon is sold in individual portion sizes). If you want a fancier table presentation, then do a whole fillet, but be aware that the thin parts will be cooked through a little more thoroughly and a little bit drier than than the thick parts. If there are any really thin parts, you can fold them and tuck them under before cooking, to make them thicker, so they'll cook more evenly with the rest of the fish.

If you want to get advanced, you can slice lemon slices REALLY thin, and spread them on top of the fish (and on top of the sprinkled herbs) before baking. Use about one large slice or two small slices per serving.

Chorizo-chickpea flatbread:

1 package (12 or 16 oz) Mexican chorizo (spicy pork sausage).
1 can of chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 small bunch of cilantro (or half of a big bunch)
1 small container of plain yogurt
1 package of pita bread (If anyone is gluten-free, some places (like Lilit Cafe in Bethesda) have really good gluten-free pitas in the freezer case.)
Half a small onion (any color--yellow, white, red, or sweet)
a couple of small or medium limes

Two large skiillets (10" or 12"), or one large skillet and one baking sheet
One wooden or bamboo long-handled scraper or spoon
One potato masher if you have it, if not you can use the spoon
One cutting board
One sharp knife--can use a paring knife or a chef's knife, whichever you're comfortable with.

Mexican chorizo is the sausage that is raw in the casing. It's different from Spanish chorizo, which is cured and solid. (i.e., if you cut Spanish chorizo, you get coin-shaped pieces of meat. If you cut into the casing of Mexican chorizo, you get raw, crumbled spicy meat, and the casing can be slipped off. That's the one you want.)

1. Rinse the limes. Chop each one in half, then place each half face-down and cut it cross-ways into four wedges. (Or if the limes are gigantic, into six wedges.) Keep two wedges for your cilantro/yogurt sauce. The rest are for serving at the table.

2. Rinse the cilantro and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut the ends off the stems and discard. (Hold the whole bunch together and do this with one cut at the bottom of the stems.) Chop most of the leafy part of the bunch and put in a small serving bowl. This will be garnish at the table. Chop the rest of the leafy part and the stems, and put in a slightly bigger bowl you can mix in. Add about half the yogurt, and squeeze in the juice of two lime wedges. Stir well and taste. If it's not liquidy enough, add more yogurt. If that's still not liquidy enough, add a tiny bit of water (though you shouldn't really have to.) If it tastes too plain, squeeze in the juice from a third lime wedge.

3. Chop the onion into fine pieces. Set aside in a small bowl.

3. Pre-heat a large skillet to medium. If it's cast iron or stainless steel, let it preheat for 4-5 min. so it's good and hot, then add a small swirl of canola or vegetable oil (not olive oil) and swirl or spread it around. If the skillet is nonstick, then you can't cook it empty, so just bring it up to temperature for a minute or two before you add the meat, and use less or no oil.

4. With a sharp knife tip, cut through the casing down the length of each chorizo sausage. Peel the casing off the meat, discard the casing, and add the now-loose meat to the skillet. Put the cutting board or plate that had the raw sausage in the sink or dishwasher so nothing else can get cross-contaminated on the raw-meat plate or board.

5. Brown the chorizo in the skillet. Use a wooden or bamboo spoon or scraper to break the meat into crumbles as it browns.

6. While the meat is browning, open the can of chickpeas. Using the lid to keep the chickpeas from falling out, pour off the water from the can.

7. Also preheat a second pan to heat the pita bread.

(a) The easiest way is to lay out the pitas on a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 375, and put them into the oven WITH A TIMER FOR FIVE MINUTES so they don't dry out or burn.

(b) An alternate way (the best way, but it's optional and requires more multitasking attention) is to preheat a second skillet (preferably cast-iron) to medium-hot, and heat the pitas up one by one on the dry skillet, flipping each one once to get some brown spots on each side. Really good quality pitas will puff up as you do this. Ideally your pita-heating skillet is cast iron. If it's nonstick, then you have to work quickly, making sure there's always a pita in the pan so you're not just cooking the nonstick coating of an empty pan. Ideally you're not doing this with a stainless-steel skillet; if stainless is all you have then preheat it and add a little oil AFTER IT'S HOT (never put oil in a cold pan) to keep the pitas from sticking. This will give you little crispy-fried brown spots on the pitas a little bit.

(c) A third option would be to heat the pitas in the toaster. You want them hot with some brown spots, but not blackened burn marks.

6. When the chorizo (which has been browning all this time, with your occasional stirring and breaking up) is all crumbled and browned, add the chickpeas to the meat in the skillet. Then mash the chickpeas, and stir them into the meat. This is most easily done with a potato masher. If you don't have a potato masher, you can just use the big spoon or scraper. When it's mixed and hot, turn off the skillet and oven. Taste the meat mixture. The chorizo supplies the spice and flavor--you shouldn't need salt, pepper, or hot sauce. You can usually use the mixture as is. If it's too spicy, or if it's too chunky and you like a smoother mixture, you can optionally add a little bit of water to the skillet and stir it in to smooth the mixture out.

7. You can either put the meat mixture into a serving bowl and take everything to the table, or you can plate these at the stovetop/counter. For each plate, put one pita bread on it, then spoon on enough meat/chickpea mixture to cover the middle of the pita, out to about 1" from the edge (like a small pizza). At the table, each person can top their own with their preferred amount of cilantro/yogurt sauce, chopped onion, and leafy cilantro garnish. Some people like to pick the flatbreads up with their hands; if you use a fork and knife you may need a steak knife if you were griddling the pitas and they toughened up on the bottom.

8. You can serve with spinach or a green salad on the side, or just serve the flatbreads by themselves as a one-course meal.

9. Ice cream or popsicles go well after the spicy sausage.

Meatball lady who missed that your kids are tweens. If they will eat spicy-ish, this is delicious and very easy. Halve the harissa that's inside the meatballs if you are concerned about spice. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/sheet-pan-chicken-meatballs-with-tomatoes-and-chickpeas

Rooting for you!

Can you quarter a chicken? Everyone loves roast chicken.

Once you have the ingredients, these are super easy. Buy some naan bread and tzatziki and sliced tomato, and you have a great meal.

Middle Eastern Lamb patties
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 1 large clove)
1 tablespoon dried coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
11/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Mix, form 9 small patties, and grill 4-6 minutes per side

OP here, saving links. I love the meatballs ideas, among others. I am even sort of excited about some of these!

Do you have a grill? Kabobs + bagged microwave rice is easy

Sheet pa recipes are great. I would also add what do you like to eat? I would look up some of those recipes and go from there. Deciding what a family eats EVERY DAY gets really draining. On the nights when I have someone else cooking/buying the groceries I really appreciate it, even if its not being done the way I would.

Anonymous wrote:Ground beef (or bison), browned, add salt, dump in some Rao's spaghetti sauce (this is a bit controversial on DCUM but I'm a fan because it's really, really easy), and serve with pasta.

I think that a few basic principles are helpful when you're getting into cooking:

1) The quality of ingredients matters a great deal, especially when dealing with fish and produce. I am no longer into cooking but I'm very glad I learned how to identify good quality food.

2) Salt at each step (I like kosher salt)

3) Taste at each step.

4) More fat = more flavor

5) Salad dressing can just be an acid + an oil (lemon juice and olive oil is my favorite)


So even with that simple meat sauce with pasta "recipe" I shared, it will taste best if you get good ground beef and taste it before adding the pasta sauce, and I love adding butter and salt to the noodles before I serve them (we serve the pasta sauce separately...I won't get into it, it's a whole thing).

Often what makes a meal exciting for everybody is just abundance. Like a sandwich with a slab of cheddar and turkey is sad, but with some interesting fresh bread, great deli meats, really good pickles, whatever, you can take a banal food and make it great.

Whoa. Do not salt at each step. TASTE at each step and add salt if needed.