Cooking!

The items here will be from mostly WalMart listings. While WalMart is a reprehensible brand, it is one most people are familiar with and most have access to in some regard. Additionally, all items will be either steel, stone, or wood. No plastics will be used, nor nonstick, as these are very harmful to the body. Every time you scratch a plastic bowl or plate, microplastics are put into the foods, posing numerous risks to individuals' health. The initial cost for a full kitchen is high, but many of these items can be bought incrementally. For example, not buying the wooden spoons or meat thermometers or baking sheets until they are actually required for use in recipes.

• $25 Stainless Steel Cookware and Utensil Set
• $06 Wooden Utensils
• $10 Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons
• $07 Steel Mixing Bowl
• $10 Wooden Cutting Board
• $13 Baking Sheet
• $06 Meat Thermometer
• $08 Chef's Knife
• $01 Paring Knife
• $01 Bread Knife

Total: $87

Below are more niche items but still highly convenient and useful. These are mostly optional, and only really for the sake of saving some time.

• $01 Potato Peeler
• $01 Potato Masher
• $01 Tongs
• $03 Can Opener
• $05 Rolling Pin
• $01 Whisk
• $20 Muffin Tin
• $14 Lemon Juicer
• $05 Cheese Grater
• $11 Baster
• $09 Egg Boiler
• $10 Toaster
• $09 Kettle

Below is the silverware, dishes, etc. Note that placemats are optional, but are still highly encouraged. It makes it feel more homely, more comfortable. And it makes cleaning easier.

• $1.25 Stone Plates
• $1.25 Stoneware Bowls
• $4.00 Sets of 4 Stamped Steel Forks, Knives, and Spoons
• $1.50 Drinking Glasses

Scanned from The Settlement Cookbook, third edition, and I highly recommend buying it if you can. I got it at a book reseller, it has very simple and healthy recipes, and even recipes for things like soaps, tips for tablesetting, spice guides, substitution charts, canning and pickling guides, menu suggestions, party foods, candymaking, wine and vinegar making, dieting, stain removal, kitchen necessities, smart shopping, how to clean a kitchen, how to start a fire, and recipes for baby foods and for those on liquid diets. It's very comprehensive, 500 pages, with a full index that lets you easily essentially view all, say, potato dishes. I cannot praise it enough. And tucked away in the first blank page is a note in red marker, "Happy Cooking! Love, Dave, Donna, Rob & Sue. Christmas 1980". Makes me wonder, who was the person who owned it originally? Why did they pass it on, did they die or did they simply have no use for it? Was it someone's first cookbook, their first introduction to cooking? There's a lot of mystery and a bit of sadness to owning secondhand books. I have a textbook from the 1930's, and it's interesting to see the little notes, doodles, or even notes on other subjects' homework all written on the margins. It has character. It's also a bit strange, seeing marks written by someone no longer alive. It's funny that something as small as a pencil mark outlived that person.

We're going to go through a very short list of essentially all ingredients that are clear to be used, versus all ones that are bad and should be avoided.

Firstly, as a rule of thumb, ingredients that are whole foods or general ingredients are fine. This means ingredients like spices, salts, whole ingredients like pepper or garlic, and so on. Also, this includes things like sugar, flour, and so on. Do note that the 'general goods' category is a bit rougher around the edges. A good estimator is essentially "Would a typical kitchen in 1900 have this stuff?" So things like sugar, flour, molasses, brown sugar (which is sugar and molasses), cornmeal, baking powder and soda, etc. are all included, while things like corn syrup, xanthan gum, etc. would be excluded. It's a good rule of thumb where you don't really need to read too hard about some of the more common ingredients.

Anyway, enough with that. Onto the list. Do keep in mind, many of these chemicals are deemed safe by the FDA even as they're banned in the EU or have studies linking it to cancer. The food industry has a lot of power. It has the backing of wall street, don't forget that.

Oils - Avoid things with palm, soybean, canola, and seed or vegetable oil. Stick to things like butter, olive oil, peanut oil, and so on. Immediately, this will cut about 60% of the grocery store from your diet. However, look at the products that are now cut out. Frozen pizzas, ultra-processed foods, chips, snack cakes, and so on. Things that you're really better off not eating to begin with.

Sweeteners - Don't use them. Sugar and such is fine in moderation. But things like aspartame, sucralose, acesulfames, stevia, all those things. They aren't good for you. They're chemically synthesized or produce otherwise negative effects. Sucralose I believe it was, despite not being sugary, still raises the blood sugar levels of consumers. Things like that. It's generally best to just avoid them and stick to sugar for sweetness.

Dyes - Avoid them. Some of them, if naturally derived are acceptable. Beetroot, turmeric, and so on. But the ones like titanium dioxide, red 40, and so on are best to be avoided. Chemical dyes have also been linked to ADHD.

Flavor Enhancers - Things like MSG, Acetic Acid, etc. They're meant to make a food more addictive, and the health effects are often unknown.

Anything with numbers in it - Things like Red 40, yes, but also things like "2-ACETYL-1-PYRROLINE". This should be common sense. Just because someone says it's safe doesn't mean it's safe.

Mono and Diglycerides, Esters of Fatty Acids - These things are chemically synthesized, and are obviously not fit for human consumption. It should be common sense that anything that is synthesized in a lab is not food, this includes lab-grown meats. Medicine is obviously a different story, but we're talking about foods here.

Nitrites/ates, Sulfites/ates, Benzoates - Preservatives. They help items on shelves last longer. But again, chemically synthetized. Things like citric acid are already natural preservatives.

There's plenty others that you should watch out for. Generally, if an ingredient isn't something you immediately recognize and can visualize in your mind (we all know what butter looks like), or isn't something that was generally in kitchens a hundred and fifty years ago, it's probably best to skip it. Seriously, read the ingredients list whenever you go shopping. Some things will be packed with dyes, preservatives, and chemicals, while other foods are surpringly low on ingredients or are very whole. For example, Danish Butter Cookies, the Royal Dansk ones, are actually very whole in their ingredients, even using real butter.

Like with all things, think for yourself. Don't assume something's healthy because a company said so, and don't think something's unhealthy because I said so. A lot of corporate money goes into studies to 'prove' that these chemicals are safe, and a lot of these studies are then used by the FDA. Use common sense. If it's something the human body isn't built for, if it's something not derivable from natural means, if you don't even know what the item looks like, then it's probably not something you should be ingesting.

Touch your index finger to the bottom of a saucepan. Fill the dish with rice up to your first knuckle. Then, rinse and drain the rice repeatedly with water until the water runs clear. This removes the starch, yielding superior quality rice. Then, fill the dish with water up to your second knuckle. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then cover and turn off the heat. Do not remove the lid until all the water has been absorbed, or until fifteen minutes or so have passed.

Snap the ends off of the green beans. Next, slice them crosswise into pieces about as thick as your thumb. Then finally, put them in room temperature water and heat it until the water begins to steam.

Take an ear of corn and peel off the leaves, as well as removing as much of the strings as you can. Then hold each ear vertically, and slice downwards with a knife to separate the kernels from the cobs. Att corn to room temperature water and cook until the water begins to steam. For corn-on-the-cob, just don't slice the cobs.

Pierce the bottom of the eggs with a decently thick sewing needle. Do not pierce the thin membrane inside the egg, or egg will begin to leak as it cooks. This allows water to enter and separate the membrane from the shell, making peeling much easier. Next, place the eggs into a pot and cover with water at least an inch over the tops, or the distance to the first knuckle of your index finger. Bring water to a rolling boil and then cover, turning off the heat and letting rest for 10 minutes for softer yolks, 12 minutes for hard yolks. Finally, use tongs to drop the eggs into ice water to shock them, stopping cooking.

Slice the top and bottom ends of the pineapple off. Then hold the pineapple vertically and slice the knife down, separating the skin from the meat. Then slice the center into quarters. For each quarter, slide the knife along to remove the core, before slicing into chunks as big as preferred

Fill a pot with water, about a full finger's length. Add salt and stir until the water begins to appear cloudy. Bring to a rolling boil. Add pasta, stirring occasionally to ensure all pasta remains under the water and does not stick to the bottom. Cook until the pasta is edible without a crunch, then drain either using a lid or a colander.

Snap the stalks off of the asparagus, holding both ends and bringing them together. Place the tips on a greased baking sheet, cover with oil, salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Cook until browned, about 12 minutes. Alternatievly, pan fry in shallow oil with garlic, and cover with salt and pepper when removed.

Lay a pork loin or half-loin flat, and slice with a chef's knife to desired thickness.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 of a cup of warm water. Do this by either whisking it in, or by swirling the bowl with a hand. Next, add the remaining water and the salt, dissolving it similarly. Then work in two cups of flour with a wooden spoon or fork. After the flour is worked in, add the rest of the flour before working it in with your hands. Knead the dough by folding it over itself towards you, pushing down, and then rotating a quarter turn, repeating until the dough is formed into a firm, solid mass. Cover the bowl with a warm, damp towel and let rise in a warm place for about two hours, or until doubled. Then, optionally, punch down, reknead, cover, and let rise again as many times as preferred. Take the dough from the bowl and work it into the preferred shapes: rolls, sticks, braids, loaves, etc.. Place onto a greased sheet, and let rise one final time for about twenty minutes. Brush the dough with melted butter. Bake the bread at 350*F for about an hour.

Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Work in butter until batter is mealy. Thoroughly stir in milk. Roll dough on a floured surface until about 3/4 inch thick, about as tall as your thumb. Use a cup or mug rim to make dough rounds, combine and re-roll remaining dough until all is used. Place rounds on a greased sheet. Bake at 425*F for about 15 minutes.

Peel and dice potatoes, finer diced potatoes cook faster. Boil potatoes in a pot until a fork pierces easily. Drain pot and mash potatoes. Add butter and milk, work until creamy on low heat. For thicker potatoes, use less milk and butter.

Whisk eggs and add into flour. Whisk in milk. Pour into greased cupcake tins. Bake at 450*F for about 20 minutes, or until puffed up and browned.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Form a small well in the middle and add the egg yolk, loosely stirring. Beat egg white until frothy, and stir into the mix. Add wet ingredients and thoroughly stir. Pour a ladleful into a greased pan on medium heat until bubbling on one side, then flip.

Combine all ingredients but bread in a bowl. Soak both sides of bread slices in mixture. Cook in a greased pan until browned on both sides. Serve optionally with syrup and powdered sugar.

Finely chop onion and red pepper, removing and discarding stems and cores. Add to a buttered pan and saute until the onion is translucent. Chop chicken into thumb-sized cubes and add to the pan, cooking until the chicken is at temperature. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice of five oranges. When the chicken is ready, add the orange juice, honey, and soy sauce to the dish. Cook on low for a few minutes, stirring loosely. Add flour to thicken and stir again.

Set the pasta to cook in boiling, salted water. Heat the oil in a pan. Crush the garlic cloves and add to the dish, with some chili flakes, heating until fragrant. Add the tomato, with some salt and pepper, and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes, until thickened. Add the parsley and boiled pasta to the sauce, stirring to combine. Cover with finely grated parmigiano reggiano.

Set pasta to cook in boiling, salted water. Finely chop onion and garlic, and cook in a greased pan until fragrant. Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking into decently-sized chunks. Add the tomato sauce and wine, simmering until reduced halfway. Combine pasta into sauce.

Crust

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, and work in butter until mealy. Work in water slowly, just enough for the dough to stick together. Chill in fridge about an hour, before rolling on a floured worksurface to desired thickness. Lay on pie tin and gently press to fill, trimming excess and rolling into a disc.

Filling

Lay bottom crust into pie tin and sprinkle the bottom ligthly with flour. Peel, core, and slice apples to eighths. Mix apples, cinnamon, sugars, cinnamon, lemon juice, and remaining flour together. Pour into pie crust to fill. Lay top crust over the pie. Brush with melted butter and milk. Sprinkle some sugar on top. Bake at 425*F for 30 minutes, before reducing to 325*F for 30 more minutes.

Snap the asparagus stalks off, discarding. Slice the salmon to desired size of cuts. Arrange asparagus tips and salmon slices onto a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle asparagus with oil, salt, and pepper. Work in oil into the salmon cuts, before massaging in salt and pepper. Bake at 425*F for about 15 minutes, until salmon turns white and opaque.

Pour flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs into three bowls. Beat eggs smooth. Drag pork to cover through flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Place porkchops in a greased pan on medium-low heat, cooking until browned on both sides and internally cooked.

Firstly, melt the butter in a pan and add the cube steaks, cooking until done. Add the portions to the slow cooker. Next, wash and slice the onions and mushrooms, then put them on the steaks. Next, heat the broth until simmering. Stir in flour one tablespoon at a time to thicken the broth into gravy-like consistency, it should only take a couple tablespoons of flour at most. Pour the mix into the slow cooker. Cover and simmer for at least four hours. Serve ideally with mashed potatoes.

Heat the broth until beginning to steam. Peel carrots and discard skins. Chop vegetables into thumb-width segments, discarding the ends. Dice chicken into thumb-sized chunks. Simmer about twenty minutes. Heat to boil and add in noodles until cooked. Ensure chicken is at temperature before serving.

Prepare beef broth. Set aside. Peel and dice potatoes. Boil in water. Chop and saute onion until fragrant in half the butter. Add vegetables, salt, pepper, and ground beef, cook until beef is broken up and browned. Add beef broth, simmer for ten minutes. Drain potatoes, add remaining butter and mash. In a greased casserole dish, add beef mixture, then cover with potatoes. Cook at 400*F for about 30 minutes.

Boil the pasta in salted water until done. In a sauce pan, melt butter and add milk. Cook on low heat, stirring in flour to thicken. Shred cheese. Add cheese to sauce, turning off heat. Let cheese melt, but do not continue to cook; the cheese will break down and become grainy. Drain pasta and combine sauce with pasta.

Mix together the cornmeal, oil, chili powder, and salt. Then stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook on low heat until thickened, before pouring into a greased casserole dish. Cover and cook at 350*F for 45 minutes.

Combine all ingredients but nuts. Place in a greased casserole dish. Top with nuts. Cover and bake at 350*F for 40 to 50 minutes.

Glaze

Rolls

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk and stir well. Add 4 tablespoons sugar, beaten eggs, salt, and about half of the flour. Mix well and add 4 tablespoons melted butter. Thoroughly beat dough. Add the rest of flour, enough to make a soft dough. Knead dough until smooth. Place in a bowl and cover with a warm wet towel, and let rise until doubled. Knead down and let rise again for about 45 minutes. Roll dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Spread with remaining melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and remaining sugar. Roll up dough, similar to a swiss roll. Cut into pieces between 1/2 and 3/4 inches thick. Place flat onto a greased pan and let rise until very airy. Bake at 400*F for 25-30 minutes. For glaze, whisk milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over finished rolls.

Cream the butter. Gradually add sugar into butter. Add two egg yolks and beat. Alternate between adding milk and vanilla, and adding the baking powder, salt, and flour. Beat egg whites and fold into batter. Place batter into greased pan. Cook at 350*F for 20 minutes.

Cream butter. Add sugar and combine well. Add egg yolks, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Alternatively add milk and remaining dry ingredients. Fold in egg whites. Bake at 350*F for 20 minutes.

Beat egg yolks until thickened. Add sugar gradully. Add lemon juice and rind. Beat egg whites, and add salt and cream of tartar. Fold half of the egg whites into the mixture. Fold in flour, remaining egg whites, and baking powder. Bake at 300*F for 1 hour in a greased pan.

Add salt to egg whites. Beat eggs whites. When half beaten, add cream of tartar. When stiff, add sugar slowly. Add flavoring. Fold in flour. Pour into greased pan, cook for one hour at 275*F, raising to 325*F after 30 minutes have passed.

Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg well. Add milk and egg to mix. Add melted butter. Fill greased muffin tins halfway. Bake at 400*F for 20 minutes.

Chop onion. Break and cook spaghetti. Pan-fry onions and celery until golden brown. Add beef and cook until browned. Add tomato. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Grate shallot. Form ingredients into small balls. Cook in buttered pan.

Chop carrot and onion. Pan fry onion with butter until fragrant. Add tomatoes, carrot, and flour. Cook until simmering. Add milk and bring to a simmer. Serve.

Combine water, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Stir in all flour at once, beat thoroughly. Stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove pan from het, let cool 10 minutes. Add eggs one by one, beating well and constantly. Put dough into piping bag or similar implement. Pipe spiral circles onto greased baking sheets. Bke at 400*F for 20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar after baking.

Crust

Filling

Combine ingredients for crust in a bowl until crumbly. Press into greased pan. Bake 10 miuntes at 350*F. In a bowl, whisk ingredients for filling until smooth. Pour filling over crust, bake for 25-30 minutes at 350*F. Cool and dust with extra powdered sugar.