Learning to Cook Dinner

I don't remember learning to cook. I guess it's been something I've learned by helping over the years. I can remember being in middle school cooking things, and having some spectacular failures. Knowing how to cook is something I admit I often take for granted. I don't have to think about how to put dinner on the table every night. This weekend, I was reminded that so many people struggle with that daily dilemma. For lots of families this is a truth:

source

One of Prince Charming's friends is moving 10 minutes away from my house this week. In talking with this friend's wife, K, she asks me if I can teach her to cook. Of course- I love creating new foodies. :)

In thinking about how to teach her to cook, I thought I'd share some tips with you. Just in case you have trouble in the dinner department too.

1. Start small, and don't over-do it. I only cook one new recipe a week. Like any new thing, trying to do a whole lot at once is overwhelming. Even if you can't boil water, just pick one day a week to try a recipe. I like the weekend, since I tend to be more relaxed and not so stressed about getting dinner on the table at a reasonable hour. After a while, you'll be able to add more nights in where you cook things you already know how to make.

2. Start by making a list of things you like to eat. For so many people, the hardest thing about dinner (other than the fact it comes EVERY DAY), is figuring out what to make. The first step to meal planning is thinking of what you like. I made a list of things I liked to eat when I was in my first apartment. Those are the things you want to learn to cook first. Once you know them, you can have Taco Tuesdays or Spaghetti Fridays or whatever.

3. Don't be intimidated by fancy names of dishes. You might think you could never make boeuf bourguignon, when really, it's beef stew in a fancy dress. Chicken Parmesan? That's breaded chicken with spaghetti sauce and cheese. Risotto? Slow cooked rice.

4. Don't be afraid of meal helpers. Lots of people cook dinner every night with Hamburger Helper, make cakes with Duncan Heinz, and are perfectly good cooks. The reason those products are on the shelf is that it makes dinner cheaper/ easier/ faster. So use them if you want or need to.

5. Expect failure. Even Julia Child had flops. We all do. I still remember the dried out Thanksgiving turkey that was raw inside. The key is to say "oh well" and just eat all the side dishes.


Hopefully, this advice helps you in your dinner escapades. Please let me know if you'd like to hear about how K  learns to cook.

Thanksgiving Food Wrap up

I mentioned all that Sissy was making for our Thanksgiving spread here. And true to what I said in that post, I did not help at all, but instead consumed massive quantities of wine. She REALLY outdid herself too.

Yeast rolls from scratch people. From scratch. I do not have that patience, time, or skill. Which I did not get a picture of. But trust me, they were yummy.

Here are pictures of the buffet:

 The dressing, which there is no recipe for, but was adapted from some epicurious recipe, plus who knows how many others. And it was REALLY good, full of cranberries and artisan bread and nutty wild rice. And some veggies.
She also made mac and cheese from scratch, but couldn't find the recipe for me.

Homemade Cranberry Orange Relish

 Spinach salad with homemade Balsamic vinagrette.

 Sweet Potato souffle. Again, no recipe.

 And for dessert: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting (YUMMY!!!!)

 And Sweet Potato Creme Brulee - which was my favorite!

Then, Saturday morning, she made overnight baked french toast:

Sissy is a huge Annie's Eats fan. So a lot of inspiration came from there. And from Cooking Light via myrecipes.com

Here are links to some of the recipes:
(aka the ones she didn't modify the heck out of until it is basically her own)

Yeast Rolls
The Cake
The Creme Brulee
The French Toast
The Soup I didn't get a picture of but that was incredibly yummy


So, folks, my sweet Sissy does not think she has anything to talk about. I think she should write a food blog. So I can have a place to get all her recipes.  Anyone else agree with me?

Sissy's Couples Retreat Food Wrap-up

Sissy went on a couple's retreat with her church young adult group over Halloween weekend.

They spent two days bonding with the other young couples and eating and drinking on the beach. I'm a little jealous of the beach part.

She made Jalapeno Popper Dip and Sangria for her contribution to the potluck. In addition to reading my blog, Sissy reads Annie's Eats, and got the Jalapeno dip there.  I made it for bunco, and it's really good, but definitely not mild!

Jalapeno Popper Dip:

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened


1 cup mayonnaise ( I used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 nonfat plain yogurt)

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chiles, drained

1 (4 oz.) can diced jalapeño peppers, drained

½ cup shredded Mexican style cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray



Let the cream cheese soften really well, or you'll mix "forever". Mix in the mayo, shredded cheeses, and peppers. Layer it into a greased casserole dish (8x8 or a round pie dish), and top with panko and parmesan.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with veggie sticks or crackers.

This is definitely not mild, but you can make it milder by cutting back on the peppers.

She also made easy-peasy Sangria.

Take lite tropical punch fruit juice, pour it in a pitcher. Add red wine. Garnish with jarred cherries and citrus slices. Drink heavily to quench the fire from the popper dip.

I'm thinking I need to convince her to make a large pitcher of Sangria for me to enjoy on her screened porch during Thanksgiving. Work has been super busy lately, and I'm looking forward to relaxing!

Tasty Tuesday Fail!

I had intended to make a knock-off of Starbuck's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins for this week. However, I learned that I should not attempt to multi task while baking and to always use fresh ingredients.

My muffins looked great straight out of the oven:

But were totally doughy on the inside and tasted awful.


I'm going to attempt a re-do!

This is definitely a mis-adventure!

Pork Chops, Stuffing, and Apples Dinner- Tasty Tuesday

A lot of people in blog-land do a Tasty Tuesday feature of a new recipe. I'm going to try to make sure I post new recipes on Tuesdays at least, and more often if I have good ones to share.

Mom sent me this really easy Fall pork chop recipe. It was really yummy too!

Ingredients:

4 pork chops
1 package stuffing mix, prepared
1 can Apple Pie filling (or make your own)

I had made apples earlier and made this recipe to use them up.
I peeled, cored, and cubed 6 small apples. Cook in 1/2 c Splenda granular and 1/2 c water with cinnamon, and nutmeg 30 minutes over medium-low heat or until soft. You're trying to make somewhere between pie filling and apple sauce.

Grease a 13x9 pan with cooking spray.
Spread apple filling on the bottom of the pan
Top with prepared stuffing mix
Top that with the raw pork chops. Sprinkle pork chops on top with salt, pepper, and any other spices you'd like (cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice would be good, I think curry powder would too, or a "glaze" with some apricot jam.)

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the pork chops are done (I cooked my boneless chops about 30 minutes.)

Enjoy!

White Bean Arugula and Chicken salad

I'm trying to get back on the bandwagon and eat healthier. I'd gotten a recipe for this salad using salmon in a mailer last summer and put it aside to try. I found it again when going through and re-organizing my recipe binder.

The original recipe is from Weight Watchers.

I used:
(4 servings)
1 15 oz can white cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
2- 5 oz cans chunk chicken breast, drained
1 red onion, diced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon (3 tbsp)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
arugula

Mix everything but the arugula together, and put it on top of the arugula.

OK, so this needs some changes to the original recipe.

I would dress the arugula with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper before adding the chicken-bean mixture on top. It needed something bad!

Also, I highly recommend  cutting WAY back on the onion. Like maybe 1/4 of an onion would be good.  Mine was intensely onion-y. Good thing Z was at his house, because man. Onion breath in a bad way.  And I'm a huge fan of onions.

I ate this the next day for lunch at work, and it definitely needed more dressing as the beans and chicken absorbed a lot of the original dressing.

It's a very good salad, just needs some changes to make it more palatable.

Healthier Homemade Mac and Cheese

At Sissy's request, I tried to "healthify" Mac and Cheese.  I love me some ooey cheesy goodness, so getting it healthier means I can have it more often!

Rachel Ray had done a segment on her show.. last year maybe? and had put squash in mac and cheese to get kids to eat veggies. So I thought I'd try that too.

I used Betty Crocker's recipe for macaroni and cheese from an old cookbook of hers.

Macaroni and Cheese from Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 40th Anniversary Edition (1991)

2 cups uncooked pasta ( I would change to using a whole pound of pasta)
2 Tbsp margarine or butter ( I used 1 Tbsp olive oil, and 1 Tbsp margarine)
1/4 c chopped onion
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups milk ( I used skim)
8 oz shredded cheese ( I used 2% cheddar)

Plus I added:
4 oz grated mozzarella blend (leftover)
10 oz packaged cooked squash, thawed (Not in Betty's)


Cook the pasta in boiling water according to package directions. Melt the margarine in a saucepan ( use a saucepan, this is what you make the cheese sauce in!) over not too high heat (medium at best!) Cook the onion until soft.  Add flour, salt , and pepper. Cook until bubbly and looks like this:

 Remove from heat, stir in milk. Return to heat and stir constantly until boiling. Keep stirring and boiling for about a minute, it will thicken up. Take it back off the heat, and stir in the cheese and squash.  Add the macaroni and stir it all together.

Pour into an ungreased casserole and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy!
I added about 12 oz of cheese in total. The squash flavor was still pretty apparent. I'd recommend half the squash next time, or double everything else. 

Overall, it was very cheesy and creamy, and very filling. I ate this with some roasted veggies and didn't miss meat at all!

Easy Shepherd's Pie

I was asked to share fall recipes by sissy and Mom, so here's another comfort food go-to.

This is really easy if you brown a bunch of ground beef when its on sale and freeze it in smaller packages.

You will need:

1 lb ground beef (turkey or chicken could work too)
1 lb bag mixed veggies
1 envelope instant mashed potatoes
1 jar gravy


Brown your beef.

Thaw the veggies a little bit. Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions.
In the pan you browned your beef in, or a bowl, mix together- beef, veggies, gravy.

Pour into a greased casserole dish.
Spread potatoes on top, making sure to go all the way to the edges to seal.

Bake in 350 degree oven 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serve with your favorite salad.

This can be made ahead and baked. I have used veggies that were frozen solid, it just takes longer.

Mexican Lasagna

How do you do Mexican that's healthy, easy, and fast?

Monday night I had a craving for Mexican. Here were the criteria I needed to meet:
1. Easy- I'm tired after work, and don't want a ton of effort into dinner. No four course meals here. Julia Child lives somewhere else.
2. I wanted it baked. I'm having a use the oven craving for some reason.
3. I needed it to be healthy and have veggies.
4. No cheese. a) healthy and b) Prospective Prince Charming "Z" doesn't eat cheese.

So this is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1 bag frozen pepper and onion blend
1 8 oz package sliced mushrooms
1 can black beans
2 cans enchilada sauce
Tortillas
Packaged taco seasoning, or make your own with garlic salt, chili powder, cumin, oregano and onion powder. (there are scads of recipes on the net)
Desired taco toppings- mine were cheese, tomato, avocado, sour cream and salsa



To Prepare:

Brown your turkey in a nonstick skillet.

Add veggies and cook until soft. ( I did this in two separate pans, because I needed them for another dish, but I'd do it in one if this was all I was cooking for).

Once soft, sprinkle with taco seasoning to taste and stir. Do not add liquid.
Drain and rinse your beans.
Add your beans into the skillet. Stir like crazy until it's all combined.

Turn the oven on to 350. Spray an 8x8 casserole with no-stick spray.

Pour some enchilada sauce in the bottom of the casserole. 
Layer tortillas to cover.
Put in the beef/ veggie/ bean mixture.

Pour enchilada sauce on top

Repeat
Top with a layer of tortillas, some salsa, and enchilada sauce.

Bake in the 350 oven for like 20 minutes until everything is hot and happy.

Serve topped with your favorite taco toppings.

Serves 4-6 people.

Changes to  make:

If your family likes cheese, add it in on top of the beef mixture in each layer, with more on top.
If your family doesn't like beans, or veggies, leave them out. You can change the veggies to what you like too.
You can use red or green enchilada sauce, salsa, tomato sauce. Something wet.
You can use whatever tortillas you have or like.

This can totally be prepared ahead, frozen, and baked another time.

Mini Cakes

Sissy has been begging for me to write a post on the mini cakes we made last weekend.  I was inspired to do this after seeing I Design's post about her monogrammed cupcakes.

We made chocolate cake using this recipe from a very old Southern Living Weddings magazine I had years ago.  We made half a recipe.

To get the mini cake size, we used mini cake pans.

And filled them half full

We filled them with raspberry jam, and frosted them with chocolate buttercream frosting (and added a little Chambord for flavor)

We made dark and white modeling chocolate from this recipe.

Modeling chocolate is actually easier than I thought. Melt chocolate, stir in corn syrup, and let harden in the refrigerator.  Don't cheat and use the freezer to cool faster- it freezes and then you have to let it thaw. (learned the hard way)

We rolled the chocolate out like pie crust. Spray your cutting mat or countertop with cooking spray so the chocolate doesn't stick.  I learned this the hard way too.

Then I took a cleaned rubber stamp and stamped a design onto the chocolate. 

 

Then I cut it out using a cookie cutter.

And carefully placed it on top of the frosted cake

Repeat the process with the second chocolate color and a different stamp.

And Ta-da! It looks like this beauty:

Everyone thought these were very yummy!

Linked to:

Girls' Beach Weekend and mini cakes

I am SO excited because this weekend I am going to see my lovely sister in Charleston! It is so great to have family in Charleston because I am absolutely totally in love with that city. The vibe, the architecture, the history, it just makes my little designer heart go pitter patter.

I love everything about this city. Drayton Hall, East Bay, South of Broad, all the antique stores, the FOOD!, being with my sister, the weather, the beach. I could go on and on.

There is definitely a reason I don't live there- I would NEVER get anything productive done!  So if Prince Charming is reading this out there somewhere, I would love to be Cinderella in a house on the Battery.

This weekend, we will be: eating fresh seafood, walking on the beach, and drinking lots of wine and gossiping. 

My sister made these cakes for her boyfriend's birthday.

Aren't they adorable! I want to make them in chocolate, with a raspberry filling and chocolate icing.

Then, I want to decorate them like this:

Photo courtesy of I Design

As shown on I Design

I think we'll be using modeling chocolate for both the background and the "monogram" since Sissy doesn't like to work with Fondant. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea, and I think it would be so fun to bake together again!

Stay tuned for pictures from our weekend fun!

Easy Stir-Fry how to

Invariably, the day you forget to plan dinner is the day you’re STARVING at 4:30. One of my quick and easy go-to dinners is a Stir fry. This is easy to change up based on what meat and sauce you put in. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can make your own sauce. I’m usually not.


To start, gather your ingredients. This is a dinner where preparation is VERY important. You want everything in place before you start, or you’ll be scrambling around and drive yourself crazy.

I made a Teriyaki Chicken for this illustration.

You will need:

Meat (figure 4-6 oz per person)

Frozen bagged veggies ( I use 1 bag for every 2 people)

Bottled sauce of your choice

Rice

Nonstick spray

Cut the meat into bite size pieces. Open the bag of veggies, and let it sit on the counter to thaw a bit while you start cooking. Cook the rice according to the package directions. Meanwhile, spray a large wok or sauté pan with nonstick spray, and heat over medium high heat. When hot, put in your meat and cook until browned and cooked through.

Remove the chicken and re-spray the pan with non-stick spray. Dump in your veggies and let cook until tender.

When the veggies are tender, add the meat back in, and pour your bottled sauce on top. Stir until coated and heated through. I let mine boil for a bit to thicken the sauce. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Easy-peasy, and 15 minutes start to finish. Yummy, healthy, and fast, what else do you need?

What I've been eating

Here's what I've made over the past two weeks while I was traveling and trying to finish my bathroom.

Friday, when I got home from the airport, I made tomato soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches with Jalapeno Jelly.

Tomato soup was the V-8 Tomato Basil soup, and I added some fresh basil I had.

For the sandwiches:

Multi-grain bread
Brie
Goat cheese
Jalapeno Jelly (I had some my darling sister made for me)
Olive oil

I spread the cheese on the bread, topped it with jelly, drizzled olive oil on the outside and stuck them on the Foreman.

I admit, I had never made grilled cheese on the "indoor electric grill" before, and it was SO easy. Must remember that.

This is a gourmet grilled cheese, and every bit as yummy as I hoped it would be. Crispy on the outside, it was tart and creamy with a sweet finish from the jelly, with just a touch of heat.


I also made Honey Bourbon baked ham with roasted potatoes and mushroom garlic green beans.
The mushroom garlic green beans are simply steam in bag beans with a can of mushrooms and some dried minced garlic. The potatoes are baby Yukon golds, cut up, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning blend then roasted.

And for the Ham:

Packaged Ham slice

3 tablespoons honey


2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard

Splash apple cider

I combined everything but the ham, poured it over the ham slices, and let marinate for like half an hour before putting the whole thing in the oven. I baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes or until it was warmed through, basting with the marinade twice.

This was really yummy!

For the Labor Day weekend, I'm excited about working on recovering my ottoman, and making my fall wreath for the front door. I'm also running in the US 10K Classic on Monday morning! Let me know what you're working on!