This document provides cooking instructions and ideas for various dishes without traditional kitchen appliances like a stove. It begins by suggesting making grilled cheese sandwiches using an iron instead of a stove. It then provides a recipe for making breakfast sandwiches in the microwave and toaster oven. Throughout, it encourages creative problem solving and thinking outside the box to cook meals with limited resources.

1. CookingWithoutA
Cause
by:Rafael
Gomez

2. 2
When it come to what you eat, and how you eat it, every-
one’s got an opinion. From how to drink your coffee (black vs.
cream and sugar), to how to properly eat string cheese (pull
away strands vs. biting straight into it), there are many meth-
ods of cosuming food.
Is any one way correct? It just depends on how you look at
your scenario at hand.
For example, lets take a look at
The Right
Answer
Cereal.

3. 3
Each one of these examples serves a different function, but all have the
same end result: you get to eat your cereal. Many chefs use similar methods
when deciding on how they want to present their food:
bowl vs. plate vs. what ever
Can you think of any other foods that you could eat
differently?
What silverware or plates/bowls would you use?

4. 4
That’s Not
Logical
Now let’s get to the trickier
stuff: the stove! Yes, I may have
done a big jump for some, go-
ing from cereal, to turning on a
flame. But I promise it’s not that
hard or intimidating. One way to
make the strange into something
familiar is by using metaphors as
a means to demystify the beast.
What do we know about stoves?
They’re sometimes wood, elec-
tric, or gas powered. They may
or may not have an oven (or one
that heats up properly, anyway),
and you put pots and pans on the
burners to heat up their contents.
What metaphors can you come
up with to describe how a stove
works?

5. 5
First, we’ll use soft thinking,
or the freedom to think of any ab-
surd idea, in order to come up with
a metaphor describing stoves. Side-
walks on summer days, the hood
of an overheating car, etc. Then you
move on to the hard thinking, or the
type of thinking you need to get the
job done. Well since electric grills are
much like stoves, I thought of other
electric surfaces whose job it is to
heat up. Clothes Irons! They are the
perfect thing to use for making grilled
cheese.
- 2 slices of Texas style bread
- 1 Tbs (table spoon) of butter spread
on each slice, only on one side
- 1 or 2 slices of american cheese
- 1 “borrowed” clothes iron with heat-
ing side wrapped in foil (for easier
cleaning)
Make sure you’re set up in a
heat resistant area. Heat the iron to its
highest setting. Once the iron gets no-
ticeably hot (sprinkle water to check
for sizzling), bring it 1 to 2 settings
down. Place iron on butter side of
bread. Keep it there for about a min-
ute or until golden brown. Repeat for
the other buttered bread that hasn’t
been ironed. Take off the iron, and
put your slices of cheese on the non-
buttered sides of your bread. Now
join them together. Grill a little more
to get the cheese melted. And there
you have it! You’ve got yourself one
nasty looking grilled cheese! Congrat-
ulations!
What other kitchen appliances do you
think need the help of a metaphor in
order to appear more approachable?

6. 6
Follow the
Rules
What goes on a Chicago
dog? Mustard, [green] relish,
onion, tomato, sport pepper,
a spear pickle, and celery salt.
Why? What was the original
purpose to confine a hot dog
from Chicago to only those in-
gredients. From what I under-
stand, Chicago’s rich European,
mainly German, ancestory
gave way to this combination
of flavours (european spelling).
But chicago is now home to
more than just German culture.
Shouldn’t our food reflect that
as well?
One way of being cre-
ative in the kitchen is learning
the rules in order to break the
rules. Start by analyzing what
rules serve no purpose any
more, much like the mustard-
no-ketchup rule on Chicago
dog’s. “But Rafa, Chicago style
hotdog’s are an institutional
thing when visiting Chicago.
You add ketchup, you remove
my identity!” Nonesense. You
must not fall in love with an
idea, because this will hinder
you’re flexibility on trying to
understand why anything is
the way it is, never having to
question its usefulness. How
about we make a Chicago
Mexican style hotdog, or an
Indian style hotdog?
How about a Chicago Ko-
rean bbq style hotdog?

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1 package of Brauts/hotdogs
1 package of thinly sliced bulgogi
meat
1 bottle of bulgogi marinade
1/4 cup of chopped green onions
(optional) 1 Tbs of mayo
1 package of hot dog buns
1 tsp of oil
Marinate bulgogi meat in
the refridegerator with bulgogi
sauce anywhere from 30 min. to
overnight in a ziplock bag. Heat
up enough water in a deep sauce
pan to cover up the brauts/hot-
dogs. Get it to boiling. Drop in
your brauts/hotdogs. Hot dogs are
usually precooked so they won’t
have to cook for more than 5 min
in boiling water. Brauts will take a
little longer; about 10-15 min. In
a different pan with a tsp of oil on
medium heat, have the marinated
meat cooking about 2-3 min-
utes on each side. Put the meat
on a separate plate. Take out the
hotdogs/brauts and put them in
their bun. Top them off with the
marinated meat, mayo, and green
onions. Or dont follow these di-
rections and put peanut butter and
brocoli. Your call. And VUALA!
You’re finished.

8. 8
Be Practical
Let’s say you ignore my advice and you avoid using the stove,
or you just flat out don’t own one. How will you cook food at
home? You’re faced with a scenario and are told that you need to
figure it out. Well for one, you can always just live off of ironed
grilled cheese sandwiches and bowls of cereal. Or not, I guess.
All the beginning ideas are you’re stepping stones, or ideas that
get you to think of other ideas, that will help you achieve creative
problem solving. List what your options are. I looked around my
kitchen and figured that I’d still be able to use my microwave and
toaster oven.
What type of cooking am I limited to when using just these appli-
ances?
I’m thinking breakfast would be my easiest choice. How
about a breakfast sandwich? Sausage, Egg, and Cheese on an eng-
lish muffin. I think so! Wait-- scratch that. I Forgot the english
muffins at the grocery store. We’re eating them on the TEXAS
TOAST from earlier!

9. 9
1 egg
1 tsp of water
2 slices of texas bread, or
any other bread you have
laying around
1 slice of american cheese
1 breakfast sausage patty
A pinch of salt and pepper
A microwave
A toaster oven
Preheat toaster oven to 375 degrees in
the bake setting for about 5 min. On a cook-
ing sheet small enough to fit the toaster oven,
line it up with foil and place the patty on the
tray. Place tray in toaster oven and cook each
side of the patty about 5 minutes on each
side, or to 160 degrees internal heat. While
patty is cooking in the toaster oven, crack an
egg in a mug with a tsp of water. Scramble
the egg by whisking it with a fork, breaking
up the yolk and egg whites thoroughly. Sea-
son with salt and pepper. Place mug in the
microwave and cook in 30 sec increments
until it’s visibly cooked or not “runny”.
What other meals can you cook with just these
appliances?

10. 10
Play is
Frivolous
Learn to be fearless in the
kitchen. That means taking risks
on new textures, new colors and
flavor combinations. You are an
inventor, an artist, a culinary
explorer who’s only starting off
on their quest of conquering the
kitchen!
In learning and growing
as a person and chef, we’re al-
lowed to have a playful attitude
when figuring things out. Kid’s
demonstrate this creativity
while they’re at play. A box is
not a box for them. It’s a sci-
entist’s laboratory, a race car, a
spaceship headed off to mars in
search of alien lifeforms.
We can also add con-
traints to try to help out with
our brainstorming. Constraints
narrow down you’re options,
but in a way that will make it
feel limitless! Lets use frying
things as an example. We have
to come up with a food to cook,
but we’re only able to use frying
as our method of cooking. Al-
though our constraint is to only
fry our food, our options are
more narrowed but still limit-
less! I’ll add one more contraint:
our food needs to be for dessert.
Lets make some FRIED. ICE.
CREAM!!!

11. 11
1 gigantic scoop of ice cream
1 cup of crushed cornflakes
1 egg, whisked
2 quarts of oil
Sundae toppings are optional
Make a gigantic scoop of ice
cream by putting two normal sized
scoops together and form them into
a fall with your hand. Line a bak-
ing sheet with wax paper and store
in the freezer for 2 hours. Take it
out and roll it in a bowl of crushed
cornflakes until evenly coated.
Freeze for 30 min. In a bowl, whisk
one egg with a fork and set to the
side. Take out the ice cream ball, roll
it in the whisked egg, and roll again
in the crushed cornflakes. Freeze it
again for about 30min to an 1hr. In
a deep saucepan, heat up about 2
quarts of oil, or enough to fill about
half way. To check if oil is ready, dip
a piece of bread and check for siz-
zling. Once hot, bring out the ice
cream ball from the freezer and fry
it for about 10 to 15 sec. or until
golden brown. Serve immediately.
Top with your favorite sundae top-
pings like whipping cream, oreo
crumbs, and possibly even a
CHERRY!!

12. 12
That’s Not
My Area
Growing up, my mom al-
ways cooked traditional Mexi-
can food for us. As I grew up,
and explored my kitchen more,
Mexican food was the first thing
I gravitated towards because of
the familiarity of the cuisine; the
tastes, the smells, and colors a
dish should have. But at a certain
point, I felt like I plateaued with
my learning. Everything became
too familiar and expected. That’s
when I decided to go beyond my
comfort zone. In learning to be a
fearless explorer in the kitchen,
you must be willing to beyond
your expertise and comfort zone
to jog your creativity. I was going
to try my hand at asian food.
My philipino friend’s mom
taught me how to make crab ran-
goons. Although crab rangoons
are about as Asian as nachos are
Mexican food (they’re not), it was
a great introduction to the flavors
and colors that are common in
Asian cuisine.
1/2 a package of imitation crab
meat (about 5 sticks), shredded
1/2 a red onion, minced
1/4 cup of green onions
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 package of cream cheese
1 Tbs of worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs of soy sauce
1 tsp of crushed black pepper
2 quarts of oil
1 package of wonton paper
In a bowl combine the crab
meat, red and green onion, gar-
lic, cream cheese, worcestershire
sauce, soy sauce, and black pep-
per together. Place about a table-
spoon of mixture in the center of
each wonton sheet. Wet corners
a little with water so corners stick
to eachother. Fry in medium high
heat oil until light gold color.

13. 13

14. 14
Don’t Be
Foolish
In talking about getting out of a cooking rut, you must
learn to have fun and laugh at yourself in the kitchen. One way I
achieve this is by drinking and dancing as I cook. A glass of wine
or some shots of mescal, and some tunes to set the mood. It real-
ly does the trick when trying to loosen up my creativity, or when
entertaining guests at dinner parties. Not only does this loosen
your guests up, but by the 2nd or 3rd drink, they’ll forget all
about the food thats coming out late because of all the dancing!
I start pouring a drink for myself, and then one for my homies,
which made me think, “why not pour it into my food”. Lets cook
up some
Chicken Marsala!

15. 15
1 chicken breast, “butterflied”
1/2 a shallot, minced
5 white mushrooms, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of chives
5 tbs of olive oil
4 tbs of unsalted butter (half a
stick)
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1/3 cup of marsala wine
1/3 cup and 1 tbs of flour
1 tsp of parsley (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Butterfly your chicken, or
cut it length wise but not all the
way, until it resembles a butter-
fly with wings out. Season with
salt and pepper. Put flour in a
bowl, and dip chicken in it until
fully covered. Dust off any excess
flour from chicken. In a pan, put
2 tbs of oil and 2 tbs of butter in
medium-high heat. Place chicken
in pan and cook each side about 3
minutes. Only flip over once. Place
chicken on a plate and set to the
side. Put 2 tbs of butter, 1 tbs of oil
and mushrooms in the same pan.
Lower heat to medium-low heat,
and cook mushrooms for 4 minutes.
Transfer mushrooms to the plate
with chicken. Add the remaining
oil to the pan and bring up the heat
to medium-high. Add shallots and
garlic and cook for about a minute.
Add in 1 tbs of flour to the pain and
stir. Cook for another minute, and
add the chicken stock and wine. Stir,
while scraping bottom of pan to get
the crusty brown stuff (flavor) into
your sauce. Cook for 2 minutes or
until sauce gets slightly thick. Add in
the chicken, mushrooms, and chives
into the sauce. Cook until thorough-
ly heated. Garnish with parsley (op-
tional). Look at that. Your first legit
restaurant-quality dinner. And you
made it while getting drunk. Con-
grats!

16. 16
Avoid
Ambiguity
Sometimes I walk to my
fridge hoping that something
to eat will be waiting for me
already made. But thats not
always the case as I sometimes
easily give up and exclaim to
myself that “there is nothing to
eat in this house!” That’s when
a little creativity goes a long
way. Instead of giving up and
ordering take out somewhere,
take stock of what you have.
I look in the pantry, there’s
rice. I look in the freezer, and
theres frozen steaks. I look in
the fridge and there’s a medley
of vegetables to choose from.
What sometimes seems like
random ingredients in your
pantry and fridge, could very
well be the next culinary craze
right there with quinoa and put-
ting bacon on everything. It’s just
a matter of putting these random
ingredients together, like pieces
to a puzzle. Let’s make some
Beef Fajitas and Rice!
1 lbs of skirt steak
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 cup of rice
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 of a chicken bouillon cube
2 tsp garlic powder
1 bottle of lemon pepper mojo/
marinade
Salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil

17. 17
Marinade your steak with a pre-made lemon pepper marinade for about
20-30 minutes. You may use a can of beer as a an alternative. Just add some
black pepper garlic and onion powder. Experiment. In a strainer, rinse your rice
until water runs clear and not “cloudy”. In a pot, heat 2 tbs of oil on medium
heat. Once hot, dump rice into the pot. Stir to prevent rice from sticking to the
bottom of the pot. Once you hear a lot of “cracking” sounds, pour your water in.
Stir in your bouillon cube and garlic powder unti almost dissolved completely.
Cover with a lid, and minimize “peeking” times (check only 1 or 2 times), as this
releases heat needed to cook the rice from the pot. Cooks in about 10-15 min-
utes. In a separate pan, heat up 2 more tbs of oil and cook up your steaks (sea-
soned with salt and pepper), about 3 minutes on each side on high heat. Take
out of the pan, and set to the side. Turn heat down to medium-high heat and
add about 1 tbs of oil. Throw in your veggies and cook for about 2 minutes or
until onions are visibly translucent. Cut skirt steak into strips on a cutting board,
and return meat into pan. Finish cooking for about a minute or until thoroughly
heated. Who needs “chipotle” when you can make your own at home.

18. 18
To Err is
Wrong
You would not believe
how many times it took me to
cook the chicken and rice cor-
rectly. Poultry and pork, un-
like beef, cannot be consumed
“rare” (pink in the middle),
and need an internal tempera-
ture of about 165 degrees. Most
of my dinners from my very
humble beginnings were disas-
ters because of cooking times
and temperatures. I wasn’t fully
equipped with the tools neces-
sary to accomplish this. I didn’t
let my failures bring me down,
but saw it as an opportunity to
change my cooking technique.
Maybe instead of cook-
ing a chicken breast whole, you
can cut it up into pieces to en-
sure that each piece is cooked
thoroughly. In this recipe, we’ll
do another chicken meal but
with this different method of
preparing instead. This is how
to make a
Coconut Curry Chicken.
2 chicken breasts, cut into
cubes
a pinch of salt and pepper to
season chicken
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
8 oz of water
1 tbs of chicken bouillon,
powder
2 tbs curry powder
1 tsp of tumeric powder
1 tbs of sugar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbs of ginger, minced
1/2 a yellow onion, minced
vegetable oil
optional:
1 tsp of lemon grass
or
zest from a lemon and lime

19. 19
In a sauce pan, heat 3 tbs of oil in medium high heat. Cook the garic, gin-
ger, and onion first until onion is slightly translucent. Add the curry powder and
tumeric. Stir to prevent from burning. Cook for about a minute, then add the
coconut milk. Bring down the heat. In the can that the coconut milk came from,
pour in about 8 oz (half of the can) of water. Pour this water into your coconut
curry. Add in the chicken bouillon powder, sugar, and (optional) lemon grass/
lemon zest. Simmer in medium-low heat. In a seperate pan, heat up 2 tbs of oil
in medium high heat and throw in your [seasoned] cubed chicken. Stir to make
sure all sides get seared. Take off the pan when done searing and add them to
the curry. Let simmer for 10-15 min. or until chicken is throughly cooked on the
inside (no pink). Garnish with cilantro or parsley. This dish may be eaten with
rice, potatoes, or both of them! Or none of them I guess. You’re the one eating it,
not me. See if I care.

20. 20
I Am Not
Creative
Congratulations on completing this cook book. Hope-
fully by now you have gained confidence in your ability to step
into any kitchen and feel like you’re up for creating anything
with nothing but staple ingredients in any cuisine. You learned
to question sacred foods (the chicago dog), step out of your
comfort zone (crab rangoons), and even think on your feet
when you have little-to-no ingredients and appliances (iron
grilled cheese, breakfast sandwich, and beef fajitas). You even
have two DATE NIGHT DISHES (chicken marsala and fried
ice cream)!!! And remember, if all else fails, have 2 or 3 phone
numbers of restaurants that deliver and a bottle of wine. As my
coworker used to say, “it’s the process, not the product, unless
you’re selling it!” Don’t let this inflate your ego of course, be-
cause you’re only just beginning!

21. 21
Fin

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