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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Culinary Confessions...


I like working with phyllo dough. Its super easy and makes something average look kind of fancy.


I eat 2 breakfasts every morning. Mark says that is not normal. I try and make sure the 2 might be equal to 1 in normal life. My body just doesn't like to take enough in to fill me up for the entire morning (or more than 2 hours at a time). 2 small breakfasts is my solution. It works well.


I think crockpot meals should not have any additional steps other than putting the ingredients in and turning it on... case in point, a recent crockpot meal only wanted you to add some of the ingredients with the meat and cook all day. Not paying attention, I added all the ingredients before realizing.


Most of the dinners I have made take at least 1/4 to twice as long to prepare as they say. The result, my side dishes aren't ready at the same time.


I don't currently serve "real" veggies with dinner, only canned. It's hard enough for me to do the main dish and side item that the veggie would throw me over the top. I'll work on learning how to cook those later. Besides, I kind of like canned veggies. And we should all be proud of me for doing that as I'm not a veggie person.


I always seem to run out of eggs.


I like to eat some kind of dessert after every meal. And my body can't be faked by the "lite" stuff.

Sometimes we make Hamburger Helper meals for dinner. And I'm okay with that.


We don't eat until almost 8pm most evenings. We like to cook at home (cheaper and fun) but I also workout after work a couple days a week. Compromise, we rein in our hunger pains until we get things prepared after the gym or other errands.


I like lots of onions and only use real butter.

My 2 favorite kitchen utilies are my hand chopper (from Pampered Chef), because I detest chopping!! And my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I put everything in it!!

You can make almost anything if you just follow the steps.


My criteria in selecting a new recipe to try is if I can recognize all the ingredients (or almost all), there aren't an over abundance of items listed, and if the steps are fairly simple.


Because we have only recently started cooking... at least 3 or 4 meals every week are new recipes we've never tried. We duplicate a few, but want to build up our list before we create a rotation.



I've actually been enjoying cooking.

7 thoughts from other people:

Anonymous said...

Yay for real butter and real dessert! We'd both rather have less real dessert than more of the "lite" stuff!
-Adri

Anonymous said...

I love to bake but I don't particularly like to cook; so my grocery list is comprised of anything that can be prepared in 30 minutes.

Instead of canned vegies, why not just eat raw veggies? Raw vegies are much more nutritious than canned. There are also those new steam in bags you can use in the microwave.

I use real butter for baking bread, but for eating we use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. It's quite good. Becky and Jesse gave me a George Foreman grill with the removable plates and I use that a LOT. If the meat is less than an inch thick I grill them for about a minute then pull the plug. That way when I'm done with everything, the meat isn't too well done.

The only time I use real rice or potatoes is when I cook something in the crockpot or bake (especially baked potatoes). Instead I cheat and use Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (90 seconds in the microwave) and Idahoan Instant Potato packets (2 cups boiling water, stir in potato flakes and let sit for 2 minutes).

For a quick and sweet dessert that's not too much, get some instant pudding and those little graham cracker crusts (6 to a package). I make the pudding and then spoon it into the little crusts. That's enough for three nights.

Good for you for actually cooking! Becky says Beth and Tyler always know when Jeff is working late because she's fixing something really simple. Jeff is a professional and the kids prefer his cooking by far!

Anonymous said...

Oooo...aunty's dessert sounds gooood.

...I'm so easy.

Mike and Stace said...

I LOVE this blog. How fun!! I made desert for this Saturday and I hope you like it because it was pretty much the easiest desert I have ever made. I made ice cream cake- filled the bottom of the pan with ice cream sandwiches, then layered whip cream and chocolate sauce, repeated those three items and crunched up a butterfinger on top. Super easy and lots of fun. Hopefully it tastes good. I got the recipe from the Dugger Family Website. See you Saturday!

Lesley Miller said...

amen to dessert and the kitchen aid. I'm scared of knives. I love this post because I think it puts a lot of my own thoughts into words. I like to try to cook at least 1 new recipe per week and the rest of the time, I'm ok with cheating. :)

Jenni Singley said...

I loved your post. My Kitchen Aid mixer is one of my best friends. I too only use real butter. I could not agree more about the crock pot thing.

Dessert EVERY night whether I run or not!

Marla said...

So fun Care! But, I'm dying to know if the crockpot meal you made wrong was still edible? I'm also shocked no one else has asked that question. Ha. Love you and can't wait to sit at your table and eat your cooking.