Anyone Can Cook: Ted's Zucchini by Candice Watters on 09/18/2009 at 12:30 PM

Yesterday, Steve brought me this.

Don't let the size of the photo fool you, that's one big squash.

Not one to be easily daunted in the kitchen, I still wasn't sure I wanted the 15 loaves of bread Ted suggested. So I grabbed a few of these.

Poured in a little of this.

And a few ingredients and baking time later, Voila!

They're not the prettiest little cakes I've ever made, but boy are they yummy.

Anyone Can Cook: Zucchini by Ted Slater on 09/17/2009 at 12:50 PM

Zucchini is a fine little veggie to cut up and fry in butter or EVOO, with a bit of onion and maybe a dash of salt and chardonnay. And it can be cheap, since it grows so well.

If you're going to fry it up, maybe go with a "smaller" zucchini -- something that's only 8 inches long. If you're wanting to make zucchini bread, so I'm told, you can go with something larger.

Larger? Yeah, like the 2-foot-long beast I picked from my garden last night:

My secret for getting pumpkin-sized zucchinis? Bat guano, dry molasses, some sprays of orange oil and sprinklings of diatomaceous earth to get rid of the bugs, regular waterings, good sunlight ... and lots of love.

Anyone Can Cook: Tomatoes by Candice Watters on 07/29/2009 at 9:44 AM

Alright Mr. Nikon with a toque, what would you do with these beauties?

Anyone Can Cook: Get a Rice Cooker by Ted Slater on 07/08/2009 at 2:58 PM

As I mentioned last week, anyone can cook.

I used to eat soup directly out of a can, unheated. I used to add water to the flour I discovered in the cupboard and fry it up for dinner. I used to put spaghetti sauce on a slice of white bread and call it a meal.

But no longer. With just a bit of effort, and a bit of instruction, and a bit of adventurousness ... anyone can leave culinary mediocrity behind and eat real food.

Here's tip #1, something I wish I had done when I was younger and clueless: Get a stinkin' rice cooker. Spend the $20. And try to find one with a steamer basket.

Here's the thing: Rice is cheap, and the rice cooker will last forever. You can keep a bag of rice in the closet next to the trash can, like I do, for years. It's easy to make -- just add a half cup of rice and a bit over a cup of water and click it on. Add chicken broth or a handful of frozen peas or something to make it your own, if you'd like.

It's a great foundation for all sorts of meals. Cut up some asparagus or brussels sprouts or carrots or some other vegetable and put those in the steamer basket before you start the rice, and you'll have something to put on top of the rice. Or fry up some chicken and veggies with toasted sesame oil for something really special.

Or just mix in some spaghetti sauce and call it Spanish Rice, like I used to.

You can use that steamer basket for things besides rice-toppers, too. Cut up some potatoes and pop those in the steamer, with an inch of water in the rice cooker. When it's done cooking, mash the potatoes together with some butter and salt and pepper (and whatever else is laying around), and you've got a great side dish.

I use basmati rice, but you can use pretty much anything. Don't use the instant rice in your rice cooker. That's just silly.

Again, this series is pretty much for those who were like me, totally unprepared to make myself a meal. This is not Food 101, but more of a Remedial Food class. It's what I needed in my early 20s.

So, how do you make your rice? What do you put in it and on it?

Anyone Can Cook by Ted Slater on 06/30/2009 at 3:30 PM

I was 18, sharing an apartment with a buddy in Houston. I was hungry. And I didn't know how to cook.

I searched the pantry. OK, it wasn't a "pantry," just a cupboard with random stuff in it. I pulled out a loaf of white bread and a jar of Prego.

Sauce went on slice of bread went in microwave went in mouth.

Yeah, I did not know how to cook.

I've since learned how stinkin' easy it is to make simple, relatively healthy meals. How hard is it to boil some whole wheat spaghetti, drain it after 15 minutes, and stir in a jar of mid-priced sauce? Not hard at all. Add some freshly sautéed mushrooms, and broil a few spears of asparagus, and you've got a respectable meal. That's Cooking 101 stuff. Stuff I wish I'd known when I was 18 and on my own.

I've learned that, in the words of Ratatouille's Chef Gusteau, "Anyone can cook."

I'd like to start a series here on the Boundless blog offering simple recipes, simple techniques, a simple approach to the therapeutic, hospitality-facilitating craft of cooking. I'll wrap up this first one with some photos I took yesterday of my little back yard garden that'll give you a sense of where I'm at now in my culinary journey: a pair of apple trees, rows of tomato plants, a pepper plant, squash, basil, dill, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, mint....

And to think that not so long ago I was content with microwaved spaghetti sauce sandwiches.