What's cookin'?

[Taeryyn]

So guildies, since I'm hungry and waiting for supper to be ready (just baked mac & cheese, nothing fancy), I ask you this: What's for dinner, folks?

You heard me. What sort of things do you eat on a weekly basis? What sort of food do you often cook? What are your favourite meals or recipes? biggrin

Do you enjoy cooking, or do you see it as a chore? For those of you who still live with your parents or extended family, do you do much cooking, or are you relegated to being the official dishwasher?

I hungrily await your answers.  

[Lobo-chan]

Well, I'm stuck with terrible dining hall food until I graduate in May... then I'm back to (most likely better) dining hall food when I go off to college in the fall ^.^

I don't really get to cook much at home because my stepmom does most of the cooking, but I do whip up a nice dessert every now and then. Most the time I stick to cookies, fruit breads, or brownies, but I've made my own cakes a couple of times. I also made delicious ice cream recently!
So... my approach to cooking tends to be "What's in the fridge? What spices smell like they'd be nice with this?".

Huh... I feel like a fatty when I actually stop to think and realize that most of what I make is dessert. That's it, I am making that gazpacho soup this summer and finally getting around to using that book of Spanish recipes I got forever ago! I just haven't yet because I've been at school and don't like the kitchen here...  

[YunieCookie]

Ugh, I always realize how badly I eat here when I tell people.

Since I'm at uni, I seem to have pretty limited options in what I eat :/
I kinda rotate between chicken fingers + salad, pizza, burger + fries, and subway (turkey on 9-grain wheat, with swiss, a little lettuce [ie: less than they usually drown it in], cucumbers, green peppers and red onions, no sauce).
And then if I eat breakfast, it's usually some cereal since I never manage to get in time to get breakfast from the cafeteria place (which would be either sausage on an english muffin + hashbrown or toast + sausage + hashbrown).

When I'm at home, my mom usually does most of the cooking, and I usually snack until dinner >_>
I do make some pretty excellent stir fry, though, and also do some bake some pretty yummy cookies and cake.

It's not that I -can't- cook at home, just that I generally don't.
This year, though, I'm going to try and cook more, since I won't be in school (taking a year off).


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[God-Raped-Me]

GTR makes some of the best food ever! I can make great chili (spicy or not), meatloaf and stews. GTR can make everything else! Everything from pasta to meats to salads. He made dilly meatballs the other week and I couldn't stop eating them!

During a week we really don't have a lot of time to make fancy meals, so once or twice we get take-out, although this week it's been like 4 times already, and we'll make spaghetti, something with pork, potatoes, soup. If it were up to the kids we would have hot dogs all day!  

[Thaliat Everwood]

Tonight was Oriental ramen with veggies and hot peppers and chives and an egg. Yum! No one else at home eats my cooking though, not since the Skittle Cookie incident. I like to experiment a lot. I never follow a recipe very well.

I only cook for myself, but that is when it is fun. Any other time it is a drag. Way too boring. So my mom cooks.  

[invisible-weirdo]

Tonight's shrimp wonton soup with noodles.
....No I didn't make it myself. Yes, it was essentially add water and microwave the s**t out of it.

There's not much that I can cook, and it's usually exceedingly simple anyway. I don't have much confidence in my ability in the kitchen, but I'm working on it. Slowly. So slowly...

My typical dinner depends on how lazy I am and how stocked my fridge is. Sometimes it's just a sandwich or a bowl of cereal just cuz I don't feel like doing anything.  

[aretoo]

Our dinners tend to depend on what we have in the 'fridge, combined with how creative I'm feeling, combined with what Kusa wants. (The last plays a pretty big part, actually; we eat a LOT of Mac 'n cheese, with or without hot dogs). smile

I do enjoy making a big vat of chili, or potato soup (some call it corn chowder, must be regional), and couscous with onion and sun-dried tomatoes (done up with chicken broth)... Actually, I'm pretty adventuresome with the ingredients and some time. smile  

[penned ignorance]

I'm horrid at cooking. The best I can do is pasta... but damn, I make a good pasta. xD I'm a baker more than a chef, so I don't tend to cook a lot at home. My mom usually makes dinner for me, but I make my own lunches, I suppose. Usually I make all sorts of wraps and ramen noodles, or other easy to put together stuff. Today I made a pretty awesome wrap for lunch and for dinner I made myself some fishsticks and spiral pasta with alfredo sauce. So basically, I can boil water and turn on an oven...  

[Thaliat Everwood]

I can burn water. And turned hot chocolate into a brownie like mass. I say this with an odd sense of pride. I've had oodles of cooking disasters, lol. But I really can make some tasty stuff.

A couple of weeks ago, I made an awesome tofu and veggie stir fry with my own take on an Asian style soy based sauce I once tasted. And shrimp. It was just medium spicy and my parents tried it, too. They liked it. They saw me make it, were entertained by my process of selecting spices...and still were willing to eat it!

I make Asian themed soups often...not sure how close they come to being "authentic" as I follow no written recipes, but they taste fairly close to the one's at my favorite restaurant.

And I do make killer omelets, and peanut butter balls with coco powder...yummers!  

[Kalstolyn]

I'm too lazy to cook, most of the time. These days most of what I cook is either some form of boiled thing (like pasta or perogies) or somethign that can be cooked in a slow cooker.

When the mood strikes and there's not a pile of snow outside, I like to make barbeque steak with lemon prawn skewers and garlic roasted yams.

Example:

 

[Taeryyn]

Incoming wall of text. sweatdrop

@Lobo: When I was in university, I didn't get much chance to cook, either. I have never been much of a baker, myself, despite working in a bakery. I think part of it is just that I am apathetic towards most desserts, so I never really practice making them.
I have never had gazpacho, and the thought doesn't really appeal, but I do want to try it at least once.

There are two desserts I make, and make well, and neither is complicated. I also don't like to eat either of them. One just looks pretty, and the other makes the house smell good. xD

Maple meringue kisses and apple crisp. 3nodding

@Yunie: You eat considerably better than a lot of the people I went to university with. xD Most of the meal options weren't absolutely horrible in terms of healthfulness, but they weren't great, especially the vegetarian options.

(My favourite subway option is probably turkey on 9-grain wheat with monterey jack, lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, jalapenos, and honey-mustard.)

@GRM:
I am the primary cook in my house. Unless I am working the late shift, I usually make supper for Josh and I, and sometimes Steve. Lunch and breakfast are a fend-for-yourselves affair; I can't imagine trying to get three meals prepared for kids, home-made or otherwise. @_@

@Thal: Skittle cookie incident? x3 Skittles are my favourite candies, and I think I might actually like cookies that included them. I am also a great one for experimentation with food, and the results aren't always so great. Sometimes, I can deviate from a recipe and it will turn out wonderful, but then I'll be unable to duplicate my success a second time. ._.

And I may have burned water once myself. >_> I got distracted. As for the authenticity of recipes...meh. I think most people choose what to eat based on how good it tastes or how healthy it is (or isn't...the Double Down comes to mind) rather than how authentic the dish is. I mean, if I am specifically trying to experience someone else's culture, I might look for authenticity, but in general, it's not important to me.

@Invis: I went through a period when I was first out of university (for about a month or two) where I basically lived off of Lipton Sidekicks, even though I knew how to cook other things. I didn't cook them in the microwave, but you just throw them in a pot and wait, essentially, so the level of effort is the same. There is something to be said for easy, easy food. x3 I find cooking relaxing now, though, and sort of a way to destress after work, so the nearly-instant pasta is reserved for times when money is scarcer than usual or I'm just exhausted.

@Aretoo: When you describe what you're cooking, you usually make me hungry. xD I tried corn chowder/potato soup for the first time last month at a potluck at work. I didn't think I would like it at all, but it was delicious! I would really like to learn to make it. Does your recipe use meat at all?

@Penny: I never ate much pasta growing up. Certainly little beyond mac & cheese, lasagna, or spaghetti. I still don't eat it as much as other people, but I enjoy experimenting with different noodles and sauces and seasonings. I think gemelli is one of my favourites.

@Kyla: That chicken recipe just got saved. :3 It sounds delicious. I don't eat much meat anymore. I gave up vegetarianism, and then Josh picked it up, so I mostly cook meatless meals still. xD

I have a recipe for chicken that I really like, too, and it's about equally simple. The ingredients don't really sound like they'd go well together, but it's quite tasty.

You need:
Chicken breasts
olive oil
1 packet of onion soup mix
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly coat a baking dish with olive oil. Mix the onion soup mix, ketchup, brown sugar, and water together in a bowl. Add the chicken breasts, and pour the sauce over top. Cover and back for 45 minutes.

It's one of the few meals for which I actually have a written recipe. Most times, I just go by best guess and my own taste.

@Kals: That looks delicious! I have never had garlic roasted yams, but I would like to. What is that salad to the right?  

[Kalstolyn]

Taeryyn

@Kals: That looks delicious! I have never had garlic roasted yams, but I would like to. What is that salad to the right?

The salad is a broccoli salad using bagged broccoli coleslaw in place of the chopped broccoli.

I kind of invented the yam recipe. I cut them up (it works better to cube them) and tossed them with olive oil and slivered garlic cloves, then wrapped them up in tin foil, wet newspaper, and another layer of tin foil, and tossed em on the barbeque.  

[Taeryyn]

Mmmm. I like broccoli salad, too. I couldn't tell if it was broccoli salad with cabbage or coleslaw with broccoli. x3

The yam recipe sounds delicious, too. I will have to try that.  

[PixiecuTT]

I typically don't eat breakfast, even though I should. I start off my day with a mug of black hazelnut coffee, usually. (Bad habit, I know.)

Lunch is typically leftovers, or a sandwich. I like multigrain crusty bread the best. One of my favourite sandwiches would be turkey, avocado, spinach, cucumber, and ranch dressing. ^^ Tuna is another favourite, with mayo, lettuce and pickles diced up with the tuna.

Supper is usually prepared by me, but my boyfriend has a few signature meals. He makes a really delicious beef stew (usually with turnip, parsnips, carrots, onions, and potatoes) and he's in charge of anything cooked on the BBQ.

One of my favourite things to cook is tikka masala (or tofu masala?). My version is probably horribly inauthentic, but I have it on good authority that it's delicious (and very spicy.)

In general, I cook a lot of spicy dishes and a lot of vegetables. We eat pasta maybe once every two weeks, but rice gets incorporated into quite a few meals.

I don't really bake, but I do make dough for pizza, and I enjoy making maple cheesecake sometimes.

Tonight I'm cooking spiced potatoes pieces in the oven, and salmon with lemon pepper, sliced yellow peppers, leek, zucchini, and green onion.