1/18/10

Tonight’s menu:

Pork chops w/ mushroom and onions

Parsley potatoes

Green beans w/tomatoes and garlic

Coffee.

Not gone yet but sidetracked indefinitely

Did you think I fell off the bandwagon?   Decided not to learn to cook?  Well, I’ve come close, but not for the reasons you would imagine.  I’ve come to discover that I can learn to cook, but it will be in fits and stages.

I’ve pondered how much of myself to reveal in this post, whether to shut this blog down to public viewing, or not.  How much of this journey, and it’s sidetracks, do I want made public?

I’ve come to realize, it’s not that I can’t cook.  I can do that.  But, I have a medical condition (IBS) which makes eating the wrong food extremely debilitating for who knows how long.  And what is the “wrong food” this month, may not bother me at all next year, but then may flare up again at any time.

For the majority of this week, it has flared up again.  I don’t know how long it will be before I can venture into the world of trying new things again…..for now I am back to a few minimal foods which do not cause me any issues.

I’m hopeful this flare-up won’t last long and that I’ll be back to cooking up a storm (with guarded caution) again in a short amount of time.   Until then, there’s nothing more to say…………as this is a blog about learning to cook and right now I am not learning anything except a person with medical issues needs to engage in extreme caution when venturing on new journeys.

The Day After

Black Friday….. the day after Thanksgiving…….  Let the dogs out this morning and noticed my neighbors had gone, must be shopping.  And what did I do?  I pulled out an old cookbook that’s been here forever and that I used to use, once in a while, 30 years ago, called “Perfect Poultry”.  My goal….to find something, anything, to do with the leftover turkey from yesterday.  No you won’t find me, in the height of flue season, braving the crowds for the so called specials that they never have enough stock of to satisfy the crowd.   I’ll just stay right here and spend my day doing something productive.

But, back to the cookbook, I think I accomplished my goal……. but only time will tell.  And what recipe did I choose to learn to cook today?   Why Turkey Souffle of course!

Yes, I know, you’re laughing, she can’t cook and she thinks she can cook a turkey souffle?????   Just pick yourselves up off the floor now, there is a good reason for choosing this recipe.  Yesterday, while on a phone conversation with my mom, we got to talking cooking.  And a few things she said struck me as oh so true (even if I wasn’t in the mood to hear them then).  One thing she mentioned is that the best cooks can imagine what the ingredients are going to taste like when they go together.  And somewhere in the conversation it was mentioned you have to LIKE it to be able to COOK it.

Pause…………………

Yes, a moment of pause for that last niblet of an idea…………………….

So, thinking about this, I realized that I failed miserably at the Pot Pie……… but I don’t care for pot pie!  It’s never been one of my favorites, I don’t like heavy foods…… and pot pie is definitely heavy and filling.
The following day I did the chicken and garlic and spaghetti…… well, I LIKE all those ingredients ……………..  are we seeing a pattern here?

So this morning I sat down with the cookbook and looked for recipes that I could imagine what they will taste like…… and the Turkey Souffle jumped off the page at me.  Hence, tonight, for supper, we will be having Turkey Souffle (and if it does fail miserably, Arby’s, which is a favorite of Mike’s, is only 8 miles away so he won’t starve!).

The recipe serves 6, and I thought about cutting it in half, but figured that would really be pushing my luck…..since I’ve never made a souffle before………….
See you back here later and I”ll let you know how it went!

Thursday November 26th Thanksgiving Day

Did you think I got lost?   Fell off the cooking bandwagon?   Gave up and resorted to fast food?

Well, I almost did…………………  no, not really, well okay maybe. almost but the dream continues.

Still though, after that pot pie, my ego was deflated.  I don’t remember rolling out pie crust to make my shoulder scream….. oh wait, maybe the last time I did that was before I tore the shoulder?   Oh well, it’s better now….and yes, I’ll roll pie dough again…. just not today.

So, the pot pie came out iffy.   The flavour was good, but I rolled the pie dough too thick (cause my shoulder was hurting and I gave up)  and it wasn’t cooked quite as I like in the middle before it was getting too dark and dry on top….. live and learn and remember!   And in my efforts not to make a soggy pot pie, I didn’t use quite enough gravy in it, so it was really, really, dry…….but had plenty of flavour!!!!!!

After that, my ego needed a boost, so I pulled out my new dutch oven and decided I was going to do some chicken breasts in sauce with spaghetti as a side WITHOUT a recipe.  IT WORKED!!!!!  I thawed the chicken breasts FIRST (finding this to be a major factor in cooking…who knew?).  Then coated them in flour seasoned with basil and marjoram and parsley and a touch of salt……browned them in some olive oil in the dutch oven.  Chopped up some green, red and yellow bell peppers and some onion, added a couple toes of garlic, and sauteed them in the pan.  Then I added a pint of home canned tomatoes (from the last time my garden actually produced!), and a can of tomato sauce and some tomato paste……. covered the pan and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.   Boiled some spaghetti and had my ego restored!
That was Tuesday.

Last night we ate leftovers….. I got the spaghetti, DH got the pot pie (with more gravy).

Today I cook a turkey dinner.   The turkey breast is thawed, the stuffing mix (yes I said MIX) is sitting on the cupboard, the pumpkin pie is in the oven, the apple pie is in the freezer waiting to be cooked.  The cranberry sauce is in the fridge cooling, the can of yams is on the counter.   No, it’s not an everything from scratch turkey dinner, but from past experience it will taste good and fill up the two of us.

Now excuse me while I go try to remember how to cook a turkey breast…………that’s challenge enough for today I think!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!   Enjoy your meal, no matter what it is made from…… homemade, store bought, or at your favorite relatives house!!!!!!

Monday November 23rd, Pot Pie?

Last night’s Pot Roast came out really GOOD!!!!!!   Yep, it actually had flavor and I enjoyed it, which is amazing as I’ve never been a big fan of beef in my life.  Well, now wait, except when my late MIL cooked a roast and then ………….mmmmmmmmm……………..  whoops, got off track there……

Yes, for the record, both my mother and my late MIL are great cooks.   See why I never learned to cook!!!  I didn’t need to!  I knew where we could get a good excellent meal at when desired!!!!! LOL  (still can but it’s a 9 hour drive now!!)

Off track again, back to the cooking part………………..
So, last night’s pot roast had flavor (with only salt and pepper added in the cooking?!?!?!?), and it was tender, but there are leftovers!  Enough for at least one more meal.   Now, knowing DH and I, just reheating the same thing isn’t going to cut it.  Neither of us like nuked leftover plates, and I made too much to give the bits to the dogs, so what to do.

So, I’m thinking a Beef Pot Pie?  Sounds good, right?  And it would be if either Mom or Mum were cooking it.  But the last time I tried to do one of these it was so soggy in the bottom and gooey (I don’t like soggy breadlike stuff — yuck!).  I’ve looked online and there are no recipes that tell me how to avoid it.

I could cook it with just one crust, but we like the double crust pot pies!!!!!   And I have an excellent pie dough recipe (told you I CAN BAKE) that I can use.  But just exactly HOW does one get the beef/veggie/gravy mix into it without making the bottom dough soggy??????  And no, my fruit pies don’t come out soggy, but then I don’t put gravy into them either!   ;>)

If you know how to do this, let me know, I’ve got until about 4 this afternoon to either find a recipe online, or get brave and decide to give it a go, cause NONE of my cookbooks, nor any of the recipes online tell me how to do this!!!!!

Unless it’s all in having the inner mixture HOT when it hits the bottom crust when I’m layering?   Can it be that simple!  And hey, who knew about the EGG WHITE brushed on top of the pie crust to make it nice and brown?????   Please, who knew this?????

Okay, I AM going to learn to do this.   I will learn to cook.   I will learn to cook.   I will learn to cook.  (picture Dorothy with her red shoes here).

Sunday, November 22, 2009 A new beginning!

Sunday morning.

As I sat with my cuppa coffee this morning, I realized that I really did need to learn to cook, and there’s no better day than today.  Remember in the 70’s the saying  “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”.  Well, it seemed appropriate today.  Yesterday I destroyed both my lunch and my supper in the convection oven.  Yep, chicken drumsticks that resembled jerky and tater tots that resembled mini hockey pucks for lunch.  And for supper, burnt fish (boy did that smell good! NOT!).

I’ve been thinking about going down this road for a couple years, but frankly have been too lazy to put the effort into it.  But how many tv dinners can a person eat before they realize this is just plain yucky!  (technical term there).

So, off to the kitchen I toddle (okay, walk, I’m not toddling yet even if my hair is turning white), and look at what I have for cookbooks.  I’ve been a cookbook collector for years, but not of practical cookbooks.  Mostly cookbooks that have all sorts of ingredients I’ve never heard of, and quantities big enough to feed a small army.  But tucked back in the corner is one cookbook I purchased in 1981 (the last time this urge to learn to cook hit, when my baby boy was 2 years old).  It’s called the Better Homes and Garden’s Complete Step by Step cookbook……. hmmm, interesting.  Next I walk to the freezer, and pull out a chuck roast, a FROZEN SOLID chuck roast.  Let’s give this a try………….

Thumb through the book and find a recipe for Beef Pot Roast and they use a chuck roast!  Yeah, score one  for me!  Read the recipe and it calls for a “dutch oven”…… a WHAT?   Okay, read a bit further and there’s an adaptation for a crock pot!  YEAH!  Seems simple enough, brown the meat ????  WHAT????  You’re supposed to BROWN THE MEAT to seal in the juices for it to stay tender……..  oh my…..

YES, I am that uninformed of the basics of cooking.  Baking I can do, cooking…that’s another story and hence the purpose of this blog.

So far I have followed all the steps (it’s really hard to brown a frozen roast), and put everything into the crock pot.  I’m a little leary of this…..they only use 1/2 cup of water for the entire process (I doubled it to a full cup).  My standard crock pot recipe has been throw in the meat on the bottom, throw in the veggies on the top, add some seasoning, cover it with water and get tender beef and mushy veggies.  (not very successful).

Here’s hoping this morning’s adventure works!   And now I’m off to google just WHAT a “dutch oven” is and see how much that’s gonna cost me.

I can tell already this isn’t going to be cheap to learn to truly cook real food………………..

 

Edited to add:

 

A dutch oven is like my stockpot, only smaller and not with plastic handles and it can go in the oven…… hmmmm…. somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew that!!