Food, Link Ups, Trying New Things

What’s On Your Plate – ChatGPT!

Retirement Reflections

While reading this book (review here), I got the idea to ask AI to help me use up some vegetables that were lingering in my fridge.

So, I asked ChatGPT if it could suggest a recipe using: snap peas, cucumbers, black olives, bell pepper, red onion, garlic, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Here was its (ultra-fast) reply. Along with the ingredients that I had listed, it also added olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and optional fresh basil leaves. I didn’t have the lemon, so I asked Chat if I could use lime instead. It said I most certainly could and let me know that this would be a 1:1 substitution!

Richard joined in with the chopping and lime squeezing.

Very quickly, we had this delicious and super crunchy salad which, as instructed, we let marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

This gave us more than enough time to heat an “Emergency Pizza” from the freezer. Everyone has Emergency Frozen Pizza in their freezer, right? The salad results were so delicious that I only ate one small bite of pizza (a true record for me).

This Just In!

Just before leaving for a short home exchange, my fridge, freezer, and pantry were leaner than ever. I rhymed off a few frozen ingredients that I had plus a small amount of rice and half of a tomato. CHATGPT instantly came up with this Vegetarian Patty Bowl. Richard had two generous helpings (shhh, don’t tell him I told you)! He loved the flavour combination and asked me not to lose the recipe. As if I would! ❤

Ingredients:

  • Vegetarian patties
  • 1/2 tomato, diced
  • Avocado, sliced
  • White onion, diced
  • Frozen mixed vegetables
  • Garlic, minced
  • Spices (such as cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper)
  • Olive oil
  • Cooked rice or pasta (whichever you prefer)
  • Shredded cheese
  • Plain yogurt (optional)

Instructions:

  • Cook the vegetarian patties according to the package instructions.
  • In a skillet, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced white onion and minced garlic. Sauté until the onion becomes translucent.
  • Add the frozen mixed vegetables to the skillet and cook until they are heated through and tender.
  • Season the vegetable mixture with your preferred spices (such as cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper) according to your taste.
  • Once the vegetarian patties are cooked, crumble them into small pieces and add them to the skillet with the vegetable mixture. Stir everything together and let it cook for a few more minutes.
  • While the mixture is cooking, prepare your cooked rice or pasta according to the package instructions.
  • Once the rice or pasta is ready, divide it into bowls.
  • Spoon the vegetarian patty and vegetable mixture over the rice or pasta in each bowl.
  • Top with diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, shredded cheese, and a dollop of plain yogurt if desired.
  • Serve and enjoy!

This recipe creates a delicious and nutritious bowl using the vegetarian patties, mixed vegetables, and other ingredients. Adjust the seasonings and toppings to your liking and make it your own.

What’s been on your plate lately? Please share in the comments or use the handy linkup below. I look forward to your suggestions.

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Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

61 thoughts on “What’s On Your Plate – ChatGPT!”

    1. Hi, Barb – I did exactly what you suggested and ChatGPT gave me a delicious recipe for Baked Snapper with Tomato-Feta Sauce (I accidentally listed ‘snapper’ instead of ‘snap peas’.) At the end it added: “Enjoy your flavorful meal with a delightful piece of cake for dessert!”

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  2. Oh this is an interesting development in AI! I love the look of your salads and meals developed from the ingredients you listed. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing

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  3. Hi Donna – how interesting … thanks for this overview – and for the salad, which sounds delicious. Also the book looks informative for us to get an idea of ChatGPT … cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks, Hilary – The book is very basic (with a few good laughs along the way). I fond it to be overly idealist and a bit naive in parts. But it did offer a variety of simple ChatGPT uses which could be very helpful to those just starting out with this (currently free) toll!

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  4. I know there is a LOT of controversy surrounding ChatGPT. But, I have found it a useful tool to add to my writing and recipe development arsenal. Very often, I do pantry cooking and then can’t remember the exact measurements for the ingredients. I have done just what you did, gave the elements and asked for an original recipe. It then tweaked the recipe it gave me to what I created.

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    1. Hi, Bernadette- I am glad that you have fond this form of AI to be useful and have also tried it out for pantry cooking. There are more and more ways that AI is being used – both good and bad. Hopefully, we will collectively focus on the former

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  5. Oh my goodness is there nothing AI is incapable of? When it learns how to do the actual prep (or if Richard’s free) send it (or him) over to my place and I’ll give it a whirl. I’m wondering how long we humans have left on the planet before we become completely superceded and redundant……

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    1. Hi, Leanne – You’re in luck! According to an article that I recently read, AI powered devices can now be used to automate such tasks as chopping vegetables, kneading dough, and making sauces, etc. AI can also be used to optimize inventory management in the kitchen. Of course, if that all fails, Richard would be delighted with a trip to Australia! 😀

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    1. Hi, Laurie – Like many of us, I use AI for a variety of things in my daily life:
      Maps and Navigation.
      Facial Recognition
      Text Editors/autocorrect
      ComputerSearches
      Social Media
      E-Payments
      Bouncing ideas *including recipe generation
      and Vacuuming!
      The latter is one of my favourite uses! 😀

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  7. Good idea asking Chat GPT about a recipe. I think we did that once as well. This makes using up random products and cooking quite easy! And, no, we don’t have an emergency pizza in our freezer. It’s too small for pizzas but holds ice cubes for cocktails! 🙂

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  9. OMG, Donna – you are the Chat GPT pioneer! I love what you did here. And these recipes look excellent. I took a training on Chat GPT and AI for librarians and I’m doing another one next week. I think there are a lot of creative ways to use AI. Thanks for exploring!

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  10. Those dishes look so delicious! I may have to finally dip my toe in the AI waters after reading this post – gotta read that book 😄. New and tasty ways to use up those odds and ends in the fridge – how can you go wrong? I’ve always relied on the “end of the week” stir fry, but these recipes are clever and fresh!

    Deb

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  12. We never used AI for recipes before. GOOD idea, because cooking is not our favourite. Thanks for giving us this idea
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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    1. Hi, Fab Four – Thank you for reading and commenting. When using AI to suggest recipe ideas you can include any parameters that you like (e g. Ask it to suggest recipes for people who hate to cook, using the ingredients that you have). It would be interesting to see what it comes up with!

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  15. What a great use of AI! I’ve heard so much good and bad (worrisome) things about the technology, but I love this simple but useful application. We often have used google for a similar task – when we have a variety of leftovers and need a recipe – but then have to delve down further into the results to find one that works. Since you use ChatGPT often, I’d be curious how you access it each time. It seems that whenever I think to use it (not often) I have to go hunting for it.

    Finally, I think I successfully added my link to your Link-Up (fingers crossed).

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    1. Hi, Janis – Your linkup worked.! I love that post – thank you for adding it.
      I have a free ChatGPT account and I have that site bookmarked. So getting in and out is easy-peasy. I agree with you that in many instances (esp the recipe generator) it is much more straightforward that Googling – and prevents me from scrolling through endless options!

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    1. Hi, Jill – Thank you for your kind comment. In terms of cooking and cleaning, AI is definitely getting there. Richard and I have had an vacuuming robot for years and absolutely love it. AI devices can also wash floors, cut lawns, chop vegetables, knead dough, and make sauces, I thinik that AI can be a great tool for automated tasks, as long as humans continue to do the thinking, retain their creativity and remain in the drivers seat.

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    1. Exactly! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I have now used ChatGPT several times for recipe generation. Each time, I have gone with the recipe that it suggested and was pleased with the results.

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  20. I seem to be the only one on this side of the fence. I am quite certain you could have come up with a recipe yourself given the ingredients you had. Like Deb’s Kevin, my other half would ask for the meat!

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    1. Hi, Bernie – I agree that I could have come up with something on my own, but it definitely would not have been the same. In the case of the Mediterranean Salad, I wouldn’t have parboiled the snap peas (or I would have left them out altogether). I also would have relied on my usual Greek salad dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano and Dijon mustard). The recipe version was even simpler and was amazingly refreshing. Those two changes elevated my usual Greek Salad tremendously. In the case of the rice dish, I am hesitant to stir-fry frozen vegetables as mine typically go to mush when I do this. For me, the simple AI assistance was much quicker than streaming through Google and provided the inspiration that I needed.

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  22. Fascinating! A friend suggested ChatGPT to me and said it would probably write blog posts for me. I was afraid to find that it did a better job. I’ll test it on my fridge inventory first. Thanks, Donna

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    1. Hi, Joe – ChatGPT definitely would not write a better blog post than you. But I do find it to be a great editor of my draft posts (and is much more wholistic is its approach than Grammarly — and ChatGPT is currently free). It is definitely worth giving a try

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  23. What a clever way of using the technology. We’ve been trying out Google’s AI thingy called “Bard” (aren’t they clever with their Shakespearian theme), but I haven’t thought about recipes. It looks like you were well served — it all looks really good! – Marty

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    1. Hi, Marty – I haven’t heard about Bard. I just Googled it and got that old familiar line “this is not currently available in your country.” Sometimes, I honestly think we live in Mars. 😀 It is fascinating to see all the new AI products coming out — but very hard to keep up!

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  24. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #344 – Thistles and Kiwis

  25. Ok, color me amazed (and a bit less dubious of ChapGPT). The salad looks great and I am definitely making your Vegetarian Patty Bowl for dinner tonight. We have so many of those patties in our freezer — this is the perfect solution! Thank you for taking the time to share the recipes (and idea!) with us, Donna.

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  26. Fantastic, Donna. I search for recipes that include certain ingredients but I haven’t tried AI. An interesting idea.

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  27. I’m impressed — with YOU, using Chatwhatsit. My son called me a month ago and urged me to get the app and to use it. I immediately did so, made a password, and have not used it since. Not sure what I should ask it, but you gave me the answer. Recipes! This salad looked simply awesome. Way to go …. Donna!

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