I have a few too many hobbies. The one hobby I haven't let slide, however, is cooking. I love to cook. I bake, I roast, I fry, I saute, I deep fry, I broil, I steam, I slow cook, I boil, and I create dinners and desserts that my family can enjoy. I will freely admit that I'm not a professional chef by any stretch of the imagination. My meals don't come out looking like they came from a Michelin-rated restaurant or a cookbook photo shoot. My pancakes are never perfectly round, my cakes are never perfectly frosted, and sometimes it looks more like slop than like a meal. What I can do, however, is make it taste good. I go out of my way to try to make things everyone can eat. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I'm a picky eater, but my kids take that to a whole new level. Still, I love cooking. I love the entire process of creating food, and watching the pleased expressions on people's faces when they eat it and enjoy the taste.
I also like to try new things in the kitchen, despite how scary they can sometimes be. The first time I ever made crepes I was terrified, because they're so thin it's really easy to tear them. I quickly learned a way to make it easier for me: one at a time, in a tiny frying pan, and instead of flipping them with a spatula I'd slide them off onto a plate, put the frying pan upside-down over the plate, and then quickly flip the whole thing at once. It was harrowing, but now I can do it fairly easily and without much fuss.
And now, thanks to a wonderful Christmas present from my in-laws, I am learning how to pressure cook and air-fry!
This year, my in-laws got me a Ninja Foodi. The Foodi is a combination pressure cooker/air-fryer that can also bake, broil, slow cook, dehydrate, roast, steam and saute. It's basically a miniature stove complete with oven. It's easy to clean, easy to use, and the 8 quart family size is large enough to make meals for the entire family.
So far, I love the thing!
I've used it to make fish, steak, mashed potatoes (twice because they were just that good), chicken, french fries and tater tots. Frozen foods and fresh alike can be cooked in this thing, and tonight's dinner of pizza is going in it as well! This sucker is fantastic, and it's perfect for owners of a tiny house without room for a full kitchen. I am being serious, here. The thing is practically perfect in every way. I've read complaints about how much counter space it takes up, and that's about the only downside I can find to it. It is quite large, and takes up a lot of space. Considering, however, that I used it for every meal for an entire week and the only thing my stove did was sit there collecting dust, I think the space requirements are a small price to pay for its versatility.
I've used products by this brand before, and found them to be both reputable and reliable. I own a deep fryer and a blender that are from the same company. The deep fryer I've owned for more than a decade and it still works perfectly even if these days I don't deep fry much anymore. Now that I have an air-fryer, I imagine it'll get even less of a work-out. Even so, I have never had a problem with it, and the worst part of a deep fryer is cleaning the thing afterwards. No, I'm loving my Foodi, and would highly recommend it for anyone looking to downsize their kitchen. It might not be the best choice for a Thanksgiving turkey, but you can fit a smaller chicken in there without any problems!
Comments