The Amazing Stuff

Remember when you’d try to help your parents in the kitchen when the holidays rolled around? Cooking looked like even more fun when we were little! We just wanted in on it! Also, we could score sneaky bites of the food while our parents were working, which was a plus. Thanksgiving was always the best.

These kids, however, should probably stick to playing outside or watching TV. Their cooking skills aren’t really there yet.

video-player-present

Oof…the power mixer in the hair…that’s rough. Never pretty. I’m sure these kids are good at plenty of other things, but culinary skills definitely passed them by.

Do you like cooking outdoors, but fear setting fires in dry weather? Well, there’s good news. You can still do some fire-free outdoor cooking thanks to this deceptively simple DIY project.

This is a solar oven that you can make using simple, inexpensive materials. It’s perfect for warm, sunny weather, and it’ll help you cook up just about anything. Our tutorial comes from Iris, better known in the Instructables community as Teyla.

Iris and her family have used solar ovens like this to cook everything from rice and pasta, to muffins and meats.

Instructables / Teyla

The culinary possibilities are endless!

First, pick up an insulating box to make the inside of the oven.

Instructables / Teyla

Make sure that the sides aren’t too high, or else they can block the sun’s rays. Teyla used Styrofoam.

Build a wooden box around the insulator for stability and weather resistance.

Instructables / Teyla

Place a glass plate on top of the Styrofoam interior.

Instructables / Teyla

Any transparent material will do. It just needs to let some light in.

Lay the panel on top without bolting it down.

Instructables / Teyla

Create a few flaps on the wooden case.

Instructables / Teyla

These can be adjusted to accelerate cooking time.

Line the oven with a reflective material.

Instructables / Teyla

This will harness as much solar energy as possible.

You can do this with aluminum foil.

Instructables / Teyla

Use black pots and pans when cooking.

Instructables / Teyla

Dark cookware will draw in even more heat.

Most importantly of all, make sure you experiment!

Instructables / Teyla

The only limit to solar cooking is your imagination.

While cooking times will vary depending on where you live and what season it is, an oven like this can be used just about anywhere. It’s a great, hazard-free alternative to grills and fires, and the only fuel that it requires is the sun itself.

If you’re looking to up your outdoor cooking game, give this project a try!

Defrosting food requires one thing that many of us forget to do…plan ahead. Mornings are rushed — we’re getting ready for work, chugging a cup of coffee, and ensuring our zipper isn’t down — taking something out of the freezer to thaw seems so involved.

But thanks to this quick video, you don’t have to defrost that steak you had planned for tonight’s menu…

Who knew it was so easy to cook a frozen steak? It’s such a simple process…in fact, that looks so delicious, I may never thaw out a piece of meat again…maybe.

We all cook to some extent, but do you ever really look at what you’re making? You’ve probably been creating vast, intricate worlds right under your nose for years without even realizing it.

Photographer Adrian Mueller and food stylist Takakao Kuniyuki did just that in their collaborative series called Bubbles, which takes everyday food items like vinegar, olive oil, and water, and turns them into abstract, ethereal works of art.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Olive oil, chicken fat, balsamic vinegar, salt, peppercorns, and white wine.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Ginger ale, whiskey, and ice.

The pair teamed up to create a series that appreciates things that go largely unnoticed, like the swirling combinations of ingredients that come together in the cooking process.

Because we’re so fixated on the outcome, we often don’t take time to appreciate the beauty of our culinary creations. For Muelller and Kuniyuki, Bubbles was created to encourage people to observe the tiny bits of beauty that exist all around us.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Vegetable oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Champagne and cayenne pepper.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil.

With backgrounds in food photography and food styling, respectively, Mueller and Kuniyuki both went into this series knowing which food items would produce the most dramatic reactions.

That’s why many of the photos feature combinations of oil, water, and acid that result in swirling, bubbling concoctions. Photographed up close, they look less like food and more like raging storms on alien planets.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

Adrian Mueller and Takako Kuniyuki

Rice vinegar and olive oil.

(via FeatureShoot)

Even with all of their combined experience, the pair still found that food had the power to surprise and delight them, and the project left them with the idea that no one should overlook the simple beauty of ordinary things.

You can see more of Mueller’s photography on his website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Takako Juniyuki’s food styling projects can also be seen on her website, if you’re feeling hungry.

Email the ViralNova team!

If someone shouts out, “Who wants cake?!” in a crowded room, you’ll usually hear an overwhelming “Meee!” from a bunch of people expecting to receive a paper plate piled high with too-sweet sugary frosting and chocolatey, baked goodness. That’s simply what society has conditioned us to expect. But Anna Hezel and Gabriella Paeilla over at Lucky Peach have got a new take on what the word “cake” actually means, and while it might seem like a bizarro-world concoction, it’s actually pretty incredible.

This pup knows something you don’t know right off the bat…

Anna Hezel via Lucky Peach

And it’s that while that white stuff may look like a nice cream cheese frosting, it’s actually instant mashed potatoes. Why would you want potatoes on a cake, like…ever? Well…

It’s because the inside of the cake is pretty much a giant hamburger patty.

Anna Hezel via Lucky Peach

And this cake is made for dogs!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this for your pooch:

• 6 pounds of hamburger meat


• Hot dogs


• Hydrated mashed potato mix


• Ketchup, mustard, peas, Sriracha


• Parsley, lettuce, kale, or anything green


• Cake pans


• Toothpicks

Feel free to get more or less fancy with any of these ingredients!

Instagram / melplesko

Here’s how to make it:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


• Line the cake pans (small, medium, large) with parchment paper and pack in your hamburger meat.


• Cook for 30-40 minutes, or until meat is baked all the way through.


• Let cool for ten minutes.


• Place the largest meat cake onto a plate and plop some potatoes on top; repeat with medium and small meat cakes.


• Add the rest of the potatoes and spread so it looks pretty.


• Decorate with peas, Sriracha, ketchup, and hot dogs.

(Some decoration inspiration, should you need any.)

Instagram / fecco

I know we said this was for your dog…but you know, you could eat it, too, if you’re into that…

Anna Hezel via Lucky Peach

And there you have it! An adorable, albeit strange, meat cake.

“Maybe we could share?”

Instagram / _fritztagram

If you think about it, the British have been doing this for centuries…we’ve all heard of shepherd’s pie, right? They just didn’t think to add adorable hot dog people to the top!

If you do share this with your dog, please, for the love of god, take a video and send it to us!

And if you liked this epic recipe, head over to Lucky Peach for more odd ideas. You can also follow them on Facebook.

Find more food fun stuff here:

If you love strawberries (like, let’s face it, most of us), you might be lamenting the fact that their growing season is relatively short. So what can you do to preserve that delicious strawberry flavor? While creating preserves and jams might sound like a job reserved for experienced chefs, it’s surprisingly easy!

First, wash your berries thoroughly.

Cleverly Simple

Whether they’re coming from the field or the store, washing your strawberries is the most important step.

After the berries have been washed and the leaves removed, it’s smashing time.

Cleverly Simple

If you like a smoother jam, smash more. If you like your jam chunkier, leave some bits unsmashed.

For most recipes, only about two cups of smashed strawberries are needed. Measure accordingly.

Cleverly Simple

In a separate bowl, measure out four cups of sugar.

Mix the strawberries into the sugar.

Cleverly Simple

The mixture will be a bit grainy. That’s okay!

Mix three-quarters cup of water with a package of Sure Jell.

Amazon

Stir until the mixture is clear and add it to the sugar and strawberries. Mix everything until it’s smooth. Work quickly on this step!

Then add the preserves to some eight-ounce jars, leaving about a half-inch of room at the top.

Cleverly Simple

Be sure to clean off the rims.

There you have it: strawberry goodness anytime you want!

Flickr / Abigail Batchelder

(source Cleverly Simple)

Let the jars sit at room temperature for 24 hours, and after that, you can store them in the freezer for up to a year!

For more amazing fruit recipes, you need to see these: