Souper Cubes: Great When You Cook For One

Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice

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.

THE RECIPE:

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

• 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.

What I Learned

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.

How it Tasted

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).

Also Mentioned In This Episode

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

Check out the video

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Boneless Chicken Thighs in an Instapot

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 Might Attempt Going Plant-Based

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.

The Rabbit Hole of Smart Ovens

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

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Souper Cubes: Great When You Cook For One

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)

New Recipe Episode Coming

I'm going to try Bruschetta Pasta

Instructions

Cook pasta according to instruction.

Drain water.

Toss pasta and all ingredients in a large bowl.

Ingredients

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

Power XL Smokeless Grill Review

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.

IS IT SMOKELESS?

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.

I WANTED BIG AND I GOT BIG

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.

EASE OF USE AND CLEANING

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.

Quick, Yummy Friend Egg Sandwhiches

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.

An Inexpensive Sandwich

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.