cook and ride
 

As a single guy that loves to cook and ride. A few times I have started a soup or a pot roast and while the soup is on low simmer or the roast is slow roasting in the oven I go out for a ride. Up to one and a half hours. I get somewhat nervous thinking if by chance I get delayed or stopped by an accident or incident will my apartment burn!? I have done this maybe twice before and probably wont do it again. Do any of you fourumites engage in this practice?:)

That's what crock pots are made for. Gives you more riding time.

Yes but usually use a crock pot, or set the oven to turn off at a certain time...if yours has that feature. What usually happens to me is that I get in the middle of something and need an additional ingredient, depending on which place I am at, it is a couple of miles or so to the grocery store:rolleyes:

Aaron:)

Oo crock pot eh, I'm looking for some good recipes. What do you make?

Recipes? We don't need no stinking recipes!

You want to read, or do you want to get dinner cooking so you can get out and ride? My cooking style is to get everything I think goes together and throw it in. What do we got here in the fridge? Some kind of beef roast, a bottle of Guinness, some soy sauce, potatoes, onion, bell pepper, salt, pepper, nutmeg, water to make sure everything is covered, turn it on and I'm outta here.

Closest I ever get to cooking and riding is when I cook rice in my rice cooker.

That is it in a nutshell...just vary the ingredients to suit you...

Aaron:)

You can buy some inexpensive timers at places like Home Depot. You plug them in, and then plug the appliances into them. This would automatically turn things off. Don't know how easy this will be with your setup, but it might be worth checking into.

You can find hotplates that will work well this way.

Many crock pots and slow-cookers have built-in timers. If you are open to using them, many microwaves have all kinds of automated features. (Some people don't like microwaves at first, but when they get to know how to use them, they end up liking them quite a bit. They are certainly much safer, cleaner, and faster than most other means of cooking, and probably more healthful as well.)

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If it makes your rides a bit less pleasant or less at ease when you leave things on, then finding some other way probably makes sense.

Be round Sunday.

You mean like putting a frozen bean burro in your jersey pocket at the start of a ride and having it ready to eat by the end?

Glad to have you but Sunday is when I wok up my famous Asian style curry. Chinese style veggies, Thai coconut milk base, mahi-mahi and shrimp, served on a bed of soba. I call it Tex's Addicted to Curry.

Crockpots FTW.

Crockpot Splitpea soup is the best. use the dried peas. if you have a chunk of ham left over from a meal with the bone in toss that in too.. some onions, carrots and that's it, put it on low and go away for a few hours serve with a dallop of sour cream on top...lol with garlic bread on the side... that's some good eats cheap and easy

Okay, I had a request for my recipe Tex's Addicted to Curry.

It was inspired by the Addicted to Curry manga and originally posted in the forums at Anime Source. This recipe is actually more of a guideline since when I cook I use intuition over a strict recipe. I've tried many versions with different meats and veggies, served on different flavors of rice and pasta and never been disappointed (my favorite is soba noodles though). So here it is:

Tex's Addicted to Curry

1 lbs. of pork stew meat (should work with beef, lamb, seafood, chicken etc.)
2 bell peppers cut in strips(I used a yellow and a green one for color red also works)
1 medium yellow onion cut length wise into strips(I used one of the sweet varieties)
1 small can ****aki mushrooms, drained (reg. mushrooms okay)
1 small can of pineapple chunks in own juice (I sometimes use canned tropical fruit in juice too, don't use syrup)
3 Tblspns. of butter
A note on veggies: I picked vegetables that looked good at the store there is some flexability here to suit your tastes. I used two zuccini squashes, a hand full of bean sprouts and a hand full of snow peas. I could have gone with carrots, sweet potatoes, or what ever. The only thing to remember is the denser the vegetable the sooner you have to put it in the pan so it cooks completely, i.e. heavy root veggies go in first, and leafy greens go in last. I've used frozen and canned veggies too.
1 can of coconut milk (use the Thai kind which is thick and creamy it will melt when heated)
1 package of curry roux (I used the mild kind because of my wife, but if you like it spicy then go for it. The kind I used came in a solid chunk that was broken up and spread out in the pot I think the brand name is Golden Pagoda.)

Marinade (optional) Since I was using pork stew meat instead of more easily identified tender cuts like pork loin I used a mainade to make sure the meat would be tender and to add flavor. You can use anything like soy sauce or terriyaki sauce or cooking wine or sake. I used a about a half cup of coconut flavored rum with a few tspns of Kikoman roasted garlic teriyaki. Tender cuts of meat and most seafoods don't really need a mainade.

In a large fry pan or wok (I used a wok) place butter on medium heat. When melted and wok is hot add meat. when the meat has started browning on the outside add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onion becomes semi-transparent and bell pepper brightens in color (meat should be a bit more done as well so make sure you keep stirring the ingredients around so they all get even heat). When the ingredients in your wok (or large fry pan) get to that stage then add your veggies by type with heavy veggies first giving them more time to cook and leafy veggies last as the ones before have had time to cook (I added zuccini first then snow peas and then bean sprouts). After the last of the veggies are added add mushrooms then add pineapple with the juice (again use pineapple packed in own juice not syrup), Then add coconut milk stirring it in until contents of pan are well coated and coconut milk is liquidfied. Add Curry and stir until melted into the mixture and coating everything. Keep stirring allowing everything to cook fully and meld flavors. When done remove from heat and serve over steamed rice.

Well that's it. I hope it wasn't too confusing and I tried to put in some tips for you non-cooking folks because this is really easy to make and really delicious. It is the first time I tried to make a mild curry and I wasn't disappointed. It had a great curry flavor even with out the spicy heat that is usually a part of curry. If you have trouble understanding this recipe ask me and I'll try to clairify it for you. This is one of those recipes that looks hard and exotic but is really easy and if it seems a little weird that's just my cooking style, it really tastes great.

One of the better things about this recipe also is that the most exotic ingrediants that would seem hard to find I found really easy at regular supermarkets.

And with a crock pot, don't forget to grow some fresh herbs to add in... I never pay much attention to which herbs I add, I just add whichever herb looks like it needs some leaves taken off... This usually leads to using some mint in almost everything, which is fine with me. :)

Don't leave the house while you have something cooking unless you are prepared to lose everything you own in a house fire. Oh, and unless you are prepared to kill your neighbours too.

I am sure you turn the electricity off at the mains when you leave for work every morning? And the gas to the water heater and furnace? (if so equipped) A crock pot is a viable solution for slow cooking, it does not require direct supervision. Stove top requires direct supervision...

Aaron:)

Many crock pot recipes online that are excellent.

Another solution is to cook large amounts of things that reheat very well. Country Captain (southern chicken dish), crawfish etoufee (NO cooking at its best), various bisques. Takes being able to really cook, but cooking isn't difficult.

For several years I worked 2 full time jobs. Apartment has electric stove and twice I've cooked whole chickens at 350F for 6-8hrs. No fires but the scary part was I slept through everything including the smoke alarm. The last time it happened I had problems taking deep breaths for a day or two.
During the week meals are quick prep/cook. Weekends are the time for longer recipes when I have time to enjoy the process. No longer work 2 jobs.

In the original post, the author says stove-top cooking. I stand by my first post.

And every post since then suggested crock pot or timed oven...please quote the original post if you don't want to be misunderstood.

Aaron:)

A small package of prepared baby carrots works well with the above too. ;)

Yeah, I noticed that I have been forgetting carrots in my recipes lately. Thanks for pointing that out. I was hoping no one would notice. :p

If you eat more carrots, you'll see that you didn't put any carrots in your cooking.

:P