be a better cook

Learn ..learn this..it is very useful or I must say a necessity..and if I could do it better it means great thing to me..so am trying hard..really hard!

Learned how to make:

Fried potatoes
mashed potatoes with garlic, cheese, and bacon.
Bacon
Eggs
Gourmet Mac and Cheese
Pasta

I’m learning more each day :]

It’s cheaper to cook than to go get fast food or go out to eat all the time, sadly I am very limited in what I can cook…unless it comes in a box with directions. I would like to learn how to cook more things from scratch.

i love cooking <3
it’s fun and really relaxing

Last year my mom and I bought a cookbook called “Shakespeare’s Kitchen,” but we never cooked anything from it and I felt guilty. Yesterday I finally convinced her to let me make “Salmon with Violets.” Unfortunately, we didn’t have a violet blossoms growing, so it was more like “Salmon with vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice on a bed of Vidalia Onions.” Anyway, I was well complimented!

I bought a new cookbook, but never used it. I was finally ready to do so the other week, had several hours spare on a saturday night – and I couldn’t find the cookbook.Went mental trying to find it to no avail.

So I have now bought a new copy – which I have yet to use….

...no matter how much or how well you cook, you can always do better. Plus, of course, by leaving this goal open I can track some of the niffty shit I whip up in my kitchen.
As of late I have been trying to perfect a pizza dough recipe, making clam chowder, chicken pot pie from scratch, corned beef, artichoke and spinach dip, babyback ribs, beef stock, Bigos (Polish hunters stew), and a white bean soup.
Next up, I’m thinking about trying a chicken carbonara recipe that I saw online.

A friend lives in a dormish place with a massive kitchen, and we all have to cook a fancy dish to share. I choose to make salmon asparagus creamy alfredo. Hope it goes well. Makes me hungry just thinking about it. Got the recipe from “the joy of cooking” book

Well thanks to the economy my boyfriend and me are cooking it up. We’ve cut way back with eating out. So because of it we’re exploring a lot of new recipes and really enjoying it. for the most part are dishes are tasty. Of course occasionally we have a rather bland meal, but experimentation with spices is the best way to figure it out. My knife skills have also gotten SO much better. We’re volunteering in a kitchen once a week which is a great way to learn. The woman we cook with is a fabulous cook. She is full of helpful tips and great ideas.

Again I bought more cookbooks this year. And used them!
I did not add many dishes to my list, but am getting good at the ones that are in my repertoire already.

I can now also cook
- Risotto! Several variations – plain, lemon, tomato, prawn (Marie Claire cookbooks mostly)
- Prawn, peas and beans stirfry (Jamie Oliver recipe)
- Chicken cacciatore (Martha Stewart recipe)
- Oven roasted ratatouille (Clotilde Dusolier recipe)
- Brocolli and apple quiche (Clotilde Dusolier recipe)
- Leek and salmon turnovers (Clotilde again)
- Oven roasted polenta (Clotilde again)

On my list for this year
- Spring rolls!
- a good stew
- Still want to make a good home made pizza

I need to start making my own soup again.
I’m thinking about getting a proper freezer (I now only have this teeny tiny box at the top of my freezer). This would stimulate me to cook more: I only have time to cook properly in the weekends, but if I cook too much I’m stuck with leftovers for days – which I could now freeze and eat later during the week. And it would help me with my goal of bringing home made lunches to work to replace the greasy cantina food.