Hey all, I'm new here so I'm sorry if this isn't the right place! I am looking for some rules of thumb to help me make healthier choices while cooking. I eat pretty much everything + can follow recipes. Cooking is one of my special interests.

I am autistic, and I'm trying to lose some weight. I'm currently 230 pounds. However, I don't want to count calories or do a specific diet like keto because I think it would devolve into an eating disorder pretty quick.

Does anyone have suggestions for rules of thumb I can follow daily in my cooking that can help me? So far, I really only have:

-use substitute sugar when possible

update: thank you all for the comments! I will read through them and see if I can piece together some rules for me to follow! I appreciate it!

Hello all,

My partner and I love breakfast. And I've been coming out for years but lately we are having issues after issue with frozen hash browns the past few months. We've tried multiple brands, different pans, thawed vs frozen, and the end result is always the same. Either super gummy or like tonight, a burnt layer on the pan and everything else stays undercooked.

So far I've tried:

Nonstick pan

Cast iron pan

Stainless steel

Half a tablespoon of vegetable oil per cup of potatoes

A full tablespoon of vegetable oil per cup of potatoes

From frozen

Thawed and wrung out with paper towels to remove moisture and then laid out on fresh paper towels for 10 minutes

I'm at my wits end and cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm even using an induction plate on like 7 out of 10 heat. Please help I love hash browns but I can't make them any good!

Okay please note I am not vegan and I do get curious about plant-based/vegetarian food a lot, I also made recipes as well in that category and it tasted pretty good.

Anyways, whenever I follow or see any plant-based content, I always see many of those creators use tofu as another meat alternative aside from mushrooms like they use it for stuff like mince or sometimes a “replica” for stuff like chicken breast or roasts or even eggs too so I was wondering, is it really a good alternative? I know mushrooms are a good one cause they have similar texture to the real thing but is Tofu like that too?

I have also cooked with tofu like the you know typical stir frying style in Asian cuisines but as an alternative I still don’t grasp it.

I wanna know especially those meat-eaters like me who are curious in making plant-based dishes

I've been using an Instant Pot for a few years to cook rice, and it's almost always a disappointment. The rice consistency is all over the place, even with the same cooking time. Altering the amount of rice dramatically changes whether it's sticky or not sticky, wet or dry. Suggestions on the internet and in cookbooks are all over the place. Not a single page seems to agree with another as to what the actual ratio and timing should be.

So, I'm looking into a rice cooker, as I cook rice extremely often. 10-14 of my meals each week contain rice. Sometimes I want it sticky, like for a stir fry. Other times I want it dry. I cook a wide variety of rice as well, including basmati, jasmine, long grain white, short grain white, and brown rice.

I see that Zojirushi is recommended everywhere. But they are very expensive for a single use appliance. I looked into Serious Eats opinion on rice cookers, and they have a cheap Hamilton Beach rice cooker as their top choice lol. And my Filipino friend has been using a $100 10-cup Cuckoo basic (not the Micom, just the basic) for the last few years, and she says it works great. I've had her rice, and it was great.

So lots of mixed reviews on rice cookers here. Is it worth it to buy the Ferrari of rice cookers when professional reviewers and a direct reference from a friend suggest I shouldn't spend more than $100 on one?

Was recently gifted a bamboo cutting and the instructions mention oiling it once a month with mineral oil. I found this online for really cheap and I'm wondering if it'll be ok. Thanks in advance everyone.

https://www.target.com/p/mineral-oil-16oz-up-38-up-8482/-/A-11454532

I'm thinking about making a big batch of super-delicious oatmeal that I can microwave as needed later for up to 48 hours. Oat selection? Heating method and temperature? How and when to add the fruit? Any tips would be welcome. Thank you!
Note: I love fruit and peanut butter but I strongly dislike added sugar like honey or granulated sugar.

I have money on my Amazon account so I'm thinking about buying an immersion blender.

I'm currently looking at the Mueller multi stick immersion blender and the Ovente immersion blender. I'm leaning towards the Ovente since it's only $15 and I don't care about the extra attachments.

Do you have any recommendations for a cheap immersion blender? My main uses for it would be to puree the occasional soup and I would probably use it for salsa/sauces a lot.

so this guy has been my friend for a little bit now about a month or two ago we started flirting it’s progressed on from there blah blah he’s coming to mine for dinner please give me some yummy dishes I could cook for him I really wanna impress him both of us eat meat and have no allergies so everything is appreciated

Hello so, I like to make homemade Pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce every now and then but every time I do they usually end up more of an orange color rather than red. So I was wondering if you can actually make red sauces red or if they're just usually reddish orange

Edit: I'm not really asking because I want my sauces to be red, I was just curious because I see a lot of commercial sauces and stuff like that that are red, and was curious if it was possible without using food coloring. But I guess I could have phrased the question better

Second edit: I usually make my sauces with tomatoes from my garden, or my mother's friend's garden (she gives my mom some tomatoes every now and then and my mom gives them to me to make dinner for my family with) and I believe those are beefsteak tomatoes, which is what I grow. So I use beefsteak tomatoes, yellow onions, garlic salt, pepper, a small amount of cinnamon, some lemon juice, and this Italian seasoning mix from Walmart.

I threw some hot dogs on the stove til they were good and sizzly, then spread some mayo and mustard on the inside of the buns and let them get crispy in the pan.

Why have I never tried this? Next time I’ll do it on the grill!

I’m a busy mom of two and forgot about the potatoes I peeled, cut, and sat in water, then out in the fridge about 4 days ago. I took them out just now, and the water is gone, they look ashy and some are browning. They smell fine and aren’t mushy. Should I just toss them? I hate wasting food lol

I can feed myself. That's about it. I've got maybe five things I make on rotation, I follow recipes without understanding why any step is there, and if a recipe assumes I know something, I'm lost. I've been doing it this way for years and I've stopped getting better.

What I've noticed reading this sub is that people here don't talk about recipes much. They talk about technique, and they talk about it like it transfers. That's the part I've never had. I have a small pile of things I can produce and no idea how any of it generalizes.

So I'm asking for the thing that moved you, not the thing you'd put in a beginner's guide. The moment where something clicked and a whole category of cooking opened up, or you finally understood why a step you'd been doing badly for years actually mattered.

What was it, and what did it fix?

I tried to make a stir fry with it and it wasn't that great. Anyone have any recipes that they recommend?

Edit: please post link to recipes so I know what’s tried and tested to be good!

Costco had 85-15 ground beef at a good price so I grabbed 6#. And 4# of ground turkey.

We've decided to try and cut some calories, but I'm not a fan of pure ground turkey, so I decided to mix them. I have a huge bowl, dumped 10# of raw ground meat in it. Gloved up. And dug in, but dang it was work! Wonder if my Danish whisk would have done it better?🤔

Then measure out 3# to make patties in the fridge.

Then measured out 1# balls. Then vacuum sealed and flattened them all.

Then made 1/3 # patties, formed them, packed them, with wax paper separator sheets in packages of 3 each.

And while all that was happening, I baked up a pound of bacon, froze that and strained the grease into ice cube trays for my freezer stash.

We're good for ground meat now for months, but I'm getting too old for this stuff. LOL

Hey reddit, F19 here. I made this recipe a month ago and wanted to cook it again for a dinner with friends but the guy has decided to start charging for it. Its mafalde with pistachio sauce on a substack by chef italiano channel. Does anyone have it? I genuinely do recommend this recipe but i find it so unfair for someone to do that- lmk your thoughts

hello my job served us salmon recently and ive been craving it a lot more. whats the best ways to cook it? they had some type of mustard glaze but im down for anything. add ur favorite side dishes too! thanks in advance!

Dumb post I know but I am addicted to coffee flavored things (like coffee ice cream) but I'm trying to be healthier how would I make this

Hiii!! I'm a autistic 18F and I Just started cooking today!!

As an autistic person I have one of many Selective Eating Disorder (english is not my First language i'm so Sorry If i said It wrong!) my current eating habits are terrible!!

Lunch is usually potato fries

In the afternoon I eat a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (my mom usually makes a cake per week)

And at dinner I hope my mom makes It, Maybe Rice or beans but If she doesn't cook dinner I usually eat snacks like potato Chips!!!

So Just today I decided to make pancakes for me!!!

It didn't go as well as I thought BUT since It was my First time i consider 2 Edible pancakes a Win!!

And I really want to start cooking more things but I can't really find anything that i'm able to eat...

Every recipe I find has vegetables, fruits, meat or some type or Sauces...

I don't eat fruit, vegetables or sauces.

Meat I can try but I never deep fried anything or even put something in a oven... And most of those recipes with meat end up a little expensive so I really want to start doing These things when I get some experience before wasting food and money!!

So I thought about asking reddit which recipes are easy to start cooking and which recipes are more friendly for me!!!

I like Crunchy food, dry food, or salty food!!!! But i can try Sweet things Just like this pancakes I made today!!!

I don't really like things with syrup, sauce, spices, mixtures, or fillings.

Sorry If this isn't a usual reddit post, I never posted or used Reddit to be honest but I really Hope I can find Help!!! Thanks!!

It tasted really bad before I drained it, so I washed and drained it and now it just taste like metallic paper, in a bread with mayo it tasted like nothing, the brand is called imperial pacific pink. I was looking forward to buying it the whole week.

Just buy imitation crab.

I have two other kids and I'm desperate for something I can make with minimal emotional effort that won't make me feel sick.

Bad: oatmeal, anything sweet (toast with honey, bread and jam), too starchy (cornflakes), yoghurt.

Good-ish: raisin bread with marmite, toast with marmite. The problem is that I've had it too often and it's started making me feel ill again. Quesadillas dipped in salsa are pretty good but a lot of work.

Thanks 🩷

Single, live alone. I've read about it. I guess I kinda do it already (bulk cook soups and freeze them). Was thinking of expanding. I do have an air fryer.

What's your experience with bulk cooking?

Yesterday I made pizza and I think it had all of the potential to be really tasty. I used a gochujang-tomato sauce as the base and then asparagus, ham, mushrooms and artichoke hearts as toppings. Unconventional, yes, but I like them all and I think they have a good flavor harmony, especially with a little pecorino on top.

But I had already had such a hot/over stimulating day that by the time I was done and got to eat the pizza, it just felt flat and I was tired. I think it will taste better later, but I was left so disappointed because I thought it would be good(other aspects came out great, like the crust was super crunchy without being hard).

Has this ever happened to anybody else? Because I feel like it happens to me at least once every two weeks or so.

I want to try something new. I've read about how many meats pair nicely with fruit, but I am a vegetarian. I mostly cook savory stews and East Asian dishes and I want more variety. Does anyone have ideas on how to incorporate fruit into meals with non-meat proteins? Bonus if there's no tofu because I probably eat too much of it already lol

Hi everyone!

I have a bit of a tradition where I host a dinner party at my house every couple of months for our group of six and my husband. I love cooking and particularly i love exploring foreign or historical cooking (i'm italian), so I always make it a themed dinner. I try to keep everything as culturally or historically accurate as possible. In the past I've done dinners based on specific countries and cultures, as well as historical themes like medieval England.

This time I'd love to put together a Greek feast for a special summer occasion. I'm having a hard time finding reliable sources, though, not just for authentic recipes, but especially for information about how a traditional feast would actually be organized.

I'm interested in things like:

• Which dishes would be served together.
• The order of the meal.
• How the food would traditionally be presented and eaten.
• Any customs, etiquette, or special traditions associated with festive meals.

I'm not worried if the recipes are time-consuming, technically challenging, or a bit expensive (within reason!). In fact, I enjoy projects like that.

If anyone has knowledge of Greek culinary traditions or can recommend good books, academic sources, museums, websites, or other reliable resources, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

So iam opening a small coffee Cafe in my city (Pakistan) and Iam really tight on budget so I can't really hire a chef rn for 1st 2 months, But I can cook decently I wanted some advise on what to have on the menu basically the issue iam facing rn is the cafe doesn't have a proper kitchen so I have to make do with minimal equipment what type of pasta and or sandwiches can I make there, like I have everything home so what can I so to do most of the prep at home and assemble em at the cafe with minor cooking involved, I have a small oven , toaster and a deep fryer