What are your favourite but long to prepare meals?

[easyas123]

I once decided to make chicken and dumplings from scratch so-to-speak, starting with a whole chicken and going from there. That took some time!

Once or twice a year I make a big batch of caramelized onions, and that takes me 2 or 3 hands-on hours.
Thanksgiving, as others have pointed out, can take a long time. I really enjoy the day before & day of prep though, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

 

[mrodgers]

I once decided to make chicken and dumplings from scratch so-to-speak, starting with a whole chicken and going from there. That took some time!

Once or twice a year I make a big batch of caramelized onions, and that takes me 2 or 3 hands-on hours.
Thanksgiving, as others have pointed out, can take a long time. I really enjoy the day before & day of prep though, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

Chicken dishes took me a lot longer than that. I didn't start with a whole chicken. I started with chicks

 

[easyas123]

Chicken dishes took me a lot longer than that. I didn't start with a whole chicken. I started with chicks

naaa...I grew up with chickens, and do a bit of work w/ Big Chicken. I'm long over the "charm" of backyard chickens!

 

[mrodgers]

naaa...I grew up with chickens, and do a bit of work w/ Big Chicken. I'm long over the "charm" of backyard chickens!

Chickens, cows, and the garden, no city slicker here. It wasn't "charm". It was how I fed my family.

 

[easyas123]

Chickens, cows, and the garden, no city slicker here. It wasn't "charm". It was how I fed my family.

Chickens are currently how I feed my family. When you are knee deep in them you often don't want to come home, cut the head off of one, process it and then make dinner with it. Plenty of us live in the country, it's not a badge of honor to bring every meat you eat from birth to dinner plate. If I need blood I'll go to the butcher, my days of holding a bucket under the neck of a pig are over. I've got enough chores on my farm without adding doing up a chicken at the end of the day.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

zucchini parmesan. The way our family recipe is, it's layered like lasagna, but the layers of zucchini are breaded and fried which takes forever to prepare 3 layers of fried zucchini. Also vegetarian lasagna, it takes me an hour to wash, peel, and dice all the veggies and assemble it.

 

[Sweettears]

Goulash, though I still haven't been able to get it right. I think I need hotter peppers than recipes have called for, it never had the heat of my favorite restaurant's version. That was a solid two hours of active prep, then hours of simmering.

Try adding hot Hungarian paprika. You can find it online. I use it all of the time and need to be careful not to overdo it.

 

[leebee]

Dumplings and egg rolls- Lots of time to make the wrappers and then stuff them, or even buy wrappers and stuff them, but we all love them and I can NEVER make enough!

Turkey dinner- I love thanksgiving dinner but making it is a pain. Even if I only make the turkey/stuffing and not the full-blown holiday meal, it is time consuming and a mess to clean up. "Full" dinner at our house means stuffing from scratch, mashed potatoes, gravy from scratch, green bean casserole and cup salad (kind of like ambrosia), canned cranberry (with the lines), and another veg or two (maybe turnip/rutabega and squash). Two years ago we went over to having duck for T-giving dinner. It costs a LOT more but is easier to prep and clean up. We have wild rice casserole and roasted root veggies with it.

Nachos- in the everyday meal department, this one takes the cake. DH always says, "We're tired, let's make something easy, let's have nachos." I do the cooking so "let's" means "me." Making nachos at my house involves thawing and cooking ground beef, chopping up tomatoes, peppers, onions, slicing black olives, seasoning and heating canned refried beans, dishing out (and slightly warming in the microwave) salsa and sour cream. Sometimes I also make guacamole to go with them. Thank heavens I buy the cheese already shredded!

 

[Poohlove]

I love sweet and sour chicken, but it is a mess to make and takes a bit of time to do. The time and effort it takes stops me from making it sometimes, but I usually give in and make it. It tastes fantastic.

The same for me but with Sesame Chicken - so many steps and ingredients, it is labor intensive but so worth it. I do not make it often and it is a weekend dish for sure!

 

[Poohlove]

Mojo pork takes the longest for me. Between the zesting, juicing, and marinating and then the slow cooking process it takes forever but it is so good. It is even better the next day and phenomenal on a Cuban panini.

 

[mousefan73]

Lasagne is my biggest PIA meal to make.. looks like a bomb went off in the kitchen