one plus one

Dinner

I stuck to my meal plan for the week.  Go me!  I made this Creamy Avocado Pasta for dinner tonight and it actually only took me about 20 minutes.   It was the first time I used an avocado in the kitchen.  It  always seemed like such an intimidating thing to work with but it was easy.  I will definitely be making this again because it was so good.

Link: Creamy Avocado Pasta from Two Peas & Their Pod

This Again

Well I'm down to my last week of summer (eep!).  I have been terrible this summer about eating right and being in the kitchen.  It started getting a little ridiculous there towards the end.  Well time to get back on track.  

I can hear the groans out in my readership.  Oh no... we have to listen to this business again.  Yes, yes you do.  I went to the grocery store yesterday and set up a meal plan again.  I have to not only set up the meal plan but actually stick to it.  Summer would have been a good time to get in the cooking habit but too late now.

One hope is that I actually do want to be able to fix some dishes for Mr. Mellow.  To do that I'm going to have to get better at cooking and I'm going to have to practice.  Technically it shouldn't be too bad because he doesn't eat meat (beef, pork or chicken). I know people make dishes for their families, partners and friends and serve it to them the first time but I'm just not that confident yet.  But I think it will be good for me to have another reason to get into the kitchen and stick with it.

Dinner tonight: Spicy Orange Shrimp

I've made this before.  I've had it on my list for a while and had most of the ingredients but kept putting it off.  One of my problems is that it always takes me 45 minuts to an hour no matter how short the recipe says it takes.  I'm slow.  I know I will get better the more I do it, but I hate having to be in there that long.  ANYHOO this is a great dish but funny I can't serve it to Mr. Mellow who doesn't like spicy.  And it is definitely spicy.  And oh so good. 

My New Cookbook

I am trying out a new cookbook and I have high hopes.  I know, I know.  I say that EVERY TIME I am trying out a new cookbook.  Well as I said in my last post hope springs eternal and not just about romance.  

I've seen this book on people's best book lists for years.  I've looked at reviews, but it just never seemed like it would be a fit for me.  I even went to look at it in the book store but it was big and heavy, had only a few photos and they were all hand drawings and it just didn't feel right.  During my recent cookbook search frenzy I ran across this video of the cookbook author making a roasted asparagus dish.  A few days later I was at the grocery store and walked by some asparagus and the recipe popped into my head.  I decided to give it a try.  Once I got home I realized I didn't have bread crumbs, but I improvised and that sold me on the book.  The fact that the recipe was easy, that I thought about it while in the store, I executed it easily and it tasted good.  

I just finished reading the introduction and I have high hopes.  Mr. Bittman talks about all the things I've been thinking about the last few years.  The fact that cooking should be simple and uncomplicated, that we should be cooking at home instead of eating out and that we should learn simple basic recipes and then learn different variations.  

Cross your fingers.  I'll let you know.  

Dinner Day 6

Dinner tonight was Rotisserie Chicken, roasted asparagus and a salad.  Yeah, I don't know who I am either, but I kind of like it.  But don't get too excited because I'm about to follow it up with some ice cream.

I am on the hunt for a new cookbook.  I've done the website thing and I am just in the mood to have a book to flip through.  I love Nigel Slater, but his tastes are just too British for mine.  I wish I could find an American book like his Real Fast Food.  I am going to still reference his books, but this realization has started me on a new search.  

I just want something simple, few ingredients, most of them fresh with simple tastes.  What I had tonight was perfect.  Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  Drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper over asparagus and roasted in the oven and then sprinkled with parmesan and melted the cheese.  Salad with what is my current favorite dressing, Apple Poppyseed by Girard.  Simple, tasty and way better for me than anything processed.  It shouldn't be so hard to get ideas for main dishes and simple sides.   So much of what goes on on TV, on blogs and in cookbooks is kitchen theater (to borrow a phrase).  

As always, I know there is something out there for me.  I just have to keep looking to find it. 

Kits

I'm going to make chili tonight.  I've never made chili before.  I'm going to brown some beef, add water and tomato sauce and a chili starter kit.

The last part of that list is the most important.  When I read In Defense of Food in 2009 it changed so much about the way I looked at food, cooking and recipes.  I have struggled since then to cook mostly from scratch.  To avoid boxes, kits, canned soups and anything that uses overly commercial products.  It has been a struggle for a non-cook like me.  And I realized today that using a kit here and there isn't going to be the end of the world.  It is better that I make this chili this way then get take out which is what I have been doing for the last two weeks.  

I am still going to be very careful about what I make and try to avoid the overly processed meal helpers but if there is an envelope of seasonings that helps me along the way now and then, I'm not going to feel guilty about it.   

Pie

I made pie.  Sticking with my goal** of baking twice a month I made this Tollhouse Pie.  It wasn't bad although in my head I was making a brownie pie which this is not.  I was proud of myself for making it and I even looked forward to the process which is a big hurdle for me.  Now let's see if I can keep it up.

**Decided to call all those "resolutions" goals instead.  I have one resolution and that is STOP BEING LAZY.  All the other steps are goals to help me achieve my resolution.  Works for me.  

Black Eyed Pea Dip

I've made this before but I thought it would be a good way to kick off the year and it covers my vegetable dish for the week.  I won't always make stuff I've made before but I couldn't resist trying to add a little luck with this Black Eyed Pea Dip.

It may not look great, but it was tasty and it was a good way to use up the unopened bag of tortilla chips on my counter.  I didn't add the hot sauce because I'm not a fan of the taste and I think I added just a little bit too much jalapeno.  It had a nice slow burn but I could have probably just done with a slow glow.

This is not a cooking blog so don't expect fabulous food photography.  I'm sure I'll get better as I go along.

Pioneer Woman: Zannie's Black-Eyed Pea Dip

Also...

The idea that I am going to make four or five meals each night that are completely made up of only fresh ingredients and using no processed ingredients is ridiculous.  Sometimes I think I have to do new  things all or nothing.  I am starting to hate cooking again.  Not that I ever loved it but I am starting to  lean towards severe dislike.  

I am going to cut myself some slack.  I have been beating myself up when I have made one of my old comfort foods, sometimes from a box.  Right now I think I need to start with the concept of  "buy groceries and then eat your groceries and don't go out to eat."  I am going to aim for one or two recipes a week with mostly fresh ingredients and if I want to eat a frozen pizza the other nights, no guilt. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Finding Keepers

Remember when I wrote about learning to cook (eek... I can't believe it's almost been a year) and when I made my first real meal of the "learn to cook" era?  The cooking has been sporadic at best although I have been much, much more consistent since the beginning of this year.  I accept that it is going to take more than just a few months to unravel years of bad habits and thinking.

One thing that I have just realized in the last few weeks is that not all my recipes are going to be keepers like that first one.  It took me forever, but it tasted good and I would definitely make it again.  There aren't many recipes that are falling into the "make it again" category.  Many of the recipes are servicable, nothing horrible that I had to throw in the trash, but just sustaining me for the evening.  

Maybe I'm too picky.  Or maybe that's just the nature of cooking.  Maybe I don't have a huge arsenal of recipes because I have only been doing this for a year and I'll have a bigger list after I've been doing it for 5 or 10 years.  Time will tell.  

P.S.  Tonight I made a keeper.  Deviled Chicken from Cook's Country.  It was HOT (mustard, hot sauce and black pepper) and it was GOOD.

P.P.S.  Love the iPhone app GroceryZen.  It has a clean, easy to use interface and I really like that it has a recipe section (which got me thinking about all this). I can enter all the ingredients for a specific recipe and then later if I want to cook that meal all the items will be added to my grocery list with the push of a button.

Shopping Trip

New goodies for the kitchen. My aunt and my grandmother both gave me money to buy things for the kitchen so today I put that money to use.  I'm excited to use my new stuff.  It isn't the most expensive equipment out there, but it is replacing fry pans that I've had since college that were non-stick but are now more of the scratched up, flaking variety.  I bought three new pans, a universal lid, a food processor (finally!) and some new utensils.  And because I couldn't stop my self I went across the street to the bookstore and bought yet another cookbook.  As always I have high hopes.