Basic Recipes

Breakfast

Bacon
  • Cut the package in half to make prep easier.
  • Keep bacon from shrinking:
    1. Run it under cold water (and pat dry to avoid splatter) before cooking.
    2. Cook it with a millimeter of water at the bottom of the pan.
  • Pan-frying bacon lets bacon cook in its grease.
  • Cook bacon in the microwave by wrapping in paper towels on high for 3-5 minutes.
  • The best bacon is baked open in the oven at 365°F for 10 minutes or on tinfoil at 400°F for 12 minutes.
    • Baking prevents dry bacon and avoids grease splatter.

Eggs
    Crack eggs easily:
    • Use a spoon to crack the egg instead of striking it on a surface.
    • Wet your hands to pull out shell pieces.
    • Get everything out of the egg by scraping the inside of it with a spatula or your finger.
    Test an egg’s age by adding a pinch of salt to cool water and submerging it.
    • If it’s fresh, it’ll sink to the bottom and lay on its side.
    • If it’s a week old, it’ll fall to the bottom and tilt partially upward.
    • If it’s two or three weeks old, it’ll drop to the bottom and balance on the pointed end.
    • If it’s rotten, it will float.
    Separate eggs with a water bottle:
    1. Crack the egg in a shallow bowl.
    2. Squeeze some of the air out of a water bottle.
    3. Place the bottle’s mouth on the yolk, then slowly release your grip to push the yolk into the bottle.
    4. Squeeze the yolk out of the bottle into another container.
    Scrambled eggs are extremely easy:
    • Swirl eggs around in a frying pan with your favorite ingredients.
    • Make scrambled eggs in the microwave:
      1. Beat them in a mug and mix in salt, cheese, and herbs.
      2. Microwave for 3 minutes.
    • Put the previous night’s leftovers into scrambled eggs.
    • Crumble overcooked bacon and add it to scrambled eggs.
    Omelets are scrambled eggs with more form:
    • The conventional way:
      1. Whisk together eggs and other ingredients.
      2. Pour into a frying pan coated in butter.
      3. Add cheese on top of it and fold over, if desired.
    • With a coffee mug in the microwave:
      1. Mix two eggs, cheese, add-ins, salt, and pepper in a coffee mug.
      2. Microwave for 30-60 seconds, stir, then microwave for another 30-60 seconds.
    Fried eggs are cracked over a greased frying pan and cooked on both sides:
    • Sunnyside up is the same as a fried egg, but only cooked on one side.
    • Over easy cooks eggs more firmly by coating it with butter or oil while it’s cooking.
    • Make fun designs by cracking eggs into cookie cutters.
    • Make bell pepper eggs by cracking eggs inside horizontal pepper slices on a frying pan.
    Poached eggs make are firmer with a white layer over the yolk:
    • Crack an egg into boiling water.
    • Make poached eggs in the microwave:
      • Crack eggs and place in a microwave-safe bowl filled with water and a pinch of vinegar.
      • Stick toothpicks in the egg yolks, then wrap the container with plastic wrap.
      • Cook for 30 seconds, turn and cook for 20 more seconds.
    Hard-boiled eggs go into numerous recipes:
    • Boiled eggs in water with the shell still on.
    • The easiest way to peel a hard-boiled egg is to move the egg immediately from boiling water to ice water before cracking it.
      • Add a pinch of baking soda to make shells slide off after cooling.
    • Keep boiling eggs from breaking by adding two tablespoons of vinegar or a pinch of salt to the water.
    • Boil cracked eggs by adding a little vinegar to the water to keep anything from boiling out.
    • Test a hard-boiled egg by spinning it.
      • It will keep rotating if it’s hard-boiled but will wobble if it’s uncooked.
    Other fun ways to cook an egg:
    • Eggs in a basket:
      1. Cut out the inner part of a bread slice.
      2. Crack an egg inside the bread in a frying pan coated in butter.
      3. Add sandwich meat and cheese.
      4. Place the cut-out piece on top and let it finish cooking.
    • Eggs in a nest:
      1. Cut a hole in the middle of a slice of bread or press a square object into it.
      2. Butter the bread in the center.
      3. Place the bread onto a greased frying pan.
      4. Crack an egg in the middle, then add seasonings if you want.
    • Egg burger:
      1. Cut out a circle in the middle of hamburger meat with a cup.
      2. Set the hamburger meat in a frying pan.
      3. Crack an egg open in the middle of the hamburger.
    • Bake a dozen eggs for English muffins in a muffin tray for 15-20 minutes at 350°F.
      • Make breakfast bites by mixing them with bacon or ham.

Pancakes
  • Mix batter and pour over a flat hot surface, then flip it when it shows holes.
  • Make oatmeal pancakes by combining and pouring a quarter cup of instant oatmeal, two egg whites, and half of a mashed banana into a pan.
  • Make flourless pancakes by mixing and pouring a banana and two eggs into a pan.
  • Make perfect circle pancakes by squirting onto the pan with a meat baster.
  • Mix new ingredients into pancakes:
    • Make bacon pancakes by dunking bacon in pancake batter or pouring it over bacon.
    • Make apple or pineapple pancakes by cutting and dipping apple or pineapple rings into pancakes.

French Toast Casserole
  1. Cut half a loaf of dried bread or 6 day-old biscuits into 1-inch cubes.
  2. Whisk 6-8 eggs with 1/2 cup of milk or whipping cream.
  3. Mix the eggs/dairy mix, cut bread, sausage or bacon, and salt/pepper to taste in a large mixing bowl.
  4. Let soak for 1-24 hours.
  5. Bake in greased casserole dish at 350 degrees F ~20 minutes (until golden brown).

Lunch

You can bake potatoes in the microwave.

Cook and shuck corn by putting unhusked corn in the microwave for 2-5 minutes, cutting on one side, and sliding the cob out of the husk.

When boiling cob corn, add a pinch of sugar to bring out the corn’s natural sweetness.

Make a giant pita sandwich:
  1. Cut out the inside of a bread bowl and add any ingredients you want.
  2. Put the top back on and flatten it with a weight.
  3. Cut it into slices.

Orange marmalade:
  1. Grate three orange rinds.
  2. Simmer two cups of orange juice in a pan.
  3. Blend the rinds with five unseeded oranges into a pulp, then add it to the pan.
  4. Let the mixture simmer for a few hours.
  5. Let it cool, then place it into jars.
  6. It will keep for three months in the refrigerator.

Make a sandwich roll:
  1. Flatten bread with a roller, add slices of cheese, and roll up tightly.
  2. Set it on medium heat with butter in a pan.
  3. Press and turn the roll to brown it and keep it together.

Make a spaghetti sandwich:
  1. Set cooked spaghetti in slices of bread.
  2. Add garlic and any seasonings.
  3. Bake in a sandwich maker or oven.

Dinner

Make mashed potatoes:
  1. Bake whole potatoes on a bed of salt on a baking sheet until you can easily poke holes in the skins.
  2. Peel the skins and set them aside.
  3. Fry the skin in butter for a few minutes, then add a half cup of milk to the frying pan.
  4. Strain the milk through a strainer, then add it to the cooked potatoes.
  5. Add salt and pepper, then whip or mash to your desired consistency.

Cook chicken:
  1. Season both the outside and the inside of the chicken before you cook it.
  2. Bake or broil the chicken.
  3. Turn off the heat when you see clear liquid from slicing it.

Roast vegetables:
  1. Partly boil root vegetables like carrots and potatoes.
  2. Drizzle them with oil, then finish cooking them in the oven.

Roast potatoes:
  1. Cut potatoes almost all the way through.
  2. Drizzle olive oil, butter, sea salt, and pepper on top.
  3. Bake at 425°F for 40 minutes.

Bake a French baguette:
  1. Mix 1 cup of warm water, two teaspoons of active dry yeast, a tablespoon of salt, and two tablespoons of sugar into a bowl.
  2. Let it stand for five minutes in a warm place for the yeast to activate.
  3. Add six or seven cups of flour to a bowl and create a well in the center.
  4. Pour in the yeast mixture and blend to make a firm dough.
  5. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and place under the sun.
  6. In a separate container, toast two tablespoons each of sesame seeds and poppy seeds in two tablespoons of olive oil.
  7. Remove the dough from the bowl and punch it down, then let it rest for several more minutes.
  8. Place the dough on a baking tray and make three or four balls from it.
  9. Elongate the dough balls into ovals, then make deep diagonal cuts.
  10. Bake at 400°F for 30-40 minutes.

Homemade seasoning

Make Doritos seasoning by pouring crushed Doritos into a dispenser.

Big Mac secret sauce:
  1. Stir the following ingredients together in a small container:
    • A quarter cup of salad dressing (like Miracle Whip)
    • A quarter cup of mayonnaise
    • Three tablespoons of French Salad dressing
    • Half a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish
    • A teaspoon of sugar
    • A teaspoon of dried minced onion
    • A teaspoon of white vinegar
    • A teaspoon of ketchup
    • A pinch of salt
  2. Microwave on high for 25 seconds and stir again.
  3. Cover and refrigerate an hour before serving.

Italian seasoning:
  1. Use a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle to grind three dried tablespoons each of:
    • Sage
    • Marjoram
    • Basil
    • Oregano
    • Parsley
  2. Grind and add in a tablespoon of garlic powder.
  3. Grind and add in a teaspoon each of:
    • Garlic powder
    • Onion powder
    • Dried thyme
    • Dried rosemary
    • Black pepper
    • White pepper
  4. The seasoning will keep for six months.

Curry powder:
  1. Mix the following in a pan:
    • 10 tablespoons of coriander seeds
    • 8 tablespoons of cumin seeds
    • 2 tablespoons of mustard seeds
  2. Let them thoroughly brown, then thoroughly mix in:
    • 5 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
    • 10 tablespoons of pepper
    • 2 tablespoons of ground nutmeg
    • 2 tablespoons of cloves
    • A tablespoon of ground cardamom seeds
    • 3 tablespoons of turmeric
    • 2 tablespoons of ground ginger
    • 2 tablespoons of chili powder
  3. Let it cool, then grind to a fine powder in a coffee grinder.

Dry herbs yourself:
  1. Microwave them in a cup for 2-4 minutes.
  2. Crumple the herbs onto paper towels.