since when do we need to prepare "dishes" for dinner?

[Kazbah]

So tonight I made a scratch meal - onion, mince, tinned tomatoes, worchestshire sauce, beef cube, water, mixed veg and served with potato mash. Yummy as.

Yet somehow I feel guilty, as dinner didn't have a name. It's just food. Like my grandma / nanna made. No fancy ingredients, no fancy name. Took around 20 mins from conception to table. No recipe base, recipe book.

Since when did we need to do fancy meals for weekdays? Apricot chicken with mushroom souffle?

Just a ramble I guess - what simple meals are a staple in your household?

[Traveller]

you cooked mince and tatties! At least that's what we call it in our house. Sounds delish

[ss_storm]

I rarely make anything 'fancy', or only when I'm getting sick of having the same old stuff and struggle to think of something to cook for dinner! We all need a little inspiration sometimes...lol.

Meat & three veg are regulars, spag bol, cottage pie. I love mince because it's so cheap and pretty versatile!

[LimeSlice]

That is pretty much savoury mince here!

Oh, if you capitalise it, it is a "dish"

[Mrs Jak]

Yep, I was thinking 'savoury mince' too

We are totally basic and simple here with our dinner choices...

Spaghetti, steak and veg, sausage and veg, baked risotto, cheap Tuesday take-away pizza, sometimes a 'stir-fry' and anything else easy that involves mince!

[PumpkinZulu]

That is pretty much savoury mince here!



Oh, if you capitalise it, it is a "dish"

[Swoop]

My DH always says 'what is this called?' when I make something random. If I can be bothered I make up a name, if not i just say dinner, then he usually asks 'what genre is it?' My answer, every time, fusion!

[Sopdet]

mince and noodles was a staple growing up - not done with a tomato sauce like spag bol but almost like a savory mince with noodles in it

[deletedit]

We have those arguments regularly when we invent something tasty that doesn't come out of a book. Sometimes we just get her to do a MasterChef and identify all the ingredients but since she's one of those kids that literally cannot tell beef from chicken that kinda thing never gets far. This is more fun:

"What is dinner called?"
"Fred"
"No, what is it caaaaaaaaalled"
"Fred"
"Noooooo what's the NAME of the dinner!!!"
"Told you, its Fred"

hehehehehehehe

[OceanPrincess]

I do spaghetti bol every week or so... Risottos are staples, because I can bung it in the micro and it basically cooks itself...

I've just started getting into the slow cooking... Require recipes at the moment! Except for my lamb shanks, mum told me how to do them and I make then without a recipe!

Kaz, that "scratch meal" actually sounds really yummo - I couldn't make that without a recipe, I'm not that good a cook to know what goes with what.

I think masterchef has a lot to answer for!!!!

[OceanPrincess]

"What is dinner called?"
"Fred"
"No, what is it caaaaaaaaalled"
"Fred"
"Noooooo what's the NAME of the dinner!!!"
"Told you, its Fred"

hehehehehehehe

[Swoop]

We have those arguments regularly when we invent something tasty that doesn't come out of a book. Sometimes we just get her to do a MasterChef and identify all the ingredients but since she's one of those kids that literally cannot tell beef from chicken that kinda thing never gets far. This is more fun:

"What is dinner called?"
"Fred"
"No, what is it caaaaaaaaalled"
"Fred"
"Noooooo what's the NAME of the dinner!!!"
"Told you, its Fred"

hehehehehehehe

I'm going to do that to DH next time

[Liviam]

Rissoles, spag bol, chick tonight, steak/fish with veg as a regulars here. I am not a good cook at all. I also like slow cooker meals where I can throw some cheap meat in with some stock. Pasta bake is another goodie and quickie here too.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I make up names. Pasta and bacon with other bits is a carbonara. Or I do "meat a la maison", style is "cuisine de moi". Potatoes in cheese sauce with extras is "extras melt" or "extras bake" - goes down ok so don't think DH has caught me out!

[AnyDream]

Most of the food I cook doesn't have a name...I just look at the ingredients I have, an idea pops into my head, and off I go. Leftovers are rarely ever called that simply because I usually turn them into something else. FWIW my family never expect be told what their food is, they just eat it.

[Nettie]

My mum called that 'Hotch-Potch'. That's it's name! She called that anything that she chucked together.

I still cook Mum's Hotch-Potch today and it's different every time!

[AnyDream]

Hotch potch - I like that. Sounds like something my Nan would say

[Trillian]

"Rissole's Darl" is what we jokingly call stuff. We don't name our food either, it's just sausages/chops/steak/chicken and veg, sometimes with gravy. our staples are meat and veg, so nothing fancy that needs a name LOL. But I will admit to saying to the kids when I've been asked for the millionth time what am I cooking for dinner "its poo" and they usually stop asking