Easy Hot Dogs

Not the sucess story I was hoping for...  The ease of the homecooker meant, less dishes out on the bench and the beeping timer so I should have been able to do this beautifully!

First problem, it really felt like the water took way longer to boil than it usually does in my pot.
But anyway, it boiled, I steamed the long rolls in the large steaming dish and cooked the franks in the pasta bowl thing.

The buns were ok, they stick to the bottom and the side a little less that they do in my regular pot with the steamer attachment.  I could also fit all 6 in the container at one time, which I cant do with the my other pot.  I left them in there for a few minutes and while the franks cooked.

I cant remember the time I set...but it was too long!  By the time the water had come to the boil and I had left it long enough for the buns to get  steamed/warm up, the franks were a little bit split!

But in the end we ate hotdogs that tasted as good as if they had been cooked any other way, and I covered up the "splitness" with enough cheese and sauces, so it didnt matter!!

Day 8 - Making Noodles

I really wanted to explore this for cooking pasta....so I started with 2 minute noodles for lunch!
As far as cooking the noodles go, it would have been easier and quicker in a regular pot, but it could be useful for cooking regular pasta... and steam some veges at the same time.

I got the water boiling, which took about 10 minutes, put the noodles in and set the timer for 6 minutes, when I came back the water had partly evaporated so not all noodles were cooked properly, but it was fine, we ate it.  

And I added some stir fried courgette, mushroom, garlic and rocket to it and threw a few chopped tomatoes on top.  

My conclusion is that it isnt really much use in this capacity, it is just as easy and quick to cook pasta in my regular pasta pot!  And my pasta pot has a steaming rack in it too, so I could do that there (and use the microwave timer)

Day 6 - Adapting a recipe from Healthy Food Guide

Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce and Chicken



Here is the link to the original recipe, it is really yummy, so even if you dont have a homecooker, you should make this.





So this is how I incorporated the homecooker.  I put the oil, cherry tomatoes and garlic into the homecooker.  I set the temp to 175 and the timer for 20 mins.  (Unfortunately I wasnt finished prepping the other things at the end of 20 mins, so I kept adding another 3 or 4 mins until I was ready!) I think they could have roasted for about 30 mins I guess.  I started with the lid on for a few mins, just to make sure the temp was nice and high, and then took it out, I also didnt turn the stirrer on for about 5 minutes or so, to get the going, but then I was worried about sticking, so I turned it on.

Roasting the tomatoes and the garlic

I am yet to figure out how to cook pasta in the homecooker, so I put the pot on the stove and made the pasta according to the packet directions.  (Although I think next time, when I figure out how to do pasta properly, I will do the pasta in the homecooker and the rest of the sauce can just go on the stove top maybe.)

So then i set aside a few roasted tomatoes and peeled the garlic and then put the garlic and the rest of the tomatoes into a bowl and got the stick whizz out and purreed them all, then I added the other ingredients to it and tipped it all into the homecooker, set the temp at 70, stirer going and set time for 20 mins...or until the pasta and the garlic bread was ready.   The evap milk almost seperated (as usually happens to me because I dont pay close attention to things) but somehow I managed to save it by tipping a little more milk in and taking it off the heat quickly then paying more attention when I warmed it thru just before serving.

The creamy tomato sauce... blurryness due to moving stiring attachment

I forgot again to take a photo of the finished product on the plate, but it looked pretty good, and tasted really good...and yet the kids still went to bed without finishing their dinners!  I have no idea what they like!  They are crazy!  :)