Soon-to-be housewife =no cooking experience.

[Jeannam2008]

I'm 20 years old. My boyfriend graduates from college next year, and then we'll be looking for our own place together. Well building our first home together. I pretty much have no cooking experience at all. I can make easy things like spaghetti, and easy stuff like that. My boyfriends mom makes home cooked meals every night and she is an amazing cook. My mother rarely ever cooks because she's got a job that takes up much of her time, so I've never really been taught. I'm kind of a picky eater, but my boyfriend loves anything and everything. I want to learn some really good recipes for him, to show that I can handle cooking in the kitchen when we move in together. He loves steak,ribs,and steak and cheese subs. Help me out!!!

[elizat]

Check out the easy recipe thread there. Tons of fantastic ideas.

Share your REALLY easy recipes for anything

I like cookbooks, but food blogs are great resources. A good basic good book is a nice start- whether it is the classic Betty Crocker or Joy of Cooking, etc., one that covers the basic nuts and bolts will help you.

Some blogs I like:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/

http://www.recipegirl.com/

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/

http://www.smittenkitchen.com/

[Jeannam2008]

Thanks so much, so far the one I like the most is the simplerecipes blog. Very nice :)

[Vegas Long Legs]

How about asking his mom to teach you his favorite dishes? I'll bet she'd be flattered.

[Jeannam2008]

I already did, and she is more than willing to help me out anytime. I only get to see his family now on the weekends though because I work all week.

I'm surprising him with a home cooked dinner this Friday night. New York Steak (medium well, just how he likes it) with green beans and a dinner roll. Grilled chicken breast for me with a baked potato (I'm not a fan of steak or green beans.)

Any simple recipes for steak. I know I have to marinate it in A1 he refuses to eat any kind of meat without it :)

I was also thinking of making pumpkin bread for dessert because it's a recipe I've know for a long time. Steak is new to me. I've never really cooked anything on a grill, but my dad is going to help me out with that Friday night before Justin(the boyfriend btw) comes over.

[bipolarbear]

Sounds great! Just a suggestion, because this is your only chance. Make cooking together fun. If you get him involved in the kitchen at this point, he will be through the relationship. You can assign him manly duties like the grill, or let him make the parts of the meal he likes (dessert). You'll have a very hard time getting him to do his part if you start trying 10 years from now.

For a basic cookbook, anything from the Cooks' Illustrated line is great. As you get into cooking more, epicurious.com is another great site - sort your search by rating to get the real winners!

[floridagal23]

Does he like lamb chops? You can buy the rack of lamb and have the people at the meat counter slice it into the chops dependingon what looks freshest. Rub the chops with some raw garlic, sear on each side, then roast/broil in the oven til done. Super easy! Serve it with mashed potatoes (instant is easy).

[Jeannam2008]

Yes he does eat lamb chops. The only thing he will not eat are mashed or baked potatoes. Anything that is complete drenched in cheese, he says the texture of too much cheese makes him gag, and he also is not a big fan of butter. haha.
He loves to make breakfast with me, and he usually stays over when my parents go out of town, so he already helps out with dinners, mostly because he knows more about cooking than I do. He was raised around home cooked meals more.

[LinaFelina]

So he likes steak and subs, they are so many easy things to do with a sandwich:

French dip - get a good bread like a baguette or Italian loaf and some roast beef. Buy a lower sodium beef broth rather than the powdered mixes, it's much better.

Slice up some steak thin and put it in a nice roll with portobello mushrooms and marinated roasted red pepper (you can buy the peppers in a jar). Perhaps a slice of cheese.

Almost anything you can put in a sandwich, you can put in a tortilla. Sliced steak with some beans and rice and fresh made guacamole, very easy.

[bagaholic85]

i think learning together would be so much fun for you guys! figure it out as you go along. im sure it will leave u with wonderful memories and a lot of laughs.

my major suggestion is to start watching food network. cookbooks and printed out recipes are great, but watching people cook will teach you the techniques that you will need to be able to follow those cookbooks, and then eventually it will just come naturally to you.

good luck

[Jeneen]

^ Yeah teach him to cook too! You can take turns!

[Jeannam2008]

I love the food network channel. I don't really watch cooking shows. I like unwrapped shows like that, but if any cooking show I absolutely love Semi Homemade with Sandra lee.
I'm still trying to keep the dinner I'm making him a "surpirse" for tomorrow night but he keeps asking me a million and a half questions. I might just ask him instead to come over and make a home cooked meal with me he can man the grill. It's a change because we usually go out to eat every Friday night.

[girliceclimber]

You can't beat a grilled steak, but my favorite easy way to make steaks is to broil them! Just marinate for about an hour beforehand (or overnight in the fridge) -- I like to use a combo of A1/Worstershire, garlic salt, black pepper, paprika, and a little soy sauce -- then put on a baking sheet under the broiler: for a one inch steak, I like to do four minutes on one side and two or three on the other (makes a rarer steak... give it a minute more on both sides for more well done). Cleanup is nonexistent if you line the baking sheet with foil too .

[elizat]

If he likes sandwiches/beef/typical "guy" food, the Pioneer Woman is a great site. She has a really interesting steak recipe up today and quite a few recipes that would seem to be something you might want to look into (her site breaks recipes into categories too).

[SPOILEDkiwi]

I'm not much of a cook either but lately I've been making an effort to learn. This is my absolute favorite site because it has every recipe you could ever want and most of them have tons of reviews and pictures http://allrecipes.com/. Everything I've made from that site has turned out great so far.