Stout Beef Stew

My husband had a huge growler of a stout beer and we decided to try it out in our cooking. We went with the beef stew option and it turned out pretty yummie!!

I found a recipe on Pinterest that was a great starter for what we wanted to do, it is called Guinness Beef Stew at Gimme Some Oven blog. But we definitely made some changes to suit what we had as far as beer and making our own twist on it to give it a sort of Shepherd's Pie taste as well.

Ingredients:

3 lb beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3/4 cup flour, divided
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz Old Viscosity by Port Brewing barrel aged stout beer, divided
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 celery root, peeled and diced
1 turnip, peeled and diced
4 cups beef broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Mashed Potatoes

Directions:

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place 1/2 cup flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper, dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Add half of beef to pan; cook 6 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove beef from pan with a slotted spoon. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and beef. Remove beef from pan.

Add onion to the pot, then saute until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Add 1 cup of stout beer and stir for 1 minute, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to life up any brown bits. Add carrots, celery root, turnips, beef broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme and the cooked meat (along with juices) to pan. Bring to boil, cover and reduce heat to medium-low to simmer. Simmer over low for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding additional water as needed.

Prepare mashed potatoes. Whisk remaining 1/4 cup flour into the remaining stout beer until dissolved. Stir into stew until thickened. Remove bay leaf and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Serve warm garnished with chopped parsley, if desired. Place a layer of mashed potatoes over the stew.

Cheesy Bread with Egg

I have been eating bread with egg since I was very young. My mom used to make it for me. I am a big fan!! I was perusing Pinterest the other day and found this recipe for bread with egg but a cheesy version that is made in the toaster oven, so that works out well for me and my juggling of 3 kids.

It's also a bonus that my middle child enjoys bread with egg too...now adding cheese to the mix, we are both very happy breakfast eaters!

Now for the recipe you can go to the following link to check it out, it's YUMMIE: Crazy Adventures in Parenting: Cheesy Baked Egg Toast

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I never thought I would like brussel sprouts but my husband's family was very fond of them and I was reluctantly introduced and pleasantly surprised so I was determined to make them myself so I found a recipe that I really enjoy and it is super easy.


Ingredients
2 cups fresh brussel spouts, halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Place the brussel spouts, olive oil and salt on a sheet tray and toss to combine.
3. Bake the brussel sprouts, cut side down, for 20 minutes.
4. Place the roasted brussel sprouts in a bowl, top with Parmesan cheese and the juice of half a lemon.

Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk

I had some leftover coconut milk from the night before's macadamia nut crusted tilapia (taken from my mahi mahi recipe but different fish) so I decided to make a curry however I needed to keep it simple, so this was it.

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless (you can use chicken breast too but this is what I had)
carrots and broccoli, sliced and cut up
1 can coconut milk (I used a slight bit less than a can because of my recipe the night before)
1 tsp curry powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp soy sauce
cous cous or rice

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the chicken and vegetables, stirring frequently. Add the curry powder and garlic then stir fry for about a minute. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes and soy sauce. Stir, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with the cous cous or rice (I used cous cous because I had it on hand but I think rice would've been good).

Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs

I have tried a few times now to get the crunchy skin flavor of chicken thighs and I am happy to say I finally found something simple that was really yummy...and crunchy! It was so flavorful that even my husband who is not a fan of skin on his chicken liked it.

Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs

4-6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Lay chicken in skillet, skin side down and cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium high and continue cooking skin side down. Occasionally rearranging chicken thighs and rotating chicken to evenly distribute heat until skin is golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Transfer chicken to an oven safe pan (with oils) and cook for 13 minutes. Flip chicken and continue cooking until skin crisps and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. YUM!

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

My kids LOVE muffins and I am all about making them at home to keep them as healthy as possible. My older son is a bit more particular about what kind of muffin he eats, i.e.: there must be blueberries in his muffin. However, I decided to try my luck on adding some apple to these pumpkin muffins in hopes that if I mention apple then maybe he'll be more willing to try the pumpkin part of it. My younger son has already enjoyed a muffin (older son is at school during the day) and wanted more, my hubby even tried it and liked it too. One thing I have learned as my kids have been in the eating solids world is that making things from scratch isn't quite as difficult as it sounded. I used to just go straight for the premade packages and now trying to save money and make things as healthy as possible I have figured out that a couple extra minutes are SO worth making them from scratch.

This recipe can be found at Weelicious.com but I am posting it here in case I ever want to modify it.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins


Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup agave or honey
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 medium apple, peeled and grated (gala, pink lady, fuji or golden delicious are good choices)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Grease muffin tins or line them with muffin cups and fill each cup 3/4 full with the batter.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Serve.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

For a little fun I decided to make meatloaf in a muffin/cupcake pan. It intrigued my little one and he even tried mashed potatoes because he wanted to eat the meatloaf cupcake. My husband ended up putting a little extra ketchup on top since he likes more ketchup on his meatloaf and it tasted good.


Meatloaf
1 eggs, beaten
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef or can use ground turkey
1/2 cup Progresso® panko crispy bread crumbs
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup ketchup
1 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

Top with mashed potatoes. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray regular size muffin cups with cooking spray.
In a bowl mix all meatloaf ingredients together then divide ingredients into the muffin cups pressing mixture down firmly.
Bake 35-40 minutes then let cool in muffin cups for a few minutes.
During the baking process make mashed potatoes and then once the meatloaf cupcakes have cooled then place a dollop of the mashed potatoes on top and serve. Garnish with additional parsley if you want.

Coconut Garlic Shrimp

With the leftover coconut milk that I had from my Mahi Mahi dish the night before I decided to put the shrimp that I bought together with the coconut milk and the fresh garlic that I had on hand and we had ourselves a little noodle dish. Granted, I think it needs a few things to add to the flavor but I am posting it on here in case anyone has any recommendations to add to it or something.

Coconut Garlic Shrimp

1 lb shelled shrimp
15 ounces coconut milk
chili powder (I am not a fan of spicy but added a few shakes of this in the mix)
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
1 cup carrots
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce (you can use fish sauce if you have it)
udon noodles
minced parsley or coriander for garnish

Directions

Skim about 2 tablespoons of the cream off of the top of the coconut milk and set aside (this will be used for stir-frying later). Steam carrots and set aside for sauce.
Remove the shells from the shrimp and set in a medium saucepan. Pour the remaining coconut milk over it and add the salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
Drain the coconut milk through a strainer and set aside.
Heat a wok to medium high. Add the coconut cream, stirring until the oil separates (add a little vegetable oil if there is not enough oil at this point).
Add the shrimp and chili powder and fry for 2 minutes, until the shrimp is nice and pink. Add the garlic and onions and stir fry for another minute. Now add the coconut milk and soy sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then add the steamed carrots and udon noodles and heat for 2-3 minutes. Then serve and garnish.

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

I had initially went to the store to grab some sushi grade ahi but none of our local grocery stores had it so I had to move to a different plan, while at Albertsons I saw they were having a sale on Mahi Mahi which I have not cooked before. I ended up buying 3 5 oz fillets because I wasn't sure how hungry we were going to be and wanted to have enough in case my little one wanted to share. This was going to be an interesting meal since I had not done this before but Googled some recipes and found a few that I meshed together to make what I made. We were happily surprised with the meal and is definitely something I will make again!

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

3 5-ounce mahi mahi fillets
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped in food processor
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 lime, sliced round
coconut milk (brushed on each fillet)
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Combine macadamia nuts (already chopped), bread crumbs, flour and melted butter.
Slice the onion and lay the slices down on the foil to make a bed for the fish to lay on. This acts as a protection for the fish to keep it from sticking as well as adding to the flavor. Slice the lime into round shapes and rub the fish on both sides.
Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides and lay the fillets on top of the onion bed. Lay the lime rounds right on top of the fish and seal the foil up all around the edges.
Pop in to the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
Remove from the oven, open up the foil and remove the lime wedges.
Brush the tops of the fish with the coconut milk then use your fingers to pack the macadamia crust on top of the fish.
Bake for another 5-7 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
I did a quick broil after baking the fish to give the macadamia crush a bit more crunch, watch closely!
I served the fish with a side of white rice (mixed with coconut milk).

French Toast

To change things up at home from pancakes or eggs I decided to make the boys french toast. I forgot how easy it was to make and I really liked it.  I remember when I was little having french toast as a treat with some  maple syrup and powdered sugar. With how much the boys like bread I thought it would be a winner. I ended up having to cut it up in to little pieces for them but they enjoyed it very much.




French Toast

3 large eggs
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup milk
pinch of salt
8 slices of bread
Butter for sauteing
Powdered Sugar (optional)

Directions

Heat skillet at medium heat and melt butter. Dip pieces of bread in egg mixture then place in heated skillet. Cook on each side until lightly brown. Serve immediately. Pour maple syrup and powdered sugar on top.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

My boys love muffins and it is nice that they actually prefer my homemade ones over the store bought type. I thought I would add a little extra health to the muffins by adding some old fashioned oats and blueberries to a banana muffin that I have made in the past.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup agave or honey
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 bananas, mashed
1 cup blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together, minus blueberries.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Add blueberries lightly stirring.
6. Grease a muffin tin or line it with muffin cups and fill each cup 3/4 full with the batter.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

My older son LOVES chicken nuggets. Funnily enough, not the ones from McDonald's but the frozen dinosaur nuggets from Costco. He has been on a major nugget kick and it is driving me crazy that it is all he asks for every night for dinner. It takes a lot for me to steer him in a different direction. So tonight I decided to try making homemade nuggets. I was watching part of the Today show yesterday and saw Catherine McCord who is the creator of Weelicious.com (a site I frequent for food ideas for the kids). She was making veggie nuggets and I thought hmm...it didn't look too difficult so maybe I should try it.

So try I did tonight and I was right, not difficult at all! Actually they were quite easy and pretty quick to make. I think I may have found a new nugget for my nugget nut! I followed the recipe completely so there isn't a difference like I usually post the differences I did with my recipe versus the one I found. So for those of you with a chicken nugget nut in the house, check out this recipe for Homemade Chicken Nuggets on Weelicious.com.

We had leftovers so I popped them in the freezer so they are ready to heat up the next time my son says he wants nuggets!

Quinoa with Black Beans and Avocado Burritos

This recipe came in my email a few days ago and I had thought about it ever since so I had asked my husband to pick up some avocado on his way home from surfing so I could make it. I had all the other ingredients already and this was the final piece. One thing I didn't use was coconut oil (which is in the original recipe) because I didn't have any on hand and forgot to ask my husband to pick some up.

This was a really easy recipe to put together and made quite a bit of food. I ended up making it a burrito filling and added some chicken that I cooked in the skillet alongside for a very full meal. It was so good that my hubby and I both ate 2 burritos. My little guy who is a good eater had a little bowl full of it and enjoyed it so much that it was all over his face by the time he was done.

Quinoa with Black Beans and Avocado

• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion (the recipe asked for white but I only had yellow so that's what I used)
• 10 button mushrooms, diced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 2 small avocados, peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• salt to taste

1. Start by cooking the quinoa. I followed the directions on the bag (1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water and cooked for 15 minutes)
2. Dice the onions and mushrooms and cook over medium heat until lightly browned and all the moisture is cooked out of the mushrooms.
3. One the quinoa is done fluff it with a fork and then add it and the black beans to the pan with the mushrooms and onions. Stir to combine and heat through.
4. Add 2 tbsp lime juice and reduce heat to low.
5. Stir in sliced cherry or grape tomatoes and avocado and season to taste with salt.
6. Then place however much you want in your tortilla, place cooked chicken on top, fold and eat burrito.

Click here for the original recipe

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is by far one of my favorite soups that I make and during the winter time we pretty much eat this weekly. I had plans to go to a friends house tonight so I decided to make this soup in my crock pot so that it would be ready for my hubby and boys at dinner time. You can follow the directions below and just plan an hour ahead of time to make this soup or you can pop it in the crock pot and it'll be ready for dinner. I usually put it in the crock pot around 2pm, cook it on low and it is ready for dinner around 6pm. My crock pot is getting old and cooks at a higher heat level than normal so if you have a nicer crock pot and it cooks slower than you might want to start the soup earlier in the day. Besides if it's sitting in the crock pot for longer it's not like it'll overcook, it's just simmering in there.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Rotisserie Chicken from Costco, shredded (I only use the white meat in my soup)
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes (I use a can of diced tomatoes sometimes)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon ground cumin

Now for the chicken broth part, if you don't make your own, then I would use at least 2 cans chicken broth. However, I always make my own chicken broth and just use the whole pot of chicken broth. Usually I make the chicken broth the day before and then put it in a container in the fridge and then make the soup the following day. Then simply place cooked chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, broth and cumin in a large pot over medium heat. Simmer 45 minutes.

Spinach Pasta Salad

I get these emails in my inbox from a site called PureWow and they have a newsletter called PureWow Recipes. Occasionally I see something that I really want to try but more often than not I don't have all the ingredients and I tag the email as a recipe email in hopes to try it in the future.

I was excited when I got this email because I have been feeling like I need a change in my lunch options lately and this came at the perfect time. I had almost all the items of the recipe and enough for me to attempt it with a few changes. To see the original recipe click here.

Spinach Pasta Salad

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon finely chopped black olives
1 teaspoon honey
salt and ground black pepper
thinly sliced onion (about 1 cup)
8 ounces small grape tomatoes, halved (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup pitted black olives, quartered lengthwise
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon dried oregano, divided (if I had fresh I definitely would've used that instead)
1/2 pound pasta (they recommend a curly pasta like gemelli but I used the leftover wheel pasta I had)
5 loosely packed cups baby spinach

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk olive oil with vinetar, garlic, lemon zest, finely chopped black olives, honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt and several grinds of black pepper. Add the onion, tomatoes, olives, feta and 1/2 tablespoon oregano and toss well. Let sit for about 20 minutes.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain well in a colander but do not rinse.

Transfer the warm pasta to the mixing bowl and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the spinach, the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oregano and toss well. Season with additional salt and pepper. If desired. Serve immediately.

Lime and Cilantro Fish Tacos

I have been making a basic fish tacos recipe for some time now sort of creating it out of what we had in the cupboard (which is pretty much the premise of my blog being that almost all of my recipes I post are from things we have in the kitchen at the time of cooking). These have been a hit a multitude of times whenever I have some family come over and I am making them dinner. They are quick and easy and taste great!

I start out breading the fish (we use tilapia more often than not) with either traditional breadcrumbs or panko bread crumbs (one time I put some almonds in the food processor and coated the fish with that since my hubby's brother who is allergic to Gluten and they turned out good too - a little different but good). While I am breading the fish I put some oil in a pan and heat it up. Then lay the fish in the pan a few at a time to not overcrowd the pan.

While the fish is cooking I toast some corn tortillas in the toaster oven and cut up tomatoes and cabbage. Once the fish is cooked I place 4 tortillas on to a plate and begin putting it all together. It goes in the following order: fish, cilantro salad dressing from Trader Joe's, cabbage, tomato and lime juice. The cilantro dressing is the key to these fish tacos! It seriously makes them so it is worth it to get some of this if you don't already have it. We keep it on hand since fish tacos are a staple in our house.  

Lime and Cilantro Fish Tacos

tilapia
corn tortillas
chopped cabbage
chopped tomatoes
cilantro
lime juice
cilantro salad dressing from Trader Joe's

Tomato Cream Chicken

I subscribe to a site called Emeals which provides you with weekly menus to help you get through the week with little worry about the common, "What do I make for dinner?" question that we all ask ourselves pretty often. Some weeks are better than others with the menu choices but I have taken it and done my own thing with it. I start with what I have in my kitchen already first and then look at the options on the menu to see if any of those meals work for me. Then I pick out my favs from the rest of the menu and grocery shop for those. It has saved me a ton of time, money and headache going this route.

I used to DREAD when it came time for me to decide what to make for dinner but this has really opened my eyes to other recipes, helped me branch out from what they provided to make what suits our family and more. So anyways, one of the menu items was a Chicken and Tomato Cream recipe. I changed a few of the items in the recipe because I didn't have them and figured why go to the store to buy those couple things when I can substitute with what I have, better way to save more money.

So from the changes I made were first off, I didn't any onions (which I think would've made it taste even better but didn't want to have to go to the store), in place of the onions I decided to put some mushrooms in. I didn't have whipping cream so I used canned evaporated milk. I googled it and there were a few places that said that you could substitute the two so I did. Lastly, I didn't have any fresh basil so I used dried (obviously, the fresh basil would've made a better flavor but it's what I had so there it is).

Tomato Cream Chicken

2 T butter, divided
1.5 pounds boneless chicken breast, halved
1/2 c finely chopped onion (I used mushrooms instead for this meal)
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 c whipping cream (I used evaporated milk)
1/2 c chopped fresh basil (I used dried basil and used about half the requested amount)
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Then I put it over a bed of whole wheat spaghetti with a side of steamed broccoli. My almost 2 year old liked it as did my husband and I. We both had two chicken breasts each (since they were halved). We used the Costco frozen chicken which are often HUGE so it was no problem slicing them in half and having a very full meal.

Hawaiian Rub Chicken

A while back my mother in law had brought us back a Hawaiian spice rub called Kaiulani Spices Hawaiian Spice Rub and Seasoning and we had been meaning to use it for some time but I think we just forgot. Well with it being summer and the grill being a great option during the summer we decided to try it out. I put the Hawaiian rub all over the chicken and then drizzled olive oil over the chicken and slightly rubbed it in. My hubby fired up the grill and grilled the chicken. In the meantime I made some brown rice and steamed some carrots and broccoli to go with the chicken. Once it was all done we sat down and were very much impressed with the taste that the rub gave the chicken. The ingredients listed on the bottle were green onions, lemon peel, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, Alaea sea salt and other spices.

We will definitely be making this again.

Minestrone Soup

I had some leftover chicken broth that I needed to use or put in the freezer so I decided to make life easier on me today and made a soup in the crock pot. I normally make this soup or a version of it on the stove but I thought I would utilize the crock pot so that dinner would be ready without me having to get in there ahead of time to prepare it.  

Minestrone Soup
Chicken Broth (I used all the broth that resulted from one rotisserie chicken carcass)
ground turkey (cooked prior to adding)
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can beans (I use either kidney beans, black beans or pinto beans depending on what I have on hand)
diced onion
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp chopped garlic
orzo (I prefer orzo but I've also used rice and other types of pasta if that's all I have on hand)

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

I love popcorn! Almost every time I go to the movies I HAVE to have some. However, the at home microwave popcorn kind of grosses me out. The film that I get on the roof of my mouth when I am eating it annoys me. I had heard about making homemade popcorn with a technique of a paper bag, oil and kernels so I decided to try it. You take a brown paper bag, add 1/3 cup popcorn kernels, 1 Tablespoon oil and I sprinkle a little salt, then microwave for 2 minutes and 22 seconds (this is what works for my microwave). YES! It was just what I was looking for. So I bought some brown paper bags and would make it pretty often. The only downside is that the oil seeps through the bag pretty quickly and leaves a bit of a puddle in my microwave. So I would have to put a folded paper towel underneath to catch some of it. But it was worth it to have that non-filmy popcorn quickly popped in the microwave! LOVE IT!

Then I was doing some shopping at Target recently and stumbled upon this microwave popcorn popper container from Nordicware that you put the popcorn kernels in and pop in the microwave. Since we make tons of homemade popcorn at home I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did. This thing is awesome! I don't even need oil. Just put 1/3 cup popcorn kernels in the container, put on the lid and put it in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes. I have had perfect popcorn ever since and no oil film at all. PLUS, there is such a small amount of unpopped kernels at the bottom in comparison to my brown paper bag popping or even the store bought microwave popcorn that I am sold on this thing! I would highly recommend checking this thing out, the added bonus is it's under $10 and you can use it over and over again.