Easy recipes for someone who doesn't cook?

[wolfie]

Here's my chili recipe:

1/2 pound dried kidney beans (never tried it that way, but could substitute 2 cans kidney beans to make it easier)
2 cans (28 ounce) diced tomatoes
2 cans (5 1/2 ounce) tomato paste

either
2 cups TVP
2 cubes beef boullion
or
2 pounds ground beef

1/2 pound bacon (optional)
1 medium onion
1 bell pepper
chili powder

The night before:
In a large pot, place the beans, along with enough water to cover around 2 inches deep.

The day you're preparing it:
Drain beans, cover with fresh water, and boil until tender. Takes a bit of juggling the heat to keep it boiling without foaming up all over. Once tender, remove from heat, drain, and rinse in 2 changes of fresh water. If using canned beans, they're already cooked in the canning process - open the cans, drain, and put the beans in a large pot.

Boil 2 cups water. Dissolve the boullion cubes, remove from heat, and mix in the TVP. Some brands will soak up all the liquid (need to stir to ensure it all has a chance to get wet, rather than leaving some chunks still dry), others will leave a bit of liquid behind. Either way, dump all of it (including leftover liquid) into the pot with the beans. Alternately, brown and drain 2 pounds ground beef, and add to the beans.

Fry the bacon until crisp, and crumble it into the pot with the beans. Reserve a small quantity (couple tablespoons) of the grease.

Chop the onion, fry it until transparent in the reserved bacon grease. If not using bacon, fry the onion in a small quantity of vegetable oil. Add to the pot with the beans.

(assuming niece is a genuine noob in the kitchen) Cut out the stem end of the bell pepper and discard. Cut the pepper in half, remove and discard any seeds that didn't come out with the stem end. (non-noob can start here) Chop the pepper and add to the beans. Add tomatoes and tomato paste to the beans.

Mix it all together, and add chili powder to taste. 3 tablespoons is a good starting point - you can always add more. Simmer until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally (steam "tunnels" will form - these need to be broken up to ensure even heating, and you don't want it to burn on the bottom). Makes 6-8 generous servings.

[Geek King]

I don't have a site handy, but Google "one-pot meals" Easy, tasty, and little cleanup. We used them for campfire cooking in scouts where you're often limited as to how much gear you can tote around.

[Ophbalance]

Another crock pot recipe:

1 packet of Lipton Beefy Onion mix
1 package of beef tips (bought some this week, $3 for around a pound).
1 package of burrito shells
2 cups of water

Mix the beef tips, water and beefy onion in the crock pot. Set it for medium and let it cook for 6-8 hours (anything less and it will not work, beef tips are just too tough otherwise). Once it's done heat up some of the burrito shells according to their directions. Pull apart the beef tips with a fork and wrap it in the burrito. Optionally, chop up veggies and heat them for a few minutes in a skillet.

[KhirasHY]

Get a crockpot ready, and a roast of some sort. I typically get a chuck roast, sometimes a london broil...whatever's on sale. Take a tiny plate, flip it upside on the bottom of the crockpot. Lay the roast on top of that. You don't want it touching the bottom.

Mix up 1 packet ranch dressing mix, 1 package italian dressing mix, and 1 package brown gravy. Whisk it up, and then divvy it up over the top of the roast. Lay it on THICK.

Take 1 cup of water, and pour it in the sides of the crockpot. Try not to pour it on the powdery awesome mix. Just pour it in the sides.

Cover, and cook on low for about 6-8 hours. Eight for best.

It's funny, I make a very similar pot roast, with only a couple modifications:

Instead of water, try it with pork, beef, or chicken broth for a bit more flavor. Also, instead of the dressing/gravy mixes for the rub, I use this: http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/blends/swtmakansas.html or this: http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/blends/peruvian.html

Lastly, I quarter up an onion or two, and mince up some garlic and just let them sit in the roast while it cooks since we like that sort of taste in our meals.

Regardless, it's a great way to make a pot roast.

Also, sub in a good pork shoulder, and this recipe doubles for a good pulled pork too. You just drain off the water, pull out the bone(s), then put the pork back in the crock and shred it with two forks. Optional step after that is to add in some BBQ sauce, and cook it for another 15-20 minutes.

Edit: forgot to mention, I don't ever really use the "tiny plate" part of that...but if you make a bottom layer of veggies (onions, in my example), it accomplishes much the same thing.

Edit Edit: Also, http://www.allrecipes.com and http://www.bigoven.com are great for this, they have plenty of good recipes that can both avoid the gluten/dairy like you need, and be easy to cook. Try them out, but make sure you read the reviews for any recipe, as the users there almost always have good feedback on changes/additions that make a recipe better.

[wolfie]

I don't ever really use the "tiny plate" part of that...but if you make a bottom layer of veggies (onions, in my example), it accomplishes much the same thing.

With the bonus of not having to wash the "prop" when cleaning up afterward.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Oven-fried chicken:

Works best with chicken legs, but you can use any random chicken parts you happen to have.

-- Cover the bottom of a large baking pan with enough olive oil so that the bottom is completely covered.
-- Coat your chicken parts in flour. I add spice to the flour but you don't need to.
-- Arrange chicken parts in the pan. Spice 'em up -- I use garlic, oregano, basil, black pepper, red pepper, very little salt, paprika, and cumin -- spice to taste
-- Bake chicken parts in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
-- Turn chicken parts over and spice 'em up again.
-- Bake chicken parts at 350 degrees for 30 more minutes. Keep an eye out to make sure nothing is cooking too quickly. 30 minutes per side is a baseline.

Note: I leave the skin on and haven't tried it with skinless chicken

[Jester]

I have tons of recipes, but I no longer have any idea what does and what does not have gluten. But I'm guessing most of my recipes do.

[Seshat]

Stovetop bolognaise-ish:

Brown some mince in a wok/frypan/whatever. (Or if you'd rather not wash the extra dish, in a big pot.) Depending on your preferences, drain the fat and set aside.

Start some gluten-free rice, pasta, or whatever you wish to eat with this.

Cook vegetables: pre-chopped frozen veg are fine. Steam in the microwave, boil on the stovetop, stir-fry in a wok: just cook them somehow. I'd be inclined to steam in the microwave.

Put the mince and veg together in the big pot, add any flavourings you wish. Tomato paste is popular, as is garlic. Oregano and other 'italian-meal' herbs and spices are also favourites. Simmer until everything's hot and tasty.

Serve with the gluten-free whatever, garnish if desired with parsley or celery sprigs.


For the really lazy method, just cook the veg in with the mince just after the mince has been browning.

[ArcticChicken]

I no longer have any idea what does and what does not have gluten.

Wheat, anything with wheat in the name except buckwheat, and barley. (And, of course, products derived there from.)

[Jester]

Wheat, anything with wheat in the name except buckwheat, and barley. (And, of course, products derived there from.)

And THAT'S the part that screws me up, because it seems far more stuff is derived there from or uses it in some way than I would have thought.

[Rock Lobster]

This is great for us single people too who can cook but are tired of the same old same old

[Chromatix]

My usual recipe for this kind of situation involves pasta. So... problem.

I'm going to echo the suggestion of starting *really* simple though. Beans on toast is probably the complexity level you should start with - as long as you can find gluten-free bread for toasting (I have no idea if that is difficult or not). Otherwise, start with just the beans, then graduate to adding a fried egg and a couple of sausages. Not the healthiest of food, but it's all about basic techniques here.

Next, try tinned "just add water" soup and similar meals, then progress to making the same dishes out of real ingredients to demonstrate how much better they can taste.

[Mishi]

Offbeat Home has some easy and awesome recipes too, so have a look there too.