you can do turkey burgers/regular hamburgers and tots/sweet potato fries/fries in like 15 minutes.

you can do hamburger steak, peas, and mashed potatoes in about 20.

I'm sure I could think of more.

Butternut squash fries are pretty delicious. That's one of the things I made recently.

My mother had that same problem, 30 years later we still eat what she makes and just try to watch and say when we think it's done.

I'm starting to type up a "cook book" of sorts. I got tired of skipping through cook books looking for something to make. That way I can just look through the stuff I like. So keep up the Food Board stuff

Lacy, a part is the clock that winds up in your head (like when I cook fish in an oven), but two rules seem immutable in cooking:

a) trial and error is the best teacher

b) you would not leave a 1 year old near a hot stove, so why do you leave food unattended when cooking? (to your issue about over cooking meat)

After awhile, you can smell when it is done. Remember that meat continues to cook after you take it off the heat, so if you do not want to overcook it, take it off a bit early to compensate for this.

What is Hamburger Helper made from exactly?

My thing with overcooking is mental. I am a microbiologist. Part of my job is testing foods for bacteria. I have found some disgusting things... so I cook the bejesus out of everything just to be on the safe side. Just a tad OCD.

hamburger & pasta & a packet of seasonings.

What Rho said. Like I said earlier, all of it can be made from scratch. HH just kind of gets the basics together for you. If I cook one I usually add to it.

AAB,

the cookbook from scratch is a good idea, but it never hurts to have stuff in there for others as you never know when you need to entertain.

Ohh, good call KM. Actually I keep the cook books around, mine just stays close by so I can find it easier.

AAB,

I mean add the ones that work, and are pretty foolproof to your own book, that way it is all in one place. My problem is I look in the fridge and add with what I see, and other cooks follow the actual printed page. They can replicate it over and over, but mine are not always the same thing each time.

I am more a guideline cook than a rule book cook. This works because I am a cooktop cook, and not a baker. Baking is chemistry, and you can not really vary from the script without it failing utterly. If it is a soup or a sauce I am the mac daddy. If it is cookies and cake, I have to have the directions in front of me.

I grew up as a baker of sorts, my grandfather taught me to bake before cooking. That's why I always try to keep the printed recipe close by. I guess I can't really call myself a cook or a baker seeing as I'm not the best at either haha.

And having a printed page helps me when I shop, so I know what to buy for the week.

hamburger helper is awesome

HH is a sodium nightmare

"I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper. It does just fine by itself, huh?"