I Did Cook, I Have Proof!

Finally I have a chance to let you know how my week of cooking has been going. I cooked dinner Monday (with help from Anthony) and Tuesday. Wednesday night I had a headache and was not in the mood to cook so we ordered take-out sushi. Call me crazy, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be cooking every single night this week. Turns out I also won’t be cooking dinner Friday since Anthony is working that night. The two meals that were cooked this week turned out to be pretty bland.

Monday night I decided to make Anthony’s father’s pasta e fagiloi. The recipe we had for it didn’t seem very complete so we improvised parts of it. Anthony seemed interested in helping me make this, I think partly because the recipe wasn’t complete and partly because it’s his father’s recipe. We sautéed chopped onion, celery (with the celery leaves), and garlic. Then we added chicken broth about 2 cups and brought it to a boil and added a cup of ditalini pasta. You have to keep stirring it because the pasta will stick otherwise. Once the pasta is cooked you add cannellini beans. Let them heat through and then stir in some grated parmesan, salt, and pepper. That’s it; it’s a very simple easy and delicious recipe. Ours turned out a bit bland. It needed more salt and pepper. Everything always tastes better when someone else cooks it, so hopefully next time when his parents visit his dad can make some!

Final Product:

Tuesday night I was supposed to make Chicken Vindaloo. I don’t have all the spices that you need to make an Indian recipe from scratch so normally I will buy the already made pastes that you can buy at Wegmans. They did not have the Vindaloo paste when I went shopping this weekend. Instead I bought a Hot Curry Paste. Any Vindaloo dish I have had has been really spicy and I wanted to get something that would compare to that. So I made the Hot Curry Chicken the same way I make Chicken Vindaloo. I sautéed a cup of chopped onion, then added 1 pound of chopped chicken breast and cooked it until it was white. Then I added 3 medium cubed red potatoes, 4 tablespoons of the Hot Curry Paste, and enough water so that everything was almost covered (that’s what the recipe says to do) and simmered it for about 20 minutes until the potatoes were tender. The end result was pretty watery, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be. I served it over Basmati Rice and the rice just sucked up all the sauce, the chicken was also a bit over cooked. It just wasn’t Chicken Vindaloo and we found it a little bit bland (that’s becoming a theme with my cooking). A little odd that it was bland considering I put 4 tablespoons of the curry paste in. Guess I won’t be making that again, unless I can find the Vindaloo paste or can make it from scratch. I also served it with Naan Bread and Daal (Indian Lentils). The already cooked lentils was a great idea, they were nice and spicy. If you mixed them into the chicken and rice you got some more flavor out of the meal.

Final Product:

Let's Get Cookin'

Halloween has come and gone. I’ve had way too much candy! I don’t really have a sweet tooth except for when candy is around. There is no way for me to ignore it, I must eat it.

To ease myself back into cooking I made a Crockpot dish last week. I love the Crockpot! Throw everything in and do nothing with it for 8 hours and then it’s time to eat. How could you not love that?! The recipe is very simple and just contains a can of tomato soup, water, garlic, spices, potatoes, onions, carrots, and turkey thighs. You put the veggies in the Crockpot and lay the turkey thighs on top. Mix up the sauce and pour it onto the turkey thighs. The end result is very tender, fall-off-the-bone turkey meat. It’s a very simple dish, but it's well worth pulling the Crockpot out to make.

Final Product:

In the last week or two I've also made:

Pumpkin Penne

Shrimp and Grits

I know I have been M.I.A. lately, but I plan on coming back strong this week. My menu is: Pasta e Fagioli (my father-in-laws recipe), Mini Cheese Meat Loafs, Buenos Burritos (turkey burritos), Vindaloo Chicken, and Lentil, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew. I don’t except to run into any problems. I’ve made the meat loafs, burritos, and chicken before and the soup and stew don’t seem difficult to make. Of course there is a chance that take-out might play a part again this week, but I’m really going to try to cook Monday-Thursday and one night this weekend.

If you want to try any of the above recipes click on the link to the right of the post call Recipes Used for The Hesitant Cook.

"There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't and that's a wife who can't cook and will."
Robert Frost (1847-1963)