learn to cook one new dish each month

I actually get the urge to cook now, which is pretty astonishing. I don’t use recipes, so every time I cook, I improvise. I’m getting more adventurous each time I take out the cookware and learning ways to take one dish and make several different versions of it to keep myself interested.

I made a dish of olive oil, cannellini beans, yellow squash, onion, and baby portabello mushrooms. I seasoned it simply with oregano and thyme added at the beginning and a little rosemary added at the end. It was really good. I had forgotten how much I love cannellini beans and yellow squash together.

If only all of my dishes didn’t look like mush. They taste great, but the presentation is definitely lacking.

but I don’t think I’ll have time. I want to make white beans with yellow squash and onion, simply seasoned, and serve it over couscous.

I should have time to do this on Saturday. I have a $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com coming soon and I’m going to spend part of it on a book on herbs and spices.

It wasn’t a chili but it was a little too thick to be a soup. I guess we’ll call it a stew. A black bean, pinto bean, tomato, potato, yellow squash, carrot, pea, lima bean, corn stew.

This is the one kind of dish I can see myself making regularly. I get organic, no-salt canned beans and use both canned and frozen vegetables and then season according to whim. This time I used a teeny bit of chili powder, turmeric, red pepper flakes, salt, ginger powder, some mustard seeds, a bay leaf, a little instant coffee, some chipotle salsa and a dash or two of cinnamon. The only fat was the approximately two or three tablespoons of olive oil I used for the whole dish and the parmesan cheese I sprinkled on top.

Unsalted organic canned beans were .69 at Whole Foods, so I bought a bunch. I made a good chili of kidney beans, soy ground “beef,” crushed tomatoes, onion and a mishmash of seasonings including chili powder, red and black pepper, coffee and cinnamon. It turned out really well. I’d actually serve this to someone else!

The dish of rice, lentils, veggies and fake ground beef that I made this weekend was really delicious…and entirely out of cans and plastic packages. Somehow I believed that if I wasn’t starting with raw veggies and doing it all from scratch, it didn’t count.

I used red chile sauce, red and black pepper, salt and turmeric as the base spices, with a little oregano/marjoram, coffee and a touch of dark chocolate to liven things up. At the very end, I added some white wine to lighten the flavors and make it smell even more delicious. In the future, I’d add more veggies, maybe peas. It wasn’t the prettiest dish that I’ve ever seen but it smelled and tasted really good. I made sure there was enough olive oil to carry the flavors, too. Mmmm.

I think I intimidated myself with this wording a little. But I have been making a nice bruschetta for myself recently, so I think that counts. I’m also going to attempt to duplicate Mr. Man’s veggie jambalaya at home. I need to get more assertive with my spicing so I don’t get bored with what I create.

I made a very simple tomato sauce for my pasta the other night. It was fun. I can see myself doing this more often and developing some favorites. It was good to know I was avoiding all the sodium and preservatives of commercial pasta sauces.

that I could duplicate the seared salmon and dipping sauce my friend made for me last night and even the soba noodle, bell pepper, mushroom and sprout stir-fry with the yummy sauce. I’ll be trying to duplicate it, anyway. Seeing someone do it with my cookware and utensils gave me more confidence.

I made the yellow squash/garbanzo dish again (added olives this time, yum) and it really didn’t take that long. It was a way to get all my nutrients, enough calories and not resort to fatty, junky food to put on weight. So tonight after work I’m going to the grocery store and I will get some more fresh herbs and plunge back into experimenting with new dishes.