mgaretz

Tried something new today. Vanilla with a touch of caramel. Came out quite nice. (Yes, there's a brownie hiding under the ice cream.)

Sir fry with char siu, noodle, onion, mushrooms, snap peas and spinach.

Salmon (naked), grilled on the NFG, with baked potato and steamed snap peas. The potato was cooked in the microwave for 5 minutes and then placed in the NFG for the preheat (5 minutes or so) and for the salmon cook time (8 minutes). Came out as good or better than 5 minutes in the microwave with 30 minutes in the oven.

Big honkin' chicken breast (I couldn't eat it all), cooked in the NFG on air crisp. It was just some avocado oil and seasonings. Baked potato with 5 minutes in the microwave followed by 30 minutes at 375F in the NFG along with the chicken. Same as a 2 hour 400F bake.

Well I am sad to report that the replacement unit started having the same problem (temp probe not detected) at a few minutes into the pre-heat cycle, so I immediately unplugged it and got out the trusty older version to cook my dinner. This one will be going back and I won't be trying another.

Sirloin, cooked SV then seared, served with roasted Brussels sprouts with homemade bacon chunks and crispy onion bits.

Chicken soup with carrots, celery, onion, peas, corn, spinach and egg noodles.

Pizza with salami and mushrooms.

Yes but they still use a non-narcotic extract from the coca leaf as part of the flavor profile.

The replacement arrived today and a test showed the thermometer works fine.

Burger and snap peas made on the new Ninja grill and baked potato.

Tonight I repeated the 5 minute/30 minute experiment with a larger potato and it came out very good. I think this is the keeper.

Tonight I cooked a burger and some snap peas on the grill in "lid open" mode to see how it did vs the Philips Indoor Grill. The burger came out OK, nice crust but still medium rare inside. I would say a little better crust than the Philips. The snap peas cooked OK but the grill has a slant so the grease can run down and collect in a trough at the front side of the grill. The peas kept rolling down and into the trough, and a standard pair of tongs was too wide to pick them out easily. So I would say it's not for grilling things that can roll or slide easily. My replacement grill arrives tomorrow, we'll see how that does. I have yet to try the air fry mode. At this point I am on the fence about whether to keep this one or revert back to my smaller one.

Last night I tried a 5 minute microwave with a 30 minute bake at 400F. The insides seemed the same as before (nice) but the skin was less hard and easier to cut. So far this is the winner.

Second try in the Ninja. This chop came out better than the first one, very moist and juicy with enough crust. However the device is a lemon. The first time I used I had to plug the thermometer in a second time to get it to recognize it. I chlaked it up to me not having plugged it in all the way. Last night it took about 30 tries to get it to work, so it's getting exchanged.

Pork chop in the new Ninja, baked potato and cauliflower.

Well I really like the regular version with the thermometer (for certain things) but I still have to play with this new one. I wrote more about it in the air fryers topic.

Got a new Ninja XL grill today so I had to try a pork chop! Served with steamed cauliflower with butter.

So the pork chop came out a little underdone but that could be where I placed the thermometer. Still quite edible but not as many crispy bits as with the old grill. Straight grill marks on this version though. The non-stick seems to be much better and the grill grate and "catch basin" are all one unit so less to clean. Even though this one is bigger, it actually seems lighter in weight.

The new Ninja arrived today and guess what, I'm going to try a pork chop tonight! It seems mostly well thought out (all the parts nest for storage, unlike my regular sized one). It can grill with the lid open but there doesn't seem to be any particular "smokeless" feature when you do that, like the Philips grill. Will test that soon.

Last night I did the 5 minute microwave, 60 minute bake at 400F with a medium sized russet. The insides were comparable to the 2 hour bake version. The skin had a more withered appearance, but was still very crispy, not as hard as the 2 hour bake but still hard. This method seems much more energy and time efficient than the 2 hour bake with comparable if not better results. Picture is after adding butter, salt and pepper.

The Ninja grill I mentioned above is currently on sale at Amazon for $219.99 (usually they are $349). I pulled the trigger! It arrives tomorrow. Ninja IG651 Foodi Smart XL Pro 7-in-1 Indoor Grill/Griddle Combo (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

I tried the two hour baked potato tonight. It was a medium sized russet. Two hours at 400F in the BSOA. Like @Anna N's potato, the skin was rather hard, but not so hard I couldn't cut it with steak knife (and I kinda like it like that). I did not oil it. The insides were very nice. Tomorrow I am going to try microwaving the potato for 5 minutes then bake for one hour and see if the results are similar. In the past I have done the microwave plus bake, but only for 15 minutes. That is much better than microwaved baked potato alone, but still not as a good as full bake.

Why does every microwave oven have a popcorn button when every bag of microwave popcorn tells you not to use it?

Two recent dinners: Taquitos (from frozen) with mashed together "Spanish" rice - rice, diced tomatoes, chili, garlic and onion powders, salt pepper and some jarred salsa. Tri-tip, cooked SV then seared, served with steamed Brussels sprouts and snap peas in butter: