For my final week, I decided to do something that I am usually not very good at - broiling!
My mom has always made really good open faced sandwiches by broiling them in the oven. However, I never know just how long something should stay in the oven and end up burning it or not cooking it enough! This week, I was able to hang out with my boyfriend and we were in the mood for sandwiches. Usually, we would just go out and get Subway or Board and Brew (the latter being my absolute favorite!). But, we were tight on cash and I thought this would be a good opportunity to test out my skills and try a new one! We went to the store and my first stop was the bakery. I wanted some fresh bread and not some over processed stuff from the regular bread aisle. I found a really great looking small loaf of garlic herb bread and my boyfriend grabbed a cheesy bread that was the same size loaf. Disclaimer here, I have recently become very sensitive to lactose, so I have to cut back and/or out most dairy products. I LOVE cheese so this is a challenge for me. I wanted the cheesy bread so bad, but knew I had to stay away from it. After we grabbed the bread, we went to the deli and grabbed some freshly sliced chicken. My boyfriend got sliced swiss cheese as well to put on his sandwich which I was very envious of. We also ran over and grabbed a package of bacon to cook up because bacon makes everything extra delicious! Finally, we grabbed avocado and tomato to put on. We got home and got to work. I turned on the oven to broil and let it heat up while my boyfriend cooked up the bacon. Meanwhile, I sliced the loaves of bread in half and laid them out on the cookie sheet. I put some butter and a sprinkle of garlic salt on them. I decided to put them in to broil to get the bread a little crispy before the chicken and bacon went on. I put them in the oven and walked away to slice up the avocado. Big mistake. I should have been watching the bread because it ended up being too close to the top of the oven and was cooking super quick. I heard some crackling and ran over to the oven JUST IN TIME to rescue my bread and take it out before it burnt. It did not burn but was definitely nice and crispy when I took it out. I then put a little bit of ranch dressing on the slices of bread and layered chicken and bacon on top. I put the cheese on my boyfriends sandwich with much envy. I put them into the oven and watch carefully as they cooked up. I waited until the cheese on top of my boyfriends was bubbly and a little browned and then took them out. Viola! I had not burned them! I added sliced avocado and tomato to the top and put them on plates! So this week I did not have much time to plan a meal to cook for my boyfriend and myself. I also caught a nasty head cold that will not go away! So, instead of trying to plan my own meal, I decided to help my parents with the cooking and prep for our Easter family dinner!
First step was to pick a protein. We were between ham and roast beef. My dad and I were all for the roast beef, but my mom was insisting on ham. However, once we pointed out that we had ham for Christmas she decided it was time to cook up some roast beef! My dad went out and bought a 6 pound roast beef. He has a rub that he uses every time he cooks it that he considers a "secret" so I wasn't allowed to get the recipe for it (however I do know that he used bay leaves and they smelled AMAZING!) Next step was the side dishes. I voted for a green bean casserole because, well, I love love love green bean casserole! I looked up a simple recipe for it and all I needed was:
We also wanted a starch, so we decided on au gratin potatoes. I grabbed two boxes from the store and made them following the super simple instructions. Finally, some sweet Hawaiian rolls with butter and we were in business!! My brother and boyfriend came over to join my parents and I and we had a blast. We even pulled out the Wii to play Mario Kart for a while which we haven't done in a long time! I know that the meal consisted of a lot of ready to go items and that I did not really push my skills for this week. However, I was barely feeling up to cooking at all, much less a family holiday dinner. But, my mom was not feeling good either and having me help allowed her to rest. I also got the chance to cook with my dad which does not happen very often. Next week I hope to be better and back to cooking something amazing!!! So, this week I decided to try using the grill again since I was so successful last week. I saw people cooking salmon inside tin foil on the grill and it looked really good. I love salmon so I wanted to know any way of preparing it. I also decided on some garlic mashed red skin potatoes and zucchini. My boyfriend was really wanting shrimp as well so we threw that in the cart too and decided to try and cook it in the tin foil as well! So in total, my ingredients were:
I started with getting the potatoes cleaned up and put into a pan with water. I brought them to a boil and then let them simmer for 10 minutes (the website said 25, but these were itty bitty potatoes!). I then cleaned up the shrimp by getting rid of the shells and cleaning them off. I cut the salmon filet into 4 smaller pieces. I washed off the zucchini and cut it into slices. With the foil, I ripped some pieces that would allow me to fully wrap the salmon without there being any openings and then did the same for the shrimp. I put a little butter on the foil and some diced onion and then placed my salmon filets on top. I then diced the garlic and sprinkled that on and added more onion and butter. I squeezed just a little bit of lemon on top and then put small slices in as well. I did the same with the shrimp, adding all of the elements and then tossing them around to make sure everything was covered.
When I had flipped everything on the grill and the time was up, I cracked open the foil on the shrimp and they looked perfect! They were pink and had burst open a little bit on their backs. I then checked the salmon and it was cooked all the way through but not dry! I brought everything in and got it all set on plates and revealed it all to my boyfriend! We really enjoyed it. This project has really allowed me to take time to think about what I am eating more. Especially when my boyfriend and I tend to just go out and grab something quick. He is in school as well right now, so we only get to see each other on weekends (usually only one night). We have a blast hanging out while I am cooking and talking about our week. This replaces getting some burritos and binge watching tv together until we fall asleep. I am having a lot of fun with this and cannot wait to try something else next week!!!!
This week I decided to stay away from the oven and give the grill a shot! I am a red meat kind of girl, so I figured it was time to learn how to grill the perfect steak. My boyfriend and I went to the store with a plan. We wanted steak, pasta, pesto sauce, and a salad. So we headed for the meat section in the back. We grabbed a couple of really nice looking New York steaks. Then we headed for the pasta aisle and decided on some fettuccini noodles and a basil pesto sauce. Finally, we grabbed a caesar salad and headed for the check out!
I watched the water for the noodles and when it started boiling I added in the noodles to cook. It was the perfect time to throw on the steaks! I had looked online and it said I would need about 6 minutes per side to get the steak to a medium rare. I brought the steaks out and placed them on the hot side of the grill. I set my timer and closed the lid. My steaks were looking awesome and my noodles were cooking just right! I was just waiting for something to go wrong with the BBQ and the steaks to burn or the noodles to get overcooked. But honestly, this whole grilling deal was really awesome! I took the steaks off the grill after 13 minutes (one minute extra to be sure!) and then drained my noodles. I put the noodles back into the pan and tossed them with the basil pesto sauce. It smelled delicious! I tossed the salad in a big bowl and then got the table set with all of the delicious food!
I might need to work with the grill more often! I saw a recipe for salmon cooked in tin foil on the grill, so that might be next week!
I am really liking being able to cook for my boyfriend instead of us just running to a fast food place and grabbing something quick. It gives us more time to hang out, talk, and have a little fun! I can't wait until next weeks recipe! Cooking is something that I enjoy doing, but never feel like I have the time. I am the queen of just picking up something from a fast food restaurant or cooking something that is prepackaged. This project has me thinking about how I can cook and not get overwhelmed by a recipe that takes forever. So, for my first dish, I decided to try out a 4 ingredient recipe for a chicken bacon ranch bake! I chose it because it seemed really simple but delicious (and my boyfriend loves chicken, bacon, and ranch so this was perfect to make for him!!!). We went to the store and grabbed the ingredients we would need. We also picked up some baby carrots and green beans to steam to go along with the dish. I put the ingredients together in the pan following the directions and started preheating the oven. Then, I hit a road block. THE OVEN WASN'T WORKING!!!!!! How was I supposed to make a baked dish without an oven?!?! I panicked for a moment but then started problem solving. We could still have this dish, it would just be in a different form. I rinsed the ranch dressing off of the bacon and the chicken and then threw the bacon into a pan and started slicing up the chicken. I added the chicken to a pan to sauté and added just a little bit of roasted garlic salt. I steamed the vegetables and put them aside. I put the chicken on a plate and then chopped the bacon and put it on top. I put some ranch into a little dipping bowl and we were set! Chicken bacon ranch sauté type thing! It turned out great and was actually really easy. It might not have been exactly what I had planned, but my boyfriend and I LOVED it and ate it all up!!
These super simple ingredients were a great combination and were very easy to cook. I can't wait until next week to try another recipe and see how it turns out! This time, I'll check the oven first. After much thought and what not, I have decided to go into cooking for my 20% project. I have some experience with it, but I want to expand my skills and learn some of my family recipes that my mom always makes that I love very much. I will be also looking into Pinterest recipes to try out some new dishes! I think cooking with my family or my boyfriend will allow me to fit some socialization into my schedule as well as working on something that will help me in the long run. I am pretty excited to get this going!!
What to do, what to do? I honestly have had a really tough time deciding on what I want to do for this project. I feel like I have so much else on my plate right now that 20% of my time seems like a lot! But, everyone needs a break and time to breathe, so this should be good for me!
Idea #1: Cooking 1. Should I have something super specific that I learn how to make PERFECTLY? 2. What types of cooking technique should I learn? 3. Where will I learn to make these dishes? 4. Who will be the ones to test my creations? 5. Will learning these new techniques and/or recipes help me in any other way in my education? 6. Should I try watching the Food Network to get inspiration? 7. How will learning to cook help me in the future? 8. Will the process of cooking help to relieve my stress? 9. What would be the healthiest food to make? 10. Should I attempt to make gluten free food as an added challenge? Idea #2: Learning to play "Wish You Were Here" on the guitar 1. Will I be able to teach myself? 2. Should I try to find a teacher? 3. Should I swallow my pride and ask my sister to teach me, since shes been asking me to since forever ago? 4. Will the song be easy to learn? 5. What should I know about the guitar before I begin learning to play? 6. Do I need to know how to read music? 7. How do some guitar players move between chords so quickly? 8. Will I get gnarly calluses? 9. What can this be used for in my future? 10. Should I learn more than one song? Well, let me know what you guys think! I need help deciding my fate!!!!!! |
AuthorTaylor Schuman Archives
May 2016
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Ms. Schuman