A Turn for the Better!

Yep, things have improved. My rotten luck came to an end (thank God) since my last post. I made the Turkey Stuffed Peppers that I spoke of and they were delicious! Cory and I even fought over who got the last one! My 3 y.o. ate them with with a big "mmmmmmm" after each bite! I have made stuffed peppers in the past and was never happy with the pepper. I always felt that it wasn't cooked enough. This recipe has a different technique than I haven't used before. It calls for broth in the pan surrounding all the stuffed peppers. You then cover the pan with foil (or a lid in my case) and it actually steams the pepper to perfection. It was cooked exactly how I like! I used a wild rice/whole grain blend instead of white rice so my mixture was much crunchier than if I would have used white rice, but it was still very good. Next time (oh yes, there will be a next time) I will add corn and black beans to the mixture. Sorry, but we were so hungry I didn't want to waste time taking pictures!! Visit Gina's site and see her beautiful picture of this delicious dish!

Today was definitely "soup weather" so I made a Potato Leek Soup recipe that I found on Recipezarr.com. I modified it with half chicken stock/half water and added some seasoning salt.
I thought the soup was good. Not the best soup I've ever had, but definitely good. Cory, on the other hand, wasn't as thrilled about it. I believe his exact words were "what stinks?" I take this with a grain of salt because he doesn't really like onions, and leeks would fall into the onion category for him.

For me, one of the best parts about the holiday season is pairing turkey and cranberries. It's a flavor combination made in heaven. I made a wonderful batch of cranberry sauce.

This recipe was also from Recipezaar and it had a simple twist to the traditional cranberry sauce recipe. You substitute orange juice for the water. It gives it another layer of flavor that pairs nicely with the cranberries. Once the cranberry sauce was set, I built my wonderful turkey and cranberry sandwich. Served next to my Potato Leek soup it was a great meal in my opinion!The most exciting part about making the Potato Leek Soup was I got to use my new Kitchen Aid immersion blender!
Yep, the experience of having hot soup shoot up through the vent hole of the blender led me to make a new purchase...a very handy Kitchen Aid immersion blender! It works like a champ. Cory was thrilled about this purchase because it is the perfect tool to make milkshakes with...which he wasted no time in testing out!
Cory's creation:

Abysmal...

Yes...that's the word that sums it up...abysmal. That is how I would describe my recent luck in the kitchen! I've been pressed for time (as we all are this time of year), so I've gotten a little absent minded while cooking. I have burned more stuff in the last week than I have burned all year!!! But the bad luck goes far beyond that. Last night I made a loaf of beer bread. I've made beer bread about 5 times in my life and every time it's been flawless (I mean, come on, even the most unskilled cooks can pour a can of beer into a mix and then put it in the oven!!) But I decided to follow the "Optional Recipes" on the side of the box. I added sparkling cider instead of beer, a chopped apple, cinnamon and pecans to it. It was the strangest tasting loaf of beer bread ever. It kinda tasted rancid. At 1st I thought it was the pecans that ruined it, but now I am certain that it was the cider.

Oh, and then today I needed to blend a soup and the soup shot up out of the tiny vent hole in the blender lid. BTW, in case you were wondering, that little tiny hole that is the size of the tip of a pencil can release enough liquid to cause this frazzled cook to clean up for about 10 minutes! And just to add insult to injury the cooking gods decided to get a good laugh at my expense and make the soup way too peppery to fully enjoy!

Ugggg. But on a wonderfully exciting note, I found a really great blog called Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes. Since I am following Weight Watchers (I say that with a crooked smile since my fingers are still sticky from the rice crispy treat I just ate!!!) I love finding flavorful and interesting recipes that still stay true to my weight loss plan of choice!

BTW, the soup recipe that shot up through the blender hole today was the Cauliflower Soup recipe from Gina's website. I'll definitely make it again, I'll just tone down the pepper! Tonight I am making the Turkey Stuffed Peppers recipe for dinner...wish me better luck!!

I'm still here!

OK, it's been a while since I posted. Lots going on I guess. Anyways, I do have some updates: I successfully completed my challenge of not eating out for an entire week. In fact, I was so successful I decided to extend it. I made it 10 days without eating anything besides food prepared at home! Yey!

On to more great news, I had a revelation...remember how I said that I would love to be a cook like my friend Chrystal where she is able to totally throw things together without following a recipe and they turn out delicious every time? Well, it occurred to me that if that's the type of cook I want to be, then I certainly won't get there by trying to follow a bunch of recipes from various websites and cookbooks. I should learn the fundamentals of cooking so that I can have the confidence to open my fridge and create a wonderful meal without a recipe at all. I did a little searching and I found two great books. The first is called How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson (no, not Baywatch Pam Anderson!) and the second is called The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider. They are EXACTLY what I need. They go over the fundamentals of cooking, what flavors go well together, and the essential ingredients that every great cook should have on hand at all times. There is also a plethora of recipes in these books. Check these out for yourself when you get a chance...here are the links:

Our dinner tonight was Chili (thank you Amanda) & cornbread. As I was preparing the box of Jiffy Corn Bread mix, I decided to try to spruce it up. Trust me, I realize that this is no culinary feat...this is just a spruced up recipe that I thought I would share with you!! I basically just added a can of diced green chilies and some fat free feta cheese and then sprinkled the top with seasoning salt. It just gave the cornbread a nice added kick and complimented the chili perfectly.