NO Stove/Oven! HELP!

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My gas stove/oven has apparently been leaking gas into my house for quite a while. :eek: PG&E came out and shut off the gas valve going to it, thank goodness, but the repair man won’t be able to come out for quite a while because of the holiday.

My cooking skills are embaressingly lacking. I work full time and usually get home from work around 6, so I need meals that I can throw together quickly. Kids go to bed at 8, so I want them to have finished eating dinner by 7.

Please help with any simple meals you can think of. I have:

Crockpot (saw there is a recipe thread - I’ll check it out too)
Microwave
Small George Forman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine
Waffle Maker (hey, just throwin it all out there 🙂 )
Food processor (I’ve only used it a few times)
Small gas grill still in box - have to get dh to build it, but I do have propane tanks for it.

I think that about covers it. We aren’t picky eaters here. Luckily my kids will eat just about anything I put in front of them. Except cooked bell peppers :confused: :rolleyes:

Any ideas you have to help me get by until I have my stove and oven back again would be greatly appreciated. After all, pizza gets boring after one dinner, and one left-overs breakfast! :o
 
Put the grill together - you can grill all your meat and veg - a gas grill is like a gas stove outside.

You can use the waffleiron to make great cornbread 🙂
 
Here’s a website with recipes for your GF grill, and a veggie grilling chart:

busycooks.about.com/cs/appliances/a/indoorgrills2.htm

Of course, you can steam veggies in the microwave now-- you can buy steaming bags in the plastic bag/ziplock aisle and get fresh or frozen veggies.

Microwave some baked potatoes and make a potato bar where everyone gets to put their own toppings on the potatos.

And don’t forget meal-size Salad! You could make a big chef salad with cold turkey, ham, etc, cheese, bacon bits, hard boiled egg (microwave), croutons, etc.

And, you can always feed the family some sandwiches.
 
kage_ar said:
Put the grill together - you can grill all your meat and veg - a gas grill is like a gas stove outside.

You can use the waffleiron to make great cornbread 🙂
Click to expand...
That is a great idea for the waffle iron. I just knew I should list that and somebody would come up with something so creative!

I’ve always been such a dunce with a grill. :o This might be a stupid question, but if it is like a gas stove, could I put a pot of water on it to boil?
 
Crockpots can do roasts, soups…

You can make BLTs for dinner with cold canned vegetable soup (use tomato juice instead of water to dilute it. Really good!)
There is already done bacon you can buy and heat in the microwave.

You can get pre-cooked chicken at the deli and potato salad and stuff like that, with a crisp green salad.

Order in pizza.

Club sandwiches are always good!

I rarely use my stove and oven in the summer. Way too hot here to do that to my house.

One my kids love is I line a plate or large bowl with ready made salad and cut up tiny tomatoes. I pour canned chili over it. (cook in microwave) and sprinkle with fritos and shredded cheese. Very quick and easy.
 
Great link, 1ke! Others, thanks for the great ideas so far. Kyle is waking up, so I gotta run, but I will check back later before I go to bed.

I will (hopefully) only be without for maybe a week at the most, but I am going to print out all of the replies I get and keep them filed in my recipe box! 👍

See ya later!
 
Kanda said:
MyCrockpot (saw there is a recipe thread - I’ll check it out too)
Microwave
Small George Forman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine
Waffle Maker (hey, just throwin it all out there 🙂 )
Food processor (I’ve only used it a few times)
Click to expand...
that’s all I use, very seldom use the oven anymore. waffles are good, and it might work for quesadillas depending on how it’s made. I only use a small food chopper, the biggie is too hard to clean and to heavy for me to life out of the cupboard. most of the time I just use a knife and a board.

just about any meat you have can be thawed for 1-5 min in the microwave and put in the crockpot in the morning before you leave. layer any veggies you would ordinarily serve with the meat on the bottom (I grease mine with olive oil or butter first, but some newer ones don’t need grease, you also can use pam.) put the meat in, and then liquid (less than half of what you think you need) tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, gravy from a jar, can of condensed soup. one cup is enough liquid, esp. if meat is still half frozen. put on low and unless it was frozen rock hard it will be done by 6. If it’s frozen pieces of chicken, for instance, mike until you can separate the pieces but they don’t need to be totally thawed.

if you have that big hunk of ground beef we all have in the freezer, mike it for 3 min at a time so you can break of the edges until it fits in the crockpot. you can put chopped onions on the bottom of the pot if your family eats onions. I like to have veggies under the meat because it keeps meat from sticking and making those brown stains. add tomato sauce, chili sauce, salsa, canned gravy, depending on the flavor you are after, and how you will use it. It can be chili, spaghetti sauce, meat with gravy over noodles, rice or instant potatoes, etc. just put the leftover meat in plastic storage boxes or baggies for another quick meal.

if you already have frozen burgers, chops, small steaks, boneless chicken breast, frozen fish fillets, etc, use your GF grille and make one or two at a time, whatever fits. you can marinate the meat in a dish while you change your clothes, get the mail, let the dog out etc., set the table, and cook it 20-30 min. later. the noodles, minute rice, can be miked, most have microwave directions altho they usually take a bit longer to cook in large quantities.

veggies or whatever can be steaming in the microwave, in any safe dish with plastic wrap vented at one corner, and a tablespoon of water, juice or other liquid.

or there is always take-out

check the cupboard, is there an electric wok? you may never use the stove again, i cook almost everything, including popcorn in there (but gave it do DD who also loves it).
 
DD uses waffle iron for those grilled sandwiches, I forget the name, it makes two with large bread. GF grille also works for that purpose. there are some recipes on the bisquik box for waffles with additives and toppings.

for eggs in the microwave
spray pam on a custard dish or in a teacup with a round bottom
break one egg in the cup and beat well with a fork
in mine it only takes 35 seconds, it puffs up like a souffle but falls when you take it out. let it sit for a minute while you butter the toast to finish cooking inside. use it like a poached egg. you really can only do one at a time successfully, but it doesn’t take long even for a half dozen. you can also chop this up for egg salad.

bacon, canadian bacon and sausage can be done on the GF grille (don’t forget that little grease catcher underneath) or in the mike.

you can boil 2 cups of water in a pyrex mixing cup in the mike, but while you are at the grocery pick up and electric kettle holding 6-8 cups, for less than $10.
 
Your gas grill can not be used to boil water, the heat is too dispersed unless it has a small side burner, and some do, you are best left to making things on the grill - nothing that requires boiling water. Of course if you have a coffee maker (not specialty one) you can get boiling water from that, just put the water in and let it drip, this will allow you to make things like jello, tea, ramen noodles. If you are wanting to cook noodles google microwave and noodles, rice I would go with instant because all you need is boiling water for that and you can boil water in the microwave or through your coffee pot.

Pocket dinners are some of my favorite grilling items - take a piece of foil about 12" square, put some sliced potatoes, some sliced carrots and other veggies if you want, top with some seasoning, put your choice of meat on top of all of that, lift up two sides of the foil and have them meet in the center, roll to close, now roll the two other sides in and crimp well to seal everything in. Grill for about 30 mins. turning every so often so nothing gets burned, take off grill, open gently and you have a complete meal. Check here alcoa.com/reynoldskitchens/en/info_page/Holiday_Central_Foil.asp for some other ideas (they call it “packet” dinners)

You can make muffins in your waffle iron as well - either from scratch or from a box.

There are far too many crock pot ideas to put in here so do check out the “crock-pot” thread:D
 
Quesadillas are pretty quick and dirty – all you need is flour tortillas and cheese (veggies optional), maybe cook a little chicken or something on the grill and chop it up, then toss it all in the microwave until the cheese melts and fold it over.

Stouffer’s makes some tasty, inexpensive tv dinners. Lasagna is good, and there’s a new Italian-style one too (makes me wonder just what in blazes the old style was). The mac&cheese and the chicken and rice bake aren’t half bad either. Amy’s is another good (but vegetarian) brand, but more expensive and harder to find. And if there’s a Trader Joe’s around, they have plenty of great, dirt-cheap frozen dinners and bowls.
 
As explained above, unless you have a side burner, one thing you cannot do is boil water on a grill.

You can cook any kid of meat or veg, you can bake on it, we love meatloaf when cooked on the grill. You can make pizza on the grill.

If it is pasta you need water for, you can get microwaved pasta (frozen prepared like Bertolli dinners). Instant rices can work in a pinch and be done in the microwave - or, you can buy packages of ready-cooked rice.

Might want to grill a lot of meat, and then just warm it for dinners…
 
You can cook rice (our microwave has a button for this! 😛 use the same amount of water and rice the package calls for and nuke it till it’s done 15-18 min or so) and pasta in the microwave (use hot water and cook for 8-12 min depends on the type, stir it every few minutes and watch for boil over). I usually make boxed mac and cheese using the microwave. You can cook bacon in the microwave–they have special bacon plates with grooves, but I use a plate and paper towels.

Jennifer
 
CAF to the rescue! Someone started up a thread for crockpot recipes ages ago - many yummy treats to be had. Shame I don’t own a crockpot 😦

Thread is here.
 
I hadn’t even thought of using the microwave to boil water. :doh2: See, told you I’m a cooking dunce!

I am going to have dh put that gas grill together tonight.

That pocket meal sounds great! Even something I could put together and throw in the fridge. Then dh could put the packets on the grill before I get home from work. My mom used to make fish this way (dh won’t eat fish) and we wouldn’t even use plates - just eat right out of the foil packets!

I was thinking of boiling water for pasta. I saw that pre-cooked microwave stuff, but it is really pricey at my grocery store.

I do have a Trader Joes. I love their frozen dinners. I keep stealing them from my boss. Unfortunatly, when I went to go buy some, the place was so packed, I couldn’t even get down an isle and left frustrated. Maybe I need to try again. There are also some Whole Foods Markets near my work. How are those?

I’m sure that all of these great ideas will keep us from starving! Keep 'em coming! (and pray I will get my stove back soon!!!)
 
Everybody has all ready thought of all my ideas!!

One caution: when you boil water in the microwave, do not wait for it to have bubbles to think it is boiling! Water (& other liquids) do not bubble up in there, like on the stove. It can over-heat, & you will have it boil over when it comes out…You can get nasty scalds/burns that way.
Just assume that the water is boling after the appropriate length of time. That way, when you add something, you won’t be (painfully) surprised by a sudden eruption of boiling liquid!

I am another “cook in small appliances in summer” person. (It is just too hot to use the oven, so my perfectly functional stove has spent the past couple months with only one burner in use…)
There are all kinds of ways to cook with no stove. It sounds like you have all the basics, so good luck to you!
 
Hummous in the food processor !!! LOVE IT. I am not 100% sure if kids like it though?

You need some pita bread to eat with it. You could use it as a sandwich spread or dip veggie or whatnot in it.

RECIPE
Get two cans of chick peas
1/3 cup of olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic (normally I would say bake in the oven first but you can’t and that will be ok to have them raw)
paprika
salt and pepper
1/2 cup or so of tahini sauce (should be available at grocery store )
1/3 cup of water

Put it all in the food processor and mix until smooth.

Tadaaaa!
 
I’m just seeing this thread now. Poor Kanda! How did your adventures without your oven/stove go? I hope the repairman gets out there soon!

But on a positive note, I’m learning a lot from the suggestions on this thread 😃 I love the cornbread waffle idea!
 
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