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Cooking and Baking!
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Cooking and Baking!
Cooking and Baking!
My family is the type that will buy food from a Filipino restaraunt/take-out place, freeze, then microwave when needed. The only "freshly cooked" food we eat is steak and fried chicken. Both are only born/cooked during the summer and New Year's in the former's case. (and when we have Magic Sarap! seasoning for the latter) Baking is during the holidays and is normally reserved to box mixes.
But on one fateful day, my class was cutting out magazine clippings and I stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate chunk cookies with pecans. And the recipe did not call for any brand of box mixes. (It did call for a brand of chocolate- Baker's semisweet- but that doesn't count.)
The cookies were pretty good. So on a snow day, I looked through the cabinets and found enough ingredients for a type of brownie that is partly baked in a skillet.
And it tasted pretty good.
So my parents' had regained faith in my cooking (though it somewhat waned after a slightly-dry ((secretly over-floured and I-forgot-the-vanilla-extract)) banana bread). Alors (therefore), I embarked on a new mission.
DINNER
I made fettucine alfredo with mushrooms and bacon because my parents love mushrooms and my parents and I love bacon. The first time it was pretty good but the recipe only served 2 people with medium stomachs, not 2 people with large stomachs and 1 person with a small stomach. The second time the sauce needed more bacon and mushrooms. The third time I got it right. ;)
Tomorrow I'm moving on to mushroom marsala pasta with artichokes. I'm so excited! (And yes, I'm aware that marsala is a wine. I'm currently trying to find a substitute.)
I have had a cooking nightmare though. It was something along the lines of me trying to see if the range was on by using my hand. ;) And then a few days ago I found out that pot lids held over boiling water are very hot...
Does anybuggy cook and/or bake? And do you guys have any tips for a newbie like moi?
It sounds like you're off to a good start, Olive. Like any new skill, the more you do it, the better you'll get. When you cook with wine, the alcohol boils off so what is left is just the flavor. Really, if you can read, you can cook. So many recipes can be found online. Or you could look for a beginner's cookbook. Usually dishes that have fewer ingredients are easier to make. Buon apetit!
Admin
submitted by Olive
(March 9, 2012 - 8:17 pm)
(March 9, 2012 - 8:17 pm)
I love to cook! My dad is great at making things up with whatever we have and no recipe. My favorite type of his recipes is his rice because it is chicken-flavored and buttery instead of bland. My mom is a good recipe follower. I love her spinich dip. It's a little spicy, and my tongue takes mildly spicy stuff and makes it burning hot, but the cheese counteracts it. I inherited a little of both.
The recipes I make the most and taste the best are fried rice, omelettes, and crepes. On my own, I experimented and found parmesan cheese melted over tomatoes tastes really good, especially with dittolini. I am also the cupcake mix queen at my house. I'm good at decorating cookies.
Speaking of cooking, tonight is my Girl Scouts cooking night. It's the first one I'm able to go to in the two years I've been with the troop. We're making breakfast for dinner. I'm excited!
(March 10, 2012 - 1:06 pm)
@Admin: I get all my recipes from cooking blogs. :D And I didn't add any wine to the pasta this time but my mom said I should next round.
@Melody: That's so cool how your dad can make up recipes! I could never dream of doing that. And I'm terrible at decorating anything from cupcakes to cookies to cakes. *shudder*
I'd never had artichokes before Saturday night when I made the pasta. I don't like them that much... The pasta needed more mushrooms (I used five large cremini 'shrooms) and less parsley.
Did I mention that I have back pockets in my jeans and an iPod Touch with wifi and YouTube? ^.^ I listened to Ouran HSHC (dubbed in English of course) while I was cooking and when I ate the pasta, I was reminded of the show. It was pretty cool. :D Because it might have been a fluke, I listened to a few more episodes today while I was baking brownies. Sadly, I'm not allowed to eat them yet because I made them too close to dinnertime. (Actually, my dad brought home a muffin for me from Tim Horton's so I was too full to eat a brownie anyway) I can't wait until after dinner. *crosses fingers*
Ooooh, Tim Horton's.
Admin
(March 12, 2012 - 5:51 pm)
Artichokes are okay. I'll tolerate them.
(March 13, 2012 - 5:28 pm)
I am so, so bad at cooking. Maybe it's just lack of training. But my mom has been trying to teach me this year, and I'm not... exactly the best at it. I make silly measuring mistakes, and do stuff like using the wrong kind of salt or... cutting things with the wrong knife, or putting stuff in in the wrong order. I can make omelettes, though. I like them, but nobody else seems to.
(March 13, 2012 - 7:03 pm)
I don't cook that much, but I love to bake! I'm pretty good at making cakes and brownies and stuff, cookies are a little harder. But I have friends whose moms are great bakers, and I get lots of recipies from them.
Here's a tip. Usually baking recipies include a pinch of salt, but you really don't have to put that in.They come out perfectly fine without it.
@Melody, I once tried making up my own recipie for fried rice. It tasted awful! Well, I didn't really make it up, but I was more used to making Pad-Thai, so I made the wrong sauce. Honestly, DO NOT try fried rice made with Pad-Thai sauce!
(March 13, 2012 - 8:57 pm)
Fried rice has sauce...?
(March 14, 2012 - 9:30 am)
Well... It has soy sauce. But you're right, It doesn't really include mixing anything.
See, I got it wrong even when it was almost impossible to get it wrong! Maybe I should stick to baking.
(March 14, 2012 - 5:24 pm)
I bake, but haven't really cooked a lot yet. Except a mushroom sauce. I don't have a lot of tips. I'm sort of a perfectionist when baking and I get all upset when people touch stuff so... :D My three favorites are Zwetschgen Datschi (German Plum Cake), Marble Cake (vanilla and chocolate swirled together. Yum!) and Poppy Seed Cake.
(March 14, 2012 - 11:30 am)
Oh and no, the brownies didn't taste like Ouran. :(
I need some ideas for Saturday's dinner. My dad wants lasgna but plain lasgna's boring and I don't know any good recipes. (Oh, and he wants bechamel.)
Maybe spinach lasagne? Or with Italian sausage tomato sauce? (or are you vegetarian?) Bolonese (sp?) sauce? Bechamel is not my favorite.
Admin
P.S. I put a bit of cinnamon in Italian tomato sauce. I got it from a chicken and spaghetti recipe in a magazine. I also like ground rosemary.
(March 14, 2012 - 9:45 am)
Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou Admin! I had a recipe for spinach lasgna that I made a long time ago and tasted good... THANKYOUTHANKYOU!
And *groan* I need to go bake something because there is absolutely NOTHING in my house that is suitable for a snack other than Pocky, Bear Paws and Chips Ahoy. :/
(March 14, 2012 - 4:51 pm)
I've got recipes galore if you need some! I'm a huge baker and am always trying stuff out. Lately, I've been making the same things, though...
This is one of my favorites. It has little plums and is a big thing here around September...I think. :)
It looks yummy! What's it called?
Admin
(March 15, 2012 - 10:29 am)
Mmmmmmm...
(March 16, 2012 - 11:17 am)
Elizabeth, that looks amazing!
(March 17, 2012 - 8:28 pm)
i love to cook!!!!! Except I don't get to do it often. My brother cooks things like beef bologna homade pasta and silk pie. Dinners at my house are delicious!!!!!!!!!!
(March 16, 2012 - 3:25 pm)
We just had this butter chicken that my mom makes. It's amazing, except for the onions. I hate onions.
(March 18, 2012 - 7:25 pm)