i have a visitor soming from overseas in a few weeks and am worried about what to feed her!  am total convienence food addict so has anyone got any simple meal ideas i can serve up?!  nothing too complicated as my cooking skills at present involving opening freezer and jars!
thanks,
kelly

Stick with what you know and works well for you.  Nothing wrong with jars in my opinion.  If she's got any fussy eating habits then I'm sure she'll let you know :)

Best served as a delicious main course with rice or pasta, this Campbell's classic is definitely worth trying. 

Creamy Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon 
       * 30ml (2 tbsp) vegetable oil
* 4 chicken breasts, sliced
* 4 rashers bacon, derinded and chopped
* 1 onion, sliced
* 1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)
* 100g (3 1/2oz) mushrooms, sliced
* 295g can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
* 200ml (7 fl.oz) milk

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan, and stir-fry chicken and bacon for 10 minutes. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in soup and milk. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with rice or pasta and fresh vegetables.

Hope this helps

cheers, those sound simple enough even for me! :-)

what about egg chucky???
my oh loves it
basic ingredients,
eggs beaten thown on top of any tins sliced meats etc veg
low heat keep turning all ingredients untill egg has set
voila
good luck
melanie :)

Braising steak and mash!!!!
Buy some lean braising steak,put on an oven proof dish with some chopped onions and beef stock and slow cook until tender.
Archer

Casorolls (sp)

using a jar pour over choice of meat (turky, chicken, sausages, pork beef etc etc etc) add pea/sweatcorn/bakedbeans/any type of bean and cover with foil and put in oven for a couple of hours on gas mark 4-6.  Serve with boiled new potatoes or mash potatoes!!!!!  Really simple.  Can be left in over for ages when coverd, used to do them alot afew years ago when we never knew what time Dad would get home!!!

Other easy one is spag bol!  Making your own sauce is easy :)  Let me know if you want recipie, will warn you now amounts are rough, I don't do weighing!

Today I have cooked honey and mustard roast pork.  Really simple, being finished with potato salad and a layerd salad.  Have done similar before.  Pork will be sitting ontop of the salad, presentation looks great!

Good luck, Maybe you will find a hidden tallent for cooking! ;)

Rather than worry about recipes I think it is easy to please and even impress people by just buying lovely fresh food and cooking it.  For instance if you purchase a nice heavy griddle pan from a cook shop, the type with ribs on you can buy nice free range chicken breasts (factory ones are too watery and fatty to be really tasty) bash them a bit flatter, brush with olive oil sprinkle with italian seasoning and griddle untill you have those lovely dark stripes.  The good thing about a good hefty pan is it tells you when the meat is ready to turn because only when it is done correctly can you lift it cleanly away.  Serve with boiled new potatoes and steam on top of them some quality in season veg, at the moment my Sainsburys has some gorgeous runner beans in.  This makes a very healthy meal, another would be fresh tuna steaks cooked on the griddle with a tossed salad (buy your own leaves not one of those bags of sillage ;)) and more new potatoes or a baked one.  Serve nice warmed crusty bread and a little bowl of olives and another of olive oil/basalmic vinegar to either sprinkle on your salad or dip your bread in, yummy :) 

Mmmm...can I come to your house for tea, Isabel?? :)

I think that's very good advice. Really good simple food is hard to beat and fresh, good quality ingredients are a must. You don't need to do anything fancy with it then but your guests will still be very impressed.

The good thing about cooking from scratch is, even when you buy quality ingredients the total cost will probably be less than a convenience dish.  As both of the meals I have described take less than 30 minutes to do it can also be just as quick as the average chilled prepared dish takes to heat up.  No pouring over recipe books trying to measure ingredients accurately just bashing, chopping and creating aromas while you glug a glass of wine and chat to your guest sitting at the kitchen table looking suitably impressed by your savoir faire, providing you don't overdo the wine of course :D

Jazz up any pork with a honey mustard dressing. Equal quantities of grain mustard and honey mixed together and poured over/ used as dip. Even makes cheap sausages taste good!

No cook desert. take buscuits and QUICKLY dip in alcohol, stick together in to log with jam and cover with whipped (or spray) cream. Good combinations are: ginger biscuit with apricot jam and ginger wine. Choc chip with sherry and strawberry jam. What ever you do dont leave the biscuit in the alcohol for more than a split second or it will fall to bits. Better not to dip enough and pour a little of the leftover alcohol over the log befire covering with whipped cream.

I often dice up chicken breasts, tip in a can of chopped toms with garlic, some courgette diced and a few dried herbs (basil is nice).  Keep turning the chicken to get it thoroughly cooked - takes about 20 mins and serve with rice.  Also you could marinade chicken breasts in natural yogurt with 1tsp each ground corriander, ground cumin, tumeric and chilli powder to taste.  Then grill (chicken tandoori)

I love to cook and cook everything from fresh all the time,( went out with a chef for two years!) however a very easy but effective recipie  for chicken  breasts or pork steaks

too make a few cups of breadcrumbs, with a tablespoon of paprika,  1/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne papper, 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper, and  a pinch of salt mix together. then beat an egg in a bowl roll some pork steaks or chicken breasts in the egg, then roll them in the breadcrumb mixture and cook in a greased tray for 25min at 180 - 200 degrees.

Serve with new potatoes and salad, put some strawberrys in the salad as this is nice

I am intollerent to yeast and cows milk and use naturallly levened bread made with water so just as nice.

you also cant beat a nice piece of steak and some chips and mayo!

I have loads a recipies for yeast  and cows milk free if anyone is struggling with this one.

Such as burgers, lasagne, pork fillet, minted lamb balls, minted prawn rissotto (jamie oliver recipie but well nice!)

>put some strawberrys in the salad

The other thing that is nice in salad is KP dry roasted peanuts, not too many as they are fattening and salty, but they add a nice crunch to the salad, and can even liven up an iceburg!!

Hi,

Try this:-
1lb of minced Beef.
Curry powder
little Chilly powder,
Garlic
little salt and black pepper.

Place in a pan with little oil, mince and spices, stir untill cooked.

Cup of long grained rice and cup of water per person, boil or mico wave untill cooked
(Boiled rice)

Then place a little oil in pan or wok put egg in with wooden spoon stir well until cooked
Then place boiled rice with a little soy sauce stir well together.
Then stir in spicy mince. Mix Well.

Serve on its own hot or cold or with mixed salad.
Regards
Denese

For Sweet:-
Buy some meringue nestes approx £1.00 for 8, also Spray fresh cream from the supermarket,
Meringue nest, then spray ring of fresh cream on top, cut up some strawberries, or use tinned fruit cocktail
place pieces of fruit on the tops.
Regards
Denese