Update in #10: Easy recipes for Home Ec student to make?

[Cam&Clay]

DS1 is taking home ec and has to cook a meal this weekend. The meal has to include 3 recipes, like appetizer, main dish, and desert or salad, main dish, and veggie.

Since it can't be pasta with a jar of sauce, I'm at a loss as to something truly easy for him to make that is still a recipe. I was thinking maybe an easy chicken casserole? All I could find had a billion steps and would overwhelm him.

I was thinking brownies for dessert and he could make a salad dressing for the salad, but the main dish has me stumped.

Any ideas?

[mjs64]

How about a quiche? Here's Alton Brown's recipe for "Refrigerator Pie." Lots of options for fillings that don't need separate cooking:

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
2 eggs
2 pinches kosher salt
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 frozen 9-inch pie crust

Any one of the following combinations:
Cooked spinach, cheddar cheese, cubed cooked ham
Bacon, Sauteed leeks, and Gruyere cheese
Cooked spinach, canned artichoke hearts, and Parmesan cheese
Roasted chicken, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes
Blanched asparagus and smoked salmon
Port Salut and Spam

Directions
In a nonreactive, stainless steel bowl, combine the cream or half-and-half and the eggs. Whisk until combined thoroughly. Add the salt and the nutmeg. Whisk to combine.

Refrigerator Pie Rules: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Evenly distribute the pie fillings in the pie crust. Do not overfill the crust with the filling ingredients. Do not pour too much royale (egg mixture) into the crust. The eggs will expand upon cooking. Bake the pie until it is firm to the touch like set Jell-O, about 45 minutes. Cool the pie for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

ETA: I'd go with frozen (defrosted) spinach and shredded mozzarella, or ham and cheddar, probably. I'd skip the nutmeg unless you've got it on hand.

[mjs64]

Or twice baked potatoes? Could skip any ingredients like scallions, nutmeg. Could maybe also do a baked ziti, if jarred sauce counts as an ingredient?

Ingredients
4 large russet potatoes, each about 3/4 pound each, scrubbed and dried
2 to 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sour cream
1 scallion, finely chopped
Freshly grated nutmeg, optional
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes directly on the rack in the center of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Pierce each potato in a couple spots with a fork and continue to bake until tender, about 30 minutes more. Remove potatoes from the oven, and turn the heat down to 375 degrees F.

Hold the potato with an oven-mit or towel, trim off the top of the potatoes to make a canoe-like shape. Reserve the tops. Carefully scoop out most of the potato into a bowl. Take care to leave enough potato in the skin so the shells stay together. Mash the potato lightly with fork along with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the butter and sour cream. Stir in the scallion, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Season the skins with salt and pepper. Refill the shells with the potato mixture mounding it slightly. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the potato filling. Brush the reserved top with the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.

Set the potatoes and lids on a baking sheet, and bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

[DietCokeLover]

Enchiladas
Salad, soup and dessert ( most soups are pretty easy)

[MamaKath]

Oh how I still remember my sister having this assignment in middle school. She made baked mac and cheese for the meal. Yummy!!!

For dessert, apple (or pear, peach, etc) crisp is easy!

For an appetizer a favorite here is tomatoes with mozzarella. We get the fresh mozzarella at Costco, slice the tomatoes, slice the cheese, use a sprayer (from pampered chef) to spray olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and basil (fresh is better, but lately we use dried). Or something like fruit kabobs/salad.

[KLD313]

What about a meatloaf? Can't get much easier than that.

[hellokitty]

I agree with the salad, soup and dessert combo. Soup is easy, and so is salad. There are a lot of easy desserts that he can do as well.

[Cam&Clay]

Thanks ya'll! I love the meatloaf and soup ideas! I will ask him in the morning if they sound good to him.

[mjs64]

How did it go OP?

[Cam&Clay]

He cooked the dinner tonight because he had a soccer game last night until after 6:00. He did a fantastic job. He decided to do meatloaf, a salad (with one of the Pioneer Woman's dressings) and brownies (again from PW). He added frozen mashed potatoes and green beans, since he only had to have three actual recipes. The dinner was really good and he was so proud of himself.

Now he is doing the most hated part. The write up. It's a multiple page report.

I added a picture of him making the salad dressing.

[hellokitty]

That's awesome that he picked out what he wanted to make and it turned out well! :) Maybe it will spark a new interest in cooking.

[elephantmeg]

that's awesome! Home Ec was the best class I ever took (it was a requirement in Jamaica). They were hard core about home ec. You had to do huge meals, plan them out, complete with a time line of when things would be started etc. When I was starting out as a new wife etc I went back to timing out stuff so everything would end at the same time. I still do it for holiday meals for large groups. They also taught us crazy stuff like making roses out of tomato skins (I still do it occasionally!), doilies out of napkins, decorating etc.