Enter the Rizzle
Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the awesome feedback on the Workout Move of the Week– I’m so happy you’re enjoying these 😀
I stayed up a little too late last night and disturbed the pilot’s sleep cycle :/ He had to cancel his flight this morning and.. I feel terrible. Sorry pilot 🙁
Breakfast was green:
Sorry if you’re bored with my sludges… I just love them so much! Into the vita-mixilicious went:
-1 cup almond milk
-1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior
-Stevia
-heaping handfuls of organic spinach
-1/2 t spirulina
-1/2 T coconut oil (for nutrient absorption)
-vanilla extract
With a dry piece of millet bread, covered in cinnamon:
I hit up the post office (finally! I just dread going there) and Publizzle for dinner ingredients. I knew I wanted to make something fast and easy that I could cook in the slow cooker.
Enter: The Rizzle
(Source)
I’m not sure if I told you guys this but basically, Rachael Ray taught me how to cook. (My chef brother and chef uncle are probably groaning right now, as they’re not the biggest Rizzle fans). All of the ladies in my family are fantastic cooks, but growing up, I didn’t have much to do with the cooking process. I just ate it 😀 So anyway, the summer I stayed with the pilot in North Carolina -right before his first deployment to Afghanistan and a year before we got married… I was out of school for the summer, so I stayed with him for a few months- I didn’t have a ton to do while he was at work. I took awesome classes at the gym, laid by the pool, watched FoodNetwork and made something different for dinner pretty much every night I was there. Most of the FoodNetwork recipes were extremely intimidating at the time so Rachael Ray’s were the only ones I would attempt. Needless to say, there were a ton of kitchen disasters (like the sloppy loaf… meatloaf that had to be eaten like sloppy joes because it was so watery), but after that summer I had the confidence to get in the kitchen and try, which led onto other things 😀
For old time’s sake, I looked up a Rizzle recipe online and found one that looked delicious: Calabacitas Casserole with Polenta and Cheese
I put all of the organic veggies and spices into the slow cooker:
And topped with polenta slices:
Before I leave to teach, I’m going to grate goat gouda on top, which will be melty, bubbly and waiting for the pilot and I to get home 😀
For lunch, I munched a salad beast:
Roasted brussels and a baby butternut squash:
Ahhhhmazin’ 😀
I’m off to practice for Zumba, then teach class and train a client.
Have a wonderful night!
xoxo,
Gina
Something to talk about: Who taught you how to cook?? I learned my skills mostly from FoodNetwork along with some tips from my chef brother and my madre 😀
Something to do: Keep working on those inspiration boards! Jenn has already started hers 😀 Mine isn’t quite done yet but I promise to post it as soon as it’s finished. I want it to be pretty, since I’ll be looking at it for an entire year 😉
![My Lunch in a [Bento] Box](https://fitnessista.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/10/fitnessista-rp4wp-default-image.jpg)
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I’ve always loved to cook, but Rachel was the first cookbook I actually bough myself and loved. It was the first I used on my own, without my mom helping or anything, so I totally understand.
Though, don’t you love it when she adds a ‘little’ (6 tablespoons) olive oil to the pan, covers the dish in some cheese (2 cups), and adds some butter to the sauce (1 stick) to smooth it out, then calls it healthy?! I know you can appreciate that. 🙂
hahah i love it. she always says it’s “so figure friendly!” 🙂
OH god, I wrote that in my blog today…LOL! Maybe I’ve watched her too much.
I also learned to cook from watching FoodNetwork! I’m obsessed and can watch it for hours.
I love that recipe for calabacitas casserole. The last time I made it I just cooked polenta in water on the side until soft and put a layer of it on top of my casserole dish. It tasted much better than the pre-made kind and it looked like an even surface into stacks of circles everywhere. Try it!
My parents always laugh and say they don’t know where I learned to cook because they don’t consider themselves “good cooks.” I’d disagree with them a little because we never went hungry and alway had a good meal.
Along with you and many others, The Food Network was my teacher 🙂 Now that I no longer have cable, I read cookbooks, watch podcasts and log onto the The Food Network website almost daily!
Self taught cook here, but RR got me through msny an evening. I think I have all but 1 of her cookbooks. Do let us know how the dinner turned out. I love slow cooking, but have not had much success with many recipes, because they frequently turn out very bland on the slow cooker.
how do you roast your brussel sprouts? they always look so delicious!
375 for 40 minutes (flipping and re-seasoning halfway) with garlic powder, sea salt, pepper and olive oil
they are delicious 😀
My mom and dad taught me how to cook just by watching them. I love Giada DeLaurentilis when I am making special meals and love Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food cookbook too.
Alton Brown mostly here.
Don’t feel too bad about others’ sleep. Unless you had a party or something!
we love alton brown, too. he’s amazing and SO insanely smart
hahah no party. just keeping up with the kardashians on the couch 😉
Hi there = first, I love your site. You are an inspiration to me!
I wanted to ask you – what is publizzle? And how would rate Zumba? I love HARD workouts – hwo would you rate it? THANKS
Oh, Rachael Ray… how I love her. And your glass straw! I’m always in aw of it.
Hmmm… I’m not really sure who taught me to cook… One night, when mamma cita was running late from work, she had me make dinner. First. Time. Ever. I made spaghetti! From that point on, I owned the kitchen.. Yes, it took time, but I think I taught myself. Plus, watching the Food Network 24/7 serves as proper inspiration, too!
My parents were the ones who initially taught me to cook, but I really started to get into it when I was watching Emeril Live a lot in high school 🙂 He just made it seem so fun and not a chore!
I guess I just learned from trial and error mostly! And of course a little help from the fam 😉
Allrecipes.com and my own failures taught me how to cook 🙂
That and the many phone calls I made home to my parents, who would give me instructions while I was cooking. Fun times!!
I grew up in my grandma’s kitchen, so that’s where I learned. She was an amazing cook, and I’m glad she taught me, but I drive everyone nuts because I don’t ever measure anything. She always threw in a pinch of this and a dash of that and a handful of whatever and that’s exactly how it goes with me. Sharing recipes can be tricky.
Rach’s personality is like nails on a chalkboard for me, but I love her magazine.
My mom taught me some stuff, but Ive loved being in the kitchen ever since I was little. Ive spent many hours watching the Food Network, and reading cookbooks. Thats probably where most of my kitchen knowledge comes from.
well i grew up cooking but rachel ray was the woman who really got me to experiment. i have a couple of recipes that i’ve taken from her and really made my own. when i make these certain recipes, people are like can i have the recipe, i’m like hummmmmm.. cuz half the time i never measure, it’s all based on taste!!!
I really just started cooking this past year. I never thought that I could actually do it until I started buying cook books and also throwing random stuff together and figuring out that I actually am good at cooking and I really enjoy it!
I pretty much just follow recipes. Whenever I don’t, things don’t end well.
Oh goodness. I LOVE Food TV, and all the above-mentioned celebs…but I can’t cook very well. No one ever taught me! And even if I follow a recipe, and make it 10 times, it can have a 50% probability of turning out a different way every time…and I have kids (my poor kids, LOL!) I keep apologizing, and they keep telling me I’m a great cook! 😉
I actually think my husband taught me how to cook! Ha ha – I didn’t know how to scramble eggs when I met him (in college – we’re the same age he just knew more!).
I taught myself how to cook around age 16 because I became a vegetarian and started coming up with my own recipe.
I learned to cook from watching my mom. She let me help at a really young age, and now I make all of the dinners in our house. I also love watching alton brown on food network!
My mom has been my biggest cooking inspiration. Ive been cooking with her since I was little and I love every minute of it=)
I just taught myself! I bought a bunch of cookbooks and it was trial and error from there.
My grandma and my mom are the base and then the foodnetwork and me experimenting in the kitchen were the rest of it!
Haha Rachel Ray is hilarious- she’s so over the top sometimes! But her recipes are definitely delicious and accessible to all. I’m not sure who taught me how to cook- my mom isn’t a phenomenal cook but she is good at making meals out of nothing, a skill that she passed onto me.
Love some RR! Her recipes are always so versatile and easy to enjoy. Most everyone will like them. I think her best recipe is the Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. You must try this one. 🙂
I am so into the workout move of the week! This is a genius idea!
good to know, i’ll have to check out that recipe!
i’m so glad you’re liking the workout move of the week 😀
the person who taught me everything I know about cooking was my Grandmother. Before she got sick, she cooked all the time… casseroles, pasta, stews,cakes, roasts, everything. She was the most amazing person in the world to me. In regards to cooking, I learned the basics from her. Though recently, well ever since I got married, I’ve become a lot more experimental and adventerous with my dishes. (i.e. last nights enchiladas or my famous mexican pasta skillet-Mike’s favorite). My mother was the person who actually sparked my interest in using various spices. Now it’s your turn.
Gina, if you don’t mind me asking how much did you spend on your personal training cert?
hey girl,
what an awesome story on how you learned to cook. warmed my heart 😀
i spent about $500 and my cert isn’t even from an organization i’m crazy about
wow that rachel ray recipe does look good i won’t lie. she pisses me off so much when she baby talks her food and guests but the girl does know how to cook!
i would say that my mom half taught me and i half taught myself! lots of experimentation haha
have fun at zumba girl 🙂
Don’t feel bad for learning to cook from tv, haha. I’m still learning as one of my recent blog posts proves.
It’s crazy, but I also leaned to cook from Food Network. It’s amazing how much you can learn by just watching and making mental notes of how to do things. I used to watch Rachel Ray all the time, but since I don’t have cable anymore I haven’t seen her show in ages. I also learned most of my vegan cooking skills from my cookbook collection. 🙂
I first learned how to cook the basics from my mom and the rest from foodnetwork as well. I also take a few cooking classes each month and i have learned TONS there too!
I watch food network all the time! And look at millions of food blogs including yours for inspiration. I even have gotten my mother addicted to breakfast cookies 🙂 Thanks for all your fantastic posts and that polenta recipe looks amazing…I might have to try it!
I learned to cook for real when I spent a semester in Italy. I was pretty broke, so I either had to learn my way around a kitchen or not eat for six months. Given my weight gain at the time, obviously the former won out. I was not a big veggie fan at the time, but I learned. A few months after I got back, I stopped eating meat.
I feel the same way about rachael ray!! I am too intimidated to try the other chef’s recipes. Right now I own the big orange cookbook and another one of her books that I LOVE!
One of my first cookbooks was Rachel Ray! Loved her. Now I’m a huge fan of Cooking Light recipes- they are usually simple and healthy.
yes, cooking light has amazing recipes!
Please, please post what your dinner looks like when it’s done cooking! I’m curious 🙂
I experimented a lot in the kitchen when I was a kid — grew up in a small town without a lot to do, but my older sister also has taught me some tricks over the years.
i’ll definitely post it- it came out wonderfully!
Wow!! I’m doing a post tomorrow about my 2010 Vision Board, which I’m guessing is the same thing as an Inspiration Board. Great minds…
yup, vision boards are a pretty common thing to do at the start of a new year 😀
Dinner looks fab!
I love that Rachel Ray taught you to cook! My mom definitely did that for me with a lot of help from her trusty Betty Crocker cookbook! As a result, my 18th birthday gift was what my mother believed each of her daughter’s needed – a Betty Crocker cookbook of their own! I’ve since worked in a kitchen and learned sooooo much more! I love cooking and baking.
I made a visualization board about 6 months ago. It was my first time doing it and it really is such a GREAT way to confront your goals (I know, “confront” is an odd choice of words, but I really think it’s apt), and really learn how much they change over short periods of time. It produces a much different result than just writing them down because it’s so in your face. And it’s always fun to revise the board, see what changes. Learning to change things on my board was something I felt bad for at first, but then I realized was sort of the whole point of the vision board. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
I’m pretty sure I learned how to cook from the Food Network, too! In college, my sorority sisters and I would pick one night a month and recreate our favorite meals.
Hi Gina, I learned to cook from my mom and from books. Even though I look up the internet pretty often for delicious recipes 🙂 I have to learn a lot more but I’m practicing. Love your recipes too! You inspire me to eat more salad beasts ;-D
I love your workout videos too!! Hope to see a lot more in the future 😀
Hi Gina, I learned to cook from my mom and from books. Even though I look up the internet pretty often for delicious recipes 🙂 I have to learn a lot more but I’m practicing. Love your recipes too! You inspire me to eat more salad beasts 😀
I love your workout videos too!! Hope to see a lot more in the future 😀
HI Gina,
Do you think you’ll bring out a recipe book? Your food always looks great. At the moment, I’m using Ellie Krieger’s recipes or I like the Irish cook Rachel Allen, her recipes are yum!
hey susan,
i would LOVE to 😀 i love ellie krieger too 🙂
I taught myself with the basics with my favorite cookbooks. Then I met a professional chef (who made me his wife:)) who taught me a lot of technique I was lacking, most importantly which knives to use.
I learned to cook from my mother at a very young age. Then, in highschool my boyfriend and I loved to cook sometimes instead of going out. I also cooked out of Cooking Light in college. Thanks for all your inspiration.
I’m not a big fan of Rizzle but that dinner sounds divine! I’m a big fan of using Allrecipes.com for the majority of my cooking adventures. Giada has also helped a lot – LOVE her!
i love giada, too 😀
I really want to say that my mom taught me to cook b/c she is amazing! But she really didn’t because she cooks sans recipe and could never tell me exactly how to make these wonderful dishes she serves us. She would try, but always forget something: “Oh right, I forgot I added a splash of wine to that dish.” She’s a pinch and a dash cook which sometimes makes following her lead tough. So I learned from an array of sources: recipes online, my husband, friends, cookbooks, etc. Great question!
I nominated you for an award http://www.nieko.com/korirunsdogs/2010/01/05/happy-101-blog-award/ 🙂
Oooh, I love me some calabacitas. I should check out that Rizzle rizzecipe. 🙂
I think I learned to cook by doing. I absorbed some from watching my mom, though she’s the first to admit she’s more of a “functional” chef, haha. She gets the job done well, though! Then in college was the first time I bothered with grocery shopping and attempting to construct my own meals, if at all. I just built my repertoire from there, and now I don’t need the repertoire since I’d usually just rather invent something new! It’s kind of a problem I have. 😉