In this thread, we help Kevin to plan a "welcome home" meal for his wife

[AOII_LB93]

Speaking as a wife whose husband is not much of a help in the kitchen(except for the occasional steak on the grill, and the cheese enchiladas I taught him to make) I can pretty much guarantee you that your wife will be happy with just about anything that you cook. When my husband cooks, it could be chili dogs and I would be thrilled. If you lived closer I'd invite you over and teach you to make something mildly impressive, but since you are far away here is what I suggest:

1. Get a bag of salad from the grocery store with all of the stuff already in the bag i.e. Caesar Salad. Don't put the dressing on until right before you eat, or else the lettuce gets wilted and gross.

2. Spaghetti with meat sauce is easy. follow instructions above - essentially brown the meat, drain the grease, add the sauce.You can even cut up some veggies and saute them and add to the sauce. It makes for a nicer sauce that seems more homemade Don't over cook the spaghetti, al dente is a good thing.

2a. You could also do linguine with a lemony garlic shrimp too. Super easy. I'll give you a recipe...it's a bit lighter than spaghetti and meat sauce as well.

3. If you want to do an easy dessert, get a box of brownie mix from the store, make them (follow the recipe on the box, it's not hard you usually need eggs, vegetable oil, and maybe some water) and get a pint of vanilla ice cream. Warm brownies and ice cream are a nice easy dessert.

4. Get a bottle of wine, some flowers (my husband gets me flowers when I go away and it's always nice to come home to flowers), and maybe put on a good CD.

I also encourage Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, salad, and maybe some rice from a box. If you can read, you can make rice. Maybe I should have my husband read this thread.

Kevin - let me know if you want a more impressive pasta suggestion with shrimp. Rigatoni with butternut squash sauce and shrimp is great. You can test it out on yourself first, and if it sucks go for the easier stuff.

I know it sounds dumb, but you can also check out a betty crocker kids cookbook...I got my first cookbook at 5.

[AOIIalum]

Originally Posted by AOII_LB93

2a. You could also do linguine with a lemony garlic shrimp too. Super easy. I'll give you a recipe...it's a bit lighter than spaghetti and meat sauce as well.

Kevin - let me know if you want a more impressive pasta suggestion with shrimp. Rigatoni with butternut squash sauce and shrimp is great. You can test it out on yourself first, and if it sucks go for the easier stuff.

I'm not Kevin but I'd love both recipes!

Ditto on the Rachael Ray suggestion. You might pick up a copy of the current issue of her magazine (June/July). It has some really easy looking recipes in it, including one for Spinach salad with shrimp and feta cheese that I'm making tomorrow night.

Also, if you have a Whole Foods in your area, GO THERE. You can choose just about anything ready to cook, from italian dishes to seafood/meat/poultry, as well as amazing cheeses and produce. They'll even tell you how to cook whatever you're buying!

[bluefish81]

I'm with the several posters who have said lasagna. I have a recipe from my BH&G cookbook that I could post if you want and there are a bunch of cheats in there. For example instead of chopping of fresh tomatoes, you used canned ones, etc. It takes about half an hour of prep time and less than an hour to cook. Every guy that I've made it for has always been impressed. I should also add that while I love to bake (and I'm great at desserts), I'm not the best cook in the world.

Spaghetti would also be pretty easy.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AOIIalum

Ditto on the Rachael Ray suggestion. You might pick up a copy of the current issue of her magazine (June/July)

You might as well suggest he pick up a copy of Martha Stewart Living, Oprah or Cosmo while he's at it.

Originally Posted by bluefish81

I'm with the several posters who have said lasagna. . . .

Spaghetti would also be pretty easy.

Maybe it's just because (a) I'm really not a lasagne fan to start with and rarely eat it if I have a choice -- yes, I know, guys are supposed to love lasagne, but I can count on one hand the times I've had it and thought it was anything more than "eh," and I'd still have three fingers unused; (b) the fact that I know that if I was fixing lasagna for my wife, she'd want something like spinach lasagne, which is even less appealing to me than "real" lasagna; and (c) my feelings about spaghetti pretty much match my feelings about lasagne, but if I was going to fix pasta, I'd stay away from lasagna and spaghetti, as well as heavy, tomatoey sauces. The linguini with shrimp, for example, I think sounds a lot better. (But I still vote for plain old steamed shrimp -- you just can't beat that in my book.)

Unless, of course, Kevin knows his wife loves lasagna or spaghetti, in which case what do I know.