Ninja Cooking System as Stove/Oven Stand-In

We're redoing our kitchen, and as you can see in the photo, our stove is out of service. (Note plug taped to the back.)

I was able to bake chicken for dinner last night just like in an oven, though, thanks to the Ninja's versatility. And the night before, I could boil pasta - like normal people do on a stove. I sometimes use it to make rice slow-cooker-style, like I mentioned in the last post. That's a great trick for those two-slow-cookers-necessary days when I have to take the kids to something in the afternoon and we need dinner waiting for us by the time we get home.

My toaster oven, microwave, and slow cooker keep busy too; I can use all the help I can get from my robot kitchen underlings, and I tend to require multiple appliances for a single meal. But if you don't already have a slow cooker and/or your toaster isn't a toaster oven style, the Ninja is super handy... especially if you don't have an oven or stove.

Making rice in the slow cooker

Just follow the directions on the rice for the right ratio of rice and water, and cook on low for two hours. 

This has greatly improved my dinner-making ability. 

I spend most of the early afternoon stuck at home managing school bus arrivals and the after-school routine. Some time between 4 and 5pm, though, half the time I have to hustle the kids off to whatever their extra activity is. Then we stumble home 90 minutes later, tired and hungry. I already have a handle on setting up the slow cooker in the early afternoon for the main course, but now to be able to get the rice going in the late afternoon makes things that much easier. It helps that I have multiple slow cookers.