Help! I Don't Kow How to Cook!

You don’t have any caramelization but it is quite good :) I made about 4 pieces of it when I made this because I really enjoyed having French Toast! 

Also please be aware that this is a meal in and of itself as it combines carbohydrates, fats and protein and it’s really very filling. Adding fruit is also a good way to make sure that you get an even more complete meal and get some of those micronutrients! 

I know sweet foods like French Toast get some bad press about not being healthy, but this is honestly a very wholesome meal and it’s a great way to get some calories in! 2000-2500 is the recommended caloric intake for the “average person” because it is the minimum that most adult bodies need to function properly! And if you’re doing a lot of physical activity or you’re a growing person you will probably need more then that. Please take care of your bodies <3 and remember that calories are good! Food is good! 

This recipe runs at about 430 calories including the syrup (2 TBSP) and butter (1 TBSP I love butter). 

Ok now that I’m done my spiel, here’s the recipe! 

Ingredients -2 slices of Bread  -2 Eggs  -1 TBSP Milk (just a little bit)  -Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste -Vanilla (optional) to taste - Butter and syrup/honey to taste

Materials  - Microwave safe ceramic plate - cooking oil and paper towel (just to lightly grease the plate) - bowl - fork

Method 

1. Beat 2 eggs. Add the spices and milk, mix. 

2. Dip your bread in the egg mixture. I usually let mine soak until you have to remove the bread with a spatula to keep it from falling apart, but for this application you really only need to place it in the bowl wait for a moment, flip it wait another moment, and then take it out. 

4. Place the bread on your greased plate and cook.  I microwaved mine one at a time for 30 seconds per side and about a minute per side with 2 or more in there, so I would start there. But do whatever works best for you and your microwave. 

5. Eat <3 

Again, because we are using indirect instead of direct heat, there will not be caramelization on the outside of the toast, but it is still very good!

Serves 5-- If you’re only doing one or two servings then divide the amounts :) 

Ingredients - 5 Carrots  - 5 sticks of Celery - 2 Bratwurst sausages  - Half of a large sweet onion  - Several broth cubes (I think I used 3) - Instant Rice - Salt  - Red pepper flakes (or any other kind of spicy thing, black pepper will do) - Olive oil - Garlic however you have it (powder too) 1 clove or 1 tea spoon  - Water 

Hardware  - 2 Bowls  - Chopping board or surface  - Knife  - Spoons

Instructions

1. WASH YOUR VEGGIES I don’t care if they’re already washed in the packaging! I worked in an excellent ad dedicated produce department and let me tell you that your fresh produce is filthy!  This does not include frozen produce. 

2. Peel and dice your carrots and put them in your bowl. Here is a good quality instructional video on some basic knife skills. 

3. Add a broth cube, about a quarter cup (70 ml) of water to the bowl. Microwave until the carrots are just soft. In my microwave it took 4 minutes but I would start with 2 and work my way up to make sure that they don’t get over cooked. 

4. Dice your celery and add it to the bowl. Cook until almost soft. 

 If you put it in this kind of configuration the celery will cook quickly and the carrots will not cook too much more. 

5. Dice your sausages. OPTIONAL: I took mine out of the casing. To remove the casing start at one end and twist and then slide the meat out. Continue until your sausage is completely out of the casing. 

6. Place sausage into a different bowl. Add some olive oil and some chilly flakes. Stir. Microwave until brown. If you are using pork sausage it will turn gray first, do not be alarmed it just means that the meat is cooked but not caramelized yet. This took about 6 minutes for me, but I took them out every 2 minutes or so to cool down and stir so they didn’t burn. Once they are cooked salt to taste. 

7. Add sausages and oil to the veggies. Add another broth cube 

8. Dice the onion. Crying is normal but if you want to avoid it a little bit rinse off your onion and put some water on your cutting board. It will help a little bit. Add it to the soup bowl and add water until your container is reasonably full. 

9. Cook until the onions are just soft. 

10. Add a cup (250 ml) of instant rice and another broth cube. Cook according to rice instructions only remember that you’re making soup so there should be liquid at the end. 

11. Taste and season as needed. It should be slightly spicy and not too salty. All of the flavours should be pleasant and soupy. If it tastes too strong add water. If it’s too salty add rice and water. If it’s too spicy add milk or more rice and water. 

How To Store  I don’t have room in my mini fridge for storing a big old pot of soup, and sometimes I don’t feel like soup and I don’t want it to go bad before I can eat it. The solution? The Freezer! 

What you need: Freezer bags Mug A spoon or ladle. -- I used a teacup so really anything that you can use to get your soup out of the pot and into the bag. 

Instructions

1. Open the freezer bag and place it inside the mug. Turn the edges over the mug.

2. Fill the bag up to the top of the mug. 

3. Remove the bag from the mug. Let out the air and seal. Place in the freezer. Repeat until all of the soup you need to store is gone. 

The Mug should hold about a 1.5 cups (100 ml) of soup which is about one bowl full. When you are ready to eat the soup simply remove it from the bag. Plop it in a bowl and defrost. This can take a long time so beware. 

Way 1 (this is what I actually did!)

1. Add about a teaspoon of curry powder or soy sauce (or both if you’re feeling adventurous) and put it in you microwave-safe container. If you’re using curry powder add about tablespoon of water and mix it to create a thin paste/slurry. 

2. Crack an egg into the bowl, stir, and microwave in 10 second bursts and stir in between each burst. Once it looks like this

with about half of it cooked and the other half not cooked, add your leftovers, mix, and microwave until warm. 

TA DA!!! Added protein! 

Way 2 Even More Food!!!

They say that you should never mix rice and noodles together, well they’ve clearly never had not enough Chinese food!

Ingredients

-1 egg - quarter cup/ 75 mls of Instant! or leftover rice - curry powder  -water 

 If you’re using leftover rice, skip steps 1 and 2

1. Add about a tablespoon of curry powder and about a quarter cup/75 mls of water and mix, add the rice and then add more water until it’s the correct ratio for your rice.  2. Clear the center of the plate/ bowl so you can add the eggs.  3. Cook egg as per the instructions above --if you’re cooking it in the bowl of rice, this will be a little complicated but you’ve got this :)  4. Add it all together!!! and heat up.  5. Enjoy :)  

Ingredients:

-Lemon-- zest and juice -Microwave Rice-- it’s very important that you get microwave rice because non-microwave rice takes much longer and is a pain to cook in the microwave.  -Old Bay seasoning-- Really any seasoning will do, but I was matching the seasoning of the salmon. -Walter -Salmon-- Optional 

Tools: - Bowl -Microwave - Fork

1. Put bout 1/2-3/4 cups of rice in the bowl. Or just a little less rice then you want to eat. 

2. Peel the zest off of your lemon-- this can be done with a veggtable peeler, a fine grater, or in if you’re desperate a spoon or a knife. Be sure to get as little of the white pith as possible as it’s bitter.  The smaller the pieces the more lemon flavour you will have. 

3. If you don’t have a grater, like me, and you’re too lazy to cut it into smaller pieces, like me, then massage it and try to disturb the oils in the skin. I used a mortar and pastel because I have one on hand (it’s mostly decorative but it works well!) but you can just kind of rub and bend the skin until everything smells strongly of lemon. 

4. Add the lemon zest, about a tea spoon of the lemon juice, and another tea spoon of old bay to the rice. Then follow the cooking directions on the rice. 

5. In the last 30 seconds of cook time add the salmon and then let it sit for a while. 

1. Cooking over direct heat -- campfires and barbecue. This method is probably the oldest method of cooking and is cooking at its most basic all you need is a fire, food, and something to hold the food over the fire so you don’t cook your hand. 

2. Cooking in water/ broth -- soups, stews, boiling food This method is the easiest way to make entire meals with very little effort and washing up :) 

3. Baking/roasting --bread, pie (savory and sweet), roasts This can be the scariest type of cooking for some people because we don’t think about roasting food as a normal meal thing but it’s actually very simple and convenient. 

4. Pan frying-- fried eggs, pancakes Most of my personal favourite foods are made in a pan.  

5. Steaming  This is the best way to cook veggies that you don’t want to roast. It keeps them nice and fresh but also doesn’t drain their nutrients, tastes, and colours. This is also what you should do with most dumplings. 

Microwaves can do a bit of 2-5 but really are not made to supply the kind of direct heat that a fire or a barbecue can give off. 

Directions:

1. Microwave the ceramic plate fro 4-5 minutes 

2. Leave the plate in the microwave and place your bread on the plate. 

3. Let the bread sit for a while (5 minutes or so)

4. Take the bread out of the microwave and microwave the plate again for a few minutes. 

5. Put the bread back on the plate with the non-toast side of the bread and close the microwave back up and wait again. 

The toast won’t be golden brown but it will be crunchy! So when it’s crunchy on both sides put whatever you want on it and enjoy :)