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Eggplant parm or eggplant rollatini are both pretty simple and very delicious. I love practically everything posted on the Smitten Kitchen blog if you're looking for more inspiration!
Simple sometimes the best. What do you excel at making already? Stick with what's in your repertoire, and you can't go wrong.
Also, pick your FI's brain and see what their favorites are. That will help give you a starting place.
You may want to try doing a pot roast or stew. It is hard to mess that up. Just throw it all i the crock that morning and serve it at dinner. Also, I LOVE chicken and fried Rice, and its not that hard to make.. We leared by watching the ppl at the Japanese place here in town.
Like oracle said, simple is better at times. Don't try to make something really elaborate and have it screw up and you have to orer pizza.. Even though it may make a good story later..
Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa has an incredible Roast Chicken recipe! It's delicious, easy & you can make lots of great veggie sides to go along with it.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html
If you like pasta, I've got a very tasty and simple/quick recipe for you...I just hope I can remember.
Ziti pasta (or something similar)
3 tbsp: Gorgonzola Cheese crumbles
1 tbsp: Olive oil (i'm always generous w/olive oil because I love it so much)
1/8 tsp: Crushed Red Pepper (spice - dry flakes)
One garlic clove minced
6 tbsp: Half and Half
1 cup: Fresh Spinach
1 cup: cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
1/4 tsp: salt (if you salt your pasta water, you may not need this much) Or don't salt at all and allow peeps to salt for their own taste but forewarn them.
Here we go:
Cook your pasta, drain, set aside
In large sauce pan, over medium heat, pour in olive oil, garlic, tomatoes stirring often for about 1 minute.
Pour in crushed red pepper, salt, and half and half. Keep stirring until the 1/2 & 1/2 becomes a bit thicker - you might need to turn heat down to low/med.
Once it becomes a bit thicker, pour in gorgonzola - constantly stirring.
Then pour in pasta (drained) and spinach. Cook for two minutes (approx) constantly stirring and turning. the spinach will definitely shrink.
Serve! Maybe make a salad to go with and italian bread.
Enjoy.
Ooh - if that Ina Garten roast chicken is the one with lemon and thyme I will second, third, and fourth it! It's my favorite!
Giada also does a "lasagna roll" that is a very pretty take on traditional lasagna. I add sausage to it (cook it first - I mix regular and spicy Jimmy Dean from those plastic sleeve tubes) and add mozz on top with the parm. It makes a beautiful presentation and is always a hit with guests.
I've also made an herb-crusted salmon that is to-die-for. I can't remember where I got the recipe, but I have it on my (now defunct) blog: http://kissmygritz.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/herb-and-mustard-crusted-salmon/
Also don't forget your sides! Asparagus (sea salt and olive oil on a cookie sheet at 400 for 15 minutes), roasted broccoli (same, but for 45 minutes), easy mashed potatoes (red potatoes quartered and boiled for about 12 minutes - pierce with a fork- and then fork-mashed with butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, and a splash of milk).
Seared sea (big) scallops (HOT pan, olive oil, salt and pepper - 6 to 7 minutes per side...be prepared for them to smoke...turn on that overhead fan! 2-3 per person) served with wilted spinach (medium-low pan, just plop in the spinach and use tongs to move it around as it wilts down) and cous-cous (we like the Parm Near East...there has never been an easier side to make) is a very elegant and seemingly expensive meal for not a lot of $.
Good luck! You'll be great!
I just made this super easy, super delicious minestrone soup last night. I basically just cleaned out my cupboard, so all I had to do is buy three or four ingredients. Plus, the recipe makes a ton of soup, so you can make it one night and eat it for the rest of the week (or freeze it and eat it for lunches over the course of the month).
You have to use a really big stockpot, but I actually use a turkey roasting pan. Melt one stick of butter in the pan and cook one chopped onion and 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic until they start to go translucent. At that point, pour in 4 cans of chicken or beef broth, 2 cans of tomatoes with juice, and 6 cans of other vegetables with juice (I use green beans, peas, corn, and kidney beans). You can also use frozen vegetables; just add another can of broth. Simmer for 1.5 hours.
Scoop out about half of the vegetables with a slotted spoon, and blend them to a liquid. Pour that all back into your pot. Add salt and pepper and 2 tsps each of basil and oregano. Add two cups of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, 1 can of garbanzo beans, and 1 package of shell or macaroni pasta. Cook for another 1/2 hour, stirring often.
I like to serve the soup with parmesan-crusted bread. Cut up a loaf of french bread, top with butter and shredded parmesan and broil for 3-4 minutes. The whole preparation thing takes me about half an hour, but since it has to cook for 2 hours total, I like to make it on Saturday/Sunday afternoons. We freeze whatever we don't eat immediately, and there's usually enough for 15 or so meals all together.
Steak, potatoes and 2 veg. Really easy, you can season the meat beforehand and then just cook them 15 mins before serving (depending on how big your frying pan is). Rub olive oil into the steak instead of putting it in the pan - comes out great.
Or, homemade mac and cheese. Cook on the stove and then put it all in a pyrex dish. Chop up some sandwich ham and stir it in. Then grate some extra cheese on top and put it in the oven at 200 C. Take it out when the cheese on top has melted. Really lovely.
Or I've got a great recipe for pea and mint soup. PM me if you'd like it. :)
Yummy! Thanks for all your ideas, ladies! I might have to make a few of these recipes in the weeks to come to try them out :D
The easiest side dish in the whole world with major flavor (if you don't roast the peppers, which I rarely do):
The rice is supposed to be stuffed in a pepper, but instead I just chop up the red & yellow peppers & saute them with the onions :) If I'm feeling extra fancy I'll roast the peppers as directed.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Peppers-My-Way/Detail.aspx
People always compliment this dish :)
If you are intimidated to cook, try some of Rachel Ray's recipes. They are quick, easy, and very tasty!
It's not so much that I'm intimidated... I love to try new things! I just don't do it very often and am not quite sure where to start.
A little off topic... but I find Rachel Rays recipes kind of ho-hum. They're pretty lacking in flavor & if they're flavorful they're swimming in fat.
I said that once at a Walgreens to my FI & the cashier gave me a death stare & said "What? Jealous you can't cook good or somethin'?" lol RR has a huge following, so I don't want to upset anyone...
I'm from Vancouver- haha you could impress them w/ Canadian cuisine. Smoked Salmon, banock bread, poutines and fondue :) lol we don't really have a "cuisine" I guess. We're a mosaic of people- we take from our native countries...
@RecessionistaBride: you are not alone! I am not a Rachel Ray fan at all. Alot of her stuff is bland and oily - seriously enough with the evoo.
I do like Ina Garten very much. She uses classic flavors and I have yet to make anything bad from her! Her outrageous brownies are the hands down best I have ever had. I have several of her cookbooks and I use them often.
I would go with what you are comfortable with. And it is hard to screw up things like lasagna, steaks on the grill, crockpot dishes and most of these can be made with minimal fuss and clean up so you don't feel like you are slaving in the kitchen instead of visiting with your guest.
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So, the end to this round of Mr. Dachshund's immigration journey is right around the corner. In just a few weeks, FMIL and FFIL will be driving Mr. Dachshund down from Vancouver to move all of his stuff, meet my family, and see our home.
They'll be staying with us in my house, so I'm starting to think about the food that I'll prepare for them while they're here. Annnd, I'm drawing a blank. I cook every once in a while, but it's usually simple things that are good enough for me.
Do any of you have any Future in-law worthy recipes? Preferably something relatively simple and not too expensive?