Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Veggie Queen's DVD

Why did I buy Jill's DVD, when I already know how to use a pressure cooker?

I wanted to learn more about the science behind how pressure cooking works, and I wanted to see how she taught, so I could better teach in the future.

I do not have a scientific mind, I do things more intuitively....it's more of a common sense sort of thing. Sometimes I need the scientific parts of things explained over and over to me until I get it. Also, I wanted to hear her expert opinion on everything from brands of PC's to techniques and methods, and how she cooks and uses the PC daily.

I wanted to know more about cooking just vegetables in the PC, without obliterating them!

Jill is a vegetarian, and her cooking and recipes have a vegetarian point of view, but she doesn't preach vegetarianism. One of the most valueable time saving things about cooking with a pressure cooker is cooking you own beans and grains, but I had never considered cooking vegetable only meals in the PC.

I learned about the things I just mentioned, and more! I learned how to use the PC to cook some things in a matter of minutes! Minutes! Stocks, soups, cereals, and grains I do regularly, and I usually cook beans with some sort of meat, but I forgot about things like polenta, risottos, and fruit! I've been hooked on homemade applesauce. cooked in less than 10 freakin' minutes, with the freshest, in season, organic apples....and cheap! And although tofu and potatoes are not foods I care for, it's always good to know about these choices.

I rarely use exact recipes anymore, and I haven't tried any of Jill's 14 recipes "exactly", included in her instructional DVD, instead I was inspired by her recipes, and I have once again had my cooking life changed. For instance, she shares her breakfast cereal recipe, and yummy as I'm sure it is, I don't need all the "goodies" she puts in it, instead I make it very basic and add (or don't add) the things I like (or have in my pantry or fridge) in relation to my nutritional or caloric needs. I'm in love with this hot breakfast cereal, and even though I was already familiar with this brand, I had never before been inspired to use it. (I'll be writing a blog post on just this cereal, and how to make a dessert with it!)

Recipes are a starting point. You can follow them exactly, and then before you know it you're tweaking them here and there and making things you own. The important things are that you start, and you practice.

In the next few weeks I'll be posting my "tips" for making the pressure cooker a regular part of your cooking life, and my first tip is to buy Jill's DVD and watch it...twice! (I did!)

http://theveggiequeen.com/products.html

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