I'm a Better Cook Than This

I've been meaning to write about this story for a week now.  Things have gotten in the way:  a computer crash, a new computer, new photo editing software, puke.  But now I'm home from work with a little girl who is still sick but sleeping.

A coworker of Ryan's and a friend of ours, recently had a baby.  Baby Tyler is adorable and such a blessing after a very painful road.  The least I could do was to bring her a meal.  I set out to make my standard "New Mom Meal" - Homemade Mac N Cheese, Green Beans with Nuts, and some sort of a dessert.  It was a busy day so my dessert was cookies baked from frozen dough.  I know I know.  It's not like me but I was in a bind and that's why I usually have some on hand.

I was multi-tasking for sure.  I had the cookies in the oven, the pasta boiling, nuts in the toaster oven, and the green beans steaming.  I kind of felt like Rachel Ray.  This was my 30 minute meal (minus baking time for the mac n cheese.)

I got distracted and went to the other room for a minute or maybe 10.  I have a toddler - these things happen. When I came back something smelled funny.  It was then that it occurred to me that I never put water under the green beans and I was cooking them dry.  Oops.  I've done that a few times before and just added water after the fact and saved the green beans. 

When I picked up the pot to bring it to the sink, I noticed that my stainless steel pot was literally melting.  I'm talking liquid metal.  I put it down on one of the other burners and quickly called Ryan.  The pot had a glass lid on it which was now starting to pop and sounded like it was going to explode.  By now my pasta needed to be drained and my cookies were ready to come out of the oven.  I was scared to even go back in the kitchen. 

I ran in quickly and drained my pasta, took my cookies out of the oven, and ran back to the safety of my family room.  Boo!

Fast forward 45 minutes.  My pot is cool and ruined. 

I have 5 or 6 piles of hardened molten metal. 

My green beans are in the trash.  And so is my pot.

 
So what do I do?  I finished my mac n cheese and started my green beans over again.  With water this time.  And they turned out perfect this time. 

I thought for sure Ryan was going to sign me up for "Worst Cooks in America".  But instead I was singing "Hip Hip Horray!  Tracey saved the Day!(I think I've been watching too much Super Why)   And the look of contentment on Ashley's face holding her sweet baby was worth my melted pot.

My Kitchen is Filled

When I got married I was 22.  I had lived in a dorm room or an apartment by myself since I had left for college.  I didn't cook and I didn't bake.  When I registered my mother almost had a heart attack.  My registry was horrible.  My mom tried to convince me to put more things on it and that indeed I would want these things later in life.  I didn't agree so I didn't change it. 

Each year after that my mom would give me things for my kitchen.  I didn't use them so I donated a bunch of them each time we moved (which was 4 times in 6 years).

Then I started cooking.  And baking.  And we started the tradition of our Christmas party.  And I didn't have anything.  Regret set in big time.  So I've slowly been accumulating some but my kitchen has been lacking.  My mother has given me things for Christmas and birthdays and I haven't donated them (and she never once has said I told you so because she is so full of grace).

And then recently my friend Joy started selling Pampered Chef.  After going to a few parties, I decided to host a show.  And we all know that I'm an over-achiever and a tad competitive.  So I decided to really go for it.  I have to say that it wasn't hard at all. 

The order came in today.  This is all stuff for everyone else.  It's over $900 worth of stuff. 

And here is my stuff (with the exception of 1 gift that I purchased).  I got $434 worth of stuff for $100!  And I feel like my kitchen is mostly filled.  I'm always up for cool kitchen stuff and what an easy way to get a ton of stuff for free and super cheap. 

I can't wait to cook dinner tonight!

What are you 80?

I have this joke with a bunch of my friends where I ask them if they are 80?  It started when a little girl at church asked me to put something in her pocket book.  I replied "What are you 80?"  It's a great line when people do things or say things that just seem old. 

Today someone needs to throw the line at me.   I made pickles and canned them.

Here's a few pictures from my adventure  (Sorry for the poor quality.  My camera battery was dead and I took them with my iPhone.  And I don't mean the new iPhone.  I don't have mine yet.  But don't worry, it's on order and I have scoured this town looking for one and I'm on the list everywhere.  2 more weeks baby!)

Prepped and ready to go

Boiling

Finished Product

I haven't tried any yet.  You have to let them sit for 24 hours before you can open them.  I'll be bringing them to a cookout tomorrow.  I'll let you know the verdict.  Stay tuned this summer for my tomato canning adventure.

Where Have You Been All My Vegetarian Life?

I have always been under the impression that I don't like eggplant.  My dad never liked it and was very verbal about it when I was growing up.  My mom never made it.  So I just assumed I didn't like it. 

Then I ate it at my father in law's house because it was all there was.  Shockingly, I loved it.  I mean what vegetarian doesn't like eggplant?  But I have been scared to make it at home.  I have no idea what I'm doing with it.  I have no clue how to even pick one or prepare it. 

But I have challenged myself to branch out.  And so I bought one.  And I got it home and it sat in my fridge for almost a week.  I had no idea what to do with it.  So I pulled out all my cookbooks.  And yes I mean all of them, even the ones that I haven't opened in years.  I didn't find anything that sounded awesome so I took a little for this and a little of that and made up my own recipe. 

Baked Eggplant Pasta with Goat Cheese

Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion

1 Medium Red Pepper

1 Package Mushrooms

Garlic

White Wine

1/2 Tsp Thyme

Red Pepper Flakes

Salt and Pepper

1 Can (the big one) Crushed Tomatoes

1 Eggplant

1 lb Pasta cooked aldente

1-2 oz soft goat cheese

Fresh Basil

Cut the Eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds then again into smaller strips. Salt it.  Leave it be while you make the sauce

Make a red sauce by cooking the onions, peppers, and Mushrooms.  Once they are well cooked, add the garlic.  Cook for 1 - 2 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of white wine and scrape all the garlic off the bottom of the pan.  Add the Crushed Tomatoes, Thyme, Red Pepper Flakes, salt, and Pepper.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

While that simmers, stir fry the eggplant in a pan with olive oil.  Once it is nice and tender, put it in the sauce. Let it cook for 15 - 20 minutes while you cook the pasta. (And if you are wondering, I modified my picture to cut out the crumbs that were on my stove from a previous meal.  Saying that I'm a messy cook is an understatement)

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the sauce pot.  Add the goat cheese and stir really well.  Just that little bit will make this dish so creamy and delicious!

Transfer it all to a 13x9 and sprinkle the top with fresh basil (mine came from the garden).  Cover it with foil and cook it at 375 for 15 minutes. 

Enjoy.  If you have any suggestions of what I should do with eggplant, please let me know!

So Sweet

I was planning on posting another recipe today but I'm not going to because it didn't turn out very well. That's all part of experimenting with the kitchen but I was still highly disappointed. Black bean cakes with homemade guacamole and dirty rice.  Sounds good right?  Looks good right?

 
Not this time.  The rice was crunchy and not cooked.  The black bean cakes were dry and too strong in spice.  The guacamole was at least good but that's not enough to post about.  (Side note, I have successully made these black bean cakes before and they were good.  I have no idea what happened)
 
So instead I'm going to show you what came out of this....

 
These...

 
And the best part is that it's just the beginning of a long summer of fresh fruits and veggies.  I can hardly wait.

Love of Food

I have talked about food on here before, but mostly in terms of trying not to eat it.  I have never talked about our lifestyle in regards to food or my love of baking and cooking.  I did do one recent post with a couple of recipes but that doesn't scratch the surface of this area of my life. 

I love to bake and I love to cook.  It's not that I want to do it all the time, but when I get a new recipe it's like a dollar burning a whole in my pocket. This is a trait that my mother instilled in me since I was a little girl.  I hope to pass it on to Ainsley as well. 

Although I learned a lot of what I know from my mother, I have taken that to a different place.  All my baking skills are still pretty much what I learned from her, but when it comes to cooking, my life has taken a different path.  13 years ago I became a vegetarian.  That seems like a life time ago.  My reasons at the time were to win over this awesome guy and let him know that I was serious about a relationship with him. 

Now my reasons are totally different.  When I look back over my life, I have always loved vegetables, not all of them, but a lot of them.  At this point in my life, I can look back and say that my life is much happier living without the consumption of animals.  I am in no way an animal activist.  There are things in my life that have a definite right and a definite wrong.  This is not one of them.  One of the reasons I like being a vegetarian is because it forces me to be creative.  It forces me to think beyond chicken, steak, and fish. 

I do get in ruts.  I have been in one lately.  Over the past few weeks, I have made a deal with myself.  I am going to try a new recipe every week.  I think it's too much to try a new one everyday.  One a week is enough.  The rules are (since you know I love rules) that the ingredients must be fresh and the vegetables not always the same old same old.  I'll post some of the recipes of the good ones on here.

Here's this week's recipe taken from Epicuriuos.com.  I loved it because it seemed like a bunch of really good fresh ingredients.  Lots of green and healthy goodness, plus we are growing Brussel Sprouts in the garden and I needed to find a recipe for them.

Brussel Spout and Cabbage Pasta
1/2 lb Brussel Sprouts, trimmed and quartered
2 Leeks (white and pale green parts)
3/4 lb Cabbage cored and chopped
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Butter
4 cloves Garlic
2/3 cup Dry white wine
4 cups water
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp thyme
3/4 lb pasta
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Cook leeks and cabbage in 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp butter with salt and pepper in a large pot over medium heat until soft (5 minutes).  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add the wine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated (2-3 minutes).  Add water, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp thyme, and remaining oil and butter.  Simmer covered until the cabbage is tender and the liquid is reduced by half (about 15 minutes).  Stir in the Brussel Sprouts, simmer, cover and cook until tender (about 10 minutes)

Cook the pasta in another pot and save 2 cups of the water when you drain it. 

Put the pasta in with the vegetables and the reserved 2 cups of water.  Simmer for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and toss with the parsley and remaining thyme.  Serve with lemon wedge.

Happy cooking!

Slightly Inspired

As you know, I had my kitchen redone this year.  I love it.  BUT, I have been using it to cook the same meals I always have.  You would think that a new kitchen would inspire new recipes.  It should have but it didn't.  3 Nights in a row last week we had some variety of pasta, brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots.

Then I found this blog. Now I'm inspried. Kendra loves her kitchen and loves to cook.

So this week I have made 2 new meals.  Here they are.

Chickpea Vegetable Soup

Butter
1 package sliced mushrooms  (I'm into pre-sliced....makes it easier)
1 Red Onion diced
1 Red Bell Pepper - diced
1 Cup Frozen Corn
1 bunch of Fresh baby spinach (I used a bag of prewashed...again easier)
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans chickpeas
6 cups water
2 bouillion cubes
Garlic - as much as you can take
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil or a bunch of fresh if you have it
1 pinch Red Pepper Flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesean Cheese
Crusty Bread

Start by sauting the mushrooms in the butter until they are mostly cooked.  Add the onions and peppers and cook until the onions are soft.  Add in everything else.  Simmer covered for 30 minutes.  Serve with Parmesean Cheese sprinkled on top and a slice of crusty bread. 

Easy right?  And it was so hearty and yummy.  Plus it yields A TON so there are plenty of leftovers for another day.  And it freezes well for an added bonus.

White Bean Pizza

1 Package Pizza Dough
1 Can White Canellini Beans (drained)
1 small Can diced tomatoes or fresh if you can find them
Couple slices of Red onion
Fresh Basil
Salt and Pepper
1 Clove Garlic - pressed

Spread out the pizza dough in a baking pan.  In a bowl, mash the white beans.  Add the salt and pepper and the garlic.  Spread that on the pizza dough.  Place the drained tomatoes on top of that sauce. Top with the onion slices and fresh basil.  Bake according to the pizza crust directions.  Mine was 20 minutes at 450.

This recipe isn't new but it's one I haven't used in a really long time. 

I hope you are inspired.  Let me know if you have any fun recipes I should try.  And remember, we are vegetarians!