New to Cooking

I decided to try something that didn't have meat. I'm exploring eating a more plant-based diet. This is partly due to reading The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life.

• 2 cups dried black beans, rinsed and soaked overnight in plenty of water
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. salt
• ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

• Step 1
• Drain beans. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add rice; cook and stir for 3–5 minutes or until rice is fragrant. Combine in 4–5 quart slow cooker along with beans, onion, garlic, and vegetable broth. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, stirring every two hours.
• Step 2
• Then add tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper, stirring well. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours longer until rice and beans are tender. Add cilantro and mix. Serve hot.

You can ask Alexa "how many cups is one medium chopped onion." That was very cool.

I needed that as instead of buying the onion and using my food processor, I just bought it pre-chopped. This also goes for cilantro.

You also want to take the time to read the directions. I skimmed them and ended up putting everything into my Instant Pot hours before it was supposed to (this turned everything black)

When a recipe says to soak the beans overnight DO IT. I was BLOWN AWAY by how much water they soaked up. I needed up putting my two cups of beans into a giant mixing bowl (after singing them off). Do not skip that step.

Also, be sure to run water in your slow cooker (Instant pot for me) when you're done.

There are different scales I need to come up with. I guess these are:

Uneditable

I ate it but won't make it again

This was good, and I'll make it again

I want to make some more now.

This recipe has a bit of zip (enough to clear your sinuses, but not enough to make a dash for a glass of milk). It doesn't taste like anything else I've made because I've never eaten this before.

I was also amazed at how full I was with one bowl (about three servings spoons).

I put the recipe into my Cronomiter software and it was 168 calories for a bowl. (The recipe serves six).

I bought a Tavola Smart Oven. Get $100 of the oven

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I bought an instantpot last year and didn't really use it. I got distracted by smart ovens (you can now control them with your Amazon Alexa). I remembered i had the Instapot with a smartphone app.

I also had a family pack of chicken thighs with no bones or skin. This should be easy and it was.

I just opened my cupboard and whatever was there I added so this included:

• Onion flakes
• Garlic powder
• Mrs Dash for Chicken
• Liquid smoke (see episode on Liquid smoke)
• Salt and Pepper.

I dumped in one cup of water into the instapot. Put the steam rack in the bottom and add the chicken on top. Add your spices and cook 10-12 minutes (I did 12).

The chicken was amazing. I had some thighs that were pretty thick and they came out wonderful. I put the chicken into a spaghetti strainer to let the grease get off the chicken. As I pick the chicken off after it had cooled, it just fell apart it was so tender.

Tomorrow I will eat one of the thighs that had the same spices listed about but I put a dab of KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce

I'm reading the book The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life by Robin Quivers (from the Howard Stern show) Robin had cancer and beat it. According to her doctor had she not previously changed her diet, she wouldn't be here.

I like the book because it's not preachy. She explains why plats are good for you, how you can get protein, and how processed food is horrible. I'm looking forward to trying some of her recipes.

I've been watching demos of "Smart Ovens" such as the June, Tovala Gen 2, and even Amazon has an over controlledd by Alexa.

Got a recipe or cooking tip? Favorite Gadget? Click the microphone in the bottom right-hand corner at www.newtocookingshow.com

I just got done watching Shark Tank and there was this cool resource that looks like a giant ice cube tray for four giant cubes. The difference is the tray is made out of silicone. You can freeze your soup, chilli, pasta, etc and then push the item out of the cube.

For me (living alone) I often make pasta or soup, and then end up eating the same thing all week. Not any more. Now I can cook up a giant batch and FREEZE the rest. Then when I want a quick meal, I pop out a cube, and microwave a great meal in a few minutes.

I ordered mine from Amazon. (aff link)

I'm going to try Bruschetta Pasta

Cook pasta according to instruction.

Drain water.

Toss pasta and all ingredients in a large bowl.

1/2 box spaghetti

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped basil

1.5 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1 green onion

Serving Size

 2-3

Prep Time

20 minutes

source: https://www.happycow.net/recipes/bruschetta-pasta

As I live in Ohio, grill outside in the winter isn't much of an option for me. However, I want to batch cook lots of chicken (in this case) for the week. So I needed a decent sized grill, and I heard about the Power XL Smokeless Grill.

Yes. You dumb two cups of water in a drawer under the grill and turn on a fan and somehow that deters any smoke. I did end up with some steam, but that dissipates and goes away quickly.

The unit is 21 x 15.4 x 8.1 inches. For me, I had the shelf under my microwave open and it fits their nicely. Just realize this takes up some real estate.

The unit goes up to 450 degrees and gets there pretty quick. I do have to grill my chicken a bit longer than my formal grill but the format cooks from both sides. This is still quicker as I would take me three grills on a format to fit all of my chicken thighs.

The Power XL Grill is actually non stick and after using it four times everything snaps apart easily, washes quickly, and is pretty "no hassle." I use a brush to first get any leftover chicken off the grill and then use a sponge. It's pretty straight forward.

While it's not a cheap item, I have no buyer's remorse as it seems to do exactly what it advertises, and I don't have to put on a winter coat to grill outside. Does it taste like the outside grill? No, but the chicken coming off this thing is still pretty yummy. Part of that is I'm using liquid smoke.

For me, I need my food to be warm. Even when I make a salad I throw warmed up chicken into it. (see the "Not Chipotle" episode. One of my vices is the Egg McMuffin. Why? Because I rarely get an Egg McMuffin without getting the grease sponge that is the McDonald's Hash Browns, and a Coke the size of my head. So how can I make one at home?

I bought a Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker, and was surprised how well it works. The idea is you put a muffin in the top, one in the bottom and an egg in the middle. There is a play that separates the muffins (and the surface that cooks the egg) when its ready, you gab a handle and it (more or less) pulls the rug out from under the egg and it lands on your muffin.

For me, I need my muffins toasted and while the muffin is warm, I didn't feel it was toasted. So I improvised.

It takes 3.5 minutes to warm up and 8 minutes to cook the 2 eggs solid (quicker if you use one egg).

So I use my Amazon Alexa all the time. She's very hand in the kitchen. So I will have her set a timer for four minutes. Then I know the sandwich maker is ready. I come in crack two eggs, and poke them with a fork to break the yolk. I set another time for four minutes (as it takes four minutes to make toast). When the alarm goes off, I come in and start my toast, poor myself some water, and get out the butter.

When the toast pops up, I better it and check the eggs (and by this time they are solid). I put my spatula under the egg and slide the handle to the left and egg falls on my spatula. I then plop it on to my toast, and take the second piece of toast and I'm done.

With the bread costing $3. a loaf and $1.29 for a dozen of eggs, I get a sandwich for 52 cents.

It's about 365 calories with 20G of protein, 19 net cards, and 21 grams of fat. I also find it fairly filling, and quite yummy (I put some salt on the egg). You have one dish, and the sandwich maker is one of the few nonstick items I own that has stayed non stick.

With it getting cold here in Ohio, I wanted to make some stew type of beef vegetable. I purchased some McCormick Heart Beef Stew Seasoning Mix and a lb of Beef Stew meat (pre-cut), and a bag of frozen vegetables. The cost was right around $10.

As I live alone I use a smaller crock pot, but in looking at Amazon, it appears crock pot (the company) doesn't make that model. However, you can get it at Walmart for $10. The closest I found on Amazon is the KOOC Small Slow Cooker, 2-Quart, Free Liners Included for Easy Clean-up, Upgraded Crock Pot, which is more expensive (but it does come with free liners).

On the back of the seasoning mix my eyes were drawn to the "slow cooker directions" where it said to mix the seasoning with water but didn't say how much. This lead me to guess and I dumped in around 3 cups of water.

Later I would look at the seasoning package again and saw where they list the ingredients at the top and mention 1 and 1/3 cup. Ooops. So I will cook this for a few hours with the lid on, and then a few with the lid off to let some of the excess water evaporate. If it taste as good as it smells I'm in for a few good meals.

Originally I mixes the seasoning and water in a different dish. If I do this again I will mix this up in the crock pot. While the directions say to put the beef and vegetables in the crock pot and pour over the meat and vegetable, I could save dirtying a dish and then just stir the ingredients in the slow cooker.

At $10 for all the ingredients and the likelihood of getting three meals out of this, that is $3ish for a meal. Cheaper than a value meal at a fast food join.

With it getting cold where I live, I can keep grilling outside. I had known about Luquid smoke but had never used it. I've used it twice and I have a sneaking suspicion I will be putting it on everything. I put it on some chicken thighs and it gave a bit of that "off the grill taste" but for me the one that I can wait to try again was when I put two frozen Talapia Fillets from Walmat on my George Forman grill.

This created a taste I had never had before, and I will be adding this to my frequently used list. It's a quick dinner, and I loved the flavor. You can get a two pack and try them both.

Make Your Sure Indoor Smokeless Grill is Smokeless

I saw the reviews on YouTube and other place on the Power XL Smokeless Grill. It looks good. Sounds fun, but the price was up there. What did I do, I started bouncing around amazon and went for the Amazon Recommends purchase of a Hamilton beach for half the price. The problem is its not a smokeless grill. With this in mind, if the goal is to by an indoor grill that is smokless, make sure it says so in the description. The Hamilton Beach is a nice grill, but just because it has a hood does not mean the smoke/steam magically disappear.

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Today I tried cooking some bone-in chicken thighs and ended up with the towering inferno on my back porch.

I share some tips on grilling courtesy of Char-broil. Check out their chicken thigh recipe

SPONSOR: Save time, save money, get organized with Plan to Eat.

If you are looking for a great meal planner, recipe organizer, and grocery list creation tool, you've found it. I made today's recipe while having my app in the cooking view, and it made it so easy. Check it out at www.podclick.me/plantoeat

In this episode I share a new episode. I picked this one basically because I have eaten most of the ingredients. It's shrimp with a Chinese tint to it. 

Make your own takeout but swap the white rice for riced cauliflower! This fried “rice” dish is packed with pea pods and carrots for color and water chestnuts for crunch. Plus, shrimp is a quick cooking protein when time is of the essence. Finish each dish with thinly sliced green onion and a sprinkle of sesame seeds for restaurant-style presentation.

If you are looking for a great meal planner, recipe organizer, and grocery list creation tool, you've found it. I made today's recipe while having my app in the cooking view, and it made it so easy. Check it out at www.podclick.me/plantoeat

I had to be sesame oil (which isn't cheap) and shrimp (also not cheap), and the rest I could find in the produce section (so dicing the garlic and ginger were done).

I bought carrot sticks and just broke them up. Super easy meal prep. You mix the sesame oil and garlic and (more or less) end up cooking everything in it. 

In the DUH! department, upon first eating it - it didn't taste like anything else I had ever eaten. Maybe because I had never eaten this dish...

It didn't take long to cook, and didn't create much of a mess. I bought frozen cauliflower rice (which was about $2 cheaper than the nonfrozen). 

I think if I make this again, instead of buying the carrots and peas you can buy frozen cauliflower rice and peas already in it. I might mix in some sesame oil after cooking the rice in the microwave. 

Then cook the egg in the sesame oil and add the salt and pepper. The other thing I would do (as I live alone) is I might not use the full bag of shrimp. It makes a LOT with the rice, veggies, and shrimp.

If I cook this again I'm going to buy the rice with the veggies in it, and only use whatever I feel is "one serving of shrimp." I ate this meal the next day for lunch and the shrimp had turned somewhat gray, and I felt like I was pressing my luck. By only mixing in one serving of shrimp, I lower the cost, and enable myself to eat it again without the worry. If you're feeding more than one, you won't have this issue. 

I feel I could've fed about four people with the full bad of shrimp, cauliflower, veggies, and veggies. The dish also has some "Zip" to it due to the pepper I believe so I might cut back on that as well (if you don't like too much zip in your meal).

All in all I liked this dish. It was easy to make, not too messy, and pretty filling. 

Check out the recipe at https://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/24785286

Try Plan to Eat for free go to www.podclick.me/plantoeat

I have an Amazon Alexa in almost every room of my house. I find her quite helpful. Now in the kitchen she can be even more helpful in conversions, but also if you have an Amazon show (I just purchased the Amazon Show 8) you can watch cooking shows and pause and resume with your voice (and not the the screen all icky).

Amazon gives a full year free to the Food network. I checked it out and its cool because:

• You can see what people are doing
• Cool search feature
• No commericals
• You can watch what someone is doing so if they mince some garlic and you are "You did what to what?" now you can see. It's like free cooking classes.

This is where an Amazon show can come in handy. I just purchased an Amazon show 8. It's on sale for $89.

The one thing I thought was missing was (unless I missed it) an easy way to get a recipe of what I just watched. I searched for the "Delicious Miss Brown" and the name of the recipe and google did the rest. I then imported all of that information into my plan to eat app which then makes my shopping list along with my meal plan.

I found this very cool, and a HUGE time saver.

Here is the video