cook like Giada

I’ve been cooking a lot more lately with just whatever I happen to find lying around, rather than by recipe. My mom used to do that. She just made stuff up in her head and I never could figure out how she did it. I guess now I am the same way. I just remember and I find it easy to experiment with what goes with what. Like matching clothes. I love cooking. Its so soothing.

I have been making some awesome dinners lately. I made salmon over roasted fennel and greens with lemon and garlic vinaigrette last week and some awesome steaks. I also made some cornish game hens which are my specialty now. I love them. I made some good salad last night with romaine lettuce, baby spinach, pico de gallo, and a mixture of lemon infused olive oil and a packet of ranch dressing mix and salt and pepper. It was very flavorful. On top of it I laid some faux breaded chicken (vegetable/tofu chicken patties that aren’t really made with chicken) cut up on the salad. I used two patties per salad. Stephen actually liked it even though the chicken was “fake chicken”. lol.

I have been doing pretty good at this goal. I made a yummy lasagna with tofu mixed in and ground turkey instead of ground beef, and I also added fresh baby spinach in as a layer. I also used provolone cheese and parmesan instead of mozzarella because I ran out of mozzarella. It was very good.

Now I have a new (bigger) kitchen in my new (bigger) apartment so I will hopefully be able to do more. I am going to make cupcakes and brownies for everyone who helped us move and give them to Stephen to take to everyone. I will have to keep a couple for myself though.

Made a really good broccoli, cauliflower, and chicken casserole tonight!

I made a yummy foods today! I usually don’t like tilapia but its a super cheap and super low calorie fish, and its the least fishy fish there is, and Stephen doesn’t like fishy fish, so I made broiled 4 filets using the recipe on the back of the pack of frozen fish I bought. It was for Maple and Pineapple Glazed Tilapia. It was sooooo yummy! Basically you glaze the thawed out tilapia filets with mixture that is made from maple syrup, orange juice, lime juice, and dijon mustard. Then you top it with diced red pepper, red onion, and pineapple, plus salt and pepper. Broil it on medium heat for about 10 minutes and then its done! I put it over a bed of white rice (since Stephen made too much the other night. Normally I would have put it over salad greens) and that’s it! It was really yummy. Stephen doesn’t normally like fish but he ate it all and he said it was good!

Looks kinda cool… but not so great. I made Giada’s recipe and I thought they were okay but Stephen didn’t like them at all.

Since Stephen came home I’ve tried some Giada recipes. I made profiteroles, lemon pepper shrimp and pasta with arugula, herb and mustard mayo, and something else I forgot. So far Stephen hasn’t really liked the recipes very much. We both discovered that we didn’t like cooked arugula very much and we don’t like profiteroles that much either. The lemon pepper shrimp and pasta were better… the herb and mustard mayo are kind of eh. Stephen does like my other kinds of cooking though, and I have to say I do as well. When I make up my own dishes as I go along I usually get a better result.

I made some awesome food lately I have to say. I’m still learning but I think I have made some significant progress!! I think desserts are my specialty, but I make some pretty good dinner dishes too. My main gift, I think, is one dish meals. Like casseroles and stuff. I should learn how to make better meals from various dishes though, and not just steak, potatoes, green beans, and ice cream.

I can’t say that I can cook like Giada but I’ve been cooking since Stephen came home.

Giada always cooks with fresh herbs and veggies, so I got some fresh herbs and veggies! Yay! I need to get a few more things. I might go back to the store tomorrow once I figure out exactly what I want to make. There’s a couple of things I want to try out before Stephen comes home. I need to practice.