Every guy knows what he likes when it comes to grub, but not every guy knows how to put it on the table. Whether you’re trying to impress a girl or you’re trying to feed yourself something that doesn’t have to be microwave-heated, here are five, easy, foolproof meals that will make any guy feel like a professional chef.
Pesto Pasta: It’s idiot proof, seriously. Right down to scooping the pesto out of the jar and mixing it in to the boiled noodles. Serve it up with Italian bread and a salad and it’s even good enough to serve to her parents.
What You’ll Need:
Pasta (1.5 cups per person)
Pesto sauce (Bellino makes the best Pesto sauce I’ve ever had. It’s packed with real cheese and olive oil… it hits the spot every time)
Optional: grilled chicken or cooked shrimp or tofu or any other protein/vegetable
Parmesan cheese to garnish.
How to Make It
1. Heat a pot of water on the stove.
2. Put in the pasta once the water is boiling.
3. Mix the cooked pasta with the pesto and your protein of choice
4. Top with the parm
Chili: Of course you like it, it’s real old. - comfort food. And when it’s made from scratch it can be as spicy or as mild as you’d like, so you don’t have to run to the bathroom when you start tearing up.
What You’ll Need:
1-2 pounds of steak, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1-20 ounce can of red kidney beans
½ table spoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 table spoon chili powder
AND the secret ingredient…1 jar of salsa
How to make it:
1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan and throw in the onions. Push them around with a spatula until they look cooked (almost translucent). That’s called sauteeing.
2. Once the onions are done, throw on the ground beef, and cook it in the pan until it starts browning.
3. Add the meat, the onions, and rest of the ingredients into a crock pot and set on low for 5 hours.
Greek Salad: Instead of opening up a bag of frozen fries to go with those frozen chicken fingers or that over-cooked hamburger, why not have your greens. This Greek salad can be a side to anything, and can also score you serious brownie points this summer when asked to bring something to a pot luck or BBQ.
What You’ll Need:
3-4 tomatoes, diced
½ red onion
1 cucumber
1 green pepper
1 jar kalamata olives
feta cheese (preferred amount)
Dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
How to make it:
1. Mix all the ingredients together for the dressing early in the day and let it sit.
2. Put all the ingredients together for the salad and toss it with the dressing.
Macaroni & Cheese: Forget that box of Mac N’ Cheese and go with something mom would make, you may just avoid that embarrassing neon yellow Kraft smile.
What You’ll Need:
1 8oz. Package of macaroni
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated havarti cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups of milk
2/3 cups soft bread crumbs (to hold it together).
How to make it:
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Cook the pasta on the stove.
3. While the pasta is cooking, combine the milk, butter, flour, cheese, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring until everything is melted.
4. When the pasta is finished, mix it up with the cheese mixture, and put it in the pan.
5. Top the pasta with bread crumbs and stick it in the stove.
6. Cook until the top is golden brown.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, than layer the ingredients starting with the macaroni. Layer until ingredients are gone.
Pancake Breakfast: Jamie Oliver once stated that pancakes were the easiest way to impress the harshest of food critics. They are simply inviting, fluffy and you can add almost anything to them.
What You’ll Need:
1 cup self rising flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
*You can add any fruit (or chocolate) to the mix.
How to make it:
1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Use a spoon to pour 3 inch (doesn’t have to be exact) circles of batter on the pan.
3. Flip the pancake when it starts bubbling.
