Trying to eat healthier, but can't cook!

[mynameisbob84]

Chicken Kebab (a la Bob) is pretty much the easiest thing in the world to make but tastes pretty fucking great. Get a chicken fillet, slice it into sexy little meaty chunks of chunky meat. Take a little bit of low fat plain yogurt, some chopped coriander and a tiny bit of curry paste and mix in a bowl. Then mix in the chicken chunks and leave to marinate for an hour or two.
Grill marinated chicken until cooked (I use a Foreman Grill cos it's easy, yeah?). Take a plain naan bread and lob some lettuce and some chopped onion on it (or whatever other veg you like/can tolerate), then top with the chicken. Roll it up and eat it.

 

[LacieLaPlante]

I don't understand the concept of "not knowing how to cook" o_o it's totally ingrained in me from watching too much food tv. So that's my suggestion. Watch food tv and get ideas and suggestions. You might not make the recipe that they're making, but you can use a portion of it or you can learn how to slice something correctly, what spices go with that.. how much to use of something.

I Food TV

 

[LuckySmiles]

so...uh... meet me in the kitchen for anymore uh... COOKING tips.... yes that's it...for some good hot "cooking" :whistle:

 

[VeronicaChaos]

I came here to suggest a rice cooker, but I see it's been covered. Rice cookers really are the shit.

 

[Jessi]

I found the greatest-instant cake recipe!!!!!!
Not instant, more like 3 minutes but whatever

1) Take a big bowl

Insert the following:

--1/2 Quinoa flakes OR oatmeal
--1 banana OR 1/2 cup apple sauce
--1 tsp cinnamon
--a drop of sucralose (or whatever you have that equals 1tsp of sugar) if you want
--1/2 cup of blueberries (I used frozen but you could probably put whatever fruit you wanted)]

2) Turbomash the fuck out of that sucka

3) Grease the shit out of a ramekin, smooth bowl, soup mug, whatever and put that shit in it

4) Microwave it for 3 minutes more or less.

5) Turn it upsidedown onto a plate and a cake falls out

6) while that bitch is cooling, blend/food processorize
-- Two tbsp of unsalted cashews
-- 3 tbsp of lemon juice
-- Whatever equivalent to a tbsp of sugar (replace with sucralose or something for a healthier option.)

7) Drizzle it all over your masterpeice

Voila, I just gave y'all a breakfast cake for 15 minutes, 12 grams of protein and 400 calories. Assuming you didnt go and put sugar in it like a lamer. Thats kind of a lot of calories for one thing, but you of course dont have to eat the whole thing in one sitting, and its sure as hell better for you that, I dunno, ACTUAL CAKE.
:handgestures-salute:

 

[RogueWarrior]

I have experience cooking. For my family and on a professional level. I'm not a chef, but a damn good cook.

First of all, I would like to commend you for deciding to make healthier choices. Secondly, all of the suggestions made previously are spot on.

As you stated, you are not trying to lose weight, just eat healthier, I have a few suggestions.

Stay far, far away from anything in a box. While tasty, loaded with crap.

Do some research and familiarize yourself with spices and herbs. And not on the internet. Taste the stuff. Find out what is pleasing to your palate. Don't be afraid of new and different flavors.

Everybody can cook. With varying degrees of success. I tend to agree with Lacie. It has been ingrained in me from way back and cannot fathom a total lack of ability.

As was suggested earlier, watch the cooking shows, but without delusions of grandeur.

Buy some cookbooks. Sounds lame, but invaluable to a novice cook.

From what you plated in your pic, you have the right idea. Keep it simple. Then build on what is successful.

Cooking is not brain science or rocket surgery. Of course, getting it right ain't always easy. But remember, it's just food. As long as it's cooked to temp and handled properly, it's not life or death.

Experiment. Have fun. Fresh ingredients and imagination.

 

[lordmagellan]

If you're a bit geeky, maybe you can pick this up. I haven't yet, I'm hoping the price will come down at least a little.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e7b6/

From what I understand, rather than give you dishes to prepare, it tells you why certain foods taste as good as they do and why one thing pairs so well with another. And they do it with science!

Anyone checked this out? If so, is it worth the price?

 

[Nordling]

The Kindle Edition is only $9.80, and the paperback version is $19 at Amazon.

 

[Eebre]

2) Turbomash the fuck out of that sucka

This the cookbook we need! Write it. Right now. Or yesterday even, whichever works.

*goes off to buy a nutter-bastard turbomasher, in readiness for the Great Day of Publication*

 

[Daniella_Lixx]

Frozen veggies are actually better than canned one

I suggest eating a lot of green ones.

As for juice, I have a blender that I bought at wallmart, it makes about a bottle worth of liquids, I make my own juice & add water. To sugar it, I use stevia (it's a plant 20x more sugary than normal sugar without all the non healthy stuff)
http://www.stevia.com/

as for chicken, I suggest you use a batter, mine is quite simple, crumble some corn flakes in a ziploc bag, add some melted butter & spice and cook in the over, it keep the chicken juicy

 

[Jessi]

I just bought three big bags of frozen kale, brocolli and peas. They were only 2.99 each I like to keep frozen veggies around because I live by myself and don't cook often enough, so a lot of my produce spoils. If you can, get "flash frozen" or whatever, and then you just blanche them and they're like like fresh!
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-blanch- ... ome-108570

 

[LadyLuna]

Since people keep referring to color, I thought I'd give you a hand:

Veggies I really enjoy: corn, green beans, peas, carrots, spinach, broccoli

Corn: yellow
Green beans: dark green
peas: green
carrots: orange
spinach: dark green
broccoli: stalk is light green, buds are green to dark green

Hope that helps you

I did not see if you like peppers or not? Bell peppers come in red, orange, yellow, and green. Green peppers are essentially not-ripe red peppers, and are the only ones that have a very different flavor from the others. If you see the sets of three in the stores, those are 1 red, 1 orange, and 1 yellow. A lot of things are awesome if you use all three of the set together. They go well with chicken, especially in a stir fry. The orange and the yellow are the expensive ones, green and red are fairly cheap.

Jalapeno peppers are green.
The hotter ones than that are red.
Chille peppers are red.

Some foods to try to see if you like them:
-summer squash
-sweet potatoes
-snow peas
-water chesnuts (can find these canned in the Asian foods isle)
-bamboo shoots (also canned in the Asian foods isle.)

 

[Nordling]

I just bought three big bags of frozen kale, brocolli and peas. They were only 2.99 each I like to keep frozen veggies around because I live by myself and don't cook often enough, so a lot of my produce spoils. If you can, get "flash frozen" or whatever, and then you just blanche them and they're like like fresh!
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-blanch- ... ome-108570

Yes! With a few exceptions, I avoid canned vegetable and go for fresh or frozen. Years ago, I read an article in the Consumer's Union magazine that stated that frozen corn usually tastes better than fresh...because after it's picked corn starts to degrade within minutes. The big companies that freeze stuff flash freeze corn right out in the field right after it's picked, whereas fresh corn in a grocery store may have been sitting around degrading for days before you get it home.