Made another mac and cheese...this one with cauliflower (yuck!) and smoked gouda cheese...never heard of it or tasted it! I left the cauliflower in big enough chunks that I could pick around. Now smoked gouda I'd never heard of or tasted so I made myself be adventurous. Ok I'm not a complete moron but the cheese was harder to use than I thought it would be! First I undid the packaging, it was a circular cheese so I was expecting a red or blue casing around the cheese but there wasn't anything. I at first thought there was some kind of casing so I tried to remove it...no luck. Then I figured I guess this is just the cheese but it was a weird color and consistency. I knew it wasn't right but I couldn't quite figure it out. It wouldn't shred so finally I just cut a piece of it off and realized what was going on. My first thought of a casing was correct but they used wax that was the same color as the cheese! Now why would they do that! I know why, just to throw off newby's like me! It was a yellow cheese so I got a small piece, had a cup of grape juice on stand by just in case, and tasted it. It wasn't bad. My mom and Liz can be the judges of the dish though, I only tasted a bit of it. I'd eat it again though, picking around the cauliflower of course.
It's off to Pennsylvania tomorrow for Thanksgiving so I probably won't be cooking from the cookbook much the next few days. I am excited to try this Straberry pretzel dish that my friend Heather gave me the recipe for. I'm making that for a dessert at Thanksgiving so I'll let you know how it goes! Hopefully it turns out as yummy as Heathers does!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Recipe #4
Mac and Cheddar with Broccoli
This recipe is pretty straight forward. This was my first official "sauce" I've made from scratch and I have to say it turned out nicely. I used WAY less spices than called for though which was a good call! It called for dijon mustard which was a nice touch to the cheese sauce...it was quite delicious!
So Rachel says that the serving size is for 4 people and it was just me and my mom, and I've noticed her portion size must be HUGE because I could serve 8 with the recipes I've been cooking. So this time I cut everything in half since it's just me and my mom but still what should have been 2 servings was more like 4-6!
The next few recipes coming up are also variations of mac and cheese which I'm not too excited about but I'm committed to this project. Although I do have a confession, I plan to skip the last mac and cheese dish. Its a smoky chipotle mac and cheese with a lot of hot spices and some kind of hot sausage also, not a fan of hot food. Tomorrow I plan to make the next 2 dishes...mac and smoked gouda with cauliflower...I don't like cauliflower and I'm pretty sure I won't like gouda cheese but I'm at least gonna try the noodles with the cheese and then give it to my mom and Liz to try. For me, I'll make this tex mex mac and cheedar so well see out of all of these which turns out the best. My vote is for #1 but you never know, I could be immensely suprised. The mac and cheedar with broccoli gets a 7/10. It was good, and the mustard in the sauce I really liked, but I just love Velveeta shells and cheese so I'm not sure that the extra work is worth it haha.
Tomorrow should be more entertaining. I knew this would be a boring dish to cook, eat, and write about...sorry guys.
This recipe is pretty straight forward. This was my first official "sauce" I've made from scratch and I have to say it turned out nicely. I used WAY less spices than called for though which was a good call! It called for dijon mustard which was a nice touch to the cheese sauce...it was quite delicious!
So Rachel says that the serving size is for 4 people and it was just me and my mom, and I've noticed her portion size must be HUGE because I could serve 8 with the recipes I've been cooking. So this time I cut everything in half since it's just me and my mom but still what should have been 2 servings was more like 4-6!
The next few recipes coming up are also variations of mac and cheese which I'm not too excited about but I'm committed to this project. Although I do have a confession, I plan to skip the last mac and cheese dish. Its a smoky chipotle mac and cheese with a lot of hot spices and some kind of hot sausage also, not a fan of hot food. Tomorrow I plan to make the next 2 dishes...mac and smoked gouda with cauliflower...I don't like cauliflower and I'm pretty sure I won't like gouda cheese but I'm at least gonna try the noodles with the cheese and then give it to my mom and Liz to try. For me, I'll make this tex mex mac and cheedar so well see out of all of these which turns out the best. My vote is for #1 but you never know, I could be immensely suprised. The mac and cheedar with broccoli gets a 7/10. It was good, and the mustard in the sauce I really liked, but I just love Velveeta shells and cheese so I'm not sure that the extra work is worth it haha.
Tomorrow should be more entertaining. I knew this would be a boring dish to cook, eat, and write about...sorry guys.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Recipe #3 Goulash
I was excited for Goulash because I love it when my gramma or mom make it so I was hoping to be successful. I was so excited that I invited Shelly and her kids over to try this one. Of course I added toy story macaroni and cheese and grapes to the menu for the kiddos. So here's the sad part...the Goulsh was not good :(
I know Rachel is not a measurer so maybe she just guessed on how much spices she uses but it was WAY over seasoned. I'm the beginninger so I just followed Rachels directions. Next time I would use about 1/4 of the spices!!!! lol It wasn't spicy, hot or anything it was just overwhelmed with extra flavor that made it worse not better. The other big problem, this Goulash recipe did NOT call for tomatos or tomato sauce...I would have rather had a traditional goulash that I'm used to and then it would have been much better. It wasn't horrible, I ate it but it wasn't goulash...I'd give it a 6/10 because it has potential...with less spices and adding some tomato sauce.
At least the night wasn't a total bust though because I had great company. The kids are always entertaining and tonight was no exception! The kids played dress up with my cowboy hat and boots, also my moms army boots and hat...and then just about every other pair of boots I have haha. It was very fun and very cute.
I know Rachel is not a measurer so maybe she just guessed on how much spices she uses but it was WAY over seasoned. I'm the beginninger so I just followed Rachels directions. Next time I would use about 1/4 of the spices!!!! lol It wasn't spicy, hot or anything it was just overwhelmed with extra flavor that made it worse not better. The other big problem, this Goulash recipe did NOT call for tomatos or tomato sauce...I would have rather had a traditional goulash that I'm used to and then it would have been much better. It wasn't horrible, I ate it but it wasn't goulash...I'd give it a 6/10 because it has potential...with less spices and adding some tomato sauce.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Recipe #2 Shepherds Pie
First I'll fill you in on the recipe. I had only even heard of Shepherds Pie once when my mom told me she had lunch at Cheddars, I asked her what she had and her reply was, "Shepherds pie, you wouldn't have liked it." So I was a little skeptical starting out, but my mission is to try new things! I couldn't give up by recipe #2! This recipe called for Turkey as the meat but I'm not a big turkey fan so I went with beef which I hear is the traditional meat for shepherds pie anyway. And I especially don't like it when turkey pretends to be something it's not...like turkey bacon! The first time I tried that was on a camping trip with my youth group; my youth minister David handed it to me, I tasted it, and I thought he was trying to poison me! This is something I have actually tried and do not like! But I digress....So it's basically a casserole, the bottom of the casserole had ground beef, bacon, onion, carrots, celery, and red pepper. (for the full recipe and instructions you can email me). The recipe called for peas also but I left this out because I don't like peas and I think that peas dominate a dish! If it has peas in it literally all I taste is pea (bahahahah). So let me tell you, cooking the stuff up smelled delicious! I was actually a little excited. The seasoning on the meat (paprika, cumin, and thyme) made me a bit skeptical but the dish ended up with some really great flavors! Then you make some mashed potatoes, and top the casserole with the potatoes, stick it in the oven for a bit until the potatoes brown and that's it. I say that's it like it was easy. It was not easy! There were a lot of steps to this dish and you have to be a multi tasker because you're frying up one thing in the skillet and making the potatoes on another burner and on a third burner I was boiling some water for my beef broth. One thing I learned from this: On Rachel Rays shows she has everything pre-measured and put into bowls so when she's ready for them she just dumps them in. I realized this was extrememly helpful because I was rushed to chop everything and get it in the pot on time so I decided to chop everything I needed and put them in bowls. This did however dirty a lot of dishes, but when I started this journey my mom and I made a deal: I'd cook, she'd clean! haha but we do have a dishwasher so its easy clean up!
For this dish I would recommend having a sou chef...there is a lot to chop and a lot going on. Also, I would recommend having a few extra ingredients on hand just in cash you happen to drop a measuring cup of sour cream on the floor causing sour cream to splash up everywhere! Not that I did this, just a helpful hint in case you might do this. Oh, and don't get so busy with the ingredients in the skillet that you forget about the potatoes boiling! So Rachel says put the potatoes on to boil as you're cooking the other things in the skillet. So I put the potatoes on and didn't worry about them...well apparently she only means to do this if you're a speedy gonzalez in the kitchen. By the time I went back to my potatoes they were completely mush! I contemplated using them anyway because you are supposed to mash them up! But they were a little too mushy! Or a lot!!!!!!!! So I redid the potatoes...I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
Just a note to Rachel: The first thing to do listed was put the potatoes in to cook while you make the filling. Then the next steps are make the filling. After that it goes back to the potatoes, after the potatoes have cooked (about 10-12mins)...ok there's the problem! It took me way longer than 10-12 mins to get everything chopped and cooked. It says, put this in leave for 5 mins, put this in leave for 2 mins, put this in leave for 2 mins...it added up to more than 10 mins! So the 10-12 min part would have been helpful to know on the first step when talking about cooking them. This may be common knowledge to most cookers but I need it dumbed down for me!
My final recommendation is pay close attention to the spices you pull out of the spice cabinet. I just wanted some regular black pepper...now why on earth would someone make the chipotle chili pepper in the exact same kind of can as the regular pepper! That could have been a disaster! Luckily I caught this before I added it to the dish...
Ok, so on a scale of 1-10 I give this Shepherds Pie (with my own variation of ingredients) a TEN!!!!! Loved it! Delish!!!
I should add a pic of the mess that I made in the kitchen though! This place looks like a cooking tornado came through, and I had to change my clothes once in the process I got so messy! But that is the sign of a job well done!
For this dish I would recommend having a sou chef...there is a lot to chop and a lot going on. Also, I would recommend having a few extra ingredients on hand just in cash you happen to drop a measuring cup of sour cream on the floor causing sour cream to splash up everywhere! Not that I did this, just a helpful hint in case you might do this. Oh, and don't get so busy with the ingredients in the skillet that you forget about the potatoes boiling! So Rachel says put the potatoes on to boil as you're cooking the other things in the skillet. So I put the potatoes on and didn't worry about them...well apparently she only means to do this if you're a speedy gonzalez in the kitchen. By the time I went back to my potatoes they were completely mush! I contemplated using them anyway because you are supposed to mash them up! But they were a little too mushy! Or a lot!!!!!!!! So I redid the potatoes...I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
Just a note to Rachel: The first thing to do listed was put the potatoes in to cook while you make the filling. Then the next steps are make the filling. After that it goes back to the potatoes, after the potatoes have cooked (about 10-12mins)...ok there's the problem! It took me way longer than 10-12 mins to get everything chopped and cooked. It says, put this in leave for 5 mins, put this in leave for 2 mins, put this in leave for 2 mins...it added up to more than 10 mins! So the 10-12 min part would have been helpful to know on the first step when talking about cooking them. This may be common knowledge to most cookers but I need it dumbed down for me!
My final recommendation is pay close attention to the spices you pull out of the spice cabinet. I just wanted some regular black pepper...now why on earth would someone make the chipotle chili pepper in the exact same kind of can as the regular pepper! That could have been a disaster! Luckily I caught this before I added it to the dish...
Ok, so on a scale of 1-10 I give this Shepherds Pie (with my own variation of ingredients) a TEN!!!!! Loved it! Delish!!!
I should add a pic of the mess that I made in the kitchen though! This place looks like a cooking tornado came through, and I had to change my clothes once in the process I got so messy! But that is the sign of a job well done!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Rachel Ray Project
Well it's been 2 years since I've updated my blog. With facebook updates it's so easy to keep in touch that but I'm picking up my blog again. If you've seen the movie Julie and Julia then you may be somewhat familiar with my newest project. There are 2 things I have come to terms with:
1. I really don't know how to cook many things. I can follow directions and make most things that come out of a box but I was recently told by someone if they made it in college to survive then it probably doesn't count as a dinner plan for a family.
2. I am one of the pickiest eaters out there! But full disclosure: I say that I don't like many foods that I actually have probably never tried or at least haven't tried in the last 10 years.
So my plan to help with these problems is Rachel Ray. I bought her 365 No Repeats cookbook so I could potentially have a different dinner for every single day of a year. My plan is to at least try each recipe. I hope to go in order of the book that way I'm not tempted to skip over the ones that I don't think I'll like, because that is probably 3/4ths of the book!
Day 1: Scramblewiches
The first thing that I did was crisp a baquette in the oven and then hollow it out to make something similar to a boat. Next, cooked some deli sliced ham in a pan and then scrambled eggs in with the ham. Then I put the eggs and ham into the boat, topped it with provolone cheese and stuck it back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. I have to say that it turned out decently. If I had it to do over again I would use yellow american cheese instead of provolone though and maybe even add some onion and green peppers into the eggs. It is something I would eat again, I'd give it a 6 on a scale of 1-10 but I think with american cheese I'd have liked it better.
Now, let me tell you what I've learned from this first recipe.
I've always considered myself very detail oriented, but apparently not when it comes to cooking and food, something I know little about. So I will pay attention to details!
1. I recommend reading the directions before purchasing ingredients.
I bought a baquette that was already sliced because the slices of bread were just perfect and I thought I was making sandwiches and would never be able to cut it as perfectly...then Ihad to go get another baquette because I actually needed it cut differently, into boats like I said earlier. I didn't want to start my first recipe trying to improvise so now I have quite a bit of bread left over!!! haha
2. Remember the details...well I decided as a side dish for the scramblewich I would slice up some fruit and make a little fruit salad. I purchased some grapes to put in the salad, which said like 1.99/POUND (details!). I grabbed a bag of grapes and moved on, not thinking anything of it. Then when I was ringing my fruit up the grapes came to like $6.50. I definitely did not want that many grapes! But they were already in bags, so can I just take some out of the bags and put them in the other bags provided? Or do I have to purchase ALL the grapes in the bag, otherwise they should price them by bag, not pound. Well, I'm not sure if this is acceptable supermarket practice but I cancelled my order, went back to the grapes and put about 1/2 pound of grapes into a bag and paid $1 rather than $6 because my mom and I won't eat that many grapes before they go bad!!!! If this is not acceptable practice, I won't do it again but don't tell Meijer it was me!
3. I want to make a formal public apology to my good friend Liz for laughing so hard as I watched her cut the largest scquash I've ever seen! It was quite commical, however I now realize that this is probably much more difficult than it looks. I purchased a whole pineapple and the 3rd thing I learned from today's adventure was cutting a pineapple is HARD!!!! I pretty much butchered that pineapple.
All in all, it was a successful meal though!
1. I really don't know how to cook many things. I can follow directions and make most things that come out of a box but I was recently told by someone if they made it in college to survive then it probably doesn't count as a dinner plan for a family.
2. I am one of the pickiest eaters out there! But full disclosure: I say that I don't like many foods that I actually have probably never tried or at least haven't tried in the last 10 years.
So my plan to help with these problems is Rachel Ray. I bought her 365 No Repeats cookbook so I could potentially have a different dinner for every single day of a year. My plan is to at least try each recipe. I hope to go in order of the book that way I'm not tempted to skip over the ones that I don't think I'll like, because that is probably 3/4ths of the book!
Day 1: Scramblewiches
The first thing that I did was crisp a baquette in the oven and then hollow it out to make something similar to a boat. Next, cooked some deli sliced ham in a pan and then scrambled eggs in with the ham. Then I put the eggs and ham into the boat, topped it with provolone cheese and stuck it back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. I have to say that it turned out decently. If I had it to do over again I would use yellow american cheese instead of provolone though and maybe even add some onion and green peppers into the eggs. It is something I would eat again, I'd give it a 6 on a scale of 1-10 but I think with american cheese I'd have liked it better.
Now, let me tell you what I've learned from this first recipe.
I've always considered myself very detail oriented, but apparently not when it comes to cooking and food, something I know little about. So I will pay attention to details!
1. I recommend reading the directions before purchasing ingredients.
I bought a baquette that was already sliced because the slices of bread were just perfect and I thought I was making sandwiches and would never be able to cut it as perfectly...then Ihad to go get another baquette because I actually needed it cut differently, into boats like I said earlier. I didn't want to start my first recipe trying to improvise so now I have quite a bit of bread left over!!! haha
2. Remember the details...well I decided as a side dish for the scramblewich I would slice up some fruit and make a little fruit salad. I purchased some grapes to put in the salad, which said like 1.99/POUND (details!). I grabbed a bag of grapes and moved on, not thinking anything of it. Then when I was ringing my fruit up the grapes came to like $6.50. I definitely did not want that many grapes! But they were already in bags, so can I just take some out of the bags and put them in the other bags provided? Or do I have to purchase ALL the grapes in the bag, otherwise they should price them by bag, not pound. Well, I'm not sure if this is acceptable supermarket practice but I cancelled my order, went back to the grapes and put about 1/2 pound of grapes into a bag and paid $1 rather than $6 because my mom and I won't eat that many grapes before they go bad!!!! If this is not acceptable practice, I won't do it again but don't tell Meijer it was me!
3. I want to make a formal public apology to my good friend Liz for laughing so hard as I watched her cut the largest scquash I've ever seen! It was quite commical, however I now realize that this is probably much more difficult than it looks. I purchased a whole pineapple and the 3rd thing I learned from today's adventure was cutting a pineapple is HARD!!!! I pretty much butchered that pineapple.
All in all, it was a successful meal though!
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