Adventures in (not) Cooking... :)

Adventures in (not) cooking is all about making yummy treats without having to cook! 

There are all sorts of things you can make without having to heat up the house with the oven on all day or even slaving over a hot stove. Here are a few things I've made without cooking or baking.

First off, let's be clear about one thing:  

Chocolate is a vegetable...That's my story and I'm sticking to it! 😉

That said...let's get started. 

Here are some things that are easy to make and use at home that are very expensive to buy, but easy to make and you can gift them, too. Vanilla beans can be used many times, just refill with vodka or sugar to make more extract or vanilla sugar. I put a bean, cut in half and sliced down the middle (not all the way through) in each bottle, so when it's empty, it can be refilled and started again by the recipients...I'll give them a shake every few days. (You can make orange extract, too.)

I did the same for vanilla sugar. Just give it a shake every few days. When your jar is empty or low, just refill and start again. :)
 

Orange kefir water, milk kefir and Kombucha tea...the tea has a new scoby, too! You can make the kefir water and tea fizzy, if you'd like with a second bottling and added flavors. I really liked ginger kefir water. I've added peach nectar to milk kefir and blended blueberries, too. YUMMY!

Technically, you don't cook when making yogurt. I carefully heat my milk in the microwave and my short cut is UHT milk in the box. Opinions differ, but I've never had any issues with my yogurt setting properly using it. I use pie filling to make fruit on the bottom. I also add vanilla and instant coffee and a dab of sweetener to make coffee flavored yogurt, too. There are so many ways to make it, I found a brand new unit for $10 on eBay, and one at Goodwill for $5 that was used, but works great! Even brand new at full price, it's worth the money. Some suggest you shouldn't make it with fruit on the bottom, but rather add it later. I've done it both ways with no problems.

You can make butter using your food processor. It's a little labor intensive, but worth the outcome. I used sea salt to preserve mine. I keep it in a butter bell so it stays spreadable. If you don't use a preservative (like salt), it will go bad, so I don't recommend it.

You can make fudge in the microwave. Easy stuff! Two bags of chocolate chips (your choice) 1 cup of nuts (optional) 1 can sweetened condensed milk...microwave 30 seconds at a time, stir, then repeat until smooth and creamy...pour into 8×8 pan (I always use a jellyroll pan, more fudge, thinner pieces)...let cool completely before cutting...store in airtight container...I top mine with chips or nuts too...I've used peanut butter chips and Andes candy mint chips too...I do one bag chocolate to one bag flavored...  
 

You can make sour cream and cream cheese, too.  Like yogurt, the hardest part is waiting. I used sea salt as my preservative in these, as well. The recipes I use from Cultures for Health, make about a quart of each. I noticed they stay fresher, longer than the story bought stuff.

If you don't count melting chocolate in a chocolate pot as "cooking", you can make candy too... :)

  

 

And of course, we talked previously about refrigerator teas and cold brew coffees. You can make half and half by adding half lemonade to your tea and cut back on the water. :)

 

 What kinds of adventures in NOT cooking have you had? Or what would you like to see me try? Let me know in the comments and be sure to follow my Blog.  :)