In the interest of using up what is in my pantry I have made some interesting meals over the past few days. I realize I am not a very good cook. But worse is left over not so good food. The other day I made wheat pasta and a homemade sauce with only some of the ingredients needed for sauce. The pasta was very dry and the sauce was not good. We all ate it for dinner the first night (three nights ago.) But today I attempted to have left overs for lunch and it was worse. So it all went in garbage.
Yesterday I tried to make Spanish rice and beans, again without all the usual ingredients. Plus I mixed half white rice and half brown rice. The brown rice was not cooked all the way, but the white rice was. The whole thing was really dry. But again we all ate it for dinner two nights ago. So after trying to eat left over pasta for lunch and discovering it uneatable, I had left over rice and beans. It was almost as bad as left over pasta. I did eat it though. Then threw the rest away.
And two days ago I made a loaf of bread that was a flop (but I have made good homemade bread, so maybe I left something out.)
My kids are getting ready to jump ship.
For dinner I am making scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. I have never messed that up, so hopefully tonight will not be a first.
I will also attempt another loaf of bread tonight, hopefully that will work out as well.
Frugal living would be a whole lot easier if I was a better cook.
Good thing we got treated to Friendly's last night or my kids might starve. LOL.
-Becky
Thursday, July 1, 2010
I am not a very good cook
Posted by Becky R at 2:09 PM
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5 comments:
You should try this much acclaimed sauce! It's SO easy to make, and so delicious that I would eat it without pasta (for me, that says a lot!). It's adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
In a saucepan, put 1 large can (I think it's 32oz? whole, peeled tomatoes (plus the juices), and 5 tbs unsalted butter (you could also use less butter, or just skip it), along with a sweet yellow onion (cut in half only) bring to a boil, while you squish the tomatoes (I use a wooden spoon and kind of crush them against the side of the pan). Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring/crushing tomatoes occasionally. Remove the onion and discard and add a bit of salt to taste. Makes 4 1/2 cup servings.
It's so good! I add a cup each of broccoli and carrots at the very beginning and it makes it so much more hearty and healthy. You could customize it however you want! It also tastes great heated up the next day, and keeps in the fridge for 1 week.
It's especially great over whole wheat tortellini :-)
I'm not a very good cook, either. I often *think* I have all the ingredients necessary, but then realize at the last minute that I'm either missing something or do not have enough of it.
My most recent screw-up was baking a dish with shrimp and forgetting to pull the tails off the shrimp before putting it all in the oven. Luckily, the dish still tasted good - we just had to pull the tails off the shrimp pieces before eating them! Lol!
Becky, I know you will become a great cook, because I can tell you want to.
I have always been totally into cooking..absolutly love it. But even a "good" cook can totally mess up..one for me was a recipe I tried while trying to do some different things..bean stroganoff..oh my word..it was gross so gross. Jer tried so hard to eat it, but we looked at each other and began to laugh and met at the garbage can and scrapped it together in unison..oh it was so nasty.
Ok, so here is a great website that I have found that is nearly unbeatable..recipezaar.com. You probably already know it, but really if you hit the part that says ratings..and use the highest rated ones you can miss.
What strikes me is how you really try to eat what you "think" is cruddy..so you to me are really doing your best to be frugal. You inspire me girl!
Hang in there on the cooking front and you will get there!! You can do it!
Tina
Most likely if you keep at it you will get better. Have you ever checked out recipezaar.com? DH swears by it, and it's often a go-to for me when I want to make something but might not have all the ingredients to make it the usual way. I think you can also input what you have available, and it will give you options.
As for the bread, I have had this issues at times. Did you make sure the yeast was still good? Or your flour might have been old. I've also had issues if it's too humid out.
My mom is a great cook most days. But I distinctly remember a couple of times when it was just her and me, where she tried to make up a dish, and it went in the trash pretty quickly, so it can happen to even the best cooks.
Thanks for the encouragement, recipes, and websites.
Sometimes we don't eat my disasters, but sometimes we do.
Our simple dinner of scrambled eggs and turkey bacon was normal. Also I baked a loaf of bread tonight that also tasted fine, actually it is almost gone already.
Live and learn.
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