Beefy Deliciousness

Being a complete kitchen moron, I began this blog way back in December, thinking that I would try one recipe a week, document it through photo and blog and hopefully learn to cook like a big girl. So it hasn't quite worked out the way I had hoped. I'm definately not at the Rachel Ray or Paula Deen stage in my cooking, I'm not even on the level with the syndicated Mr. Food from Channel 14. BUT compared to where I started, I have improved. I cooked the majority of Christmas dinner for pete's sake and not one person ran screaming from the table, so that's gotta count for something. I have strayed from my original plan, but I guess that's OK too. I don't plan on giving up the idea of finally learning to cook, I just don't know that I can/want to do it on a weekly basis. And you can forget the fancy and gourmet dishes for quite some time. I've got to get down the basics. I still haven't mastered the art of fried chicken(or fried anything for that matter), mashed potatoes or mac and cheese(though I have come close on that one). But through this little experiment I have begun to give a little more thought to what I eat and how it's prepared and have discovered that I kinda dig this cooking thing. My cookbook collection has grown by leaps and bounds...I find myself reading them for fun and then today I asked my lunch buddies "so, what makes good meatloaf? crackers, breadcrumbs, or oats?". The fact that those words came out of my mouth is truly astonishing. The very idea that I would ponder what makes meatloaf tastier when I don't even really like it to begin with means that I have turned a corner. A corner to where exactly, I don't know. But a corner has been turned. So keep checking in for my culinary adventures, though boring they may be, some day I'll be able to cook all fancy-like and you can say you knew me when I was still a member of the Ellie May Clampet cooking club!

I whipped up a yummy slab of beefy goodness tonight. It was super easy and oh-so-satisfying. If you don't get the FREE cooking magazine from kraft foods, you should. Go to the kraftfoods.com link at right and sign up for "food and family" by following the links on the website. This recipe comes from that magazine and it turned out soooo good. Better than I thought. During the browning of the ground beef and onions, I had a flashback to my college days when bro' Shea and I made the most nasty concotion to ever be concocted. We were using one of those sandwich pocket thingies and tried to do a taco filling. Trust me, it was nastiness defined. Anyhow, once I got over the flashbacks, I trudged ahead and created this tasty sandwich roll.

Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Ups

1 lb. lean ground beef
4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onions (about 1 small)
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Cook ground beef, bacon and onions in large skillet on medium-high heat until ground beef is evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Drain; return meat mixture to skillet. Add VELVEETA; cook until completely melted, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; set aside.
UNROLL pizza dough onto baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Press into 15x8-inch rectangle. Top evenly with meat mixture. Roll up dough, starting at one of the long sides. Rearrange, if necessary, so roll is seam-side down on baking sheet.
BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until golden brown. Cut diagonally into six slices to serve.

A few other things: As you know, I sprikle Lawry's on everything and I added some grill mates seasoning for hamburger. Used smaller portion of chopped dried onions rather than fresh(didn't have fresh). Sprinkled a touch of parmesean cheese on top of the roll pre-baking. I use Oscar Myer precooked bacon(less WW points than regular bacon) next time I will microwave and crumble it up before adding to the beef...I like my bacon Crunchy.

In case you're curious...the nutrition info at the website shows a portion being 10WW points. I used Laura's lean ground beef, less than called for amount of velveeta and I think I can get seven servings rather than 6, so that puts mine at about 7 points per serving by my calculations. Well worth it.

CDs in my car CD changer...

In case you're wondering.

1. Sting--Dream of the Blue Turtles
2. Jersey Boys Broadway Soundtrack
3. Barenaked Ladies--Rock Spectacle
4. 13 Going on 30 Soundtrack
5. CD of random 70's & 80's tunes I pulled from Bryan's iTunes
6. Harry Connick Jr. -- Come by Me

Bonus points if you can guess which one has been in the changer since we got the Jeep back before Christmas...it's also the CD I sing along to the loudest and most obnoxiously! Garantee that one of these six will probably still be in there in three more months. I get stuck on something and it takes a while for me to want move on to something new.

What's Cooking? Corn Chowder with Bacon!

I cooked! This turned out quite yummy I thought and other than being all thumbs at the chopping and dicing and whatnot, it was pretty simple to make.

Corn and Bacon Chowder

2 slices turkey bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbs. + 2 tsp. water
1 onion, chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 med. potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups whole kernel corn
1/4 cups half and half

1. In a medium nonstick saucepan over medium high heat, cook the bacon in 2tbs. of water until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel and discard the liquid. (I used pre cooked oscar myer bacon and I left the liquid in the pan, there wasn't that much)

2. Add the onion, bell pepper and 2 tsp. of water to the saucepan; saute until soft, about 5 min. Add the broth and potatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are almost tender, about 15 min. Stir in the corn; simmer 5 min. longer. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

3. Transfer two cups of the soup to a food processor or blender. Puree. Pour back into the saucepan; stir in the half & half and heat to serving temp. Serve, topped w/the bacon pieces.

Makes 4 servings -- I got more like 5 1/2; but the WW cookbook says if you divide the soup into fourths, each serving is four points.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I know a novice like myself should probably stick to the recipe the first time but I'm not big on onions OR peppers and I was feeling brave. So I used 1/2 instead of a whole onion and not quite a half of a red bell pepper instead of yellow (thought it'd be prettier). I diced them both as small as I possibly could and added the onions to my food chopper to get them even smaller. I think it worked out pretty well...I don't mind the small peppers and the soup doesn't have an onion-y flavor at all. Of course someone who LIKES onions might have found it bland. I used Green Giant Sweet and Super Sweet whole kernel corn from a can. The recipe doesn't call for salt or pepper, but I added both. It's better after it has set for a while...I actually liked it MUCH more on the second day. The crumbly bacon on top makes it even better.

**11/15/07 Update: Made this for the second time. Used regular bacon and regular chicken broth. Microwaved the bacon at the last minute for topping instead of cooking it first thing. I also let the mixture that went into the blender puree longer this time. Even tastier than the first go round!

Oh, my nola---Jackie didn't go-la (but Shea and I had a great time!)

Jackie---you probably don't want to read this post. It's a made up pack of lies anyway. The concert wasn't that good. Harry was dull and the band out of tune. You didn't miss much. Love You!

Tuesday March 12 goes down on my list of great days. Shea and I went to TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Theater to see the one and only Harry Connick Jr.

As you all know I am a HUGE fan of Harry. HUGE. Have been ever since I saw him playing piano and crooning on a VH1 special back in what I think was around 1987. I think this because Harry was performing numbers from his album 20, which he named for his age at the time and since Harry and I are the same age, I’m guessing I first saw that HCJ special in ’87. Mark and I were living in our tiny one bed room apartment  and Mark was working at McDonald’s. We didn’t have money to do anything so on weekend afternoons I’d watch VH1 while Mark was at work. (Mark is not much of a music fan---I don’t know what went wrong with him, but he just doesn’t enjoy music the way I do). Anyhow, that was when VH1 still played music and current music was still worth listening to (for the most part). I think I must have went out and bought the cassette tape the next week and have been a fan ever since.

Back to the concert…this is the Oh My Nola tour, named for his recent album and the show was spectacular! HCJ’s talent is a gift from God...and it is so obvious when you see the man perform live. Maybe it’s just me but when I watch him play piano, I can almost see the music coming up from his feet and firing through his fingers—he plays from his soul, if that makes any sense at all. It is truly a joy to watch and listen to.

And he’s funny…we were cracking up more than once. He told a goofy story & cracked some jokes. You could tell he was enjoying himself as much as we were. At one point in the show he invited the folks in the balcony seats to come up and sit in some unfilled seats in the front of the theater. I wanted to run up there at full speed, but I didn’t figure Shea would join in (which he confirmed later that he would not) so I stayed put and enjoyed the show every bit as much from our seats!

The big band was cooking and my favorite band member, Lucien Barbarin played some solo trombone and sang a little Basin Street Blues. Many, if not all of the songs at the performance were New Orleans related in some way or another. It was a good mix of up-tempo and slower songs w/just the right amount of instrumentals. Don’t get me wrong, HCJ kills when he performs the big band & crooner numbers(When Harry Met Sally comes to mind), but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the jazzy/blues thing he does on Oh My Nola and it was awesome live!

My favorite song of the night was probably Let Them Talk, a slower bluesy number. Harry played the organ instead of the piano on this one and it was crazy-good. He opened with Come by Me, another favorite tune of mine. I loved Workin’ in the Coal Mine and Jambalaya was a fun number as was the Zulu King song that he has performed at every concert I’ve been to as the closing/pre-encore song. Heck, I can’t think of a moment that was not fantastic!!

I fell off the WW Wagon

Sheesh I am a lazy blogger. It's been a month since my last post. Oh well I guess my life is just so busy and exciting that I haven't had the time... ha ha ha ha ha ha. I know you are all rolling on the floor by now. Yep, I'm just lazy (and I still have crappy dial up.)

OK, I didn't really fall off the WW Wagon. JUMPED off would be more accurate. I was rolling along doing very well I thought. And then I sorta stopped. No real reason, just once our BL competition ended at work I guess I took a license to eat everything not nailed down and to stop exercising. This has gone on for the better part of a week now.

I figure the best way to get over it is to just air it out here in this public forum for the world -- or at most five people -- to read. So now you know. I have figured out that WW only works for me when I track. The minute I stop writing down what I eat, I might as well give it up. It's like I didn't even eat that half of a pizza if I don't write it down. And if I didn't eat a half a pizza it certainly won't hurt if I drink 3 or 4 regular Cokes!!! Good Grief! NO self control.

But now that I have come clean, it'll be easier to start back. So, ya'll are my witnesses...tomorrow I start exercising, get back on WW and TRACKING every bite!

I had really hoped to get to my goal weight before my birthday. I'm 41 pounds from there (considering this post week didn't push me FARTHER away). That's a lot of poundage in just five months.

But I'm going to try...with everyone else in the family doing it, I can't stop now. Mom, Dad and Shea and even Jackie who's a stick anyway are all losing wieght and sticking to it. Heck, Shea exercises his butt off, so the least I can do is a 45min. dvd every day and take ten seconds to write down what I eat! OK, I'm sufficiently fired up now!!

...and since it's been a while...

Brian Regan was funny. Pee in your pants and laugh like Ernie from Sesame Street funny.

TEN DAYS to Harry Connick Jr. CAN'T WAIT can't wait can't wait.

The other thing I can't wait for is for Jackie and Scott to come home. I miss them terribly!

I COOKED RECENTLY! Try this for some "it so good you'll smack yo' mama" chicken. 30min. marinade (I think it's Lawry's or McCormick) in the Chipotle and Lime variety. Marinade for 30 or more min. Slap on the grill (or for the grill challenged such as myself, on the George Foreman). I had it with homemade baked tortilla chips and salsa. Mmmm Mmmmm Good.

THEY MAKE 100 CALORIE HOSTESS CUPCAKES....OH YEAH.

and he...he himself...the Grinch carved the Roast Beast

at least I think that 's the line. I've only read it a zillion times, you'd think I'd know it by now!

MY roast beef turned out very well. Very Well, indeed. Now some of you will say that the cooking method used for the roast beef is not all that different from my shake-n-baking and George Foremaning; in that I've said it isn't "real" cooking. And it probably isn't, but here's what I've learned so far in this little adventure. If it tastes good in the end, the method doesn't really matter all that much. The point is I am trying something I didn't think I could do and for the most part, it's working out! For me, cooking a roast by ANY method is a big deal. Like frying chicken, I somehow made it to my late 30's without ever cooking a roast!

Being the only carnivore in my house is tricky. I have to cook everything in small amounts lest I eat it for the next month. So I was relatively excited when I happened upon a one pound roast at Kroger last month. I froze it and finally, today mustered (sp?) up the courage to cook the thing. Here's the method...

Buy a Roasting Bag w/seasoning packet from Kroger (Kroger brand)
Place Roast in Bag
Add 1/4 cup of water to the seasoning mix and pour over the roast
Tie up bag, punch a few holes and cook for approximately 1hr. 15min.

Now I did scrub, cut up some red potatoes and tossed those in the bag along with some carrot chips. So I did do a bit of work! It was so easy that I had pretty low expectations of how it was going to taste. To be honest, part of that was due to the above mentioned ease of cooking. The other reason for my reservation was the NON ease of trying to thaw the thing out and have it start cooking during microwave thawing...freaking out and trying to cut off the already cooked portions...even easy isn't easy when you're me! If anyone has mastered the art of microwave defrosting, please share your secret! So anyway, I didn't have the highest of expectations for the meal. Boy was I wrong! It was really tasty! The seasoning and I guess it was the fat from the roast mixed together to make a yummy gravy that gave the whole thing a really good flavor. My only gripe was with the potatoes...I cut them too small...should have quartered or halved them 'cause they came out a bit mushy. Mushy, but delicious nonetheless. So that's my roast beef story! I'll be eating leftovers for a while, so I probably won't try anything else new this week.

I have pictures of several of my recent experiments, but my crappy computer/dial up interet won't even give me the option of loading them in blogger and I'm to tired to keep trying to fight with it, so I'll post those at a later (probably much later) date.

G'night ya'll!

Pork Chops and Applesauce...and...Your unce, tice, fee times a mady

Well there was no Applesauce, but porchops were had. My first time doing anything to a pork chop besides shakd-n-baking it! Hold on...I have bought those precooked smoked pork chops and thrown them on the George Foreman. But again, I don't think that counts as "real" cooking, though tasty they be.

Porchop number 1 was pan fried in water as sandwich fixins. Very tasty. Mom did this last weekend and those were some darn good sandwiches so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course I didn't have the same spices she did, but it still worked. Sprinkled them with some Lawrys (my current seasoning of choice, I put it on everything), used enough olive oil spray to get the skillet shiny. Browned both sides and then added about 1/4 cup of water(twice), put the lid on and let them finish up "frying" until the water cooked out. I used a skinny little 2oz. pork chop and it still was fairly juicy/tender AND it was a WW friendly 2 points. Slap it on a wheat bun and I had a 4 point sandwich!

That was so good, I thought I'd try it again sans bun and Lawry's. This time I rubbed it down with some Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning, but cooked it the same way -- in Olive Oil Spray and H20. To go with it I seasoned up some whole wheat pasta in tomato sauce w/the same spice as well as some garlic toast. It was yummy! AND that whole mean amounted to a measly 6 points!

Tonight I'm going to attempt to cook a POT ROAST! Can you believe it? I feel like a big girl now.

I guess I'm feeling chatty today due to the fact that I've had two days mostly alone in the house due to our recent small-but-effective-in-creatng snow-days-snow. There aint nothing like a snow day...I don't care who you are! I even wake up an hour earlier than normal anticipating the announcement on TV...seeing Hopkins County rolling across the screen gets a big WOO HOO out of me every time! Then I go back to bed for a while and wake up knowing the entire day is mine to do with whatever I please. It's funny, you'd think the weekend would feel that way, but it never does. Maybe because I'm not totally alone...Mark's home on the weekend and we usually go somewhere or have some kind of *something* that has to be done, like cleaning out the garage or some other such junk. But a snow day is all mine...and It's GREAT! So Thursday I spent the day doing a couple of things...it went like this...
Make breakfast around 9:30/10:00
Watch and ep of 24
Do a little laundry.
Watch another ep of 24
Make bed, straighten up, more laundry folding, cleaning out the bill basket, you know junk that always needs to be done that you never do...
Make some lunch(this was pork chop #2, the garlic/herb one)
Watch another ep of 24
Watch yet another ep of 24 because I HAVE TO KNOW what happens next
Fiddle around the house, more laundry
24 again...OK I'm starting to get a bit embarrassed so I'll stop...

So basically that's how I spent my first snow day...watching 24 and doing small amounts of picking up around the house.

Well Kids, got news for you...day 2 wasn't much different! I did spend a good chunk of the morning with HCJ...put in the new cd Oh My Nola and cooked breakfast, then just sat there at the bar and listened for a while and watched the birds & other goings on outside my window. "Life is good"...I said to myself. I did more housecleaning while replaying the new cd...this time the yucky stuff...the floors, dusting, bathrooms, etc. I had a clean house and all the laundry finished by 12:00---good thing 'cause our washing machine died on the last load. We'll be going washing machine shopping this weekend! Back to the clean house, which meant only one thing, MORE 24! I think I watched two or three episodes during the day...I finally had to turn it off...I don't want to give anything away, but a person can only take so many torture scenes before she gives up. Had I been able to, I would have told those guys what they wanted to know just to make it stop! Whew. Intense stuff, that 24. Last night Mom and Dad stopped by for a while and then SHEA called about the TICKETS. THE TICKETS TO HCJ. Yee Haw! He was able to get online and get tickets a day early...got us some seats in the orchestra section so they should be sweet! This new CD is so fantastic that I can hardly wait see/hear it performed live. So once I came off that high I decided I was ready for more 24...watched one more episode...still too heavy and so I switched to the Best of Eddie Murphy SNL dvd and laughed like a lunatic until I was too tired to watch any more. I knew the buckwheat sketch would be on there (Mark & I usually never agree on what's funny but I MADE him watch Buckwheat's greatest hits and he even laughed at Buckwheats rendition of Betty Davis Eyes) I was also counting on James Brown..."Too Hot in the Hot Tub!" for a good laugh, which it delivered, but had COMPLETELY forgotten about Little Richard Simmons! Oh good grief...funny funny funny! Was good to go to bed laughing! So that's how I spent my Snow Days. Productive? Somewhat. Indulgent? Completely!

OK, I did not try a new recipe this week. Shame on me. Well I did change up the baked chicken from last week a little...does that count? Here's what I did...

Took the baked chicken recipe and replaced cajun spice with lemon pepper spice. Cooked up some No Yolks egg noodles (they are more WW friendly than regular egg noodles) and plopped my baked chicken on top of that. It was pretty AND tasty!

I'd say that trying to cook three things last Sunday did me in. Yep, that's it. I need to go back to one recipe per week. I don't know what to try this week...still in the dilemma of trying to learn to cook but eat healthier at the same time. I know I know I know...cook healthy recipes. We've been through this before...I am reminded of the healthy recipe for sorbet disaster from a few weeks back. However, I do think I will invest in a new cookbook, that might help. If you were to take a look at my meager cookbook collection, you'd find titles such as... Graceland's Table (which we've discussed), Fabulous 50's Food, and Comfort Foods. Good eatin', yes. Healthy...not so much. So I may cruise Amazon later for a weight watchers cookbook or some such nonsense.

As I have no culinary news to share, I will share this. This is my fourth week to be back on Weight Watchers and I have lost 8 pounds! I'm still in shock. Mind you that's just 2 pounds per week, but it's gone by fast and I haven't really struggled a lot. I think the fact that I am trying to cook is helping. Before I got stuck on eating the prepacked, frozen, points allotted meals. I felt like I was eating the same thing day after day and after a while I just got sick of messing with it and quit trying. Well, there were other reasons that I gave up, but the fact that I was eating frozen dinners non-stop didn't help. Their good, don't get me wrong but after a while you get tired of ziti, mac and cheese, and fetuccinni. I have bought a few, but I try not to eat them very often. The other thing that is helping is exercise. I'm doing that daily and although some days I feel like I'm going to pass out, I keep going. Usually I feel better afterwards and I'm definately sleeping better lately. So that's my good bit of news for the week.

And also on the weight loss front, we are having a biggest loser competion at work. I am on a great team with fun people and we did pretty good last week. We're only into week 2, and I'm hoping this will help keep me motivated. It's hard to cheat when you know there are four other people depending on you! They're coming over to Casa de Cotton today so that we can make sure on track and maybe do some exercise or something. I'm looking forward to it...just gotta get off my butt and do some cleaning so that the casa isn't so stinky.

Me Vs. the Chicken ROUND 3

OK. If you know me you know that when it comes to cooking, chicken is on of my mortal enemies. But then I've never cooked a roast or steak, so they may be mortal enemies, too. I don't know. But anyway, I went after the chicken in a battle of wills again this afternoon and hands down, I came out the winner! Possibly the easiest chicken recipe known to man. My friend Rhonda G. told me how to make baked cajun chicken...I feel slighty more moronic than usual for NOT know how to do this before.

1. Locate chicken (already cleaned and cut, of course)
2. Sprinkle w/cajun spices
3. Wrap in aluminum foil
4. Bake in 350 degree oven until done.

That's it!! And it was G--OOO--OOOD. I even used my elcheapo Kroger brand Cajun seasoning and as she promised, it turned out nice and juicy w/that spicy cajun flavor. If only all recipes were so simple! Thanks Rhonda!!

Now, most of you are not going to believe this but the chicken was actually my THIRD attempt at real cooking of the day. Yes, I said third.

This morning I made biscuits! From scratch!! Buttermilk, no less! AND THEY WERE GOOD, TOO!! Now, like the mac and cheese, I have not perfected the art of biscuitry just yet. This was actually my third attempt at making biscuits. Lately...I'm not counting my Ellie May Clampet hockey puck biscuits from way back. Anyhow, the first time, I used 2% milk in the recipe and got a pretty good biscuit, somewhat fluffy, not crumbly. A success. But, they still didn't taste quite like the ones my grandma makes. Her's are unbelievably delicious. So I decided I'd try making mine with buttermilk(like she does) and see if they could get any closer. They weren't. Too dense, a little hard and not nearly as good as that first batch. So this morning I was thinking about what to eat for breakfast and I thought "biscuits, bacon and egg". I tried the buttermilk recipe again and realized what I did wrong the last time. I didn't follow the recipe quite right. Evidently when you cook, you have to follow the recipe or things just don't turn out right! Der. So this morning I realized that in the art of biscuitry the shortening and flour must be mixed together before you add milk or they just don't turn out right...also you shouldn't forget to add key ingredients like baking soda when called for. Don't know why...some chemical reaction/scientific explanation that I'm sure Alton Brown could spit out in a matter of seconds, but I have no clue. I just know this mornings biscuits were much better than the last round! Fluffier and not quite as heavy as the last batch...still, not like Mamaws. Hers are fluffier and just taste better. I've watched her make biscuits more times than I can count. She never used a recipe... always just dumps the ingredients in the middle of a giant wooden bowl and mixes everything up by hand. You'd think by following a recipe and from countless times watching her do it, I could get it right. However, she does have about 65-70 years of biscuit making under her belt. I have only three tries under mine, so I'm doing OK, I guess.

My final recipe of the day was sweet potato fries. Now sweet potatos aren't my favorite food, but since I am trying to lose weight and eat a little healtier, I thought I'd give it a try. It's a Biggest Loser recommended recipe(somewhat altered), so I thought I might like it. I cut a sweet potato into fry size pieces, sprinked olive oil, french fry seasoning and a bit of paprika on them and baked them in the oven. The recipe said 10-12min. I left them in longer hoping that they would get crunchy. I have a feeling a sweet potato doesn't get crunchy unless it is deep fried. So I think they turned out OK, but I didn't enjoy them(warmed up a can of corn instead). It wasn't the seasoning that bothered me, it was the taste of the SP that I couldn't get past. I'm guessing Mark, who loves sweet potatos will gobble them up, but my official stand on this is that I am not a fan of the sweet potato and I will not be cooking them for myself again.

They're Both Favorites

I spent last week watching the first season of 24 on DVD. MAN, it's good and now I miss it terribly! At first I watched two episodes a night. By the third disk, I think I was up to three episodes at a time and had to MAKE myself stop watching. I would literally be so tense I was drawn up into a ball on the couch chewing my fingernails by the time an episode would end. IT WAS GREAT! Better than any movie I've seen lately. I don't want to give anything away in case someone wants to check it out, but the twists and turns they take on that show are unbelievable! RUN to Movie Gallery and rent it people! Shea has Season 2 and I cannot wait to start on that. We were discussing 24 vs. Lost...both excellent shows. Lost is a little more fun and you get a laugh or two per episode (thanks to Sawyer and Hurley), but 24 just sucks you in and you cannot stop watching it.

Not sure which show is my favorite...Their both favorities...Lost may be a little more favorite...but if I can't watch LOST that's OK, cause 24 is favorite anyway...They're both good...They're both good! SO, I am obviously beginning to look forward to the Brian Regan concert in Feb!! Funny funny guy. Shea has a clip on his blog, and there are also clips on brianregan.com. Hysterical! Last time we saw him, I laughed harder than I had in I don't know when. And speaking of concerts...

There is a very good chance that I may have fan club seating to Harry Connick Jr. in March. The man puts on an unbelievable show! Phenomenal musician, phenomenal voice. I think everyone should go see Harry if they get the chance. I've seen him in concert three times and have never ever been disappointed. He's always personable, charming and flat out fantastic. Jack is checking on getting her fan club tickets transferred over to me so that I can buy the primo tickets. Last time we did that they were FRONT ROW. This concert is to promote the Oh My Nola CD, which comes out on the 30th and yes, I will be buying a copy that day.

Am I supposed to talk about cooking? Still haven't done much in while. Too busy watching my "stories" on the tv! HOWEVER, I did just cook up a healthy little cheese pizza for only five WW points:
Flat out low calorie Italian Herb bread
Top with pizza sauce and some low fat mozerella.
Bake at 350 till cheese is brown and bubbly.
Really tasty for Pizza lovers like me who can no longer eat as much "real" pizza. Would probably be good with some pepperoni and veggies(if you like that sort of thing) tossed on. I could eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner without ever tiring of it. BUT I haven't had any "real" pizza in weeks, and this was a tasty alternative. Tomorrow I think I am going to take on the chicken again. My friend Rhonda told me how to do baked cajun chicken. Sounded super simple and since I have both chicken AND cajun spices on hand, I gotta give it a try. I *might* even try some sweet potato fries (baked of course) to go with! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Well kids, the lesson for this week is...sometimes homemade is NOT better. I tried homemade Fettuccine Alfredo. What a lot of trouble..ok, so I didn't have the exact ingredients, but I did manage to pull it off and it came out tasting like fettuccini alfredo, but the texture just wasn't right. It was OK and I did eat it and am working on the leftovers, but it was not what I expected.

Here's my advice...if you are craving Fettuccini Alfredo that is creamy and yummy, go to the grocery and buy a jar of Classico Alfredo sauce and pour it over your cooked fettuccine. MUCH BETTER.

Well everyone, Christmas has come and gone this year and I survived my first ever attempt at Christmas dinner. It actually turned out OK. Probablly not the best CD my family has ever had, but they were all very complimentary and are so wonderful they would have said it was great had it tasted like gravel. But they didn't have to tell me that, because, darn it, I did alright! I should thank my friend Trish for telling me the proper way to "doctor" baked beans and the secret coleslaw recipe that was so easy even I could make it. She even told me which brand of corn to buy--Sam's Supersweet(it was quite yummy and will now be my corn of choice). So Thanks Trish! By the way, did anyone besides me NOT know that there were 312,000 varieties of Baked Beans available? THAT caused a slight panic attack...barbeque? country style? homestyle? brown sugar? aaaaarrrrggghhh! I went with the barbeque. They were pretty yummy enough after "doctoring" but next time I'm going to go with a differnt variety. In addition to the corn, bb, and coleslaw, I made roasted red potatoes, a weird cold vegetable salad of corn, pimentos, peas and green beans in a vinegar/sugar sauce/juice/whatever you call it for Mark--he liked it but I don't think anyone else even attempted a taste of it and I don't blame 'em--blech! I revamped the mac and cheese recipe and this time, it was much better. The recipe is somewhere below...my recommendation is DON'T use sharp cheddar cheese. This time I used a cheddar jack blend and added some velveeta in with it. It was better, still not perfected, however. I made some of the King's cornbread...see previous post for the delicious recipe. And for dessert I used my new favorite cookbook once again for a Chocolate Eclair and "Paradise Hawaiian Style Pina Colada Cake". That PCC was good eatin' and you can't go wrong with an eclair, ever. Too many days have passed now for a complete rundown, but it all went fine and I'm slightly ashamed of myself for waiting this long to do it.

Cornbread fit for The King.

Finally!Something that turned out right! This cornbread was good…I’d even go so far as to say it was delicious! And it was not hard to make, either! Just lumped all the ingredients into a bowl, mixed em’ up, poured it into the hot skillet and let it go! NOW of course, this is me and you know it wouldn’t be without at least one disaster. I had my cornmeal and flour all ready to go (1 1/2 cups of each) and obviously looked at the recipe wrong because then I dumped in a CUP of sugar and had it all stirred up before I glanced down at the recipe and noticed it called for a TABLESPOON of sugar. SO I wasted a lot of flour and cornmeal, but at least I caught it before I tried to cook it, so I am getting better! Any other time I’ve ever tried to make cornbread, it has been the kind in the package…Martha White brand just add water, I believe. It’s OK, but it doesn’t taste like that good ole’ stuff my gradma makes. I would never have imagined I could make cornbread as good as hers, but I did.

I got this recipe from a cookbook that I picked up recently called Graceland’s Table: Recipes Fit for the King of Rock and Roll. Written by Ellen Rolfes with Elvis Presley Enterprises. C.2005 It’s actually a pretty good cookbook and I’m sure you can get it on Amazon. Now, remember, this recommendation is coming from me, and I don’t know squat about cooking, but I dig it! The recipes are submitted by various Elvis Presley fan club members around the country and are supposedly the types of foods that might have been served at Graceland for Elvis and his friends and family. Between recipes are Elvis stories and recollections by fans and friends. Some are really interesting while others are slightly idiotic. Also slightly idiotic, but insanely fun to read are some of the recipe titles and accompanying captions written by those who submitted the recipes.

For example: "Jailhouse Rock" Baked Beans, "If the warden had thrown a party at the county jail, he would have served Jailhouse Rock Beans."

And then we have: Mary’s "Ready Teddy" Potato Salad, "The King deserves the best potato salad…and this is it."

And my personal favorite: "Stuck on You" Burnt-Bacon Sandwiches, "I have been an Elvis fan my entire life. Through his music, he made me the person I am today. I think this recipe is very fitting, since all Elvis fans know how much he loved his burnt bacon."


MMMM. HMMMMM!

There is also a section of photographs. Some are of Elvis, some are of Graceland, and then there are the ones where food stylists have arranged various recipes on serving dishes and plopped them in different rooms of Graceland. It’s just fabulous, I tell you, fabulous!

Among all the fun fan stuff and photos are some recipes that were actually prepared at Graceland. They are much simpler and tend to have fewer ingredients than the fan recipes, so Î decided to try one of those first.

OK remember, we’re talking Elvis AND cornbread so low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie, it AIN’T.

From Elvis’s Kitchen: Southern Cornbread

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups self rising cornmeal
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Put the shortening in a 9 inch hot, iron skillet and place it in the oven until melted. Combine the cornmeal, flour nad sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs and milk and stir until well mixed. Pour the mixture into the hot, greased skillet and bake for 20 min. or until the top is golden brown.

Slap on some butter and enjoy it while it's hot!

if it takes THAT long to cook, it ought to taste good!

Macaroni and Cheese happens to be one of my favorite foods…my mac of choice is usually the stuff in the blue box. I think its Shea that named it Radioactive Orange. Nonetheless, it’s pretty tasty and I CAN whip up a batch of that without any problems at all. BUT…the blue box stuff is not homemade and since I am now adventuring into the land of all things culinary, I thought Mac & Cheese would be a good choice for my next recipe. It's a favorite of mine. Other would enjoy it if I cooked it for an event. It's Quick, easy and delicious. HA! HA! And HA! It was none of the three. I’m beginning to think I ain’t meant for this domestic stuff!

So anyway, I was actually excited to try the mac and cheese recipe(if that doesn't prove I'm a dork, nothing does) and things were pretty swell with until I began to make the white sauce. The pasta was boiling away, my milk/butter mixture looking good and I had all the ingredients lined up and ready to go. Once I added the flour/dry mustard/salt mixture I started to get lumps. Lots of little lumpy dumpling like thingies floating around in what was to become cheese sauce. I whisked and whisked to no avail…I couldn’t seem to get them to dissolve so I did the only thing I knew to do. I called Mom. I’m sure my parents get a huge kick out of me calling everytime I try to cook something…either that or they just shake their heads and wonder how and where they possibly went wrong with me. My siblings are so normal… Anyhow, Mom tells me to keep on whisking and gives me several other options to try and eventually most of lumps do dissolve, I add the cheese and things look as if they are getting back on track. Once the cheese sauce is done, I slosh in the mac, stir it up and then decide to get REALLY fancy and top it with an additional layer of Italian cheese and cracker crumbs. Then I put my creation in the oven and wait…a really long time. From start to finish it took almost 2 hours…TWO hours to make a dadgum macaroni and cheese. I know that can’t be right. Had to be of all the fuss over the sauce.

So after the really really long time in the oven, I take the dish out and, well, if I do say so myself it was the prettiest dish of macaroni and cheese I’ve ever seen! They say looks can be deceiving and now I know why. It was not nearly as tasty as it looked. To look so yummy and taste so blah was a huge letdown. At first taste, I couldn’t quite figure it out…is it the sharp cheddar? is it not enough seasoning? are the cracker crumbs throwing it off? what gives? Today I warmed up a bowl in the microwave at school and realized that it was just bland. Maybe I should have salted the pasta a LOT more. I had my buddy Pam try it and she said; "it needs SOMETHING". Recipe is below WITHOUT my addition of lawry's or the cracker crumb/italian cheese topping. I’m sending some to Mom and Dad to sample. Hopefully they will be able to tell me what to do to make it TASTE as good as it looked before Christmas. Yes, that’s right, Christmas dinner is at MY house this year! My family…they are brave people.

I am not making this up...the recipe is actually titled:
Marvelicious Mac and Cheese
2cups uncooked elbow macaroni
21/2c. milk
1tbs. butter
3 tbs. all purpose flour
3/4tsp. salt
1/2tsp. dry mustard
2c sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup. sharp cheddar (optional for topping)

Preheat oven to 375. Cook macaroni according to package.

Meanwhileheat milk and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour, salt and dry mustard and simmer one minute, whisking occasionally.

Remove from heat; stir in 2c. shredded cheddar until melted. Add drained macaroni to saucepan and toss with cheese sauce.

Transfer mixture to a greased 8 or 9 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle 1/2 c. cheddar on top(optional) .

Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly (about 20min.) Let stand 5 min. before serving.

Kellie vs. the Chicken Episode II

OK. I decided to try a new recipe today. Actually I did exactly what I said I was NOT going to do and tried to three things at once. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as I had hoped it might.

I decided to try my friend Cara’s recipe for Chicken and Spaghetti. Sounded yummy, seemed simple enough. I’ve fried chicken once, thought not a complete success, I am willing to try it again. Maybe I should have waited a while longer. Didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped. NOT because it wasn't a good recipe, but it's my lack of skills and my choice of side item. One problem was I think I probably wasn’t supposed to fry it quite so much. Again, with sketchy directions on the amount of olive oil to use, I decided to use the amount I had when I fried chicken the last time…enough to cover one side of the tenders. Well, these guys must have been smaller than the last batch or something. It looked like they were getting an olive oil bath. And they came out a tad over done and really oily. I had to drain them on a paper towel to get rid of some of the oiliness.

Now, because Mark is a vegetarian (fanatical about it, actually) I wanted to fix something that he could have with his spaghetti…of course it was only later that I got to thinking on it and realized you don’t really NEED anything with spaghetti other than maybe a salad and some garlic bread.

Anyhow, I come up with potatoes! As if we aren’t getting enough starch with the pasta, I added even more. It sounded good at the time… So the recipe I choose is called Unfried French Fries. Sounded good and similar to the roasted red potatoes Mom makes. I should have stuck with Mom’s recipe. Like the chicken, the potatoes were BATHED in olive oil. I used the amount called for in the recipe with only one potato less, so you’d think it wouldn’t be that different. My unfried taters weren’t crunchy at all, as the recipe promised. They were greasy and soft. The few that got "burnt" tasted allright and they might have been good without the olive oil soaked chicken, I don’t know. I just think I should have stuck with one thing.

Now Mark liked the meal. He liked the potatoes (even though he admitted to the greasiness when pressed---he wasn’t going to tell me but I kept after him till he did) and he enjoyed the spaghetti w/marinara sauce. When it came to the sauce, I went for the expensive stuff…Bertolli Marinara w/Burgundy Wine…thinking if it cost more and sounds exotic it must taste better. Nope. Should have stuck with the good old Ragu. I like a hearty sauce and this was way too sweet for me. But again, Mark really liked it so it wasn’t a complete loss.

My opinoin was the best part of the meal was the garlic bread (Pepperidge Farm) and the orange popsicle I afterwards to try and kill the taste of all that olive oil and sweet tomato sauce.

Cara’s recipe was easy and I’m sure when SHE makes it, it is quite tasty. Had I used a normal amount of olive oil and used a better sauce, I’m sure it would have been fine. My chicken cooking skills…or lack of…are the majority of the problem...just can’t seem to get it right. But hey, that is only the second time in my life I’ve tried to do anything to chicken other than slap in on the George Forman or Shake and Bake it. I will definitely try this one again. BUT not any time soon. I'm done with chicken for a while. The potatoes, I don’t know. The recipe called for butter OR oil. Maybe the butter would have been a better choice. Maybe if they were tossed in rather than drowning in it? Also, mine touched in the pan, but surely that didn't do them in. If anyone tries the unfried fries recipe, tell me what I did wrong.

Cara's Chicken and Spaghetti
chicken tenders (as many as you like)
garlic salt
bottled spaghetti sauce (Prego Zesty Garlic is my favorite)
Vermicelli (enough for the two of you)

Heat olive oil in skillet or frying pan to medium heat.
Put vermicelli on to cook.
Heat sauce in saucepan.
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt to taste (I like mine pretty garlicy.)
Cook chicken in heated pan until juices no longer run pink (that's a
little trick to know if chicken is done. You could also get an
electronic food thermometer and when the chicken is heated to 180
degrees F, it's ready. I use the thermometer whenever I cook chicken on
the stove top, especially fried chicken. DON'T WANT NO SALMONILLA!)
Drain vermicelli.
On plate, place chicken on noodles, cover with sauce, and top with
mozzarella cheese if desired.

Unfried French Fries from Comfort Food by Rita M. Harris
"It is possible to make MARVELOUSLY crunchy potatoes without frying" yeah, right.
6 med. potatoes cut into 8 wedges
6 tbs. butter or oil
salt and pepper
paprika
grated parmesan cheese(optional)

Soak wedges in ice water for at least 15min. to remove starch and make finished product more crisp
Drain potatoes and remove as much water as possible by towel drying
Preheat oven to 425
Spread butter on bottom of pan. Add potatoes, making sure they do not touch each other. SPrinkle with salt, pepper, paprika. Bake 30min. Turn every 10min. to make sure they brown on all sides. Sprinkle wedges with the grated cheese and bake an additional 2-3min. Serve hot.

Now this COOKED

Last night I had the absolute pleasure to be a part of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's Christmas Extravaganza. WOW. What a show.I expected it to be good, great, fantastic even, but it SOOOOOO surpassed my expectations! It was possibly the best concert I've been to...and I've had front row tickets to my all time favorite performer, Harry Connick Jr AND I've seen my other teenage years idols, Duran Duran live too. So that should tell you something!

Anyway, I've been a huge fan of Brian Setzer's music since high school (the days of the Stray Cats). I used to tape their videos on Friday Night videos back before we had MTV and I'd watch them over and over. Gotta Get A Cadillac was my favorite video, in case you're intersted. Anway, I played the rant and rave cd endlessly. I've always loved that 50's sound and everything associated with that era fascinates me still...I guess that was what got me started on them. I loved the music and the cats were, well they were cool! When Brian Setzer struck out on his own, I got that cassette too, The Knife Feels Like Justice, and I think I wore it out. Thanks to Shea, have had a steady stream of Brain Setzer and Stray Cats cd's supplied ever since.I I have copies of all the BSO cd's and never tire of listening to those.

And I got to see/hear it all last night. FROM THE SIXTH ROW at the Ryman. Could not have asked for better seats! Several standing O's during the night. The Christmas music was outstanding and they played some old Stray Cats stuff as well as some of Setzer's trio numbers. Some of faves were Sleigh Ride, Jump Jive and Wail--which was flat out great, Hey Santa, Red Hot, Fishnet Stockings, let's see there was a guitar duel between Brian and the Grinch, snow falling from the ceiling, Sexy and 17, the Nutcracker Suite...oh heck, who I am kidding they were ALL favorites! There was not a dull moment all night! I don't think I sat still for more than five minutes as a time the who night! Everyone had a great time...Shea was rockin'! Mom and Dad thourougly enjoyed themselves and I KNOW Bryan was there with us, loving every minute...he wouldn't have missed a show like that! I haven't had this much fun since we all went to Brian Regan! Just Outstanding. Thanks Shea, for bringing the Christmas Spirit to us this year! I owe you for this one! I'm sure Shea will post the rundown in detail on his blog, so check it out! Next time we'll get back to the food.

Eggs in a Nest

So tonight I came home from work around 5:00 or so and decided I was hungry. I almost poured a bowl of corn pops and then changed my mind at the last minute in favor of trying another recipe. I've scrambled many many many eggs before, so this wasn't a scary recipe. But it sounded really tasty, and it turned out to TASTE really tasty too!

Eggs in a nest from Sandra Lee Semi-Homeade cooking. Basically this is what it amounted to:
Spray pam in a small baking cup
Scramble 1-2 eggs with some pepper and Lowry's seasoned salt.
Butter one side of a piece of bread
Lay the bread in the dish, butter side up.
Add a spoonful of cheezwhiz on top of the bread
Scramble the eggs till just set
Spoon them over the bread & top w/another spoonful of cheez whiz
Bake for 5-6min.

It was yummy. I wish I'd have had the wheat bread the recipe called for and next time I think I'll lay off the cheese a bit. All in all, this one is a keeper. And really, it wasn't that much more trouble than a bowl of cereal would have been.

Ya'll be sure to check back this weekend. I'm going to try my hand at chicken again! This time I'll be using my friend Cara's recipe for chicken and spaghetti. She swears it's easy.

Recipe the First: Fried Chicken Tenders

OK, you didn’t believe me when I said I can’t cook did you? This should convince you that I’m not lying…this was the first time in my life I’d ever fried a piece of chicken. For some reason I never thought I could do it. One big reason was I never wanted to mess with cutting and cleaning some nasty chicken. Blech! I’ve seen Mom & my grandma do it, and it is not a pretty sight. Lucky for me, they have those new-fangled already cut and cleaned chicken tenders right on my supermarket shelves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know they’ve had those for years, and I have shaked and baked my fair share of chicken tenders, but that’s not the same. Frying up chicken was scary.

My poor Mom is going to be so sorry she ever suggested this “try one recipe a week” thing because I called her three times during my chicken frying adventure! The first time was to see how much oil to put in the pan. Sandra Lee suggested I use a deep fryer OR fill a deep pot with oil. Well I don’t have either (is a deep pot the same thing as a saucepan?) and she didn’t tell me how much oil to use if I’m using a plain old skillet! These food network people don’t realize they have complete cooking idiots reading their books, do they? Anyway, when I call, Dad gets on the phone and I tell him I have a cooking question for Mom. While he is on the way to get Mom I proceed to tell him that I am attempting to fry chicken. Then I say “and I’ve never fried chicken in my life!” “KEL-lie” he says with such an air of disappointment and disbelief that I actually feel guilty because I’ve never fried chicken before! So, it is ON with me and the chicken now!

During our conversation, Mom tells me not only how much oil to use in my skillet (enough to cover one side of the tender) but warns me not to get the oil too hot or the outside will be done before the inside. Well now, how in the heck am I supposed to know how hot the oil is getting? So I guessed…

While the oil was heating up, I started the chicken dunking process. As luck would have it, I did not have the right ingredients…had to substitute Lowry’s season salt for the southwest marinade mix(don’t think I used enough) and corn flakes for bran flakes. Anyhow I managed to get all my dunking bowls and bags together and ready with ease. The actual dunking…that was pretty gross. Cold,
wet, uncooked chicken is unappetizing in and of itself, but start dipping it in a mixture of raw egg and buttermilk then a flour mix, then back into the buttermilk/egg goo and once more dunk in corn flakes and it’s evenworse! Ending up with egg-buttermilk-flour-corn flake-chicken gunk all over my hands didn’t help.

post dunking

looking OK This is where things begin to go awry

Anyway, as you may have guessed the outside of my chicken got done before the inside! The inside turned out tender and juicy; the outside was crusty and nearly burnt. I said it was nearly burnt which means it was still edible. The inside WAS tender and juicy as I mentioned and I was able to scrape some of the burnt stuff off, so all was not lost. I faced the chicken, and I won, barely, but I still won! Kellie –1, Chicken - 1.

Finished product, w/ instant taters

Spiced Chicken Tenders
from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cooking
Vegetable oil
1/2c. All purpose flour
1/2 packed Southwest marinade mix, McCormick Grill Mates
Ground black pepper
3 cups corn bran cereal
1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 pound chicken breast tenders

Fill a fryer with oil to its maximum level or fill a deep pot no more than halfway with oil. Preheat oil in fryer or pot to 375 degrees.

In large re-sealable bag combine flour, marinade mix and pepper. Set aside. In another bag, add corn bran. Using a rolling pin, gently crush cereal to coarse ground crumbs. Set aside. In a shallow bowl, combine egg and buttermilk.

Soak chicken strips in buttermilk mixture. Toss a few strips at a time in seasoned flour mixture. Shake off excess flour and dip into buttermilk mixture again. Toss chicken in cereal crumbs to coat. Repeat with remaining chicken strips.

Fry chicken strips in batches until golden brown and cooked through, about 6-7 min. per batch. Drain on paper towel. Serve warm w/dipping sauce.

*Note to self: remember to drain next time, turn more often, crush Cornflakes more completely, and use more of the seasoning salt (2tbs) if marinade mix unavailable

...here we go!

I have a little secret, more of a problem really... My family is aware of it and my very close friends know about it too, but no one else. Until now. My secret isn't terrible, not even all that bad in the whole "keeping secrets" arena. But it is embarrassing and the only way to get over this little problem I have is to face it head on! So here goes...brace yourselves...I am thirty eight years old and I can’t cook! There you have it; my secret is out. Sad…but true.

If genetics have anything to do with it, I should be a good cook…

• My mother can cook. In fact, she’s a great cook. She’s one of those throw-stuff-together-without-a-recipe-and-it-comes-out-delicious kinds of cooks.
• Jackie, my lil’ sis, can cook. She’s pretty talented at it. She’s currently living in Poland and doesn’t have the luxury of running to Kroger to pick up a lot of conveniences that we think of as being necessary to cook. STILL, she manages to pop out dishes that are yummy and continually impresses her Polish peeps with her cooking skills.
• My brother Shea cooks on a regular basis and I think he’s a pretty good cook as well.
• My Dad has a few signature dishes that he makes for holidays and such…those are always good eats…baked corn being my personal favorite.
• My brother Bryan loved to cook when he was able and even when he wasn’t able, he’d dictate ideas for recipes to Mom, she’d whip them up and they’d be quite tasty.
• My grandmothers are wonderful cooks and Papaw could barbecue like nobody’s business.

So why did I miss out on the culinary portion of the family gene pool? No idea. I share the same bloodline with all these wonderful cooks and should be a great cook myself, and yet my cooking skills rate along side those of Ellie Mae Clampet. Remember when she made biscuits that were so hard they used them for hockey pucks or shot-put or something? I’ve made those same exact biscuits!

For whatever reason, I can’t (or perhaps don’t) cook. Maybe I’ll delve into those reasons someday, but for now I’ve decided it’s high time I start learning to cook! Mom suggested that I try one recipe a week and I thought that was a pretty good idea! SO one recipe a week it is and I plan to document it here. For now, I’ll do my documenting on Wed. or the weekend, as Mark and I still do not have internet service and I can’t really post from work. I’m usually at the folks’ place at least once a week, so the blog will be a weekly thing for me.

In case you’re wondering, on the days I’m not trying out a recipe, I’ll be eating my usual “make do” cooking (if you can call it cooking) which is frozen dinners, cereal, fast food, and stuff from cans…so don’t ya’ll worry. I’ve made it thirty-eight years without cooking and I ain’t starving (as is widely recognized). The day I DO try an actual recipe, I’ll have one of those convenience foods with it. “Why not trying TWO recipes on the same day?” you ask. Are you kidding me?! Change takes time, people!

11/10/07 UPDATE: It's over a year later and I'm now a little bit better at cooking and have even taken up some new hobbies! If you've been directed here from Jackie & Scott's blog, you can see what I'm up to these days here.