Kitchen conundrums, solved: How to use cooking appliances - TODAY

Kasper
Home

Kitchen conundrums, solved: How to use cooking appliances - TODAY

Kitchen conundrums, solved: How to use cooking appliances - TODAY

Posted: 17 Feb 2021 05:30 AM PST

Television personality Elena Besser is joining TODAY to answer kitchen questions submitted by our viewers. She sets the record straight on everything from how to properly use kitchen appliances to the best ways to heat up leftovers and everything in between. Plus, she's sharing her recipe for an easy, no-bake cookies and cream ice box cake.

What are the different settings on an oven? When are you supposed to use broil vs. bake?

In general, an oven circulates heat and cooks things from the outside in. So, the higher the temperature, the faster the exterior will cook. The lower the temperature, the more consistently the temperature will permeate through the food itself.

  • Baking: Cooking at a consistent medium heat (375 F or lower) to cook things evenly from the outside in (like cakes, pies, etc.).
  • Roasting: Cooking in the oven at a higher temperature, so anything between 400 F and above. Think crispy potatoes.
  • Broiling: Only uses the top heat element of an oven. Think of broiling like a toaster oven; it is great for melting cheese, browning the tops of foods or toasting bread. I actually use my broiler as my toaster and don't own a toaster at all!

When should you use the microwave over the oven?

Use the microwave if you want to quickly prepare food or multitask in the kitchen. The microwave sends energy waves to heat the tiny particles inside of food. So, just like the sun heats your face, the microwave heats your food.

  • Baked potato: If you bake a potato in the microwave, it takes about 12 to 15 minutes to cook, while an oven takes up to an hour.
  • Eggs: Quickly cook eggs in a mug, a great recipe to teach your kids how to make breakfast for themselves.

Related

What's the best way to heat up leftovers?

Whenever I think about leftovers, I always think about how I can make them taste as close to the way they tasted when I first made them. Therefore, I think that the best way to reheat food is to reheat it the same way that it was first cooked.

For example, if it is pizza, I love to heat it up directly on the rack of the oven with a foil-lined sheet tray on the rack below. This will warm the pizza up from the top and bottom, resulting in a crispy crust and gooey cheese (plus, the sheet tray will catch any bits that may fall to the bottom).

  • Oven: For bread, pastries, proteins, warm sandwiches and pizza. Always for fried food. Place it into the oven at a super high temperature to crisp the exterior of the food and revive it.
  • Microwave: For stir-fries, steamed foods, stews or soups, rice, pasta and noodles. I always make sure that I put a damp towel over the top of the food to make sure it doesn't dry out and doesn't pop in your microwave and make a massive mess.
  • Stovetop: This is a happy medium between the two. You can reheat soups, stews, rice, pasta, stir fries and protein. If you're just heating up 1 to 2 slices of pizza or a cheese sandwich, the stovetop works too. It may take longer than the microwave though, so if you are in a hurry, use the microwave.
May 5, 202004:59

What are things you can freeze unexpectedly? How do you keep frozen foods fresh?

In general, the freezer should be your best friend. I love to pop extra food I have into the freezer to prevent it from going bad, like fresh fruits, protein, cookies and that banana bread I made a double batch of. The most important thing to remember is you don't want freezer burn! Here's how to keep food fresh in the freezer:

  1. Freezer burn is the difference between a delicious freezer meal and one that tastes off. So, to prevent weird discoloration and unpleasant textures, make sure that you are removing as much air as possible from the bag you store your food in. If you want to be fancy, buy a vacuum-sealer machine, or hack it: I use a straw to suck out any air to vacuum-seal the food.
  2. Although food can last for up to a year in the freezer, try to use it within three months of freezing for maximum freshness.
  3. If it is something larger like a loaf of bread, you can either wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, or cut the bread into smaller pieces, wrap the pieces tightly in plastic wrap, and then transfer into a freezer bag.
  4. Regardless of how you store the items, always make sure to label them with the date you stored them so you can keep track of their freshness.
Cookies-and-Cream Icebox Cake

Elana Besser

Why do you prefer to buy frozen vegetables over fresh?

When I have the option of using frozen vegetables (like peas or spinach) or fruits (like strawberries or blueberries) versus fresh, I always opt for frozen. Frozen foods in the grocery store were picked at peak freshness and immediately frozen so they are likely to have the most flavor and nutritional value. I also always opt for frozen fish and seafood, too.

Related

Here’s What Our Food Staff Makes When (Almost) Too Tired to Cook - The New York Times

Posted: 18 Feb 2021 02:00 AM PST

If it's your job to think about food all day, your enthusiasm for meal planning may have plummeted as the pandemic has worn on. Though members of the NYT Food team may occasionally be tired of cooking, they never tire of talking about cooking. These are the dishes that perennially sustain, nourish and even inspire them.

When the last thing in the world I want to do is cook, the best thing to do is order a pizza. When cooking is only the second-to-last thing in the world I want to do, it's time for a grilled cheese sandwich or, lately, a kimchi grilled cheese sandwich. And if it's not so much the cooking that's got me down but the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of life in 2021, I just boil some water for pasta with brown butter and Parmesan, then don't brown the butter because I'm tired. SAM SIFTON

I decided years ago that penne alla vodka is a complete meal because good canned tomatoes count as a vegetable and heavy cream is full of protein. At this point, I could probably make it under general anesthesia. (Our recipe has several ingredients that are completely optional: onion, pancetta and fresh oregano.) JULIA MOSKIN

Recipe: Pasta Alla Vodka

I throw together sardine toast for myself and my husband: Toast the bread, put out the salted butter and lemon wedges. And, on really exhausted nights, I just open the sardine tin and plop it on the table on a saucer, since the tin gets oily. It's a make-your-own-toast situation. Sometimes I'll slice up an onion. Our daughter, Dahlia, eats either Cheerios, or buttered toast and Cheddar cheese cubes. But in the summer, when I'm less exhausted, I'll make these sardine toasts with tomato. Dahlia still eats Cheerios. No sardines for her. Not yet. MELISSA CLARK

Recipe: Sardine Toasts

I am made of at least 35 percent sardine. I also keep a jar of tuna belly around; usually I'll have that with lemon, olive oil and a "salad" of random vegetables. I've usually got radishes and scallions and lettuce, but sometimes it just goes on a Wasa cracker with butter. Same with smoked salmon, which I almost always have. Oh, and I like anchovies, radishes and butter on bread, ideally with an 8-minute egg and arugula or radish tops, or feta with raw or cooked vegetables, dried herbs, oil, maybe a hard-cooked egg. And if all else fails: frozen bratwurst, sauerkraut, hot dog bun. PETE WELLS

I always, always have the main ingredients for Judy Kim's saucy, spicy chile-oil noodles in my pantry: dried noodles, chile crisp, sesame oil and soy sauce. While the noodles cook, I'll chop up whatever vegetables I have kicking around to add to the dish right before serving. I love julienned carrots, scallions, thinly sliced cabbage and any soft herbs that might be on their last legs. Leftover protein, like rotisserie chicken or roasted tofu, is also a welcome addition. BECKY HUGHES

Recipe: Chile-Oil Noodles With Cilantro

We almost always have some cooked grains floating around in the fridge, so I make a lot of grain bowls. I toss in some greens, any fresh or roasted vegetables, lemon juice and a drizzle of oil. If there's an avocado in the fruit bowl, it'll go in there. On a good day, I'll add a scoop of crushed or puréed cooked beans, and all bowls are topped with a boiled egg. On less tired days, it's fried rice with cold stovetop rice, eggs, pork (usually bacon), scallions and a lot of ginger. YEWANDE KOMOLAFE

Recipe: Basic Stovetop Rice

I'm always too tired to cook; these bones hang heavy. Still, one has to eat. The thing that's been sustaining me near daily for months has been a piece of good toast topped with a single sunny-side-up egg, a heap of hot sauce or chile crisp, and a shower of flaky sea salt. But if I'm looking for something a little heartier, I'll reach for the tomato sauce in the freezer (these days, Marcella Hazan's extremely easy recipe) and slather it onto some al dente pasta, finished with a towering heap of the good Parmesan. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce

Does a bowl of cereal count? If so, that's my go-to, if the kids have eaten. If I need something for my girls, I'll often make the simplest version of jian bing: Toss a beaten egg into a hot skillet, tortilla on top, cook until set and flip out. When I have a touch more energy, I love Lex's five-ingredient miso pasta, and will throw a bag of baby spinach or frozen peas into the pot right before draining the noodles to get something green into dinner. I do the same with soba, when I want something a little lighter, tossing the cooked noodles and greens in a one-bowl, no-cook sesame-soy sauce. GENEVIEVE KO

Recipes: Chinese-Style Breakfast Egg Wrap (Jian Bing) | Five-Ingredient Creamy Miso Pasta | Soba Noodles With Chicken and Snap Peas

My go-to emergency dinner is risotto. I always have arborio rice on hand. Since dried mushrooms are among my pantry staples, I would go to Sam Sifton's vegetable risotto adapted from Elizabeth David, or my risotto with morels. Making risotto is no big deal, takes no more than 30 minutes, and does not require constant stirring. I sometimes improvise, depending on what vegetables I have on hand, and do not hesitate to add a dollop of anchovy paste to the mushroom risotto. FLORENCE FABRICANT

I eat two to four bowls of Puffins, topped with flaky salt (to feel something), chased with a bowl of skyr yogurt more often than I care to admit. I'm an extremely insatiable person. When I can muster a little bit more energy, I love Yewande's baked tofu with peanut sauce, but I swap the peanut butter for almond butter or tahini because I'm allergic to peanuts. It's very adaptable to different proteins, which is perfect for me, since I always have the other ingredients on hand. VAUGHN VREELAND

Recipe: Baked Tofu With Peanut Sauce and Coconut-Lime Rice

Mornings are when I am the most spent of both time and energy. I often just eat a little leftover white rice, splashed with cold tap water. (Yes, I eat it cold like a heathen.) This gets stirred into a bland, loose tangle with gim, Korean roasted seaweed, all of which is easy on the stomach. On weekends, when I have more time, not necessarily to cook but to eat, Genevieve Ko's sheet-pan bacon and eggs have changed the game for me. I can feed my family in one fell swoop: Paired with a bowl of fresh (hot) white rice and a side of kimchi, it's the breakfast upgrade I look forward to after a week of tap-water rice. ERIC KIM

Recipe: Crispy Oven Bacon and Eggs

On particularly wild days, a bag of store-bought frozen meatballs is my best friend. I toss the meatballs into a slow cooker with a jar of Rao's marinara sauce, a little water, a glug of olive oil, and sometimes I add oregano, basil and black pepper. Heat on low for 3 to 4 hours, then serve over pasta or on toasted hot dog buns for mini-meatball subs. Requiring slightly more effort is this white beans with sausage and sage recipe from "The Silver Spoon for Children" cookbook. My 8-year-old takes the lead, and I play sous chef. We like to double the white beans and serve it over ditalini, tossed with a touch of heavy cream and grated Parmesan. MARGAUX LASKEY

Recipe: Baked White Beans and Sausage With Sage

At my absolute laziest, I go for Sam Sifton's baked potato recipe, which isn't so much a recipe as much as a foundational guide to making baked potatoes: oil, salt, 450-degree oven, and 50 minutes. I'll add my own twist by throwing some brussels sprouts into the mix. I clean them up, cut them in half, and hit them with olive oil, salt and black pepper, and pop them into the oven on a sheet pan at the same temperature for 20 to 25 minutes. The potato and the brussels sprouts come out of the oven at the same time and, voilà, you have a semi-balanced dinner. NIKITA RICHARDSON

Recipe: Baked Potatoes

A quesadilla is my go-to when I'm too tired to cook. I toast two flour tortillas on a cast-iron comal, flip them, then cover one tortilla with a shredded Mexican cheese blend. Once the cheese gets a little melty, it's time to place the other tortilla, toasted side down, on top of the cheese. I let it sit for 10 to 15 seconds to meld, then flip, and griddle both sides of the quesadilla until they are browned and crackly. I dispatch the quesadilla to a plate, cut it into sixths with a pizza wheel, and douse it in hot sauce, preferably Valentina or El Yucateco. If I'm lucky, the fridge is stocked, so I can also slather the quesadilla with sour cream and jalapeño slices. If you need a little more heft, follow Sam Sifton's lead and put an egg on it. SARA BONISTEEL

Recipe: Fried Egg Quesadilla

My go-to is the lazy person's secret weapon: popcorn, popped in a saucepan, with salt and olive oil, because even melting butter can be too exhausting. But if I can muster the energy to boil water, I'll make Mark Bittman's pasta with sardines, bread crumbs and capers, all ingredients I have on hand, just needing a quick toss. Parsley? Nah. Lemon zest? Maybe. PATRICK FARRELL

When I'm tired, it's rice in a bowl. This is mentally available only because a rice cooker lives on our kitchen counter. I fry an egg to put on top, or maybe I'm lucky and there's already a hard-boiled egg in the fridge. I drizzle on toasted sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar (or a squeeze of lime). Mixing these items in a separate bowl in a measured ratio is out of the question. I add toasted sesame seeds, more salt and sliced cucumber or sautéed bok choy, but only if the stars align and we have a vegetable. The full exhaustion version is just rice, egg and chile oil. EMILY FLEISCHAKER

For a no-cooking night, I just buy a baguette and have it with whatever odds and ends of charcuterie and cheese bits are in the fridge. For a cooking-but-only-just option, I usually go with chicken paillard with lemon-caper-butter pan sauce. It's easy to keep chicken breasts and the other ingredients around. I serve it over greens (I almost always have arugula). In the summer, it's hard to beat pan con tomate — but I won't choose between the three recipes we have, for fear of offending Sam or David Tanis! BRIAN GALLAGHER

Recipes: Melissa Clark's Pan Con Tomate | Seamus Mullen's Pan Con Tomate | Garlicky Tomato Toast (Pan Con Tomate)

The thing about being a professional recipe developer married to a professional chef is that people always marvel at how well they think we must eat. And yes, we do eat very well, but just like anyone else, I also sometimes cobble together dishes I'd never dream of serving others. I could survive on grilled cheese alone, especially tucking in kimchi, pickles or whatever cooked vegetables my fridge might contain, and we always have leftover rice, which can be repurposed innumerable ways, including Sam's whatever you've got fried rice recipe. But for the days where I have a little more energy to pick up a few groceries, I turn to Sue Li's black pepper beef and cabbage stir-fry and Ali Slagle's kua kling. Both introduce so much flavor with little effort, and reignite my love of cooking. ALEXA WEIBEL

Recipes: Whatever You've Got Fried Rice | Black Pepper Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry | Kua Kling (Southern Thai-Style Red Curry)

I believe in keeping the freezer stocked with emergency items. A couple of favorites of our boys (ages 4 and 6) are chicken sausages (New Orleans-made Vaucresson crawfish or Creole chicken sausages if we're lucky, though grocery store brands do the trick) and tater tots (I'm from the upper Midwest). I eat mine with kimchi or sauerkraut. I loosely follow Sam's fried rice no-recipe recipe a couple times a month, often with diced Tasso or the ham I don't use making my kids' school lunches, and use Kim's Can't-Miss Rice technique whenever I make white rice. BRETT ANDERSON

Recipes: Whatever You've Got Fried Rice | Can't-Miss Rice

For me, I do a simple take on this midnight pasta: Boil some water for pasta, sauté a lot of garlic in good olive oil, add a bunch of anchovies that will melt in the pan, and a few shakes of red pepper. If I have some capers, I'll toss those in, but they're not necessary. Make the pasta and then toss with the sauce. Serve with a dry Italian white or Bourgogne Aligoté. If I'm really desperate, it's peanut butter on whole-grain bread with raisins. And a beer. ERIC ASIMOV

Recipe: Midnight Pasta With Garlic, Anchovy, Capers and Red Pepper

Living Proof Chef serves cooking skills, story | News, Sports, Jobs - The Daily Times

Posted: 17 Feb 2021 09:10 PM PST

HOW'S THAT TASTE? — Steubenville native Janese Boston of Living Proof Chef Service in Columbus combined a Mexican-style cooking class on chicken empanadas with taste-testing experiences of not-so-ordinary things during a well-received free session held Feb. 5 at the Sycamore Youth Center. Boston shared a testimony as well on how wrong choices and bad influences can combine for not-the-best results, but second chances are possible. -- Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — Private chef Janese Boston combined a Mexican-style cooking class on chicken empanadas with taste-testing experiences of uncommon fruits and international treats to make one of the Sycamore Youth Center's free after-school programming sessions something extra special for the 40 children participating.

But the 37-year-old Steubenville native brought more to the table than palate-pleasing food and goodies that included a red apron, a chef's hat and a set of red measuring cups.

She shared a testimony that touched on how wrong choices and bad influences can have a negative impact on a young person's life, though it's never too late, she said, to make a turnaround and start anew.

Boston said she's "proof" of that, between her private chef business, Living Proof Chef Service, and her nonprofit organization, Be Living Proof.

Introduced at the Feb. 5 class by Bobbyjon Bauman, Sycamore Youth Center director, Boston explained that she grew up in Steubenville's South End, attending the former Lincoln Elementary School, then Harding.

Living Proof Chef Janese Boston with her children, daughter Paris, 12, and son Jahquez, 17 -- Janice Kiaski

"Unfortunately my life wasn't completely a white picket fence," she told the youth. "I kind of grew up in a bad environment, bad influences, so I didn't always make the correct decisions. I stopped going to school after the ninth grade. I got into some trouble and ended up in prison. I did four years at Marysville for some bad decisions, being young, not really knowing the things I was going to do versus the consequences that followed behind them," she said.

"After prison I came home, and I got two college degrees," she continued.

"And I just want to stop there and say, first and foremost, I don't tell you this because I want to glorify it or because it's cool. I just tell you this because at the end of the day, even if you're going through some stuff, or you've got an older sibling who's going through stuff, it's not too late.

"You can always shakeback and make it work out for a better circumstance," Boston said.

"I am here under the circumstances of I'm a chef, but at the end of the day, I had some bad experiences and turned them around," she added, extending an offer to the youthful audience to be a listening ear, to provide guidance if they so desired.

Bobbyjon Bauman, director of the Sycamore Youth Center, with Living Proof Chef Janese Boston -- Janice Kiaski

Boston lives in Columbus and came home to Steubenville the day before the class, accompanied by her son, Jahquez, 17, and daughter, Paris, 12.

In an interview at the newspaper office, she elaborated on her life, past and present.

"We had some problems with drug use in the '80s and '90s," she said of her growing-up situation.

She was 9, she said, when she witnessed her mother being stabbed in a domestic altercation.

"I was a witness to the crime and that's when my grandma assumed custody of me and my two little brothers," she said.

Her grandmother worked, and her grandfather was ill and needed care, which Boston said she helped provide. She didn't like school.

"I kind of was really rebellious. I really didn't have any grounding," she said in describing her youth. "I really didn't have direction, I really didn't have nothing so as a teenager I definitely was wild. I just didn't have direction so school really wasn't a priority to me, because I felt like at a young age, that I was older than the people who were in the grade with me because of my lifestyle. I was kind of forced to be grown, so we didn't really relate. They were still playing, and I was like living a different, harder life," she said, compared to her school peers.

High school didn't get it.

"I went to the ninth grade. I tried the beginning of the 10th, but by that time, I was already kind of lost, so unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way and I went through the motions and a lot of situations. I had family here, but I was running away to be homeless somewhere else. For some reason I felt the need to run away from Steubenville, but I felt the need to come back always too, hence the reason I'm here right now," she said of her presence in the community to lead the cooking class.

In continuing with her story, Boston said, "I got myself in some trouble. I got shot. There was an incident here where somebody knocked at the door at the house where I was at. They knocked on the door and opened up the door and shot me in my temple. That's when I found out I was pregnant with my son," she said.

"At the time I got shot, I lived a kind of not-legal type of life so I did have a firearm that wasn't legal," she said. About three months later, there was an altercation with a girl, she said. "She hit me, and I shot her."

Boston ended up in prison in Marysville, sentenced to five years on charges of felonious assault with a weapons specification.

Thirty days after the sentencing, she gave birth to her son. "I was able to spend 30 days with my son before I went away.

"I did four years and a few months," she said.

Asked about what her imprisonment experience was like, Boston said, "It was definitely one of those times when I felt like I tapped into a lot of things, because I was running, running, running the streets and being influenced by whatever survival I was living off. Once I went to jail, it kind of sat me down. I got to kind of learn who I was. I was put in situations that tested my character so I got into touch with my spirituality a little bit more. It was definitely one of those things that for me personally it was well needed. However, I know people who it doesn't always work out like that. They don't go and get the same experience that I had.

"I was a good person, just not nurtured correctly to meet my potential. Being there was just like survival — you got to do what you got to do. People ask me how did you do it? Well, what was I going to do — escape? I was trying to get home to my son," she said.

Boston, who earned her GED while in prison, did get out and back home to her son. Before too long, she was pregnant with her daughter.

"I think that my situation is a little unique because I can't really tie my transition with one thing, because so many things happened in a short period of time — I got shot. I shot somebody, I found out I was pregnant, I went to prison, and as soon as I came home from prison, I had another baby," Boston said.

Re-entry into life wasn't easy, she admits, feeling there were limited resources and even less hope. "They don't have a lot of resources here for people who get out of the jail system," she said.

She wanted to get her life together, she said.

Boston started dancing in Pittsburgh. "I was able to facilitate a financial income for my kids," she said. She balanced work and parenting and said she was able to take care of her family but knew she needed to do something different.

"I was doing something that I knew had an expiration date and I knew I needed to start investing my time to establish something long term for me and my kids," explained Boston, who had earned a communications degree at the community college.

Being a foodie and having a passion for the kitchen combined to present what seemed like a natural way to proceed. Her grandmother had been a chef for decades, working at the university, she said.

Boston studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, then West Virginia Northern Community College, earning a culinary degree.

"It felt like the best thing I ever could do," she said. "That gave me something, it gave me a purpose. It gave me one thing to focus on. It gave me confidence, because I was good at it. I was learning."

Boston said she knew early on she didn't want to work in a restaurant much less own one. Her interest was in being a private chef.

"I do private chef work — that's my calling," she said, noting that for the last five years she has refined her craft in a food journey that included working in an array of restaurants, working with a celebrity chef and cooking for one of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Before moving to Columbus, Boston, who also lived in Weirton, said she started off with catering and wanting to do private chef services but couldn't figure it out at the time.

"Now since I've been living in Columbus, it's full functioning, hassle-free luxury, private dining services," she said, explaining she goes to homes, boats, cabins, wherever.

"We provide a dining experience, the table settings, the menus, fresh flower arrangements, complimentary wine and champagne, three or four-course dinners, the whole thing so basically you do nothing."

There is a market for such a service, she said, one that has been surprisingly sustaining even in the wake of a pandemic.

"It's been interesting," Boston said. "With a business you find your market. There's people out here for everybody. It's about you finding the people who resonate with what you're doing and willing to value what you do."

And apparently they do.

"I did a tree house at Hocking Hills," she said when asked to cite an example. "I cooked at a cabin in Hocking Hills. Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful."

"I cook for people in high-rise hotels, downtown Columbus condos, and I've cooked for regular people celebrating their first rental property," she said.

She doesn't have a preset menu but creates one based on a client's request.

"If you say you want octopus, and it's a month ahead of time then we're getting you octopus. I try my best to cater to the client," she said.

Even during the pandemic, the business has been doing OK, she said, with precautions taken on her end and clients'. "The first few months were slow, the last end of it crazy. December was actually slow for me, but August, September and October were amazing."

"People are getting warm to the idea of a private chef coming into your home," she said. "That was prominent with people with a lot of money and in bigger cities it was more common, but I think the pandemic has rearranged people's frame of mind when it comes to a personal chef."

The menu for the Sycamore class had to be something doable in light of COVID-19 precautions and restrictions, Boston said in explaining how she decided to do empanadas so the children could create their own with fillings provided at their table setting.

"I added a tasting session because more of cooking is also your palate and being able to experience cultural food," she said.

"I chose to go the Latin influence because I felt like it was the closest thing outside the United States that the kids would be familiar with and I would be able to buy things indigenous to the Mexican Latin culture that they would be able to try, so I got about seven different snacks, four different fruits — dragon fruit, papaya, mango and Mexican guava because I wanted them to try different vegetables, different snacks. If I ever come back to do it again, I would love to go the Asian route," she said.

"It's home for me," Boston responded when asked how it felt to be in town to teach the class.

"It's crazy because I'm from here, we've been gone two and a half years almost but I always felt the need to be a solution even when I was a problem. I always envisioned myself in the future being the person who redeemed themself," she said, noting she was in the area around Thanksgiving and partnered with Urban Mission to give away groceries and gift cards to Kroger.

"This is home and it doesn't matter if I do it a thousand times any where else, it's home," she said.

Boston established her for-profit business called Living Proof Chef Service in 2018.

Be Living Proof, meanwhile, is something Boston said she started last year. "It's a nonprofit and initially it was to target young women who are coming out of prison systems or rehab. However, since I've started the process with this nonprofit and educated myself, I'm changing my direction actually. I feel like Be Living Proof is bigger than just — yes, I've been in prison but it's bigger than Be Living Proof of everything. It's like the call to action," she explained

"Be Living Proof is a call to action to be a better person than you were yesterday," she added.

Boston had anticipated the day before that her talking point with the cooking class would be that "we've all got to start somewhere.

"And I say that to say we're in a small town, and we might feel like our backs are against the wall, that we don't have resources like other places, we don't have opportunities like other places, but I'm here to tell you that the opportunity to cook for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the opportunity to get on the news, I've been on the news in Columbus five times, and on radio and podcasts, all of that came from me utilizing the resources that I had. And I want to encourage kids and teenagers to do the same thing," she said.

"Everybody starts somewhere, everybody's got to start somewhere is definitely my message because like people see the end result, and don't realize that it had to start somewhere.

"We neglect to be transparent, and we neglect to show that there's a process."

She applauded the work of Bauman with youth in the area, that she appreciates what he does.

"We don't have the same background, the same story, but we have the same goal, and that's what matters," Boston said, describing each as being a vessel.

(Kiaski can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

“In a Cook's Kitchen” Free Virtual Cooking Class Series For Home Cooks Released - The Southern Maryland Chronicle

Posted: 17 Feb 2021 10:52 AM PST

The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC) has released "In a Cook's Kitchen" a video cookery series designed to inspire and empower home cooks.

The 15-part video cookery series is created by Craig Sewell, SMADC's Southern Maryland Meats Marketing Manager, who for 16 years ran one of the first locally sourcing restaurants to open in Annapolis, where he hosted numerous popular back-to-basics cooking classes through which home cooks learn foundation recipes that build and strengthen essential cooking and preparation skills along the way.

The inspiration for th  'In a Cook's Kitchen Series' originated from the observation that since the advent of COVID and shelter in place lock-downs cooking at home is becoming increasingly important, (evidenced by everyday pantry stocks flying off grocery store shelves), and people may need some basic cooking skills to expand their mealtime repertoires. As a result, we at SMADC decided to bring some of these skills into people's homes presented in a readily accessible (free to view) video package.

The In a Cook's Kitchen Series is expertly filmed by Remsberg Photography, Inc., in a no-frills 'real' home kitchen – no special cooking equipment or culinary knowledge required. Explains Craig Sewell, "We're not just demonstrating a one-off recipe we're bringing you everything you need to know to create delicious meals in your home kitchen." Each class builds upon the previous class starting with two introductory episodes that set the stage for the rest of series featuring knife skills, how to source a chicken and other farm-fresh ingredients, followed by 13 more episodes that demonstrate recipes and skills for perfect salad dressings, whipping and flipping techniques, foundation sauces and stocks plus other fundamental culinary building blocks that pave the way for endless variations and fearless experimentation.

Throughout the series Sewell shares insights about the local farms that provide his locally sourced ingredients and stays true to his principles about food, "To buy the best, freshest ingredients from places as close to you as possible with growing and raising practices that are respectful to the environment (and animals) as possible, and then, to the best of my ability stay out of their way and let them speak for themselves."

Join Craig Sewell in his home kitchen on February 18 at 6 p.m., for the live 'Virtual Cooking Class' debut with interview and 'Q & A' hosted by What's Up? Media of Annapolis, presented by Essex Bank. To register for the live debut and following What's Up 3-part webinar visit the 'Events' page whatsupmag.com. 

Explore all 15 episodes of a "In a Cook's Kitchen" cookery series available now on the 'Recipes' page at southernmarylandmeats.com. Southern Maryland Meats is a program of SMADC, (a division of the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland).

Recipes: Cooking for one - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Posted: 17 Feb 2021 11:48 AM PST

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Recipes: Cooking for one  Atlanta Journal Constitution


from What to Cook https://ift.tt/3auBx17
google-playkhamsatmostaqltradent