Home Cooking Meal Suggestions and Recipes

From the Cooks' standpoint, the best meals only have a few ingredients, have little preparation and risk of burning or ruining, and come out tasting great.  Here are a few recipes from our families' collection that satisfy these requirements that are easily cooked in a home kitchen.

Macaroni and Cheese by Grandma West.  Serves 8.  15 minutes prep time

1 lb macaroni noodles

1 stick butter

1/2 c flour

1/2 c milk

2 c cheese (colby best, cheddar good.)

Boil water and cook up the noodles.  When done, drain.  Leave noodles in the colander while you melt the butter in the hot pot over low heat.  Add flour, stir until mixed well.  Add milk and warm through until you have a nice white sauce, stirring constantly with a wire whisk to keep it from sticking and clumping.  Add more milk if it's too thick.  Add cheese and melt, stirring with a spoon.  Mix noodles back into the cheese sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve this with a couple of cans of green beans to round out the meal.  

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Tacos by Mimi.  Serves 6.  15 minutes prep time but 4-6 hours latent prep time.

3 frozen chicken breasts

1 taco seasoning packet

1 pkt flour tortillas, any size

lettuce

tomatoes

shredded cheese

Four to 6 hours before serving, place chicken breasts in a crock pot and sprinkle the taco seasoning packet on top.  Do not add water!  Turn crock pot to high for a half hour, then turn to low.  Just before serving, make sure meat is fully cooked by shredding it and mixing any water around it back in.  It should shred easily and there should be no clear or pink meat.  Thinly slice lettuce, cut tomatoes into bite sized pieces.  Serve meat with toppings and enjoy.

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Chili by Mimi.  Serves 6.  15 minutes prep time,  1-6 hours latent prep time.

2 cans chili beans, with beans
2 cans kidney beans

1 lb hamburger1/2 onion1 15 oz can tomatoes

Cook the hamburger with the onion cut into pieces.  Drain fat off when finished.  Pour meat into a Crock pot adding the other ingredients.  Set to low and let it cook.  Serve when everything is heated through, or wait hours until serving.

Consider serving with a Jiffy cornbread mix cooked 20 minutes before eating time.  For a veggie, cook up some corn on the cob. 

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Spaghetti and Meatballs by Mimi, Serves 6, 10 minutes prep time, 4-6 hours latent prep time.

1 lb frozen meatballs

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 pkg noodles

Put frozen meatballs in crock pot.  Put on high for a half hour, then turn to low.  Cook on low 4-6 hours or until they are done and juices are clear.  Pour spaghetti sauce over meatballs while you cook the noodles.  Boil a large pot of water; when boiling add noodles and cook when they are soft but not mushy.  Serve noodles with a generous serving of sauce and meatballs on top.  Top with Parmesan cheese.  Consider serving with a salad to round out the meal.  

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Lasagna by Mimi.  Serves 8, 10 minute prep time, 1 1/2 hours latent prep time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 lb lasagna noodles

2 jars spaghetti sauce

1 large container cottage cheese

2 cups cheddar cheese

Pour 1 tbs of spaghetti sauce into a 9 x 13 pan-- spread all over the bottom.  Layer noodles then sauce until half of the noodles are used up.  Spoon cottage cheese over noodles.  Put another layer of noodles on that, layering sauce and noodles on top until you end with sauce.  Pour 1/2 cup of water in each empty sauce jar, swirling around to get all the remaining sauce off the sides.  Pour this on top of the lasagna.  Top with cheddar cheese and put tin foil on top sealing on all sides. Place in oven for an hour.  After an hour, cheese should be melted and the top should look bubbly.  Take tin foil off for 15 minutes to brown the top.  Let sit until cooled a bit and serve.

Consider serving with a salad to round out the meal.

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Taco Salad by Linda.  Serves 6-8.  20 minute prep time.

1 lb hamburger

taco seasoning packet

1 can kidney beans

1 cup cheese

Bag tortilla chips

Tomatoes

Head of Iceberg Lettuce

1/2 cup Italian dressing

Olives (optional)

Cook hamburger up until done; add seasoning packet and some water and simmer.  Separately in a large bowl, rip washed lettuce into bite-sized pieces.  Add the rest of the ingredients and toss.  Right before serving, pour cooked and seasoned meat over top and toss.  Serve immediately.  Some like to add Ranch dressing, guacamole and other toppings.

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Green Bean Casserole by Durkee.  Serves 4.  10 minutes prep, 1 hour latent prep time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 cans green beans

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 container Durkee onions

1 lb hamburger (optional, to make a full meal.)

If adding hamburger, cook it fully first and drain.  Add the beans, soup mix and half of the onions.  Pour into a baking dish and cover with the rest of the onions.  

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until bubbly.

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Eggs Alvin by Gary.  Serves 10.  20 minutes prep time.

1 dozen eggs

1 lb bulk sausage

In a saucepan, cook sausage until fully cooked.  Drain.  Add eggs, mixing in to the sausage pieces.  Cook, scraping the eggs off the bottom until the eggs are set and fully cooked.  Serve with cheese and/or salsa.

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Quickie Quiche by Melanie.  Serves 6.  10 minutes prep, 1 hour latent prep time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk and/or cream or a mixture of both

1 cup meat, cheese, veggies or whatever you want in the center.  My favorite is ham and Swiss.

One raw pie shell

Layer ham, cheese, veggies or whatever filling you have chosen in the pie crust.  Place pie crust on a pizza pan.  Mix the eggs with a wire whisk; add milk.  Pour over the filling and place in over for one hour.  

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Grandma West's Poached/Steamed Eggs.  Serves any number, take orders.  10 minutes cook time.

Grease a frying pan (that has a lid) with butter or bacon grease.  (A great way to grease it is to cook bacon in it, pour off grease and leave the yummy crunchy bacon bits in the grease slick remaining.)

Heat skillet until hot but not smoking.  Break eggs carefully around the pan.  Break yolks for scouts who want them cooked and not soft.  When egg whites go from clear to solid white, add 1/2 cup of water and immediately put the lid on.

Count to 10, then turn the heat down to low.  Let the eggs steam for 5 minutes, then check for doneness.  The white should be solid; the yolk can be runny (in the non broken yolks.)  The broken yolks will be solid.  Serve with toast, jam and bacon.  And orange juice.
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