learn to cook things other than ramen

Tonight for dinner I made yellow rice, black beans with tomato red pepper cilantro, and grilled peppers stuffed with pine nuts pesto cheese (some had mozzarella some had goat cheese. Mom and I agreed the goat was the winner) and avocado.

It was my first time cooking rice! Not as scary as it seemed really. I present the meal to my family and got a lot of positve feedback!!!

Also yesterday I cooked up some couscous added steamed carrots, pine nuts, and kalamata olives.

Yum!

This is my style of hummus, it’s chunky and flavorful.

tea spoon olive oil
can chick peas
crushed garlic (two cloves or half a teaspoon)
sliced kalamata olives
lime (roll this to release juice and squeeze as much to flavor. Traditionally use lemon, I just felt like trying lime)
cumin
corriander
table spoon tahini
fresh black pepper grounds
fresh ground sea salt
diced cucumber
Diced tomato
paprika

You can put the chickpeas into a blender for pure dipping hummus, but I prefer to hand mash for texture. I didn’t have bread or pita so I left it very chunky and added tomatos and cucumbers – add these and kalamata olives last.

They are great, and I intinctually made my own spicey sauce with various peppers, pepper powders, oregano, olive oil, and sour cream. (ok maybe I should have gone with the cream or the oil for texture sake (the oil just sits on top), but it tastes real good. Both those ingredients cut back on the powerful pepper combonations I used)

It is my favorite food!! I got a recipe but I can’t find the recipe of the spicey green sauce I always eat with it. All I found are teriyake based sauces, yogurt sauces, and mango chutneys. eww oh well. I’ll try to use my imagination there.

But I never get around to cooking. I once nearly burnt the kitchen, but other than that I am rather good at cooking I just don’t really bother with measurements and such but I am awful with numbers. So ever I bake a cake or coockies or brownies – they turn out just bad, apocolyptic bad (those brownies that were flat and crusty supposedly because I didn’t add enough butter…)

In school I perfected the art of cooking ramen and noodles because my roomate and I ilegally had this delux campy coffepot/toaster oven/ stove top (that was small but perfect size for a cup or bowl of ramen). You are not suppose to have such things in the dorms oh well. So 3 am I’d be up working on some masterpeice for 2-d and cooking noodles on the stove-top. I promised that when I have access to a kitchen I’d use it.

My friends and I threw dinner parties at Jame’s house who lived off campus and I tried to cook peirogies because I’ve seen it done so many times. But they were bad. So at future parties I was responsible for cheese and fruit plates. Adia, who’s mom was a chef, had superior culinary skills!!

Anyway, I think there is hope. I watch the food network like a housewife. I’m addicted to iron chef, and rachel ray, and alton brown and that long island italian girl who always makes pasta and some giant fish… you’d think I’d know a thing or two by now!! I just have to apply myself (to the kitchen).

One of the few things I can cook well is bean soup. Here is my recipe.

Ingrediants

-can of black beans
-minced garlic or Recaito
-lime
-cliantro or Recaito
-onion
-red and green peppers
-tomatoes
-jalepenos (optional)
-Sour cream (optional)

Open the can and drain the juice if you want a thicker soup or leave as is for more watery soup. put the beans in a pot on the stove to medium/high (I use #7 on my electric knob) and stir around with a wooden spoon.

Recaito is a jarred garlic gravy made with garlic, onion, cilantro, salt, pepper, and lemon it is by GOYA. I don’t measure but I’d say I use a table spoon or two of this. If no recaito put in as much garlic as you like a little goes a long way.

For cilantro I take off a few stems and shred the leaves off, I like a lot of cilantro. Stir this into the beans.

roll a lime (this gets the juices going) and cut either half or the top off (if you like a lot of lime flavor) and squeeze into the pot. Stir around.

Stir around stop just before a boil (if it bubbles – turn the heat down other wise the beans will burn.) Usually takes about 10 minutes and then I empty the soup into a bowl.

With my onions, red/green peppers, tomatoes, and jalepenos left : I dice them up finely and pour them on the soup. Add a dollop of sour cream if you like, and garnish with a cilantro!!

This makes a great dinner or lunch or sometimes I just crave black bean soup lol.

but I do enjoy helping others cook, and by this I mean chopping things, watching them do their thing, and washing dishes. These past few weeks I have embarked on many such collaborative endeavors.

Achievements include:
stuffed bell peppers with rice
red curry
mango sticky rice
pesto and pasta

I think that if left to my own devices and made to cook for myself I wouldn’t have very much fun, but I like being able to do it with other people.

in his culinary ambition. I am really looking forward to us all having an apartment and cooking meals for one another.

mushroom & black bean burritos

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
3 garlic cloves, minced
10 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
10 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
3/4 cup purchased tomatillo salsa
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 9- to 10-inch-diameter 98%fat-free flour tortillas
6 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add next 3 ingredients; sauté until onions are brown, about 20 minutes. Add remaining oil and all mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder. Sauté until juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Add beans and salsa; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap tortillas in foil; heat in oven 15 minutes. Place 1 tortilla on each of 6 plates. Spoon mushroom mixture down center of each tortilla, dividing equally. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon goat cheese. Fold short ends of tortilla over filling. Roll up, enclosing filling.

Per serving: calories, 286; total fat, 9 g; saturated fat, 3 g; cholesterol, 7 mg

Makes 6 servings.