Category: Daily Living
Hi,
I am moving into an apartment this semester, and taking this summer to learn how to cook for the first time ever in my life. While I was exposed to some cooking at the Colorado Center, I left this program early, because I didn't much care for the O and M training their.
Therefore, I am learning how to cook different meals, for now, using just the oven, and a crockpot with a knob, greatfully, it's not digital! I was wondering if anyone would have any advice or techniques, and whether or not you could suggest some simple meals? I don't want to use the stove top yet, until I get my induction cooker, which should be soon. But, for the moment, I would like to learn how to cook things in the oven and crockpot. Note that with the crockpot, since I am not using the stove top right now, I won't be able to brown things; are their meals that you can cook in the crockpot without browning things?
Thanks so much for any help/feedback. I am planning on attending a center once I am finished with my degree, but cannot right now.
Nathan.
Look up the board topic on Crock Pot Recipes on this site. I know I do when I want something new.
Now, let me violate a few thousand taboos and let you in on a little secret: blind or sighted, a lot of young people don't know how to cook. But one thing I've learned on this site, people think you need to learn everything there is to know about how to cook / bake / fry / whatever in order to compete with sighted people.
I can cook, grill and make sauces. But I can't really bake to save my life. Don't know the first thing about making cookies or cakes or any of that. Since I'm a Northwestern-raised guy, none of us up here have fryers in our houses, so except for those people that work in restaurants, none of us knows how to deep fry except in a skillet maybe.
Not everyone knows how to do every thing. But there's nothing to learning to use an oven or a crock pot.
The crock pot recipes thread has more than you could ever use.
Most things in the oven are a matter of timing.
I agree with Leo, and I'm a bad example of how to do this or that.
I can bake if I choose, deep fry in a fry diddly, and whatever, but I can't do everything well.
In a crock pot , you get some meat, chicken is good, veggies or anykind you like, and some seasoning.
Drop it all in that bad boy, fill it with water, att your seasons, turn it on, and wait.
Check it some, maybe once a hour or so. Add more seasoning if you need. Use a spoon to taste.
I'd fire up that stove top too. You can't learn it if you don't try it.
Learn how it works, by turning the nob and feeling how hi the heat gets just standing there.
You live on campus or near, so have some of the folks come around and help out. Put up an add asking for a girl or guy to help you learn some basic cooking. Bet you get someone that will come help.
Thanks guys, I'll look this stuff up.
induction cooker doesn't mean any blind friendlier than a normal cooktop. In fact, lots of induction cooker do not come with any diler, knob, or otherwise. Its generally all touch screen operated. As far as crockpot is concern, as long as you knowo how to turn the thing onn and turning it of again say, 6 hours later, you are more than likely will cook something in tere. Then, its depends on how you make it nice, tasty, and yummy. There are some very good selection of crockpot ideas on the crockpot topic.
As far as cooking for the blind is concern, well, cooking for anyone is concern, i guess, it is a skill that one should have, doesn't matter you are sighted, blind, whellchair or whatever your case is. You can choose to like it, or to hate it, or anything in between. When you are living by yourself, totally alone, and is like 10 at night with nothing open and no transport to go anyware anyway, you will find that your ability to able to cook or not to cook will be very much challenge on those times.
Not to say every blind person must able to cook a great meal, but i think, able to cook, doesn't matter with what, or on what, or in what, is a surviver skills for all human.
A few suggestions for you. First, I'd absolutely agree that you need to learn
how to use the burners on your stove. You never know when you might need to
boil water. What if you want to make spaghetti? Spaghetti is the ultimate cheap
and easy food. I keep it in my apartment at all times for that reason alone. You
should know how to make it, and that will lead to you learning how to brown
and how to saute and sweat and deglaze and lots of other fun stuff. Hell, if you
get crazy enough you might even try flambe one of these days, but don't do
that.
Next, there are lots of websites, and even iphone aps dedicated to nothing
else than crock pot recipes. Look up a few and see what they offer that you're
interested in. Some of them will require the stove though, often to cook noodles
or brown meat. You really should pick up those skills at least. If you want, I'd be
happy to give you some pointers on that. Its much easier than you think.
Last, if you go to www.blindmicemegamall.com and look around, you can find
the cooking in the dark show; I think that's what its called. Its a cooking show
where a blind guy cooks. Its not the best, he does some things that aren't the
best practices, but it will at least show you that you can do a lot of things if you
want to try.
Hope those help. Feel free to ask anything else. You can even pm me if you
want.
Flank steaks in the crock are awesome.
remember that in a crock pot, very little steam escapes, so very little water is needed, maybe a cup to a whole roast. It's easier to add more water than it is to fix it after you've put too much water in it.
Cody's right about spaghetti. Why spaghetti? I don't know: it works better than rotini, flimboliini and all the rest nobody remembers what they all are unless you're Italian.
Cold Spaghetti isn't half bad: I never tried it till after I'd been to Japan and eaten the cold summer Ramen and Yaku soba.
I've always meant to try pan frying it after cooking it, see how that would come out.