Easy recipes for beginners

Share a great recipe or restaurant, ask a question about how to cook something, or mention a good ingredient substitute or packaged food.

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Easy recipes for beginners

Postby thomaswiho » Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:47 am

Hi, I just start trying to cook by myself, and I download the Dr.McDougall Mobile Cookbook , but I am a cooking novice right now :( :crybaby: and my home don't have many kitchenware, so it is difficult to follow the recipes.

Can anyone suggest provide recipes that is easy to cook and no need many kitchenware?
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby VeggieSue » Wed Jun 09, 2021 4:27 am

In the forum's advanced search bar, use the word "snap" and the user "JeffN" and you'll find loads of simple, 5-ingredient, one-pot meals that require just 5 packaged ingredients and the only equipment needed are a pot, a can opener, scissors, and a spoon to stir.

You can also go to Jeff's Facebook album titled "My Simple Recipes" and with each photo keep clicking until you get to the first reply, because that's where he posted each recipe:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?van ... 4432390124

If you want even simpler than that, watch Mary McDougall's meal planner video on the Quick Start page right on this website:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/prog ... ick-start/

She'll tell you that a meal can be as simple as a baked potato and some cooked frozen veggies.
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby CindyD » Wed Jun 09, 2021 12:44 pm

So when I started I ate tons of baked potatoes and steamed veg (mostly broccoli, cauliflower and/or brussel sprouts). And you don't even need a recipe because it could not be easier! Wash a whole bunch of potatoes and poke holes with fork. (My favorites are russet potatoes and Japanese sweet potatoes with the white flesh and purple skin).

Put some parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on your largest baking pan, arrange potatoes on there, and bake for an hour at 400 degrees. If you stick the potatoes with a fork and the fork pulls out cleanly without sticking or lifting the potato, it is done. Smaller potatoes may only need about 50 minutes. Some giant ones will need an hour plus twenty minutes or so. You'll get the hang of it!

Stuff you can put on baked russet potatoes: salsa, half a can of rinsed beans plus salsa, steamed vegetables, nutritional yeast, garlic salt (in moderation, if you are adding salt). Baked Japanese sweet potatoes I just eat plain, cold or hot!

I still make at least one tray of potatoes every week. SO HANDY if you are hungry and don't feel like making something new. Good luck!

EDIT: I see VeggieSue said the same thing at the end of her comment. :D
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby michaelswarm » Wed Jun 09, 2021 8:49 pm

Most cooking can be done with very little. That's how it's been done for hundreds of years.
Practice cooking one or two staples starches that you like to eat. Breakfast, lunch or dinner? What do you like?

Super simple
- Oatmeal
- Steamed Rice
- Baked Potato
- Boiled Pasta
- Pot of beans

Packaged (Don't forget no oil whole grain versions of bakery.)
- Whole wheat bread
- Corn tortillas

If you can make the staples, you won't starve. Add frozen vegetables, jar marinara sauce (no oil), canned beans, jar salsa, condiments, etc. My family were traveling around US and Mexico in a small car. I made all of our meals with a hot plate, a pot, a rice cooker, a blender, a can opener and a knife, which fit in the trunk along with luggage. (Also a few spoons, cup and spoon measures.) Many times we did not even have a proper kitchen, and we cleaned up in the bathroom, using a small cooler as a wash basin.
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby thomaswiho » Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:36 am

Thank you for all the answer , I will read all of them. :)
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby deweyswakms » Fri Jun 18, 2021 7:18 am

My crockpot is essential tool for me because I make yummy veggie chili, and love the Slow Beans & Berries recipe in the McDougall quick & easy cookbook. Their 'speedy stew' is also easy, fast, yummy:

2 14 oz cans of stewed tomatoes ( I like the ones with Mexican seasonings)
1 15 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 16 oz can of corn kernels (drained and rinsed)
Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stir occasionally
Serve with a green salad, maybe good quality bread if you aren't doing the MWL program

Voila
start weight 210 on 7/25/14; MWL recommit 7/2019 weight 197. 6/11/2022 weight 165.0. Height 5'8".
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby pundit999 » Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:41 pm

Roasted Root veggies (adapted from Anne Esselstyn Cookbook)

2 Sweet potatoes with skin, cut in medium size pieces
1 Rutabaga peeled and cut in medium size pieces
sprinkled and tossed with: thyme, rosemary and lemon juice
mix in a glass bowl or whatever
cover with aluminum foil and
bake for 1 hr at 450F

You can also use Parsnips, Turnips, Russet/Gold Potatoes etc
Easy and delicious
Easy clean up
Last edited by pundit999 on Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Easy recipes for beginners

Postby pundit999 » Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:45 pm

Easy Savory Oats

- 1 cup rolled old fashioned oats
- 1 medium tomato (Campari is better) cut in small pieces
- Cut green chilies/Jalapenos if you can handle it
- 1/2 cup frozen or 1 cup fresh spinach or any other greens
- 2 cups water

Microwave in a glass bowl for about 4 min.
Sprinkle fresh black pepper (and optionally salt )

Can be made anywhere in the world as long as you have access to a microwave.
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