Girl. Learning to cook.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Penne

2011-01-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

I realized, as I sat in the grocery store parking lot staring at my receipt, that while my cooking tastes are usually delicious- they also involve expensive ingredients :-/ I have expensive taste buds, I guess. To be fair, I bought enough food for 2 different recipes that will feed several people. And if I was a lonely studio apartment-dweller, I could totally make multiple meals out of these items.

If The Pioneer Woman has taught me nothing else, it's that heavy cream + cheese of some kind is a beautiful thing. I made this tonight, and actually- it was a rare night when I was all by myself.

I used Barilla Plus Penne and convinced myself it would be way-healthier and on-diet for me to do so. Unfortunately, I didn't mix up a vegetable coule or something to put on top. I think the heavy cream cancels out any do-gooding the extra protein offers.

Wheat/Plus pasta doesn't bother me. Put the sauce on it (any sauce) and I'm good. My family doesn't feel the same way and therefore, I don't eat it very often. But I really like it!

I also spent the $2.50 on a small box of fresh basil. (and as I drove home committed to seriously growing an herb garden!) I couldn't tell if it added anything to the final dish, as the lemon sharpness was sort of strong and confused my taste buds.

For the chicken, I was lazy and decided not to go get my laptop to make the marinade, so I used Honey Mustard Dressing, Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, salt and pepper. And I think it turned out pretty good! My chicken browned well, so one of those ingredients stuck.

The final dish does have a "gritty" texture to it, probably from re-congealing parm/mozz, but it honestly didn't bother me! PW says to put this on a heated serving plate. It's a common problem for me- re-congealing cheese sauces. Does anyone have a solution for this? I'm whisking! I'm whisking!

Pumpkin Bars w/Maple Glaze

2010-10-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

This started out as a weight watchers recipe I found while trolling. The plain bars were okay- but definitely had me trying to find ingredients for a cream cheese frosting! The Maple Glaze was so easy, delicious, and most important- I had the stuff to make it!

1/2 cup(s) butter, softened

1 1/2 cup(s) packed light brown sugar

3 large egg(s), beaten

2 cup(s) canned pumpkin

1/4 tsp table salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or more to taste

1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked quick oats

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

chopped walnuts
dash cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 10- X 15-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and pumpkin; beat well. Add salt, pumpkin pie spice, flour, oats and baking soda; mix thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and place walnut halves on top so there will be 1 walnut in the center of each piece of cake. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes.
Cool in pan and cut into 24 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving

Now comes the fattening (ie: delicious) part-

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons whipping cream

6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted

Melt butter with maple syrup and cream in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Cool glaze until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Drizzle glaze over pound cake.

My first invented recipe!

2008-04-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

French Toast!

Okay, so I'm really not positive that I'm just blocking out where I heard this recipe, and it may even already be a well-known technique, but today I made the most delicious french toast.

My only change, was that after dipping the bread in egg, milk, and cinnamon mixture, I rolled it in a sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar mixture as well.

The result- a delightfully crunchy french toast with a brilliant sugar crust.

Try it- it's delicious!

Soup Addendum.

2008-04-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, I finally ate some of my soup. And it really was delicious! I got a rave from the one person I fed it to, and I'm giving it to someone else tomorrow- so I'll let you know :) The water & bullion cubes really did make a tasty broth to add to my store bought kind!

My First Chicken Noodle Soup!

2008-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

No cook is complete without a good, homemade, chicken noodle soup in their repertoire, right? So, this was less of a recipe than a combination of Pioneer Woman's chicken & rice and my dad's directions over the phone. And my additions. The result? Yummy.

I've never had so much respect for soux-chefs. I mean, chopping carrots is harder than financial accounting!...well, not really. but I was definitely cursing a little bit.

We're going to call this recipe: Lauren's Soup. (with help from other people)
3 Chicken Breasts
Carrots
Celery
Onion (half of one huge, softball-size onion- like, seriously Tops?)
1 Box of Chicken Stock (herein lies problem number 1)
Bullion Cubes- solution to said problem, hopefully.
Flour & Butter- for the ROUX!
Garlic (my addition!)

I think I sound more like a cook just for saying I made a roux, despite what it tastes like. Anyway, I have to admit, I have yet to try my soup as it's still simmering on the stove. But it sure smells good and even if my bullion cube solution has created an oversalted mess, there is always pepper- right?

Until next time- major shout out to Pioneer Woman's breakfast muffin recipes. Because they sound AMAZING. And when I replenish my flour source, I will be making these, definitely!

true friends make YOU cook :)

2008-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

So tonight my bud Erica came over and brought me some fabulous chicken cutlets. And spaghetti. Which was perfect because it gave me a chance to try the Chicken Breast recipe I was telling you about, with the artichokes and tomatoes. I did a little substituting, as I don't even know where to find sun-dried tomatoes in the grocery store, much less how to cook with them. Also, we used Kraft "Fancy Italian" cheese mix which, to my surprise, includes Fontina! So basically, my dinner cost exactly $3.79 :) Again, thanks to Erica for the chicken & spaghetti.

Notes to parents of impatient children- if they're starving while you're still waiting for the pasta water to boil- give them a piece of dry spaghetti to chew on. I didn't know people did it, but both Erica and my roommate seemed to be avid fans. I tried it, but still found it a little TOO crunchy for my tastes.

Well, we made the chicken and a spaghetti side on which we put the leftover stuffing mix. Tied the dish together really well. Later that night I tried to make chocolate fondue from scratch- with semi sweet chocolate bars, milk, and sugar. I really ended up with chocolate soup- but the taste was pretty much the same. I'm going to try again, definitely, maybe actually using a recipe :-p

Ah, cooking is all about improv, right? Anyway, no clue if I'm making anything tomorrow- it'll likely be more sloppy joe leftovers and spaghetti as we cooked an entire package tonight...One Job Erica!! One Job!

So a note to anybody reading this, if you're willing to provide half the ingredients, I'll cook for ya :)

Yummy Leftovers

2008-04-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

So, my first effort of food blog cooking wasn't too spectacular. Last night I made sloppy joes for dinner. My only "great insight" was to put them in hot dog buns rather than hamburger. This made for a little less sloppy. Today for lunch, I broiled my buns and buttered the insides and added my sloppy joe mix. And let me tell you, it tasted better the 2nd time around. I promise I'm thinking of something fabulous for dinner that you'll actually want to read about. Promise. I will also definitely be trying out the pioneer woman's chicken & rice soup recipe sometime this week. I've never made soup, or worked with whole chicken. So this will be an experience.

Until next time, always remember that buns are always better broiled.

A disclaimer.

2008-04-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not a complete moron. I have just enough cooking skills to not burn things when I make them. Unfortunately, I do have a nasty habit of ordering take-out items that turn out to be less delicious than any number of things I could've made on my own. Also, it's expensive. So today, I've decided to learn how to cook. To be one of those people who are intimate with the uses of polenta and have white wine for cooking. I have been inspired.

Why start today? Well, it's a milestone of sorts as today I was educated on what "deglazing" means and how easy it really is. So this blog is going to be my way of keeping myself honest. If I don't cook, I'll have nothing to write about. This is my April resolution. To become a cook.

To prove how committed I am to this resolution- here is an amazing-looking recipe I found the other day from epicurious.

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Fontina and Sun Dried Tomatoes.

I'm going to make it tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it turns out...