Terry, you remind me of myself when I was first married. My mother did not want anyone in her kitchen except to clean up or to make an occasional batch of cookies, so I didn't know much. Poor DH ate so many flops! Looking back, I would give you several pieces of advice. The first is that you invest in some tools. A portable mixer, a food processor, a nice marble rolling pin, some silicone mats, some nice heavy cookware (I use cast iron skillets and a dutch oven. For my saucepans, I use nice heavy ones that I bought at a flea market. For bakeware, I like those insulated pans.), measuring cups and spoons, and a good set of knives. The mixer can be an inexpensive one. It needs to be lightweight enough that you can bring it to the stove and use it to mash potatoes and make 7-minute frosting, if you want to someday. I had a big MixMaster for years, but I found it too cumbersome and heavy. The food processor can be an inexpensive one, too, but get one that has a big bowl if you can. I use a Cuisinart. It was killer expensive and if I had it to do over again I would've bought something else, due to the fact that once in awhile the blade gets jammed down onto the bowl and it has to be shipped to get it repaired, and they take their sweet time. I have Cutco knives, simply because I was suckered in when I was 18 and not very consumer-savvy (something ELSE I had to learn on my own!). They have served me well for 40 years, but I've broken a couple things and the manufacturer will not make good on the "Lifetime Guarantee" because I lost the certificate somewhere along life's way. There are lots of brands of knives that are still good that don't cost as much. They should feel balanced in your hand when you grip the handle in a cutting position. I use my food processor a lot. I make my own chopped and shredded vegetables, "Shake'n'Bake, graham cracker crumbs,and lots of other things. When a recipe calls for the sugar, eggs and fat to be creamed together, I just drop them all in and turn on the motor. So also when the flour and fat needs to be "mixed till the mixture resembles corn meal". I find I hardly ever use my blender unless I'm making smoothies, and I bet I could make them in the food processor, too. I like wire whisks for when I make gravy, puddings, pie fillings. Christmas is coming up, maybe you can put in a request to Santa. I almost forgot, I use my crockpot a lot, too, and it's one I bought at a thrift shop. I have a microwave I bought at WMT on sale, but mostly I use it for heating up things, melting butter and thawing frozen things, and baking potatoes. I think I could probably do without it easier than some of the other tools I have listed here. The second piece of advice is that you learn certain skills, such as how to cut up a chicken and how to roll out a pie crust. Yes, you can buy cut up chicken and rolled-out pie crust. If you want to cook for your family in order to cut your grocery bills, you'll notice these things are more expensive. The third piece of advice is that you start with casseroles. There are lots of variations, each calling for a pasta, rice or potato ingredient, a meat ingredient, one or more vegetable ingredients, and usually something that binds them together, like tomato sauce or canned soup. Men and kids usually love a good casserole. If you go to Allrecipes.com and do a search on "casseroles", it will return any number of dishes. These are all rated and critiqued, and these are worth reading. No, I'm not connected to Allrecipes in any way, and there are other sites where you can do the same thing, it's just that it's my "Go to" site usually. They even have a section of "How-To Videos". Here's something I make and use a lot. I think I got it off Allrecipes.com. You can use it on chicken, fish, pork cutlets. Pop these in the oven, make a nice salad and bake some potatoes in the microwave: Shake n Bake an 18 oz box of cornflakes yields about 5 cups of fine crumbs. I mix this recipe up and keep it in a quart canning jar in the refrigerator. When I'm ready to use it, I put only about 1/4 cup on a plate and dredge the meat in it. You can always add a little more to the plate if you need to, but this way you don't waste, because you need to throw out whatever comes in contact with raw meat that doesn't get baked. 3-1/2 cups corn flake crumbs 1/4 C all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons onion powder Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Prepare chicken following the same technique as described on the box of the original mix using 2 1/2 lb. of bone-in chicken (6 to 8 pieces, with or without skin) or 2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves Preheat your oven to 400º, then moisten the chicken with water. Use a large plastic bag for the coating and use the same steps as described on the original package: "Shake moistened chicken, 1 to 2 pieces at a time, in shaker bag with coating mixture. Discard any remaining mixture and bag. Bake at 400º in ungreased or foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan until cooked through --BONE-IN: 45 minutes/BONELESS: 20 minutes" Sorry this is so long! --Ilene

Crustless Cranberry Pie "Light, super simple, and delicious dessert. Great with vanilla ice cream." INGREDIENTS  1 cup all-purpose flour  1 cup white sugar  1/4 teaspoon salt  2 cups cranberries  1/2 cup chopped walnuts  1/2 cup butter, melted  2 eggs  1 teaspoon almond extract DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 inch pie pan. 2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cranberries and the walnuts, and toss to coat. Stir in the butter, beaten eggs, and almond extract. If you are using frozen cranberries, the mixture will be very thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. 3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

thank you for posting this. It sounds like something that would heat up well. I need recipes like this because of the hours i work.

I haven't had that Ground Beef casserole in a really long time. It is also good with sweet Italian sausage. Yum! My breakfast casserole: 1 pound breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean and I sometimes use 2 pounds) 1/2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, diced (or all 3 if you like them) 1 small onion, diced 1 package sliced fresh mushrooms minced garlic to taste 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (or other cheeses that you like...we like a lot of cheese, so I add a lot) olive or vegetable oil small package hash browns 6-8 eggs, beaten 3 tablespoons flour 3 cups (+/-) milk, cream and/or half and half Brown the sausage, pepper, onion and mushrooms in about a tablespoon of the oil, until the sausage is cooked thru. You can add the garlic at the beginning or toward the end. If you add in the beginning, your garlic flavor will be mild. At the end, stronger. Place the hash browns in a greased casserole dish. Put a layer of 2/3's of the meat mixture. Top with the cheddar cheese. Top with the beaten eggs. (You can add some of the milk at this point if you have added a lot of cheese, so it will be a little creamier.) Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350, until the eggs are set. Add the flour to the remaining meat mixture and cook for several minutes, until the flour has browned nicely. Slowly add the milk (or cream and/or half and half) stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Tada! Gravy to be poured on top of casserole for those that like it that way. LOL I don't normally measure when I cook, so I didn't give quantities for items like salt (which I don't use), pepper, paprika, cumin or any other spices that I may add. I just look at my spices and put in what I think would be good. Anything can be added to this that you like. I season as I cook and then I layer seasonings as I put it in the casserole. This will serve about 8? Depends on how much your guys eat. LOL