Jambalaya

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

Look- I made Jambalaya basically from scratch (and WITHOUT a recipe)

THERE WILL BE A PICTURE HERE...

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Fresh, wholesome and made from scratch

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

Yesterday I made my first Rachel Ray recipe. It turned out quite nicely. I took LOTS of pictures, as you'll see below (later tonight, when I remember my camera).

Broccoli Soup:

I get fresh organic vegetables delivered to my doorstep. This week I got two heads of broccoli. I love it, but I wanted something more than steamed. Enter the new Rachel Ray magazine (which I thought could replace my Blueprint (HAHAHA)) that happens to have a recipe for broccoli soup.

I changed it a little bit. I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used low fat milk instead. I didn't have Swiss cheese, so I used low fat cheddar instead. Woot! It turned out spectacular. I added some Napa Style grey salt (oh so good) and some cauliflower too.

Look how delicious it was:

THEN, because that wasn't enough, I decided to make glazed carrots. This recipe out of Real Simple (again, trying to replace my beloved Blueprint) was supposed to be to breathe life into bad carrots. Mine were good carrots, but the recipe still worked out great.

I added sugar and salt and let them cook

Then I took out the cooked carrots and left the sauce to reduce.

At the end of the night this was my meal:

Course 1: Homemade Broccoli Soup

Course 2: Homemade Carrot and Couscous

Course 3: Homemade (from scratch) cookies.

Yup, wine throughout, I deserved it. No Microwave, nothing frozen and NO MEAT! Wow....

Then I cleaned the house, lit some candles and put on some music. What a wonderful meal. It almost felt like a meal for a lover- well, I love myself. I wrote in my journal, read the bible (YEAH I'VE READ ALL OF GENESIS!) and took a shower. Cuddling up into bed.

I like this wholesome food, no TV, gym and yoga filled world. Let's see how long it lasts....

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Susie Homemaker

Last night I spent a blissful night in my apartment. I cooked some dinner, cleaned up my house, decorated more, and really had an awesome chill evening.

While attempting to cook dinner, Ratatouille from this recipie: http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/2007/07/baked-ratatouille-frnda-ratatouille.html

It started out when I found this recipie on 52 cupcakes, another blog I read. I thought it looked so good, and was such a great idea, I couldn't help myself. I went to the Grocery store during my lunch break. Unfortunatley I didn't quite realize that "Italian Sqaush" and zuchinni were the same thing, so I left.

When I got home I went to the Pavillions and found NO Yellow Squash. Then I had to run across the street to the Wild Oats and was finally able to buy the last 2 squashs they had left! YEAH! So I rushed home after I read the recipie- realizing that the whole thing took almost 1 hour to bake. WOW!

So I ran home and started cutting. I have to admit that at this moment the only thing I really wanted was my mothers quick veggie cutter. All of my pieces were of different sizes. As they would say on "Top Chef" my knife skills could use A LOT of work! I also really wished, once I started cutting, that I had decided to use Roma Tomatoes. The "small" tomatoes that I used were not quite the right size. But, never-the-less I pressed on.

I was supposed to make my own sauce, but without a food processor and no desire to cut so many vegetables, I bought jarred sauce. So, I arranged them all pretty in a bowl and shuffed them in the oven. I have to admit that at this moment in time I really wished that I had more time. I was starving, and it started to smell really good.

I think it turned out rather nicely. Not nearly as "nice" as I wanted it to look...as Top Chef says, it's a lot about style...but it sure tasted good. None of the distinct WOW flavors I was looking for...but that's what happens when you don't want to buy spices.

Needless to say, a good experience. I am planning on taking a few cooking classes, YEAH KNIFE SKILLS! So, when I invite you to a dinner at my house- think positive!