Wait, what do I eat now?

The most common resolution is "This year, no more weight yo-yoing, I'm going to eat right and be healthy!" But how many of is know what a healthy diet is? I'm not even talking about dieting either, because that is a whole other ball game. I mean day to day eating, maintaining a healthy weight, wtf should I eat?

We throw out all the bad food, watch a documentary or two and start down some path to culinary enlightenment. Everything is great, until we share our plan with our know it all friend  and learn about some fatal flaw we never considered.

My goal in this column is to try and bridge the gap between "common sense" and the rest of us. Lets dispell the rumors about eating and try to learn something new!

Spaghetti squash

Everyone loves spaghetti, but we don't love those carbs. So what can you do to have an easy delicious meal with less carbs?

Spaghetti squash is an amazing plant! It is available in most supermarkets and as easy to prepare as spaghetti! Just cut the squash open and scoop out the seeds and loose pulp (just like a pumpkin). Next you put it open side down on an oven pan with a 1/8 inch water and bake at 400 degrees for a half hour. When you take it out let it cool then scrape the pulp with a fork. Spaghetti like pieces will easily form and like magic you have cheap, easy dinner!

Prioritizing

One thing many new cooks find overwhelming is getting all the steps for a new recipe just right. That is because most recipes on the internet or in cook books assume a certain level of cooking knowledge or practice.
The first step you should always take in the kitchen is to read the recipe all the way through. Look to see what ingredients you need, what tools you'll need, and how long things will take. This way you don't plan a party and then find your self cooking while your guests wait for you to be done, or worse, party with out you!
When cooking multiple dishes, say for a dinner with a main entree and sides, try to know when you will have time to prep and when you won't. Some steps have a lot of down time where things are baking, browning, boiling or simmering. This time is perfect to prep another part of the meal, set the table, prepare the plates, make iced tea etc. Other steps require your full attention which prevents you from chopping the vegetables for step 10.
By reading ahead you will avoid the terror of realizing you need an ingredient you don't have or a tool you haven't bought. It also saves you from learning too late that it will take another hour of baking than anticipated. So read the recipe, gather everything you need and make a plan. This eliminates most of the stress of cooking and allows for the fun to happen!

Julienne a Bell Pepper

When making fajitas, most of the work is in preparing the delicious bed of onions and peppers that go with it. to do this you must julienne (cut into thin spears) both vegetables. Here is a quick video showing the technique.

 Step 1 wash the pepper!

 As seen in the video, cut into the pepper and remove the top of it

 Next cut off the bottom while trying to leave as much of the side as possible!

 

Cut the pepper open down the side to make a long slab of pepper 

 Julienne the pepper to your desired width!

Now check out my steak fajita recipe!

Onion Cutting

First off, it is always funny to make a joke about someone crying when you see them cutting an onion, ...always.

Second, here are some videos about how to cut an onion different ways.

The sound didn't work so you'll have to read. First I point out the root side (brown side) and the flower side of the onion. Cut off the flower side and peel back the outermost layer of the onion. cut the Onion is half as shown. To dice the onion, cut toward the root, parallel to the cutting board, next cut toward the root as shown. then cut parallel to the root. With practice at proper spacing you will make nice little cubes of onions, or close enough :)

To Julienne (or cut thin spears) an onion you can use the onion's natural layers to do most of the work for you. prepare the onion as you did in the dicing video. Once you have cut the flower end, cut the root end, peel the onion and cut the half again into a quarter. now make thin cuts up the side of the onion as shown and you have your julienne! Just separate the pieces and you are done! This is great for sandwiches or fajitas!

Spices: an Introduction

Spices are a highly undervalued part of your cooking arsenal. Most people either have

a) an unorganized mess of spices bought here and there for this recipe or that and never used again

B No spices, except maybe a trendy spice rack you found when buying stuff for your apartment

The truth is, there's a reason people say that you should spice up your life! Spices are a cheap way to make your home cooked meals into masterpieces.

If you have a collection of spices going, definitely start experimenting. Cook some chicken in a skillet for dinner and add some spices you think go together. Smell them, read whatever descriptions they provide, taste them on your finger and then take a chance. I learned most of my spicing habits this way and I think it really helps to develop your artistic side of cooking.

Now there is no need to go crazy just yet, if you don't have a lot of spices laying around don't break your bank buying every spice you've never heard of. For those of you who are short on spices here is my list of must haves.  Don't worry about the brand of the product, store brands can be just as flavorful. Some brands provide better containers, McCormick in general has the best grinders you can buy for the price, but over all there is little to no difference between brand names at this level of cooking.

 The Usual Suspects

 Now I personally am not a big fan of salty taste because it is very easy to overpower a great meal with a pinch of salt. However most of us Americans can't live without our salt and if you are going to use salt, this is a great one to start with. You will quickly learn how little you need to use to get a powerful effect. Test it out on some chicken, eggs, popcorn, anything really.

 For those times you want some onion flavor but don't want to cut an onion! Also useful in sauces where you don't want big chucks of onion or on quesedillas.

 This is the one spice to rule them all. I used to use garlic salt as many people do but I found that it was hard to get a good garlic flavor without having an overwhelming salt flavor. Garlic powder is also good for this purpose but garlic pepper is just such a nice blend you can easily add it to anything without worrying about over powering the dish with garlic. Most people know how much pepper to add to something and this blend keeps that balance. Add as much garlic pepper to a dish as you would regular pepper and you are in for a treat!

The following herbs are common in italian cooking (which I love!) and together compose the "Italian seasoning" you will find in the store. While it is perfectly acceptable to buy the "Italian seasoning" bottle, I suggest buying them separately so that if needed you can use them individually.

Thyme 

 Oregano

 Marjoram (I haven't used this by itself yet)

 Rosemary (makes delicious Peasant's bread like at Macaroni Grill)

 Basil

Olive oil cooking oil adds some flavor to your dishes and comes in a nice spray can these days. The nice thing about olive oil is it will teach you the appropriate temperature for your pan as it has a low smoke point and will fill your house with smoke if its too hot. That said, don't bake with it unless you like smokey houses!

Chicken Marinara

This meal is delicious and nutritious enough to tempt anybody but if you are interested in giving Tim Ferris' slow-carb diet a try, this meal is easy enough to make and delicious enough to keep you going!

What you'll need

Chicken breasts
Thyme
Garlic pepper
Basil
Oregeno
Rosemary
Spaghetti sauce
Basalmic vinegar
Wine vinegar
Onion

Tools
Pan
Pan cover
Spatula
Slotted spoon that fits in spaghetti sauce container
Fillet knife
Chef's knife
Cutting board

Heat your pan to a medium low heat. 

While your pan heats up, take your chef's knife and cutting board and dice the onion.

                        If you want to see a great technique, watch my onion dicing video in
                        the skills section. 

Once you have a nice dice put the onion in your nice hot pan and add some  red wine vinegar or some of your favorite red wine! 

Put the cover on the pan and let it simmer, stirring ocasionally.

While the onions cook to perfection its time to prepare the chicken.

                 Most chicken breasts you will find are a bit thicker than you want to cook

                 with. I cut mine with a fillet knife so that they are no thicker than my pinky. 

                 Usually this involves slicing the breast fillet length wise into 2 Long flat even 

                 pieces.

Once the onions are done put then aside and put your chicken in that same pan. 

Sprinkle the herbs and spices onto the chicken breasts and let them cook until the edges begin to turn white like in the picture.

Now flip the chicken breasts, coat the cooked side in herbs as before and pour let the chicken cook until done all the way through.

Pour some balsalmic vinegar on the chicken, flip it and add balsalmic vinegar to the other side.

 Cover the chicken in the wine onions and a spoon of tomato sauce.

                         Try to strain the sauce with your spoon as too much liquid just makes
                         a mess. 

Cover the pan and let the chicken cook for another minute or two.

Congrats you are done! 

Fajita steak breakfast

Ingredients

Breakfast steak ( 4 fillets) 

Bell pepper (1-2)
Onion (1-2)
Garlic pepper
Seasoned salt
Cayanne pepper
Olive oil
Eggs (as you like them)
Black beans

Tools

Spatula

Skillet

Chef's Knife

Cutting Board

Instructions

Julienne the Bell Pepper as seen in the cooking skills section                 

Julienne the onion as shown in the cooking skills section

Put the peppers and onions in a pan with oil.

              We are using Olive Oil which has a low smoke point so make sure you are
             not cooking it too hot or you will fill your house with smoke like you can't
             believe!

Cover and let cook until they are easy to cut with your spatula.

Brown the meat to your liking. 

                       Season with garlic pepper cayanne, and seasoned salt.

 With your chef's knife cut the breakfast streak into small pieces.

                

Cook the eggs to your liking, visit my eggs recipes for ideas

Plate the onions and peppers then add steak and eggs on top.

Add any desired toppings or serve as is with black beans for a tasty slow carb meal.

Welcome to Save The Burger!

It’s the fourth of July and you finally have your own apartment in your own city! Mom and Dad aren’t there to cook for you, like you need them anyways... right! Your friends are coming over for burgers and fireworks and you’re going to cook up a masterpiece! But you realize as you clean up after the party that there are a bunch of left over charcoal patties while the potato salad bowl had been licked so clean it looks like your guests washed it for you!

So what went wrong? Are you a failure as a cook, forever doomed to a world of tasteless fast food? Or can you become the cook everyone talks about in a good way? Is it possible you could be the one who people invite over hoping you will cook for them? Absolutely!

Let’s save that burger and learn a therapeutic outlet that can save you money (groceries are typically cheaper than a week’s worth of fast food) and save your health (how the hell do they get 600 calories in that whopper?) You can learn to cook those fancy dishes that they charge a high premium for at fancy restaurants and impress that nice new lady you met ;) check back each week to see a new step by step recipe which will actually help you learn rather than just throw ingredients and instructions at you. Learn techniques to look like you know what you are doing and learn about the science and art of your favorite dishes!