Yes, you can cook!

I've heard a lot of people say that they can't cook. They say this is why they eat out or order take out all the time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy going out to eat and I've got my share of Papa's points and Chinese menus. But I cook a lot too. You don't have to be a gourmet chef to make a decent meal for your family. You don't have to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen to put something yummy on the table. But, if you don't know your way around a kitchen it can be hard to know where to start. So, I'm going to help you. Here's a meal that is very easy to put together, but tastes great.

Roasted BBQ Chicken

You need:

1 whole chicken
1 bottle of your preferred BBQ sauce (Kraft's Brown Sugar is really good if you need a suggestion)

Preheat your oven to 350. Then you need to clean the chicken. Relax, it's not hard! Run it under cold water, reach inside and pull out the neck and whatever innards have been left behind, rinse the inside, cut off the little tail piece and you're done. Place the chicken in a baking dish and pour the bottle of BBQ sauce over it. Yes, the entire bottle! When no more sauce will come out of the bottle, fill the bottle 1/4 full of water. Shake the bottle vigorously. Pour the now BBQ flavored water into the baking dish around the chicken. Pop it in the oven and bake for about an hour and a half. (You should invest in a meat thermometer) Chicken is done when the internal temperature (meaning you jab the thermometer into the bird so that it is not touching bone, some people say measure the breast, some say the thigh) reaches a minimum of 165 degrees (I shoot for 170 to be sure). Enjoy!


Baked Sweet Potatoes

You need:

An appropriate number of sweet potatoes (meaning one for each person)
Butter
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar

Thoroughly wash sweet potatoes. If you'd like you can stab a few holes in each one with a fork. I don't know if it actually helps the cooking process, but it's a good stress reliever anyway. Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and place on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish. Pop them into the oven with the chicken. Bake them for roughly half an hour or until they feel soft. Remove the pan from the oven (use an oven mitt!) and very carefully unwrap a potato. Slice it open. Place a tablespoon of butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a teaspoon (or 2 if you like it sweet) of brown sugar inside. Rewrap the potato. Repeat for each potato. Place the tray back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes or until completely done.

Broccoli

You need:

A bag of frozen broccoli
Water
Salt
Pepper
Butter

Boil the water in a pot large enough to contain the broccoli. Add the broccoli. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add a tablespoon of butter. Cook until broccoli is tender. Voila!


And there you have dinner! If you want to get fancy and add a bread in there, go buy some Sister Schubert's Yeast Rolls and follow the package instructions. They're very good. And there you have a yummy, and very easy meal! Oh, you want dessert too? No problem!

Easiest Chocolate Pie Ever

You need:

1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust (the kind you can find in any baking aisle)
1 package of instant chocolate pudding (Jello's sugar free chocolate pudding is yummy)

Prepare pudding according to box directions. Pour into the pie crust. Chill in the fridge until it's set (firm). If you want to get wild and crazy you can squirt some whipped cream on top before you serve it.


And now you have made a delicious meal, complete with dessert, and you didn't need a culinary degree to do so!