Learn to cook

This took a hell of a long time. Fortunately it turned out really good. It wasn’t so good the days after, but on the first day, it was amazing—the meat was so tender. The recipe called for two cups of wine, which seemed a little excessive, if I made it again I would probably only do 1 cup.

A favorite from childhood. I would describe it as Mexican interpretation of lasagna. Cheese and tortillas and olives (among other things)...wow! Maybe a little too much cheese to be good for me though… next time I”ll try to be a little healthier.

Wow, this was good! The sauce base was olives, onions and butter. Usually I feel like adding a full onion to anything is extreme, but with all the sauteeing it was just right. It was somewhat high fat, with a half stick of butter, but it’s supposed to serve six. Although we seem to eat a lot, and for us it’s probably more like 4. It called for frozen peas, I added the frozen mixed veggies instead. That made it look a little less impressive, since everybody recognizes that frozen combo, so next time I would want to use a fresh veggie instead, or not at all. Would be great as a side to chicken.

It turned out to be almost like a stew, except it was just watery. I’m not sure if more liquid should have steamed off. It did say simmer—I assumed that meant with the lid on, but maybe I was misinterpreting simmer all this time.

Anyways, the flavor was great (as I am eating my leftovers now…) but all the extra liquid is a bit much. What the heck is supposed ot happen with it?? It’s a bit too oily to think about eating it…

of travelling and not being able to cook, I am raring to cook! Started with lime marinated fajitas and corn tomalitos (the side dish at places like Chevy’s). Yummmmmm. Steak still a little chewy, but getting there.

finally had our club meetup, yummm, all the food was so good and inspiring. I made a couscous dish, it was pretty yum, but it tasted better right when it was fresh.

doing a lot of travelling now, so it will be tough to stick with the cooking goal, this may have to go on hold for a couple months.

so far promising…the group members are mostly around the same age, and everybody shows a lot of enthusiasm in the group. I think it will turn out better than the other group I joined.

so the zucchini was actually IN the burger—I didn’t really taste it so much. At least the burgers kept together this time. Not incredibly flavorful, despite following a recipe, but they went well with the condiments. Also had grilled zucchini on the side…a nice change from french fries. I need to figure out how to better season them, then they’ll be perfect.

I must say this was excellent!! I love wine sauce. I got the recipe from an old Cooking Light book (finally going through my old books instead of getting new magazines :P). It did take me a little while, but I think that’s because I’m not a pro yet and have to keep looking at the cookbook to make sure I’m doing everything right. The meat was rare in the middle—still good, but it might have been better to be cooked a bit more. It also got cold by the time I had finished the sauce. I served the sauce over couscous also and it was a wonderful combination!

This entry has to bring me to how I will know when I’ve finished this goal??? Like this recipe was great, but I still don’t know how to cook a lot of basics and feel like I can’t say I know how to cook yet. Like if I could invite guests over, and make something for them that I know would turn out okay, then maybe I can say I can cook. Or maybe when I have like 5 recipes I just know, and don’t have to look at a cookbook for. Or is it when I can make anything taste good? (ok, that last one might never happen).

Not bad! Ok, I know a stirfry should be a really basic thing, but I am still looking for a good sauce! For once, I was able to cook the beef so it was not chewy! Success! It was a little rare in some places, which should be ok, it’s steak after all…but maybe if I sliced the meat thinner I wouldn’t have to deal with it. I think that was my first dealing with “top round”, whatever that is, but I think I came out ahead.

I hadn’t cooked with ginger in a while, so the smell of it cooking with the garlic was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately the taste did not carry through to the flavor so much. The consistency of everything was great, but there was not so much flavor in the sauce—I think I like mine a bit sweeter. It just had soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cornstarch. Hmm, did I skip something? The 5spice blend was used in marinating the meat, I think the sauce missed out in that it didn’t have any heartiness to it like that. I won’t complain about the results, I see much improvement!