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. )

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..

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