Last night, we attempted to prepare braised sirloin tips over rice. However, after some scary oil spatter and a small fire, we defaulted to prepackaged lobster ravioli.

( Here is the recipe, in case we're ever not too traumatized by this experience to attempt it again. )

( Recipe behind the cut )

---

I was knocked out with a bronchial infection for three weeks after I came back from Louisiana, so our cooking night got put on hold for a little bit. We cooked this on Saturday, the first, and then missed another week 'cause I was feeling lazy, but we're starting again, tonight.

Please see the following link. I'm not ready to attempt such a feat myself.... yet. But one day it WILL be mine!

Week 05

Well... this one certainly wasn't our best performance.

Things started well, but as we made the sauce with the onions and the flour whatnot.... well, we ran into a problem. After adding four cups of chicken stock (an entire package), we found out two things: One, we don't have a big enough pan and Two, we're somehow making soup. At this point, it was time to call mom with a big old fashioned WTF. Long story short, we determined that my email client thinks that 3/4 (when formatted with super and subscript) is best displayed as an asterisk. And when I saw that, I figured "oh, what a simple typo. She said * but she meant 8." We had plenty of ingredients to remake the sauce but there wasn't quite enough. We should have either made more sauce or removed some noodles, but we were already taking forever and wanted to be done with the cookings. It came out dry and spicy (my fault for the spiciness) but at least it was edible and we all learned something about email.

"I hate scruffy Alton Brown! Shaved Alton Brown looks very professional, but scruffy Alton Brown looks like someone you don't want to give change to, on the street, because you know he'd just spend it on liquor!" -Stephanie

Tuna casserole post pending. :)

I chosed a meal that I stealed from Mom.

A casserole
One bag extra wide noodles cooked and drained per instructions (large pot and colander)
One 6oz can of chunk light tuna well drained
Onion, Butter, Flour, 8 cup chicken stock & Milk
Cayenne pepper and salt and pepper to taste
One 3oz jar of pimentos (optional)
Soda crackers and butter

Sauté 1/4cup onion in 3TB of butter until translucent. Add a scant 3TB of flour in pan. Cook and stir for tree to five minutes. Add warm milk and chicken stock to desired thickness. I’m not exact on the milk but at least a cup. You’ll want a thin white sauce but not runny because you still have to bake it. Add your spices, tuna, noodles and pimentos. You decide at this time if there’s enough white sauce. Just make a little more white sauce using less butter flour and milk and add it in. In a separate pan sauté the crushed crackers in butter till brown; top casserole. Bake casserole at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Week 04

At Russell's suggestion, we made pot pie, this week. However, instead of your typical chicken pot pie, we decided to make a cheesy pizza pot pie, from this recipe.

It turned out quite yummy, but we had a lot of leftover filling. So much leftover filling that I suspect we could have made twice as many mini pot pies. And Ben and I didn't even bother with the cubed ham! We also agreed that it could have used more pineapple... and that our mushroom slices were a little too chunky.

( Here is our modified recipe. )

(or Robyn, who bakes and/or at least watches enough Food Network to possibly know the answer to this question)

Why is it necessary to use a wooden spoon? Or... is it really necessary to use a wooden spoon?

1 cup butter, softened
2 3-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1-ounce envelope Lipton onion soup mix
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup shredded Mild Cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F. For pastry, in a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until combined. (If necessary, knead mixture with your hands.) Press a 1.5 to 2-inch ball of the pastry dough evenly into the bottom and up sides of each of 18 ungreased 2.9 inch muffin cups. Set aside.

2. For filling, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring milk and soup mix just to boiling. Remove from heat; cool for 5 minutes. Stir in buttermilk. Add cheese, eggs, mustard, salt, and pepper. Spoon filling into each pastry-lined muffin cup.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until filling is puffed and both the pastry and the filling are golden. Carefully remove from muffin cups.

---

Ben suggested lessening the salt and adding crumbled bacon to it, but we've yet to try it. It's a heart-attack in a cup, but what a way to go!

We stuck with poultry and prepared Apple Glazed Cornish Hens.

Week 03

I need to leave for work in a few minutes, so I'll be brief.

Ben says the glaze was either to sweet or too lemony. I kind of wish we'd let the chicken sit in it overnight. I couldn't get enough of it. Either way, they were juicy birds. Also, next time we must remember to prepare some rice or stuffing.

From now on, it'd probably be a good idea to pick a recipe by Tuesday, do the shopping on Wednesday, and the actual cooking on Thursday. The first time we did this, we didn't wind up eating dinner 'til 11. This time, we got it down to 10:30. Ben gets home around 6:30-ish at best, we don't leave to shop 'til almost 7 and we start preparing at 8. We could at least shave an hour off that if we shop in advance. We probably would have shaved off two hours if we didn't have to defrost the hens, tonight, also. Alas, our lack of forethought.

Or perhaps we ought to try something that doesn't require an hour or so of baking. :P

Nonetheless, week three has come and gone with no fires, yet. So far, so good. ;)

Week 02

This week's cooking endeavor isn't as well-documented, photographically, as last week's, but it was very fun and I learned a few things.

Hooper helped me prepare the quiche. We strayed from the recipe because we lacked shredded swiss cheese, half-and-half, and 1.75" muffin tins. Instead, we used a cup of shredded mild cheddar/Monterey Jack, and 2.5" muffin tins, respectively. It yielded a dozen quiches, but there was a lot of leftover filling and I'm pretty sure if I'd made thinner crusts I could have made at least 18 quiches if not 2 dozen.

A tip from Hooper: If you can smell it, it's probably done. Unless it's onion soup.

Anyway, although the quiche was less aesthetically pleasing than I would have liked, everyone agreed that it was better than ordinary quiche because it was more flavorful. We can pretty much attribute it to Hooper's modifications.

A tip from Robyn: There are "wet" measuring cups for liquids and "dry" measuring cups for... dry stuff. Also, a fully-cooked chicken has a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

A tip from me: The 45 minute wait for the chicken to be done baking is best filled by playing Rock Band. However, always make sure you have an extra hand to turn off the oven in case the timer goes off while you are still in the middle of rocking out a song. BAM!

Preparing even just that much food for so many people was actually scarier than I was willing to admit. I felt kind of like I did before I'd have to give a presentation in school: I'd be pretty much relaxed, but then I'd tense up and freak out slightly an hour or so before I'd have to actually do it. I'm so glad Hooper showed up unexpectedly early, as well as Ben, to help cook.

Thank you, everyone who contributed to the food and fun! :)

So, tonight Ben and I endeavor to cook not only for ourselves, Maggie, Robyn, and Mike, but also for Vilmarie, Josh, Russ, and Katie. Hooper may or may not show, as well as my co-worker, Andy. Andy, although now newly single, is not to be confused with Henry, the former co-worker/L.A. refugee/future fireman who had been "looking for new friends" (namely my hot, also newly single house mate ::coughcough::). Anyway, that's 9 to 11 people we're cooking for, there. It's a party!

Since a few people may potentially be coming early (namely Russ and Josh, to set up Rock Band), I will be preparing petite quiches to tide everyone over before the main event. Ben and I will be responsible for the oven-baked chicken and a possibly a side of cheesy cauliflower. oiseaurobyn has graciously volunteered to prepare biscuits, from scratch, and salad, and maddeningshroud will be bringing cheese potatoes. (I'd be much obliged if ya'll commented on this post with the recipe you'll be using. :D)

Er, also, we're aiming to eat at 7:30p, so I'll need the big oven around 6:45p..

Just one single successful meal and we've hit prime time.  This Thursday, we're not cooking for just us, but for a whole plethora of people!  I've picked out the meal which I got from my mom.  Growing up it was one of my all-time favorites.  I still find it hard to believe the source of this recipe.  It's much more free-form than what I am comfortable with, but it should be alright.


And here it is:  The recipe in its original form.  We'll double it, add potatoes and biscuits, and call it a meal!

Click on the picture to make it bigger.


There's no vegetarians coming, is there?  Might throw a kink in things.

Week 01

So, yay, we didn't burn down the apartment! However, I did set off the fire alarm when making mushroom omelettes the next morning. ::facepalms::

My boyfriend and I resolved to learn how to cook (anything more complicated than Poptarts, sandwiches, and ramen) this year. Every Thursday night, we will try cooking a different meal. This journal will chronicle our culinary endeavors.

In an attempt to make my boyfriend eat more vegetables, we will be trying out this recipe, tonight. I figure the only way to get Ben to eat anything green is to roll it in a big wad of meat. :P