Site worth bookmarking:
www.cookingforengineers.com. It's got step-by-step instructions
with pictures for everything, which takes a lot of the guesswork out of cooking. "Add the flour and mix - it should be
this color. Then add the eggs - it should look like
this. (etc.)"
Here's my suggestion for several days' worth of meals:
1) buy a whole frozen chicken or turkey. Put it in a pot and fill the pot 2/3 of the way with water. Boil it for a few hours or until you suddenly remember you have a chicken on the stove.
2) Let the whole pot cool a while, then pour it through a strainer. Save the liquid - it's salt-free homemade chicken stock, and it's useful to have on hand.
3) Pick the meat off the bones. Stick the meat in a tupperware in the fridge or in the freezer.
Now that you have a good quantity of cooked chicken, you can do other dishes:
- Barbecue chicken sandwiches (open tupperware, insert barbecue sauce, put on buns)
- Stuffing bake (box/bag of stuffing mix, cheese, cooked chicken bits, and whatever fresh/frozen veggies you have on hand)
- Chicken quesedillas (tortilla + shredded cheese + chicken bits --> a minute or so in the microwave)
- Chicken salad (chicken bits + mayo + whatever else you like in yours - I do grapes, apples, nuts, and celery)
- Chicken soup (chicken bits + the chicken stock + whatever leftover veggies, pasta, rice, etc. you have in the fridge)
I love just having the chicken meat around because once it's cooked, all the other meal options are really easy and fast and don't produce all that many dirty dishes for me to wash
