My Cooking Experiment Take 2

At the beginning of the month I blogged about my goal of cooking more, and with May coming to a close, I'm evaluating whether or not my experiment was a success. On one hand I did cook a lot more this month than ever before, but my enthusiasm for the culinary arts waned towards the end.

Also, I really didn't come across a recipe that blew my mind. Everything I cooked was tasty enough, but nothing I'd add to my list of go-to recipes, but I have had fun trying out new ideas. Right now, my tastes have been leaning more towards Mediterranean cuisine and stir-fries, but I'm trying to branch out. If anyone has favorite recipes to share, please pass them along.

The biggest drawback to this experiment continues to be spending money on food that ends up not being used. I've been trying to string along some recipes with common ingredients to cut down on the waste, but there are somethings that just end up sitting around like Greek style yogurt and various produce. I've always been hesitant to cook for this exact reason. I just need to figure out how to utilize my groceries better, but it's not easy to do so when you're a novice like myself.

With June right around the corner, I'm going to give this cooking deal one more shot to see if it will stick. So far, I've gained a sense of accomplishment when I have food I prepared myself sitting in front of me, but those feelings haven't outweighed the guilt of wasting food and money that's come along with it. Again, I'm sure I'll get the hang of things as time goes on, but I just hope it doesn't take too long.

My Kitchen: Week 2

Week 2 of my little cooking experiment was not as successful as my first one, mostly due to the fact that I didn't end up cooking as much as I wanted to. Out of the three meals I had planned, I was only able to get to two of them.

Last week I wasn't able to make up the Greek-style turkey burgers I had planned, so I made them on Sunday. They had a decent flavor to them, but the yogurt sauce was essentially a poor man's tzatziki. If I make them again, I'll definitely grill them instead of pan-frying like I was supposed to. Meal 2 was a chicken curry stir-fry with brown rice. I'll definitely make that one again once I figure out how to properly make brown rice. Every time I try to make it, even instant, I end up messing something up.

This week's menu will have the sesame chicken stir-fry that I wasn't able to get to, pizza joes, and maybe some kind of pasta dish, either a bow-tie or orzo since I still have some left over. I do have a creamy asparagus chicken with bow-tie and Mediterranean chicken with rosemary orzo recipe bookmarked. I do have to make up for lost time...

My Rainy Daze

One of the reasons I moved back to Texas was because I was tired of the gray, rainy days in Portland, OR.  Had I known that Central Texas was just as dreary during the winter and early spring, I would thought about sticking around PDX a little bit longer. The fact that I've really been missing Portland doesn't help things either.

My Kitchen: Week 1

So, I finally put my money where my mouth is and actually cooked for myself last week, and I have to say that the first week of my experiment was somewhat of a success. I still ended up going out to eat more than I would've liked, but that's because it's hard to break old habits.

Last week's menu consisted of three meals that were pretty straight forward and easy. Monday night I cooked up turkey sausage skillet with asparagus and orzo. It had nice flavor, and it's something I'll definitely try again. Unfortunately, I didn't cook again until Friday when I made a bow-tie pasta with chicken, bell peppers, and a little bit of green onion. Again, it was tasty enough, but I still have a long way to go. I was supposed to make Greek-style turkey burgers as well, but that recipe was put off until this week.

I'm still trying to put together another menu for this week, and I have some ideas, but one is kind of ambitious. The last couple of week's I've been obsessed with a Vietnamese sandwich called a banh mi. It's served on a Vietnamese baguette with assorted fillings, and the nearest place I can find one is in Austin. While Austin is not that far of a drive, I'm not willing to take that much time for a sandwich, so I'm going to try making my own. The thing is, they are more time consuming than I originally thought, so I'm putting that idea on the back burner for now. I am excited about tackling the banh mi though.

Right now, I'm thinking that this week I'll go for a stir-fry theme by making a sesame chicken stir-fry as well as a curried turkey version as well. I just hope I have better motivation this time around, and I stick to cooking more than eating out. I guess only time will tell. If anyone has any recipes they'd like to share, please let me know. I'm always keeping an eye out for new ideas.

My New Hobby: Cooking

For the longest time I've been meaning to pick up cooking, but I've always find reasons not to. I keep convincing myself that it's too expensive to cook at home, I'm too busy to shop for and fix meals, it's too much of a hassle to cook just for myself, and so forth and so on.

Obviously, all of my excuses are full of crap because they really don't hold much weight (with the exception of the cost argument, but if you cook right it should be that much more expensive), and I'm tired of making them. The thing is, there really isn't anything stopping me from picking up how to cook except for my laziness, and I do like to cook, so I just need to find the motivation to do so.

Over the weekend, I picked up some food magazines and nutrition guides to convince me to bust out of my rut and start cooking more. I know that it's a small step, but it's a start. With May just starting, my goal is to spend more time in the kitchen, and less time wasting money on food that's not good for me to begin with. Plus, it'll be good to have a few stand by recipes in my back pocket just in case I do meet a nice, young lady. Chick's dig a man that can cook...and puppies.