Tortellini chicken soup

Dish: Tortellini Chicken soup, homemade hummus
Book: Fast and Healthy
Pajamas: Fuentes t-shirt and pink velour pants
Meal: Dinner
Eaters: Trevor and me and Millini

Let's start by saying one good, one bad today. I'm going to start with the bad. Trevor loves hummus and pita. I finally found some garbanzo beans at Wheatsville Co-op (Thank goodness for the hippies.) After I gathered all of the ingredients, I read the recipe and found out that I needed a food processor. hmmmm well, I have a very strong arm. So I drained and rinsed the garbanzo beans in the can because I still don't have a colander. I put them in a bowl and started to chop the garlic. My fingers still smell like old gym socks. I squeezed the lemon and poured the olive oil in. I began to chop, and chop, and chop, and chop, and chop, and chop. I think I chopped and ground and mashed for about a decade. The consistency was still chalky and chunky. I put it aside to ice my bicep. After I took an aleve to sooth the pain, I mashed a bit more. Trevor swooped in to try it and swooped out to the store to buy some hummus....

Ok, now for the success. I read over the recipe and it started with simmering the ingredients and adding boiled chicken. Wait, it doesn't tell me how to boil chicken? I can do this. So I put the raw chicken in water and put it on high in a pan. I waited and soon the chicken turned white. I let it go for a while because I didn't want my curse of undercooked meat to continue. I then decided it had to be done. I poured the water out and put the chicken on the cutting board. I chopped it up and lost all of my fingerprints due to the temperature of the meat. I put all of the ingredients in the big pot. I felt fancy for some reason (parsley, sweet corn, tortellini, broth, green onion, fresh garlic, etc.) When the spinach wilted (I told you it's sophisticated), I took the soup off the stove. I dished it out and we tasted it. It was good, but missing something. We added salt, pepper and cayenne. Trevor added a bit too much cayenne to his... His taste buds are swollen. We really enjoyed this soup though. We gushed over it throughout the entire meal! I'm so happy to be a good cook again!

Trev-o-meter: Trevor said he gave it a 9. I told him that was a bit high. He changed it to an 8 but said that he wanted it again soon.

Beef Burgundy

Dish: Beef Burgundy
Book: Fast and Healthy
Pajamas: sweaty workout clothes :)
Meal: Dinner
Eaters: Trevor and me

I've heard some very positive feedback in the past days. This response renewed my culinary strength and helped me get through the grieving process that was due to the honey dijon catastrophe. I went for a run and then went to Randall's to get ingredients for the next 3 recipes. In the store, I was searching for the perfect sirloin and a creepy meat man asked if I needed any help with his meat. My gag reflex was too great to hear that statement without a small "huh." I then finished my shopping, meat and all, and made my way to Trevor's. On a side note: What are chick peas and do they sell them at the grocery store. I need them by Friday... Okay, back to today. I started with the meat, from now on it will be called sirloin, the word meat gives me a mental image of the meat man and his huge baggy polyester pants. The sirloin was already cubed (thank the lord-see: potato soup blog) I put it in the non stick skillet and started to cook it. Again, I still had trouble with cooking the inside enough without the outside burning. When I cut it smaller and it seemed pretty well cooked, I put it aside. I boiled the water for the egg noodles. In the skillet, I put the condensed onion soup (don't lick that can- it's gross) and 1/4 c red wine. I think I might have put a bit more in the skillet and a lot more in my mouth... All of the other ingredients went in and it began to bubble. I have found that corn starch is somewhat magical. No matter what it is mixed with, when it gets hot, it magically turns it thick. I love it! The sauce was looking and smelling delicious. I put that to the side and focused on the noodles. They seemed finished and I went to drain them. Big Problem, no drainer. I looked everywhere. I ended up putting the pan up against the sink to hold the noodles. Egg noodles are slippery suckers- that's all I have to say about that. Next it was time to put it all together. I put the noodles on the plate, the beef on top, and then the sauce. I garnished with green onion, parsley and pepper. I was so proud. Trevor sat down took one bite of the 'sirloin' and gagged as blood dripped out. He then proceeded to cut each piece to check for blood drips. I got the pan, with a pouty face on, and recooked his meat. I also mentioned how everything else would now be cold and ruined. When the 'sirloin' was well done, I re-served it. Now we ate. It actually tasted quite good. I really think I'm getting the hang of using recipes to cook.

Trev-o-meter: 6 "Good and very edible but I would never ask for it."

Honey Dijon Chicken

Dish: Honey Dijon Chicken
Book: Taste of Home
Pajamas: brown SOFT top and plaid pj bottoms
Meal: Dinner
Eaters: Trevor and me

The words you are about read contain graphic scenes. Please proceed with caution.
I got to Trevy's house ready to cook. I had been looking forward to this recipe since I found it yesterday. I got 4 cloves of garlic ready by smashing them and chopping them. I put them in a pan with oil and thyme. I put the chicken breasts in and waited... and waited... and waited. How long do chicken breasts need to cook for cryin'out loud. I ended up chopping them up into tiny pieces to make sure that they cooked. In the meantime, I started mixing the glaze- dun dun dun dun...dun! I put cornstarch and pineapple juice in, so far so good. Next came the 1/2 a cup of Dijon mustard (that is the yellow kind right?). At this point it's looking pretty gross. Next in plops the 1/3 c honey. I almost puked just stirring (note: I clean up snot rockets and pukey peepee kids all day and they don't phase me). I go over and poor the glaze over the chicken. huh(gag noise). I stir and stir waiting for a miracle to happen, it doesn't. I think, "maybe it'll taste good at least." I go to the microwave to heat up the instant 90 second bag of rice. In the back of my head I'm thinking, "this will be the only thing we can eat." I put some slimy chicken and "safe" rice on each plate and called in Trevor. I started eating and didn't say a word. I wanted to hear Trevor's opinion. I gagged down each bite. Even the rice was revolting. I watched Trevor as he cut and smelled. He took one bite and it was all over. In my opinion it tasted like the nastiest tv dinner ever made. It was a complete failure.

Trev-o-meter: A 2 at most. (He said this as he poured the entire pot and his plate down the sink after only taking one bite).

Chili

Dish: Chili
Book: back of a box
Pajamas: yellow Life is Good top, plaid pj bottoms
Meal: Lunner
Eaters: Trevor and me

I ran 10 miles today and wanted to really treat myself but still stay somewhat healthy. I decided on chili! I looked up a recipe in my book, but they all were a bit too detailed for a day that I was soooo very tired. I ended up at the store looking on the back of seasoning boxes. I got one that looked easy and good. I browned a pound of sirloin. Then I split it into 2 pans, one for me, one for Trevy. I put lots of onions and corn in mine and nothing in his (I should have put beans though...). I put water and tomatoe paste in next. Then I added salt, cayenne, chili powder, and Worcester. I let it simmer for 15 minutes. My pan had no lid so I put a pizza baking sheet on top. I then went and snuggled a bit with Trevor. I think that I snuggled a bit too long... I ran out to check on the chili and of course Trevor's looked perfect. Mine looked glued to the bottom. I scraped it into my bowl and spooned his into his and we ate. We added some cheese and ate it with some French bread. Although mine was a bit charbroiled, it was still delicious. I love home cookin'

Trev-o-meter: "I would give it a solid 9 if it had beans and if I could eat it with Frito's."

guacamole mole mole

Dish: Guacamole
Book: spoken word
Pajamas: Trevor's ginormous sweat pants, dance marathon t-shirt
Meal: dinner
Eaters: Trevor and me

I relied on the good old easy taco night. I was tired after a long day of work and needed to make something quick and easy. I ran over to Wheatsville Co-op to pick up some ingredients. hmmm no hamburger meat (I had some frozen at home), weird taco seasoning, and get this... no guacamole...I decided to make my own. Even though this recipe is passed through spoken word, I have decided to count it because it is still a new recipe. The ingredients: onion, jalepeno (jar kind- its all they had), salt, lime juice, milk and an avacado. (wheatsville had 5 avacadoes, all hard as rocks.) I took my ingredients home and started to chop and mix. There is not much of a story to tell except that it turned out pretty good. It needed some salsa for spice. It needed alot of salt for flavor. Overall, a success.

Trev-o-meter: 7. "It could be better, we'll have to experiement."

Italian stuffed chicken

Dish: Italian stuffed chicken
Book: Taste of Home Winners
Pajamas: Blue pajama pants and soft pink top
Meal: Dinner
Eaters: Trevor and Me

We got home late and I was not in the mood to cook a full meal. I was HUNGRY. I pulled out the chicken from the fridge and the recipe said that I need to "pound" the chicken to 1/4 " thickness. I looked all over for something to do this with. I found Trevor's real hammer, but he wouldn't let me use it because of some poison or something. I ended up butterflying the chicken. I sliced it through the middle and just opened it up. I put all the stuffing ingredients inside and rolled them up. The stuffing and breading took no more than 5 minutes. I popped them in the oven for about 30 minutes and walah! they were done. I served it with mashed potatoes and boy it was delicious!!!

Trev-o-meter: 9.5
I don't think it was quite that good... I'd say 7 or 8. Thanks for the generous rating Trevy :)

Potatoe Soup and Brownies

Dish: Best Ever Potato Soup, Brownies
Book: Taste of Home Winners
Pajamas: pink top, gray sweat pants, wool socks
Meal: Dinner
Eaters: Me and Trevor

I chose to start with a soup. We have had an arctic blast in Austin! It is quite frigid outside. Soup sounded warm and easy. I made my way to the Randall's to pick up the ingredients for 4 upcoming recipes. $133!! This could be an expensive year... Anyway, I got to Trevy's and began my journey. First I had to peel and cube the potatoes. Hmmmm, I've never done that before. I started with a steak knife. No good. I then found a small bladed knife, a bit better. I learned to slice away from your hand and body. The first potato took almost 12 minutes. The second potato went much faster, but when I was finished there was not much potato left to work with. I finally got the hang of it by the third and final potato. Now for the cubing. When they say cube, does that mean cut into pieces? I started by carving cubes, but that got old really fast. Next I had to shave a carrot. At the store, I got the baby carrots because they taste good. I had no "shaver" in the drawer so I just cut them. All the cutting and preparing went well after that. The book said put all of it in a saucepan. Trevor and I had a discussion as to what a saucepan is. The big flat one is a skillet, I think. I then put the stuff in the other pan that we had. Too small. So I finally decided on the spaghetti cooking one. Just right. While that stuff was "simmering," I decided to start on the brownies. Bad move. Don't work on 2 intense recipes at the same time. The rest of the cooking was too fast and furious. By the end, I was soaking wet and quite irritated. That might have had to do with the last 2 minutes that I had to stir the potato mixture while it was boiling. My spoon was tiny and my hand had to be in the pot to reach it. I have no arm hair left. Okay, the food is finished. I garnished with bacon and green onion and served. The soup was too hot for about 10 minutes. Finally.... PERFECT!!!! This soup was amazing. It had so much flavor and just the right amount of cheese, veggies, and spices. I think the dill seed was good? The brownies were pretty good too. They were quite easy to make and turned out very moist and "homemade" tasting. Overall, I'm very proud of myself. Recipe 1 and 2 were a huge success.

Trev-o-meter:
Potato Soup: 8
Brownies: "I don't like brownies"
I think they were a 6...* my rating

Resolution 2010

I watched the movie Julie and Julia just before the new year. As I watched, I thought, "HOW FUN IS THAT!" I was so excited that I even missed the end of the movie because I was so focused on my own plan. I love cooking. It usually consists of the old family stand bys and some new recipes thrown in for holiday baking. Instead of making the same old lose 10 pounds, run everyday New Year's resolution; I want to try something that will truly better myself. I will cook my way through the year. My Goal: I will cook at least 3 new recipes each week. As I cook them, I will blog to let everyone share in my successes and failures. I hope that this year is somewhat life changing! I know that sounds bold, but cooking makes me feel somewhat domestic. I want to be a Susie homemaker. This is my first step! Happy cooking :)