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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 3, 2016 23:44:28 GMT
So, we have been making it a weekly habit to go to Ikea at least once because they just opened and Ikea is probably the best place in the world for me. We went again last night. It was near closing and it was the first time it wasn't basically a line of people from entrance until exit and the entire back parking lot that is usually full was completely empty. It was really nice (even though every 15 minutes we got warnings of how little time we had left to shop) and I was able to finally get some food from the concession area after check out (usually the line upstairs and the line downstairs is crazy long and check out is short...last night it was the opposite).
We never could buy frozen food to bring home before because we were always driving home from 4-6 hours away. Last night, we were able to grab a bag of the frozen meatballs and while fully cooked, I have no clue how to warm them the best. My husband linked me to some recipes but they were mostly bakes or crock pot recipes. I just need to know (because the bag doesn't say) how to warm them up. Would a skillet on the stove be the best way? Or maybe heating them in an oven (if so, how long and how high)? I didn't realize a sauce packet wasn't included, so tonight we're going to try simply heating them up, pairing with a veggie and mashed potatoes and using brown gravy instead of the swedish meatball gravy (I'll pick up some of that next trip in a few days, haha). I want to try so many of the recipes I've found...provided we like them (kids are picky!!!), but I don't want to fail at what is essentially just reheating them and have that impact whether or not they are liked.
Also, has anyone used it instead of spicy sausage in a mock recipe of the zupa toscana (probably butchered that spelling) from Olive Garden and liked it?
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LeaP
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,939 
Location: Los Angeles, CA where 405 meets 101
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Post by LeaP on Jun 3, 2016 23:56:39 GMT
I bought them once and heated them up on a baking sheet in the oven. If you feel ambitious you can buy ground beef, eggs & breadcrumbs and make them from scratch on a baking sheet.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 4, 2016 0:01:10 GMT
I bought them once and heated them up on a baking sheet in the oven. If you feel ambitious you can buy ground beef, eggs & breadcrumbs and make them from scratch on a baking sheet. I would so fail at that. I really want to try meatballs, but I hear of so many ways to prepare them (cook them in the sauce, cook partly on the stove finish in the oven) I have no clue what the best method would be. Part of why I'm a crappy cook is that I'm not willing to spend a ton of money on food to experiment and have it end up going to waste. I tried that with a $60 prime rib roast for Christmas one year and while it turned out okay, it was impossible to get off of the bone effectively so we never bothered to touch the massive amounts left over. I've even looked for basic cooking lessons at rec centers and can't find any. I want to learn, but would prefer being babysat so I don't throw away money. |
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Post by cindyupnorth on Jun 4, 2016 0:11:32 GMT
I normally heat up cooked meatballs in the oven, at 350. I think 20-30 min's. They should be sizzling hot when you take them out.
I'm just LOL'ing at you though. What do you normally cook during the week?
I use the dry packet mix from McCormick to make my Swedish meatballs. It has the sauce mix, and then the seasonings to mix in your ground beef to make the meatballs. I usually use half and half for the sauce, and add a bit of sour cream. Serve over egg noodles.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 4, 2016 0:34:31 GMT
I normally heat up cooked meatballs in the oven, at 350. I think 20-30 min's. They should be sizzling hot when you take them out. I'm just LOL'ing at you though. What do you normally cook during the week? I use the dry packet mix from McCormick to make my Swedish meatballs. It has the sauce mix, and then the seasonings to mix in your ground beef to make the meatballs. I usually use half and half for the sauce, and add a bit of sour cream. Serve over egg noodles. We eat out A LOT. When we do cook, it's a lot of the same things because my husband can't eat a lot of the things most of the house would love to eat (lactose intolerant) and the things that he'd eat, the rest of us don't really love. It makes finding things to satisfy everyone in the house nearly impossible. It's really frustrating. I try a new recipe every now and then, but not very often because it's a lot of work to have people in the house not like it. We eat a lot of things with chicken (baked with bbq sauce on top, shake n bake, teriyaki, and experiment with recipes a lot, too because we all like chicken). We've grown tired of the time it takes to make meatloaf (it's a fave, sub ketchup with bbq sauce, but my husband makes huge loaves and it takes like 2 hours to cook it...he never listens to make 2 smaller ones so they'll cook faster...I avoid touching raw meat if I can...we like to cook a lot to have for leftovers). I like porkchops, we shake n bake boneless ones and I have a meal I enjoy that I was able to learn from my sister...basically you cook chops in a well buttered (1-2 sticks of butter melted down) in an electric skillet, season each chop with granulated garlic, pepper and seasoning salt. I sometimes add a bit of cayenne to the butter, too. Then we'll cook rice to go with it and when the chops are done, you take them out and mix the rice into what's left in the skillet. It's heavenly and really the only meal I can cook start to finish without needing a recipe to refer to. We do stews and pulled pork and things in the slow cooker (stews are usually not for the summer...doesn't really go well with 100+ degree temps). We also do pastas and tacos on a regular basis, too. Keilbasa and rice is another one that we've been doing a lot lately...it was a meal my husband grew up on and his mom made it during one of her visits...once I learned how insanely simple it was, it became another regular dish...I just use pasta sauce for what the kids and I eat because the canned tomatoes that he likes has a lot of peppers in it and is too spicy for the kids (and I don't like actual tomatoes). Honestly, when we try and think of things to cook, we're both deer in headlights because it's hard to find things everyone likes without eating the same thing every day of the week. That list above is about everything we make and yeah, it's not all that exciting after a while because it's not really a lot. Sides are especially difficult because of the whole dairy issue. Sigh...frustrating!!! |
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jun 4, 2016 0:41:18 GMT
I cook for us and use next to no dairy in my cooking. I have cream in my coffee. I make a lasagne when everyone isn't on a diet (everyone is always on a diet). We eat meat that has been BBQed, I have some sort of starch like rice or pasta, vegetables, salad and fat. (Fat from the salad dressing which also is dairy free). It's pretty easy to eat how we eat. We buy *chicken and cook it on the grill. With a bit of practice you will find it is super easy to cook that way.
Another thing we do is take a HUGE mega piece of tin foil. In it I put vegetables and I put lots of stuff in it like carrots, celery, broccoli, leek or shallot, squash if we have something, and maybe potato if we are not dieting. So leave out the potato now and grill that packet. It takes about 15 minutes or so. The vegetables brown up (or burn as per my son's request) and that is the vegetable for the meal. It's lots to eat because we buy the big foil at Costco and I use a lot of it. (I guess not that much seeing how we never ever buy foil). It's easy. I mean really easy.
*steak, pork, ribs, smokies, and fish.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 4, 2016 0:49:35 GMT
I cook for us and use next to no dairy in my cooking. I have cream in my coffee. I make a lasagne when everyone isn't on a diet (everyone is always on a diet). We eat meat that has been BBQed, I have some sort of starch like rice or pasta, vegetables, salad and fat. (Fat from the salad dressing which also is dairy free). It's pretty easy to eat how we eat. We buy *chicken and cook it on the grill. With a bit of practice you will find it is super easy to cook that way. Another thing we do is take a HUGE mega piece of tin foil. In it I put vegetables and I put lots of stuff in it like carrots, celery, broccoli, leek or shallot, squash if we have something, and maybe potato if we are not dieting. So leave out the potato now and grill that packet. It takes about 15 minutes or so. The vegetables brown up (or burn as per my son's request) and that is the vegetable for the meal. It's lots to eat because we buy the big foil at Costco and I use a lot of it. (I guess not that much seeing how we never ever buy foil). It's easy. I mean really easy. *steak, pork, ribs, smokies, and fish. I want to try tin foil dinners in the oven so bad! I can't cook outside...hubby isn't much better. We're like toddlers when it comes to food most of the time. I hope at least one of our kids ends up in home ec or they'll all be screwed. |
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jun 4, 2016 0:56:07 GMT
I have put foil in the oven and cooked before. It's not that hard either. I would set the oven for 325F and you will have to test for tenderness.
One thing I love. I really love is roasted root vegetables on a cookie sheet with sea salt and olive oil. OMG i love that! I love my root vegetables. Then again I am Ukrainian and we traditionally would eat a lot of them. Do you do squash, parsnip and carrots, beets? What I do is chunky cut a carrot, parsnip and something else maybe some butternut squash. Drizzle 1/4 cup of oil (now you pick your oil yourself-I hate olive oil but my dad likes it) and sprinkle sea salt on it. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes. It won't be ready yet. You take your fork and test for done-ness. If it is still hard, set the timer for another 5 minutes. Keep testing because you don't want to over cook. (Over cooked isn't as bad as it sounds either though. The vegetables are just a bit softer). You can do this. Keep setting the timer for 5 minutes.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,410
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Post by amom23 on Jun 4, 2016 1:00:39 GMT
Can you read a recipe? There are so many cookbooks and online sites out there. Have you ever asked your family and friends for recipes? Cooking is about trying.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Jun 4, 2016 1:03:35 GMT
I guess I don't use a lot of dairy in our food either? So don't see that as a problem.
I totally get the getting in a rut though! I tend to cook my same old easy meals over and over. What really helps for me is that I somewhat have a system now. On sundays I do some sort of roast (chix, beef, pork, ham) then Monday I use that leftover meat to make something out of it. Or we just do sandwiches. tues, wed, thurs I have to come up with something. Usually it's spaghetti, stir fry, taco's, breakfast for dinner, meatloaf, a hotdish, chix legs, chix thighs with mustard, etc. etc. Friday night is always pizza night. Sat we eat out. Start over again.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jun 4, 2016 1:32:49 GMT
Have you checked in on the dinner thread? There is always a lot of really great ideas, recipe swapping, questions on how to do things and a wide variety of different cooking styles/comfort zones.
Come over and join in!
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Post by pmm on Jun 4, 2016 1:39:12 GMT
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Post by rst on Jun 4, 2016 1:43:12 GMT
Check the bag again. It does say -- and if I recall correctly, they recommend oven at 425 of 450 F -- which is a hot oven. You may be expecting the cooking instructions to look different, but keep in mind that Ikea is international, so the instructions are going to be pictogram and minimalist.
Ikea meatballs, cream sauce, lingonberry sauce, and new potatoes is one of the quick and popular meals I keep stocked for busy days -- my kids love those things.
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Jili
Pearl Clutcher
SLPea
Posts: 4,366
Jun 26, 2014 1:26:48 GMT
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Post by Jili on Jun 4, 2016 2:11:27 GMT
Check the bag again. It does say -- and if I recall correctly, they recommend oven at 425 of 450 F -- which is a hot oven. You may be expecting the cooking instructions to look different, but keep in mind that Ikea is international, so the instructions are going to be pictogram and minimalist. Ikea meatballs, cream sauce, lingonberry sauce, and new potatoes is one of the quick and popular meals I keep stocked for busy days -- my kids love those things. All of this! The instructions are on the bag, but if I remember correctly, they're printed small and you have to look for them. I get a kick out of the fact that the cream sauce packet calls for something like 1 1/5 cups of water.  I like to keep these items on hand for a quick dinner, too. We like ours with fresh roasted green beans in addition to all of the things you mentioned. |
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quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,840
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
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Post by quiltz on Jun 4, 2016 2:13:55 GMT
Get a good cook book, like the Good Housekeeping cookbook, which has pictures & step by step instructions.
This would be available at the library. Go 'old school', as I find that it can be difficult to follow videos & prefer to go at my own pace.
IIRC, you have little kids & they need healthy food, not fast food or restaurant food.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 4, 2016 3:49:18 GMT
Can you read a recipe? There are so many cookbooks and online sites out there. Have you ever asked your family and friends for recipes? Cooking is about trying. Yep. Except 95% of the time there is an ingredient (more often than not, several) that we don't like...and because we've never tried the recipe before and are novice cooks, when we try to substitute something, it usually ends up sucking, lol. |
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 4, 2016 3:51:56 GMT
Check the bag again. It does say -- and if I recall correctly, they recommend oven at 425 of 450 F -- which is a hot oven. You may be expecting the cooking instructions to look different, but keep in mind that Ikea is international, so the instructions are going to be pictogram and minimalist. Ikea meatballs, cream sauce, lingonberry sauce, and new potatoes is one of the quick and popular meals I keep stocked for busy days -- my kids love those things. My 5 year old had 11 for dinner...and actually ate the gravy and he NEVER likes gravy on anything (not that he knows he doesn't like it, he just thinks he doesn't like it). My 1 year old ate 5 and my 3 year old, as usual, is sitting at the table refusing to eat anything and is just pushing food around...now that I've stepped away from washing dishes while he played with his food, within 5 minutes I'm going to hear, 'uh oh, the dog ate my food' which means he either moved so she could reach it or moved the plate to the end of the table and allowed her to eat it. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 4, 2016 4:29:03 GMT
Can you read a recipe? There are so many cookbooks and online sites out there. Have you ever asked your family and friends for recipes? Cooking is about trying. Yep. Except 95% of the time there is an ingredient (more often than not, several) that we don't like...and because we've never tried the recipe before and are novice cooks, when we try to substitute something, it usually ends up sucking, lol. Allrecipes.com is your friend. Look for recipes that have 4-5 stars and then read through the reviews. Many times people will make suggestions in the reviews that will match up with your personal likes or dislikes. There are also a lot of how to videos on there that will show you what things should look like at each stage to help walk you through things. I typically make the recipe as written once first to see how we like it and then make tweaks based on that. Yes, you might waste some stuff here or there, but really most cooking is all about trial and error and seeing what works for you. Another suggestion I have for you is to check out The Dinner Doctor cookbook by Anne Byrn. She basically teaches you how to take packaged or prepared foods and doctor them up with real ingredients so it's kind of the half step between eating something from a box and cooking from scratch. I've personally made many of the recipes. None of them are difficult and some of them have become family favorites. |
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Post by bothmykidsrbrats on Jun 4, 2016 4:43:27 GMT
Yep. Except 95% of the time there is an ingredient (more often than not, several) that we don't like...and because we've never tried the recipe before and are novice cooks, when we try to substitute something, it usually ends up sucking, lol. Allrecipes.com is your friend. Look for recipes that have 4-5 stars and then read through the reviews. Many times people will make suggestions in the reviews that will match up with your personal likes or dislikes. There are also a lot of how to videos on there that will show you what things should look like at each stage to help walk you through things. I typically make the recipe as written once first to see how we like it and then make tweaks based on that. Yes, you might waste some stuff here or there, but really most cooking is all about trial and error and seeing what works for you. Allrecipes is my go to, as well..and this is how I roll. |
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Shel
Full Member
Posts: 408
Jul 16, 2014 0:32:12 GMT
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Post by Shel on Jun 4, 2016 6:03:09 GMT
I have used spicy sausage in my zuppa recipe and I love it and prefer that way. My DH does not.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,024
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 4, 2016 7:12:48 GMT
I would recommend Jamie Oliver's book, Ministry of Food, if you want to learn to cook. Start with the soups, salads, eggs etc rather than the big meat dishes. Not a lot to go wrong and soups don't need to be precision made. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Go for it.  |
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,024
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 4, 2016 7:17:25 GMT
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Post by gmcwife1 on Jun 4, 2016 8:12:51 GMT
Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats' is a great way to learn cooking principles. I don't use a lot of his recipes, but I've learned a lot about food and how to cook from his show.
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Post by christine58 on Jun 4, 2016 10:57:53 GMT
I thought Ikea only sold furniture stuff??? They sell food too???
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,024
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jun 4, 2016 11:12:37 GMT
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Post by anxiousmom on Jun 4, 2016 11:27:34 GMT
Can you read a recipe? There are so many cookbooks and online sites out there. Have you ever asked your family and friends for recipes? Cooking is about trying. Yep. Except 95% of the time there is an ingredient (more often than not, several) that we don't like...and because we've never tried the recipe before and are novice cooks, when we try to substitute something, it usually ends up sucking, lol. Once you start cooking more, you will start learning what you can substitute and what you can't. Even those of us who cook a lot still have to ask sometimes-my mom and are always calling each other and asking each other what we think would happen if used x instead of y in a recipe-or trouble shooting something that didn't work. Sometimes you can google and get an answer, I promise you aren't the first to ask anything! I understand about not wanting to spend a lot of money on a failure-but not every meal has to be full of expensive ingredients. Start with the easy stuff (less ingredients) and work your way up. Cooking is part science and part magic-but it does take a bit of practice and there will be epic failures. (Nice thing about cooking thread is that you will hear about how things didn't work out too.) I could tell you some pretty funny stories about the failures around the anxious house-there is one night that is still known by the boys as the night 'mom tried to feed us dog food.'  |
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Post by houstonsandy on Jun 4, 2016 14:23:48 GMT
We just had those last night for dinner. I had to look for a minute or two, but the instructions for oven and microwave are there, on the back, below the nutritional info and ingredients. Its really small type, and in the middle of all the other stuff, so its hard to see...but its there. I love to keep these and the sauce packets on hand for a quick, yummy dinner.
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Post by Skellinton on Jun 4, 2016 16:17:56 GMT
If if don't like something or am allergic to something in a recipe I usually just leave it out rather than substituting.
Cooking really isn't hard, I am a good cook, but even I am not sure I would tackle a 60.00 meat product. Start trying to follow recipes for chicken and get comfortable with those.
Regarding not using dairy, cheese is easy to avoid, but milk is used in a lot of soups and sauces. If your husband is lactose intolerant can he drink Fairlife milk? It is just milk that has the lactose filtered out, and I use it for sauces and soups all the time. It is not like the other lactose free milks that have stuff added to them and don't cook as well.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 8, 2024 4:40:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2016 19:42:52 GMT
I would recommend watching Jamie Oliver on YouTube - that way you can see someone cooking as opposed to just reading from recipes and hoping you are doing it right. I would recommend mainly watching his videos (he has other people on there). His philosophy is all about getting everyone to cook and reducing barriers that people feel they have in cooking. www.youtube.com/user/JamieOliver |
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Post by catmom on Jun 4, 2016 21:59:45 GMT
Make YouTube your new best friend. Anything you aren't sure how to make, just type it in YouTube and you'll get visual instructions on how to prepare it.
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