I had lunch with my mom yesterday, at the Spicy Pickle, which is an amazing place to eat (I had the Santorini pizza and the Spinach salad).We were chatting away like we normally do and I don't know how we got on the topic but I started telling her about my latest cooking adventures. I was halfway through one of my stories when I realized she was suppressing a laugh. Wha...?!
Alright yes, the thought of me cooking is a laughable topic to my family but I would just like to say that it is NOT my fault I can't cook! I NEVER saw my mom in the kitchen cooking ANYTHING unless it was macaroni from the box or meat and cheese sandwiches. The reason for that was because my step dad was a Sous Chef for Rockbottom Brewery for many years. Even when he wasn't donning those hideous chef pants, with the happy chili peppers on them, he was still concocting something up in the family kitchen. His style of cooking was very southern, which is why my mom was in charge of making the child like finger foods we loved when he hadn't made anything for dinner.
While all of this cooking was going on, I was outside sweating my hair out, being a kid. Scrapping my knees, getting into trouble, building things! As a female adult though, who plans on eventually having a husband and kids, I understand that in my 26th year, it's about time I learn how to cook. And honestly, I can follow recipes just fine, it's the random seasoning and tasting of things along the way that are lost on me. Why would I want to taste something that's not done cooking yet?! Blah.
Anyway, I made this simple meal, from a couple of different boxes (all real cooks can now cringe), a couple days ago and it came out really good. If I had any gold star stickers, I would have given myself 7 of them! It's funny though because the meals I make are really for my aunt (to go with the ocean amount of beer she intakes). She says they taste good so either that's the Heineken talking, she's just being polite and spitting the food back into her napkin or it really does taste good.
Here's what I made:
with....
(I added milk to make the potatoes creamier) with ....
that I added and tasted along the way, with....
For another side dish I made her favorite peas but forgot to take a picture of the can so you guys get a googled image.
I feel like I'm getting a lot more comfortable about the types of seasonings I'm choosing and how much of them I use. Don't you love our salt and pepper shakers? Vintage.
Also, I was pretty nervous about knowing when the chicken was done but on the back of the Shake'n Bake box it says chicken is done when it's 165 degrees. So I used this thermometer thingy below and it was dead on. The chicken was perfectly moist and flavored when I took it out the oven.
Once my aunt and I were full off of the delectable meal I made, she had her guilty pleasures of Heineken and a Hershey's bar. I decided to raid and consume the 3, that's right 3, boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that were calling my name. They tasted heavenly with cold milk.
A successful meal under my belt. Until next week......
Love.