so this last Easter weekend, my sister was saying how she'd be at work, so she couldn't get it started cooking in time for everyone to come over, and I asked how I could help. and she kinda blew my mind with how drop-dead simple it would be. she's kinda always been the cook, and it's not such a huge kitchen that I don't feel like I'd just be in the way, you

know? so when she's flying around it - and I mean, this is from the time we were kids, and mom was teaching her instead of me - it always feels like I should just stay back and not ruin what she's got going.

yeah, that's a me problem, I know. but my point is, a lot of food I'd grown up with... I mean, I knew? but it didn't really occur to me, if that

even makes any sense? just how easy and stupidly low-effort it could really be. I've always just backed off and let the people pushing to take over do the taking over. so I never really stopped to think about what went into certain dishes.

but my sister pretty much said yeah, she's chopping up the veg right now, putting it into a bag. all I had to do

was, put the big chunk of meat in the baking pan. season it. stick it in the oven at this temp, for this many hours. and in the last twenty minutes, dump this bag of veggies into the pan around it, cover it up again, and let it ride out those last twenty minutes like that.

it was amazing.

I just need to not underestimate how much pepper, onion, garlic, and salt should go on top of the meat before I put it in the oven, and it'll all be good. XD

long story short: Google will have the answers, easily, for how long to put what kind of roast in the oven for, at what temp.

beef rib roast. the veggies were green cabbage, brussels sprouts, onions, mushrooms, and celery. the asparagus and little potatoes, cut into halves, were seasoned the same way, but also tossed with olive oil, because they weren't in the pan with the beef and its oil.

and as for how much spice: more than you'd think.

but ehh, you can always wipe it off afterwards, too, if you don't like so much. trial and error, right?

I have a favorite salmon recipe that's incredibly easy, too, that I did learn from my mom... you just put the salmon steaks/fillets in the glass baking pan, scales-side down. sprinkle lemon juice on top. then put just a little mayo all over the top of it, enough to cover it. sprinkle paprika and parsley over the top. bake until the fish is cooked.

Google is your friend on that; I actually cook this one from frozen without thawing the fish first, which is why I'm not leaving times/temps here. that'll vary wildly, depending on whether you're doing it from frozen too, or thawed, or what.

another thing my mom would do: chicken in the oven.

dump a bunch of drumsticks and thighs in the baking pan, skin still on it, cover it in onion and garlic powder, and maybe some salt. cover the pan in foil. bake it according to Google's times and temps; the info isn't hard, but again, it varies.

I think you'd take off the foil about halfway through, though, if you want the skin a little crispier, like some kinds of fried chicken.

the big thing, when you do meats in the oven is, checking to make sure their internal temperature gets up high enough for it to be cooked. so, get yourself a meat thermometer, if you're uncertain. or cooking a big roast and don't want to check if it's done enough by cutting into it. I know personally, I like mine medium-well to well done.... but it's easy

for me to take a quick look at it and decide if it's too pinkish for my liking. /shrug

idk, man, I think I have texture issues when it comes to meats sometimes.

another dish my mom would do: chicken breasts, from frozen, in a glass baking pan. open a can of condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, and slather that all over on top of it. If your ingredients fill the pan you picked enough, that's all you need to add. stick that in the oven.

then start some rice in the rice cooker. serve the chicken over

the rice. it's a one-dish meal that's just....


so easy.

Italian dressing, even the cheap kind, makes a good cheap marinade for chicken, shove the raw chicken in a bag with the dressing and let it sit there for for a while, then dump the whole thing into a pan and stick it in the oven, I usually do 400F for 30-ish minutes and then check it, might need to be in longer if it's a thick piece

(if your pan is a lot bigger than the chicken and soup, though, you might want to either pick a smaller pan, or add some water to the bottom. you don't want it to dry out while baking!)

rag_doll_witch: I'll try that! ty!

also reminds me: my mom once got her hands on a giant bottle of Vidalia onion vinegarette dressing, and was using that to marinade pork chops for us for like a month until that bottle was used up. it was great.

oh, and something I've been eating more lately: got my hands on some pre-cooked breaded chicken. got some fancy fluffy buns. got dill pickles. got mayo.

boom, amazing chicken sandwich. we have this place here in town called Popeye's, and this is... not quite the same as theirs, but it's in the same category? when I crave theirs, I make this sandwich.

the chicken juices also run out into the dressing while it's cooking to make a runny sauce of sorts than you can drizzle over stuff like veggies and potatoes

...good point. I should note that with that mayo-salmon recipe, you can do the same with the mayo that falls off to the sides. something about baking it changes the mayo's consistency/texture and flavor; it becomes an amazing topping for rice. the salmon goes astoundingly well with brown rice and broccoli (from frozen, toss with lemon juice, microwave it.)

(...I mean, you can cook it on the stovetop from frozen too? just put it in a pan, add a little water in the bottom so it doesn't burn it, and put the lid on. cook until heated up enough all the way through.)

another fun thing I've done with a friend of mine: char siu pork

I'd freeze pork chops most of the way - or freeze them and let them thaw a little - until they're not rock solid, but at that point where you can still dig your nail into them if you want, you know? and then slice them up super thin. I'd put the meat into a little bitty glass bread pan

and mix it up with a package of that powdery char siu mix you'd get at the grocery store... it's the ridiculously bright pink sweet barbecue sort of stuff, is what that is. we'd mix it up just like that, then let it sit overnight, and bake it, then serve it over rice. freakishly good.

next time I make something similar, I'll be just getting some ground

pork, and mix that with a package of the seasoning, and bake the resulting patties, lol....

but that's a lot more effort than anything else mentioned so far here is, I admit.

anyone else have low/no-effort easy recipes they'd like to toss in? I'd love to hear some more! especially if they're oven recipes! I'm not great at the stovetop. if it involves a frying pan, chances are, I'll end up with crud burned onto the pan by the end of it, and mis-cooked food. I can do fried eggs for sandwiches, but that's about it, lol

well, and pancakes. french toast.... fried rice. don't ask me to cook chicken in a pan. XD

tbh, a whole lot of my diet is pretty much no-effort, fast-to-make stuff. pizza, salad, loaded fries, baked potatoes, sandwiches, precooked breaded chicken in various ways, ramen, fresh fruit with cheeses....

oh right, cornbread! ...so another thing I love doing is, I'll get those little blue boxes of Jiffy corn bread. mix it up in a bowl according to the instructions, butter a glass bread pan, dump the batter in, set it on top of the stovetop with the oven heating up. let it sit for about like half an hour, so it starts rising, then bake it.

it's awesome to just cut a chunk of it, butter it, and eat it with a can of chili... know what else is freakishly good and dead simple?

mixing stuff into it to fancy up the flavor.

maple syrup in the batter, then sprinkle a good handful of brown sugar on top, so it forms a sweet crunchy little crust.

Parmesan cheese in the batter, grated cheddar on top.

I haven't really thought about what other combinations I could do, to fancy it up, though, since those are two of my absolute favorites. anyone else have suggestions for it?

chopped green chilies

oooh. ....wait, I haven't done anything with green chilies yet. I'm a wuss when it comes to capsaicin. on a scale from Bell Pepper to Jalapino, where do those fall?

uhh, depends on the chili, tbh, the ones dad gets are Hatch green chilies, and those are usually labeled with the general heat level, we usually go for mild

noted! I'll have to poke around next time I stop at the store

also, for those that don't know: baked potatoes are stupidly simple too! just wash the 'tato, get the dirt off it. and scrape off the lil buds that might've formed at its eyes. blech to those.

then fork it a few times. wrap it in foil. 400F, 45 minutes.... poke it with the fork again. if you can do so easily enough, it's prolly done!

....also to note, you want to use russet potatoes for it. they're the brown oblong ones. those are usually the cheapest, besides!

russet/idaho potatoes:



...dangit, now I want a baked potato....

oh, also, quick and dirty lemon bar recipe, mix lemon pie filling with angel food cake mix, put in a pan with tall sides, because it will likely expand while cooking and then settle, bake at about 350F for 30-ish minutes

oooh

oh, and grease the pan for less sticking to pan

okay, since we're on about desserts now: pineapple upside-down cake!

- box of yellow cake mix
- 1-2 cans of pineapple rings (depends on how much you want)
- brown sugar
- the stuff the cake mix box asks for, like eggs and oil

open the pineapple cans. put the rings in the bottom of the ungreased cake pan. SAVE THE JUICE.

put brown sugar all over the-

pineapple, especially in the gaps between the fruit, so that when you look down at the pan, it's all level and brown.

Now make the cake batter according to the instructions, but with a twist: instead of water, use that pineapple juice.

now pour the batter all over the brown sugar and pineapple, and shake it a little just to level it. bake it like the box

says to.

when you take it out, toothpick comes out clean, all that - take a baking sheet, and put that over the top of the cake pan.

here's the one tricky-ish part: flip it over.

the cake should pretty much just fall right out of the cake pan, and sit nicely enough on the sheet. if you let it cool too much before you flip it, it'll stick more, though.

one of the easiest, most delectable cakes I know of, right there.....

another fun thing I haven't really done since I was a kid.... you know those biscuits that come in those little pop-open cardboard tubes? you peel the label off, then smack it down onto the baking sheet, and one gunshot sound later, you're picking up little gooey hockey pucks from the counter? ....okay, maybe that's just me... but! bake those, and then you-

split them in half and drizzle with maple syrup like they're pancakes.

or drown them in maple syrup. kid me would insist that drowning is the correct method.

/wanders back in a day later
speaking of box cake mix, you can gouge up just about any kind by using some butter instead of all margarine, adding an extra egg, and subbing the water for a different liquid, milk works good in general, but I've also used stuff like coffee, the aforementioned pineapple juice, and orange juice before

oohhhh.....

also you can mix fruit pieces or candy chips into the batter if you're into that, it depends on the flavor you're going for

memo to self, I should ask my dad what to use, to turn a box of cake mix into cookie dough.

I know it's something stupidly simple, but it's escaping me atm.