It has been three days since I've eaten meat. I wasn't trying not to eat meat. I just didn't seek it out. I guess that's what happens when you live with an intentional vegitarian. My mother has been one for most of my life and I'm not a huge meat lover myself. In fact, the thought of cooking meat is totally intimidating. ... Maybe I should just become a vegitarian ...
But no, I couldn't. I love burgers too much. To me, the best comfort food in the world is a good burger with everything on it.
I'll just continue to be the occasional accidental vegitarian.
* A Favorite Thing: Burgers with everything (especially from Sonic or Culver's:)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Slowly, slowly, slowly ...
The Cookbook: The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Volume 2
put out by Better Homes & Gardens
The Recipe: Rice-Stuffed Peppers
The Misadventure: Yes, I picked another recipe that involves rice. And a totally new type of rice at that: converted rice. But this time I knew what I was getting myself into. At least as far as that one ingredient was concerned. It also called for frozen green soybeans, a.k.a. edamame. The only frozen green soybeans I could find were in pods. So I bought them.
As I started preparations for the stuffed peppers, which the book said would take about 25 minutes, I opened the bag of edamame and realized that I definitely did not want the soybeans still in the pods.
Well, I thought, I will just have to get the beans out of the pods. Simple enough. After all, I only need a cup and a half. Besides, I'll have all this free time while the rice is cooking!
So I started the rice and grabbed a knife to cut into the edamame pods. It turned out to be not so easy since, of course, they were frozen. I set the knife down and grabbed the kitchen scissors thinking that would be easier.
Not so much. But I struggled with it for a little while, getting one bean out at a time. I soon realized it was going to take me forever to fill only a cup and a half. I needed a better method. So I grabbed a small pot, filled it with hot water from the faucet and dumped some of the pods in. I took one out and cut into it. Much easier! Unfortunately, it took the whole bag of edamame and 35 minutes to complete the task. That put me 10 minutes over the estimated prep time. And I still had other preparations to make, so all in all it took me one hour to get the peppers ready to put in the slow cooker. Twice as long as it should have taken. But that seems to be pretty normal for me. And it did get done so that's a plus! Not to mention I got to forget about it for the next 3 hours. That was pretty nice.
What have I learned from this experience? Never buy soybeans still in the pods. And if the recipe calls for it that way, pick a different recipe because they didn't look very good.
put out by Better Homes & Gardens
The Recipe: Rice-Stuffed Peppers
The Misadventure: Yes, I picked another recipe that involves rice. And a totally new type of rice at that: converted rice. But this time I knew what I was getting myself into. At least as far as that one ingredient was concerned. It also called for frozen green soybeans, a.k.a. edamame. The only frozen green soybeans I could find were in pods. So I bought them.
As I started preparations for the stuffed peppers, which the book said would take about 25 minutes, I opened the bag of edamame and realized that I definitely did not want the soybeans still in the pods.
Well, I thought, I will just have to get the beans out of the pods. Simple enough. After all, I only need a cup and a half. Besides, I'll have all this free time while the rice is cooking!
So I started the rice and grabbed a knife to cut into the edamame pods. It turned out to be not so easy since, of course, they were frozen. I set the knife down and grabbed the kitchen scissors thinking that would be easier.
Not so much. But I struggled with it for a little while, getting one bean out at a time. I soon realized it was going to take me forever to fill only a cup and a half. I needed a better method. So I grabbed a small pot, filled it with hot water from the faucet and dumped some of the pods in. I took one out and cut into it. Much easier! Unfortunately, it took the whole bag of edamame and 35 minutes to complete the task. That put me 10 minutes over the estimated prep time. And I still had other preparations to make, so all in all it took me one hour to get the peppers ready to put in the slow cooker. Twice as long as it should have taken. But that seems to be pretty normal for me. And it did get done so that's a plus! Not to mention I got to forget about it for the next 3 hours. That was pretty nice.
What have I learned from this experience? Never buy soybeans still in the pods. And if the recipe calls for it that way, pick a different recipe because they didn't look very good.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Third Time's a Charm (I hope!)
So back to my fingerless gloves. As you know, I got about halfway done with one of them and had to start over. It went a lot more smoothly the second time. In fact, I finished the main part of the glove rather quickly. All I had to do was add the cuff. Easy! Or at least it would have been if I had done the proper cast on in the first place. But I didn't.
For those of you who don't knit, the cast on (CO) is the very first thing you do when starting any project. Usually, you cast on, keep knitting, and once you're done with the first row you don't think about the cast on ever again. But this pattern called for a special kind of CO. One that I had never done before. One that I inevitably screwed up.
After finishing the entire body of the glove (complete with only a single thumb hole and everything!) I had to simply set it aside and, once again, start all over.
By the time I actually finish these gloves, I will have done enough knitting to have made three pair.
For those of you who don't knit, the cast on (CO) is the very first thing you do when starting any project. Usually, you cast on, keep knitting, and once you're done with the first row you don't think about the cast on ever again. But this pattern called for a special kind of CO. One that I had never done before. One that I inevitably screwed up.
After finishing the entire body of the glove (complete with only a single thumb hole and everything!) I had to simply set it aside and, once again, start all over.
By the time I actually finish these gloves, I will have done enough knitting to have made three pair.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Wildly Time Consuming
I checked out another cookbook from the library, making my selection a little more carefully this time.
The Four Ingredient Cookbook
by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale
The cover says it's "as easy as 1 2 3 4".
Each of the 700 recipes (it's actually three cookbooks in one) has only four ingredients. That sounded really appealing. A long list of ingredients can be a bit intimidating.
I picked out a chicken casserole and went to the store for my four ingredients, one of which was wild rice. I got everything else I needed first, then found the aisle with rice. I was instantly lost in a sea options. Minute rice, five minute rice, white rice, brown rice, long grain rice, rice in boxes, rice in bags. There were at least a dozen different kinds of rice! Who knew? And you would think (or at least I did) that with all of those types of rice, wild rice would be in the mix. I mean, after all, it was in the four ingredient cookbook. How hard could it be to find?
I studied that aisle for a good ten minutes, reading every box, bag, and package carefully. Finally, I came across a small box of New Orleans style wild rice. I snatched it up and headed for the checkout, four ingredients finally in tow.
The recipe said to cook the rice as instructed on the package. I read over the box and saw that it would take about 30 minutes. Okay, that's not so bad, I thought. The rest of the preparations only take about two minutes and then I just stick it in the oven.
When I opened the box of rice and poured it in the water I discovered that there were powdery spices in the rice! How did that happen? That's not what I wanted. ... *light-bulb* Oh. New Orleans Style. That's what that meant. Bother. I left the rice simmering on the stove and went to dig through the pantry to see if we had any wild rice hiding in there. It took me a while to find, but low and behold, we did! And it was spice-free! Yay!
Then I read the instructions. It would be an hour before this rice was ready. Oh well, I thought, there's no turning back now. Before long, I had two different pots of wild rice simmering. Apparently, one just isn't enough.
When the first one was done I waited for it to cool, then put it in a container and banished it to the refrigerator.
Forty minutes later I was finally able to put the casserole together and stick it in the oven.
It turned out pretty good, albeit two and a half hours after my start time. But regardless of how time consuming it was it's going on the list!
What did I learn from this experience? 1 2 3 4 is not quite as easy as 1 2 3. And less ingredients does not equal less time.
The Four Ingredient Cookbook
by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale
The cover says it's "as easy as 1 2 3 4".
Each of the 700 recipes (it's actually three cookbooks in one) has only four ingredients. That sounded really appealing. A long list of ingredients can be a bit intimidating.
I picked out a chicken casserole and went to the store for my four ingredients, one of which was wild rice. I got everything else I needed first, then found the aisle with rice. I was instantly lost in a sea options. Minute rice, five minute rice, white rice, brown rice, long grain rice, rice in boxes, rice in bags. There were at least a dozen different kinds of rice! Who knew? And you would think (or at least I did) that with all of those types of rice, wild rice would be in the mix. I mean, after all, it was in the four ingredient cookbook. How hard could it be to find?
I studied that aisle for a good ten minutes, reading every box, bag, and package carefully. Finally, I came across a small box of New Orleans style wild rice. I snatched it up and headed for the checkout, four ingredients finally in tow.
The recipe said to cook the rice as instructed on the package. I read over the box and saw that it would take about 30 minutes. Okay, that's not so bad, I thought. The rest of the preparations only take about two minutes and then I just stick it in the oven.
When I opened the box of rice and poured it in the water I discovered that there were powdery spices in the rice! How did that happen? That's not what I wanted. ... *light-bulb* Oh. New Orleans Style. That's what that meant. Bother. I left the rice simmering on the stove and went to dig through the pantry to see if we had any wild rice hiding in there. It took me a while to find, but low and behold, we did! And it was spice-free! Yay!
Then I read the instructions. It would be an hour before this rice was ready. Oh well, I thought, there's no turning back now. Before long, I had two different pots of wild rice simmering. Apparently, one just isn't enough.
When the first one was done I waited for it to cool, then put it in a container and banished it to the refrigerator.
Forty minutes later I was finally able to put the casserole together and stick it in the oven.
It turned out pretty good, albeit two and a half hours after my start time. But regardless of how time consuming it was it's going on the list!
What did I learn from this experience? 1 2 3 4 is not quite as easy as 1 2 3. And less ingredients does not equal less time.
Monday, November 7, 2011
I'm All Thumbs
So we've established that cooking is not exactly my forte. Yet. But one thing I can do is knit. Granted, I tend to need a bit of help and the finished product usually has a minor mistake or two. But I typically only knit for myself anyway.
Last week I started a new pattern for fingerless gloves (my favorite thing to make) out of a book my mom gave me for Christmas. Luckily, my mom is a knitting goddess who can generally help me fix any of my mistakes. But some mistakes are too big even for her.
I was happily knitting away, excited about having fun new fingerless gloves, when suddenly I realized that I had two thumb holes. Drat! How did I end up with two thumb holes? Then, I saw that I had a giant twist in my yarn that I couldn't untangle. Time to cut that out, unravel the whole project, and start over.
On to attempt #2.
Last week I started a new pattern for fingerless gloves (my favorite thing to make) out of a book my mom gave me for Christmas. Luckily, my mom is a knitting goddess who can generally help me fix any of my mistakes. But some mistakes are too big even for her.
I was happily knitting away, excited about having fun new fingerless gloves, when suddenly I realized that I had two thumb holes. Drat! How did I end up with two thumb holes? Then, I saw that I had a giant twist in my yarn that I couldn't untangle. Time to cut that out, unravel the whole project, and start over.
On to attempt #2.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
How to cook ...
Cook? Yes, of course I know how to cook. My specialties are peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, and no-bake cookies. Oh! And I can make coffee. That's important.
Okay, so it's obviously a complete stretch to say that I know how to cook. But I'm learning. Or at least trying to learn. I checked out a big, heavy book from the library called How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The cover says it has "2,000 simple recipes for great food".
Wow, I thought, I'm going to learn so much from this book! And someone with an ounce of experience in cooking probably would have, but not this domestic rookie. Instead, when I started fipping through it, I became totally overwhelmed. Unfortunately, I had made a rule for myself.
Rule # 1: For every cookbook that I bring home I have to pick at least one recipe to try.
Drat my blasted rule! It took me a whole week to find a recipe, buried deep in those one thousand and fifty pages, that I thought I could follow. But I admit, once I did, it was worth it.
So what did I learn from How to Cook Everything? How to cook one thing.
Popovers.
They are so simple and easy, not at all impressive, but quite good. I love them! And now I can add one more thing to my list of things I can make. And let's face it, my poor little list needs all the help it can get.
So what have I learned from this experience? If you can't really cook anything don't try to cook everything. Start small and build from there.
Okay, so it's obviously a complete stretch to say that I know how to cook. But I'm learning. Or at least trying to learn. I checked out a big, heavy book from the library called How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The cover says it has "2,000 simple recipes for great food".
Wow, I thought, I'm going to learn so much from this book! And someone with an ounce of experience in cooking probably would have, but not this domestic rookie. Instead, when I started fipping through it, I became totally overwhelmed. Unfortunately, I had made a rule for myself.
Rule # 1: For every cookbook that I bring home I have to pick at least one recipe to try.
Drat my blasted rule! It took me a whole week to find a recipe, buried deep in those one thousand and fifty pages, that I thought I could follow. But I admit, once I did, it was worth it.
So what did I learn from How to Cook Everything? How to cook one thing.
Popovers.
They are so simple and easy, not at all impressive, but quite good. I love them! And now I can add one more thing to my list of things I can make. And let's face it, my poor little list needs all the help it can get.
So what have I learned from this experience? If you can't really cook anything don't try to cook everything. Start small and build from there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)