help! in laws visiting!

[luvehr]

my in-laws are visiting us this weekend and are staying for 5 days. i'm a little nervous because in my husband's eyes (and in his whole family's eyes, for that matter), no one can cook like his mom. and now i have to cook for her! :) i'm trying to come up with pretty simple, quick, basic or one pot meals - they aren't very adventurous eaters (read: no asian flavors, no indian, no tofu :p , more meat and potatoes).

so far i have:

rigatoni and meatballs
CL beef daube provencal
EW black eyed peas with pork and greens

i need a few more suggestions for the 5 days they will be here. plus i feel the things i have so far are all pretty carb-heavy!

thanks!

[Robyn1007]

I think the key here is to make sure you aren't making items that are family favorites. If the whole family loves mom's rigatoni with meatballs (for example) then don't try to compete. A great roasted chicken might work with associated sides.

[Angelsfan]

How about some enchiladas and Mexican rice?

I will include the recipes and also a link to the step by step pictures on my blog.

-Heather

http://heathersblissfuljourney.blogspot.com/2009/02/heathers-enchiladas.html

Heather's Enchiladas

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen thawed or fresh corn
1 large tomato, or two Roma tomatoes seeded and diced
3/4 cup sliced green onions
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 standard sized jar prepared tomatillo salsa, divided
10 flour or corn tortillas (6 inch)
1 cup crumbled queso anejo, or farmer cheese
1 pound of cooked protein (shrimp, beef, chicken)


Preheat broiler.

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine beans, corn, tomato, green onions, cumin and 1/2 cup salsa. Microwave until heated through, about two minutes.

Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray.

Spoon about 1/3 cup hot bean mixture down the center of a tortilla, then add the protein of your choice.

Roll up and place seam side down in prepared pan. Repeat until all the filling is used.

Pour the remaining salsa evenly over the enchiladas.

Top with cheese.

Broil 5 to 6 inches from the heat until heated through and the cheese melts, 5 to 6 minutes.

http://heathersblissfuljourney.blogspot.com/2008/10/mexican-rice.html

Mexican Rice
(My adaption of a classic recipe.)

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 chopped medium white onion
2 diced jalapanos
2 cups long grain white rice
1/4 cup olive oil
6 minced garlic cloves
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
A large handful of minced fresh cilantro
1 lime

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine tomato, onion and jalaponos in processor or blender until pureed completely smooth. Transfer mixture to measuring cup and reserve 2 cups.

Place the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear- about 1 or 2 minutes.Shake rice vigorously to remove excess water.

Heat the olive oil in heavy bottomed ovensafe 12 inch straight sided sautee pan or Dutch oven with tight fitting lid over medium high heat about 2 minutes. Drop a few rice grains in, if they sizzle then it is ready. Add rice and fry stirring until rice is light golden and translucent, about 6-8 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and cook , stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 1/2 minutes.

Stir in chicken broth, pureed mixture, tomato paste, and salt. Increase heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.

Cover pan and transfer pan to oven to bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30-35 minutes.Stir well 15 minutes into the cooking time and return to oven.

Stir in the juice from the lime and the minced cilantro.

[Canice]

That's great advice, Robyn -- no point competing with Mom's Meatloaf! :eek: I was thinking roast chicken, too, because it's hard not to love, and it's sort of the black skirt of proteins. Similarly, roast beef.

Can you define "quick"? Most of the simple, one-pot/dish things I'm thinking of require prep work and assembly, not something I'd throw together and have on the table in an hour. But I see the rigatoni and meatballs, and I'm guessing that also requires a bit of prep and cooking time? Can you do any cooking before they arrive? Maybe make a lasagna or chile? This might be a good time to pull out those Barefoot Contessa cookbooks, if you've got any - her food is very accessible and not complicated. I was thinking of the chicken stew with dumplings, or such. If you had the time, you could make Martha Stewart's macaroni and cheese (unless you know they would prefer the Blue Box).
In your shoes, I wouldn't worry about the carbs - I'd just try to get good, acceptable meals on the table. But then, I'm kind of sloppy that way.

[Robyn1007]

These stuffed peppers are good.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1215919

[Terri_A]

What about a hearty soup one night? It's still cold in Boston, right?

This one was great and came together in about 15 minutes! If you have an already roasted chicken it's really fast!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oi6N9YCjV50/SWKjWtfcWCI/AAAAAAAAACo/4ou7OV6-9Ds/s320/IMG_1707.JPG

Creamy Chili-Corn Soup with Chicken and Black Beans
from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great
by Pam Anderson

2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) creamed corn
1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, drained
1 can (4 ounces) diced green chiles
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and ground black pepper

In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, heat oil and garlic over medium-high heat until garlic starts to sizzle. Add chili powder and cumin and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add corn, tomatoes, broth, beans, chiles and chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, partially covered, to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

377 calories per 2-cup serving

[pharmarepgirl]

Here is a excellent and easy pasta dish that has become a huge hit for us. It is from Joe's Blog:
http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2005/05/fettuccine-with-parmesan-pine-nuts-and.html

[Angelsfan]

Creamy Chili-Corn Soup with Chicken and Black Beans
from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great
by Pam Anderson



Good call Terri! This is so good and so quick. I made a huge batch last time and froze some of it. Friday we did a movie night, defrosted some of the soup and made some cheese quesadillas to dip into the soup. It was awesome and effortless.

-Heather

[Alleycat]

That soup looks really good!

What about an easy night or two?

Hamburgers or BBQ Pork Sandwiches with potato salad or coleslaw, with fruit for dessert
Paninis with soup and salad
Takeout!

Here's the BBQ Pork Sandwich recipe I like from Southern Living. It's a crockpot recipe -- fix and forget :)

Barbecue Pork Sandwiches
from Southern Living, April 2006

2 tablespoons barbecue seasoning, divided (I use Penzey's BBQ 3000)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided (I omit)
1 (5-lb.) bone-in pork loin center rib roast (I use boneless)
1 (15-oz.) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
12 multigrain buns
Dill pickles (optional)


1. Combine 1 Tbsp. barbecue seasoning and 1 tsp. salt; rub evenly over pork roast.

2. Stir together tomatoes, next 7 ingredients, remaining 1 Tbsp. barbecue seasoning, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a 6.5-quart slow cooker. Add roast; cover and cook on LOW 9 hours or until meat shreds easily.

3. Remove roast; remove and discard bone. Shred meat using the tines of 2 forks. Return to slow cooker, and stir together with sauce; spoon over multigrain buns. Serve with pickles, if desired.


Yield: Makes 12 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup barbecue mixture and 1 bun)

CALORIES 461 (28% from fat); FAT 14g (sat 5.9g,mono 5.3g,poly 2.1g); IRON 2.7mg; CHOLESTEROL 81mg; CALCIUM 105mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.4g; SODIUM 712mg; PROTEIN 39.9g; FIBER 3.2g

Southern Living, JUNE 2006

[Gecko]

You have received some great ideas above. One thing that immediately popped in my mind was asking your MIL if she would teach you how to make a family favorite on one of the nights she is there. I know I would be flattered that someone wanted to learn a dish from me. Hopefully she will feel that she is passing on some kind of food legacy from her family to future generations.

[Middydd]

Totally agree with Robyn and Canice!! Stay away from anything that your mother in law makes.

With the suggested roast chicken, how about Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Vegetable Orzo?

Everybody I've ever served it to, has loved it. And, it's very easy and can be made in advance and served at room temperature.

[Cookin4Love]

You have received some great ideas above. One thing that immediately popped in my mind was asking your MIL if she would teach you how to make a family favorite on one of the nights she is there. I know I would be flattered that someone wanted to learn a dish from me. Hopefully she will feel that she is passing on some kind of food legacy from her family to future generations.

This is exactly what I thought when I first read the thread. It would also really give you some insight on "how" to cook for them.

[dneilson]

One thing that immediately popped in my mind was asking your MIL if she would teach you how to make a family favorite on one of the nights she is there. I know I would be flattered that someone wanted to learn a dish from me.


Yes!! Great idea!! I'm thinking that once MIL feels you respect her skills as THE cook in the family (by requesting a mini-session), this will lower her expectations, build mutual respect and you'll feel relieved to be "off the hook". Now that expectations are lowered, you're now in a better position to change her perception of you as a cook if meals are above average.

Am I making any sense (with my two cents?)



Dolores

[Johnny C]

Some great advice from Robyn & Gecko! And you can NEVER go wrong with a good roast chicken; where you can go wrong is in the accompaniments, if you make some nice crispy roast potatoes it's a surefire winner every time.

I admire your resolve to impress! My inlaws like similar food, for them spag bol is adventurous and the only 'foreign' food they will eat is chinese. Maybe because they come for dinner regularly I try and take the opportunity to slip garlic/chilli into things to expand their palate.

My method (evolved over many years) is to get some good potatoes (such as Yukon Gold, I'd use King Eddies or Maris Piper in the UK but yo may not be able to get them), peel and cut into 2 inch chunks, put into some well-salted boiling water and parboil for 5 mins. Drain well in the pan, leave the lid off for 2 mins to let any remaining moisture steam away, cover and toss to roughen the sides/edges well (but not so hard as to turn them into mash but if you don't overcook that's no problem). Then add any fat/oil and stir to coat them well. I've experimented with goose fat, duck fat, lard, beef dripping, light olive oil, sunflower oil and it really doesn't matter much which oil it is. Then transfer to a baking tray, season with salt, pepper (rosemary is good too) and put into the top of the oven for the last 45 mins of cooking the chicken. Remove the chicken, cover with foil and leave to rest, turn the heat off but leave the potatoes in the oven. This is important, when chicken cooks a lot of steam is released into the oven which slows down the crisping process. When you remove the chicken the steam escapes, and the final 10 mins in the now-dry oven on their own helps the final crisping immensely.

If they like meat & potato type things, the ultimate meat&potato dish that can be prepared ahead, frozen and cooked 'fresh' is meat & potato pie. The general plan of attack is to take some skirt steak and cut into large (2inch) pieces, toss in a bag containing flour and 1tsp mustard powder, fry in light olive oil until browned. Remove from pan, fry some onion, celery and carrot in a little oil (soffrito) until soft. Transfer to a saucepan, add the meat, and an equivalent amount of good potatos (yukon gold for eg) cut into 1 inch chunks and half the equivalent amount of peas, and add beef stock to cover. Give it a stir. Add a tsp of ground pepper, 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce, and salt to taste. Then cover and leave to simmer for an hour or so. Then check the liquid, it should have reduced a bit but you want a rich sauce, so mix equal amounts of butter and flour, and add a tbsp at a time, stir in gently until the sauce naps the spoon. Leave to cool.

At this stage you can transfer it to a dish or some sort and freeze.

To cook on the day, you will need that plus a packet of shortcrust pastry (frozen is fine unless you're happy to make it yourself)

Roll out some shortcrust pastry, and line a greased deep casserole/pie dish with it, leaving enough to flop over the rim. Add the contents of the pan (gently), level out, then roll a piece of rolled pastry across the top. Press down gently to remove air, then seal the edges with the tines of a fork, finally make a small hole in the middle for steam to escape. You can garnish the lid with some pasrty shapes )leaves for eg). Then brush with egg wash. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 350F/175C for 40-50m mins, until the top is nicely golden brown.


Another option is goulasch, again you can make ahead, freeze then reheat in a pan at a gentle simmer with dumplings cooking on top of the goulasch. There's plenty of recipes on the web for goulasch, the key to it being good is to use good quality steak such as sirloin and to make sure you add crushed caraway seeds.

[luvehr]

thanks for all the suggestions!

thankfully, the rigatoni recipe is my italian grandmother's recipe, so i don't have to worry about competing with her there. :) i made the sauce and froze it last weekend, so it's one thing thats ready to go.

i think i'm going to try terri's soup and quesadilla recommendation - i can make the soup tomorrow night and stock that away in the freezer too. and i think one of the other night's i'll try the pulled pork since it sounds easy and since its in the crockpot i dont have to worry about it!!

we'll see how it all goes! :)

[Randi R]

Let us know what you come up with, and how the visit goes!

[luvehr]

hey guys -
i never got a chance to post back about the visit! i ended up making terri A's creamy chicken soup and quesidillas for lunch one day. (actually, i froze it and i'm eating it again today for lunch!) that was a big hit. i also made alleycat's pulled pork recipe - that was so easy and my father in law raved about it and ate on the leftovers for three days. :)

thanks so much for all the help. it made everything go very smoothly.:p

[luvehr]

sorry this has taken so long....i've tried for a couple days to post to let everyone know how it went, but i've had server problems!

thanks again for everybody's help. the visit went very smoothly. i made terri a's creamy chicken soup and quesidillas one day for lunch - that was a big hit. :) in fact, i froze some and had it yesterday as well!
i also made alleycat's pulled pork recipe. my father-in-law loved it!! he ate on the leftovers for about 3 days. that was so easy too, i'll definitely make that again sometime.

thanks so much!

[swedish cook]

What a great thread and thanks for your feed-back luvehr!

Is the Italian rigatoni recipe a family secret or would you care to share it??? I do take "NO" for an answer :)

[luvehr]

What a great thread and thanks for your feed-back luvehr!

Is the Italian rigatoni recipe a family secret or would you care to share it??? I do take "NO" for an answer :)

we'll see if this post goes through!!

its not much of a recipe, more of an explanation....:) it's also waaay better after a day or two in the fridge!

rigatoni and meatballs

1 pound ground hamburger or ground chuck (i threw in some ground pork too)
1 egg
bread crumbs
1 medium onion, peeled
italian seasoning, basil, oregano, garlic powder, minced dried onion, any other spices you want to throw in

mix the meat, egg, bread crumbs, and spices together. (sorry, i don't know amounts, i just throw them in and make sure there is enough bread crumbs that they stay together). form into balls. brown in a pan with the onion. keep the onion whole and brown it with the meatballs.

for the sauce:

2 large cans of whole tomatoes (i think they are 28 ounces?) plus juices
15 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
oregano (to taste)
garlic powder, basil, whatever other spices you want to taste

mix all the ingredients, bring to a simmer. add the meatballs and the whole onion and 1-2 tablespoons of grease from the meatballs. Simmer 4-5 hours.

i also take a spoon while the sauce is cooking and smoosh the whole tomatoes down, just because a lot of people dont like large whole tomatoes in their sauce. :)

[swedish cook]

Thank you so much!

[Litehouse9]

:) This is what I did when my Hyper-critical Mother in Law and her daughter came to visit. My wonderful neighbor and friend cooked dinner one night! I told the in laws that the neighbor volunteered to cook "so I could give them my full attention for the one day". My neighbor made a perfectly good dish.. and of course, NO ONE, including the MIL, had any interest or need to criticize the dish. Everyone ate up and all was fine!@

Later, when my friend's relatives came to visit, I returned the favor to her... Worked like a charm! It was so so so less stressful for me!

Sher near Seattle :D

[dneilson]

:) This is what I did when my Hyper-critical Mother in Law and her daughter came to visit. My wonderful neighbor and friend cooked dinner one night! I told the in laws that the neighbor volunteered to cook "so I could give them my full attention for the one day". My neighbor made a perfectly good dish.. and of course, NO ONE, including the MIL, had any interest or need to criticize the dish. Everyone ate up and all was fine!@

Later, when my friend's relatives came to visit, I returned the favor to her... Worked like a charm! It was so so so less stressful for me!

Sher near Seattle :D

This is a great idea also (assuming neighbor is good cook)!!

I am sympathetic to some of you who have critical MIL.
My MIL passed away before I could cook for her.

I experience the opposite. Mom has become so set in her ways! She's not an adventurous cook/eater (still the same peasant style food we grew up on with no deviations!), one time even complaining there was too much meat in her sandwich.

Having a parent who's a great cook is difficult (as we do not want to interrupt the lifestyle) -- having a parent who's not an adventurous cook having eaten the same ole for years is also stressful.

Today she told me she likes to stick to the familiar because she likes the security of knowing that the food will always taste good. (Though she often complains she is bored with meals and doesn't know what to make.) It seems fear based (being brought up during the Great Depression)... tough to compete with that!


Dolores