Easy Recipes & Tips

The last thing you want after a long day is to have to battle your way through some complicated recipe! Believe me, I've had a few doozies, like the time I tried to make a "simple" roast for my mother-in-law's birthday (which turned out to be anything but simple, and left the poor dear sitting there hungry as a horse while the roast took an extra TWO hours to finish cooking... disaster! Good thing she was super gracious about it!)

If you're anything like me, cooking may not be something you're a pro at right after first getting married, (and I'm still no pro, but I have learned a thing or two over the past couple years). So whether you've entered your marriage as a domestic goddess or a domestic "fraudess," here are a few tips and easy recipes I'd like to share with you:

Food Tips:

-Cheesy Spinach Orzo
-Pad Thai
-Cous Cous Salad
-Salmon Recipes
-Thai Curry
-Indian Curry
-Chicken Breast recipes

-keep healthy snacks on hand. When you're really hungry it's easier to make a healthy choice when something is already washed and ready in the fridge, rather than having to prepare it then. For example, if you buy a bag of grapes, wash them, take them off the stem, and put them in a bowl in the fridge. Or peel a few apples, cut them into slices, and dip them in lemon juice (to prevent them from going brown) and put them in the fridge. Another idea is to keep healthy baked goods on hand. See my example of this easy and quick recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Muffins.

-cook big portions and freeze the extras for when you're in a rush and need a quick meal. (Make sure they're frozen in individual portion sizes.) See my example of this easy recipe: Mediterranean Lentil Ragout

-before starting an easy recipe, always check the fridge for leftover ingredients to use up while preparing a meal. For example, if you have a leftover tomato that is going soft, chop it up and throw it in the spaghetti sauce you're making- it will make the sauce go farther and you won't be wasting food).

-if you don't have an ingredient that an easy recipe calls for (or if you hate it), feel free to substitute something else for it or leave it out completely. For example, if you're out of parsley, find something else green that could work... be creative... perhaps spinach, bok choy, fresh basil, etc. It probably won't make that much of a difference in the end, so don't freak out about it! This holds true for most cases, except if it's the main ingredient we're talking about... if you have a chicken breast recipe and you hate chicken, that might be a bit hard to find a substitute for!

-many easy recipes use a bit of oil; make sure to use extra virgin olive oil for cooking instead of low-grade vegetable oil- it's much healthier and will make a difference to your health in the long run

-don't worry about it if your recipe doesn't look or taste exactly the same as your mom's, grandma's, or friend's version of it. Many people can make the same easy recipe and everyone's will turn out a bit differently, for some mysterious reason. Case in point: I used to teach high school Home Ec and was always amazed at how 6 groups of kids could have the same chocolate chip cookie recipe, the same ingredients, the same kind of oven, the same room temperature, etc, and every group's cookies would turn out differently (I know because of course I had to sample a cookie from each group to "mark" them... yum!)

Food Organization Tips:

-if you do like to grocery shop every day (you get fresher produce that way), have a plan in mind for what you'll be making for dinner, and stick to it so you don't spend too much

-if you grocery shop only about once a week, keep a grocery list in your kitchen that you add to as you run out of things during the week- that way you won't forget anything when you sit down to make your grocery list. Another idea is to hang a small white-board in your kitchen that you can BOTH add groceries to (if you don't think it looks too tacky)

-use dinner leftovers for lunch the next day

-decide which one of you is the "cook" and which one is the "dishwasher"... or you might want to trade back and forth. In any case, don't make one person do it all... you can only spend so long in the kitchen before you start to go a bit mad!

-keep some helpful cooking info posted inside your cupboard doors for easy reference. For example, Celsius to Fahrenheit conversions (because not all recipes are given in whatever temperature your oven is in), and also metric to imperial (U.S.) measurements. Charts for these conversions are easy enough to find online... just Google it and print out your favorite one... then hang it prominently inside one of your kitchen cupboards (which looks a lot less tacky than posting it on the fridge!)

-soak your dishes and pots in some hot water and soap as soon as you're done with them if you don't have time to wash them right away- it keeps the food from drying on and will make washing up a lot easier for you later on

-always "clean as you go." This means putting away ingredients and utensils as you finish with them, even if you're in the middle of cooking. This keeps your counter clean, your workspace clutter-free, and your mind sane... always a nice bonus!

Nutrition Tips:

-if you're unsure of what and how much you should be eating (or if you need a quick brush-up... as we all do from time to time), have a look at Canada's Food Guide for information on how many servings you should be eating of each of the four food groups, as well as the portion sizes. It depends on your age and gender, which is also clearly laid out in a chart in this guide. For example, did you know that according to the guide, one serving of meat is only 75g (2.5 oz), whereas the average steak you'll order at a restaurant is way bigger than that? So if you think a steak only counts for ONE meat serving because it's ONE steak... get out your scale and think again!

Would you like to impress your spouse? Try your hand at these delicious and easy pie recipes... Lise says that if she can do it, so can you!

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