Growing up, both of my parents prepared meals. My dad made simple meals - things like fish sticks, hot dogs, and tacos. My mom was the one who made meals that required more cooking. She made lasagna, pizza, and enchiladas.
As children, we enjoyed both and we didn't care. We were happy to eat and happy to be together.
(my first time making homemade enchilada sauce from scratch - no cans)Even though our parents had very different styles of cooking, we had our favorites from both. And our
Making Memories
Kibbeh
If you've followed my blog for any period of time you know that we've been trying all sorts of new things. We were tired of living in a rut, eating the same things all the time. I wanted to learn new cooking techniques and I wanted to stop being scared of trying new foods.
Recently, David and I were given a "buy one, get one free" coupon for the buffet at The Palms in Las Vegas. We've always wanted to go to The Palms so we decided to make a cheap date night with the coupon.
Las Vegas Farmer’s Markets
One day, while I was sitting back in my old house in Virginia, I started to wonder...
Is there Farmer's Markets in Las Vegas?
After all, it's DESERT. And it's HOT.
I don't know a thing about gardening, can things even grow when it's that hot?
I pulled out trusty Google and learned that, yes, there is farmer's markets in Las Vegas. Several of them, as a matter of fact. I was relieved - and excited to visit once we got settled.
Tricolor Vegetable Pâté and French Baguette
I am so very late on posting this, but hopefully the "better late than never" saying would apply in this case too. I actually made these items right around the time they were supposed to be shared, but packing and moving has gotten in the way.
This is my first month being a part of the Daring Cooks Challenge at The Daring Kitchen. Just like The Daring Bakers, I am VERY excited to take part. Stepping out of my comfort zone with new foods and new techniques is so much easier when you make a
Thoughts On Real Cooking (aka what am I doing here?)
This is a recent shopping trip - just a few things we picked up. It looks pretty good, right? Well, the food I bought wasn't this good. The food I used to buy looked very different than this. So did my cooking.
In my circles of family and friends, most would say that they know I love to cook. Most would say that I have good recipes. Most would say that I am a good cook.
But, really, I'm considering most of this description to be untrue.
I don't feel as if I have REALLY cooked. I thought
French Toast and Jamie Oliver
When Mattie woke up today, and as I was starting to work for the day, he came in and asked me, "how do you make French toast?". I briefly explained the steps to him and he made a grossed-out face when he found out that the bread was dipped in an egg mixture (he doesn't care for eggs).
He made a few other comments about French toast still being good, despite the egg part. And while he didn't ask me to make the French toast for him, I could tell that was the underlying request. I knew this, so
Top Chef Frozen Meal – Polenta with Braised Meatballs
I am a huge reality TV show fan. I will admit that I like some pretty bad ones, but there's some great ones that I love too. Like Top Chef. I've been a Top Chef fan since season 3 when I actually decided to watch the premiere episode after constantly hearing friends rave about the previous seasons.
I didn't watch it before then because I thought it would be way over my head. Most of the dishes they make are either 1) something I've never heard of or 2) includes ingredients I've never heard of.
Family Field Trip: Earth Fare – The Healthy Supermarket
Wanna go on a field trip with us?
Recently I learned about a grocery store called Earth Fare - The Healthy Supermarket. We don't have stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc. in our area, so when I found out we had a grocery store with a variety of organic and healthier options, I had to visit it. I told David about it and we immediately planned a family field trip!
We seriously get excited about stuff like this. The plan for the day was to go to lunch (pizza) and then hit Earth Fare.
Discovering Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches
My poor, deprived Mattie. He just learned about peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He was watching something on TV and mentioned to me about someone making a "peanut butter and banana sandwich". I told him "yeah, they're good."
He was shocked. He couldn't believe it. He glared at me as if to say, "YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?". It was almost the same look I got when he learned that there was peanut butter with actual little pieces of nuts in it (aka chunky peanut butter). See, I told you he was