Stomach Flu

Thought it was something I ate, but it may be the stomach flu. I will not be cooking this weekend. I think soup (broth) is in order.

Marathon cooking day

Once again, the weather is rainy and cold. So my thinking was to make more comfort food. I set out to the market for ingredients to prep Ina Garten's Parker's Beef Stew, The Neely's Mama's Lasagna, Marcela Valladolid Chilaquiles with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, and another batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Now during the week last week, I did have the opportunity to make a delicious Chicken Scalopini from the Oprah's Favorite Cookbook. The chicken was breaded in pine nuts, parmesian, and panko crumbs. It was amazing.

The finished product. Had to ask my husband not to eat the left overs so we could have more the next night.

I've realized that I tend to bite off more than I can chew and cooking and prepping all these meals for the week has really drained me. I need a nap now. Fortunately, they all look delicious; however, was very disappointed in the chilaquiles as I may have undercooked the tortillas (it was more soft than a slight crunch). Anyway, I sprinkled it with feta (no Mexican cheese in the house) and took a few bites. Great salsa. Not my favorite dish.

Learning my Limit

Thinking today would be a good day for marathon cooking, I headed to store and filled up on ingredients for four dishes: Chicken Scalopini, Ropa Vieja, Pozole, gnocci, crab cakes, and chocolate cookies. I loaded up on veggies, meat, and chocolate chips at Trader Joes's and Raley's, but decided toward the end of the shopping spree to fan the crab cakes because I couldn't find the crab.

I got home and immediately started on the Ropa Vieja.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced (bottled)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large onion (for about 1 cup slices)
• 2 lbs skirt steaks (or flank)
• 1 red bell pepper (for about 1 cup pieces)
• 1 green bell pepper (for about 1 cup pieces)
• 14 1/2 ounces garlic balsamic & olive oil diced tomatoes
• 2 cups cooked rice (for serving)
• All of that (omit the rice) goes into the crockpot for 8 hours. Done!
• Next, I started on the Pozole (Natalia's favorite). I have a favorite recipe and went searching internet to locate another copy. Well, I ended up chosing a another one and it did not taste the same. It's not bad, but not my favorite. I won't post the recipe and will do my best to locate the one that taste terrific. Natalia is not concerned. Its her favorite "sopa."

Dropped the idea of cooking Chicken Scalopini tonight. I'm getting tired.

• While all of this is happening, potatoes are baking in the oven. I decided to defrost the chicken for the scalopini and begin making the cookie dough. The recipe for the cookies comes from someone else's blog. I made them last year and realized that if I didn't want to weigh 200 pounds, i should stop making them. Once in a while isn't bad right. Back to the gnocci. Crap! The Cuisanart doesn't work and I don't have a ricer. I have cooked potatoes on the counter and decided to sit and watch Oprah while eating chocolate chip cookies.
• The Ropa Vieja is still slow cooking. I'll update my post later to share the results.

Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast (or not)

Okay...I admit. My first mistake. I am not an avid meat eater, nor do I peruse the meat counter at the supermarket. So when I bought the meat for Ina Garten's Company pot roast, I didn't realize I bought a prime rib and not a chuck roast. I'm still a bit puzzled on the difference.

So in order not to ruin a good prime rib, I decided to save all the ingredients for the the company pot roast and season the prime rib for the oven. In it went at 6:55 with salt, pepper, and garlic to emerge from the oven at 135 degrees 1 1/2 hours later....a nice medium rare. I had a few tiny pieces and surrendered it to my husband for lunch time consumption.

Now during the week, I dare not promise many cooking attempts, but I shall return for a new cooking experience on Thursday or Friday. I'm thinking about testing out the slow cooker. Hmmm.....decisions, decisions. Any suggestions?

New Year's Resolution 2010

The is the Honey Vanilla Pound Cake. I now realize why it is called "pound" cake.

The finished product. This is Italian Wedding Soup.

These are my beautiful girls sitting down for lunch.

Ida Garten's book wide open for me to reference...and reference!

My finished Meatballs and the broth they swim in.

This year, I resolve to cook! After several take out, frozen and heat and serve meals in 2009, I thought what better way to make up for not being in the kitchen than to teach myself how to cook. Now, I've never considered myself a horrible cook. I'm an avid FoodNetwork watcher and love collecting cookbooks. The problem has always been.....time!

Now I'm not promising the most healthy meals. The resolve is to cook, right? However, if I do discover some healthy meals along the way, I will add them to my post.

So let's begin with today's cooking extravaganza!

Today's meal is based on the weather and a birthday. It's 55 degrees out and looks like it is going to rain. My youngest, Natalia, is turning 2 years old. So combine those both and you get... soup! (okay, maybe some may find that exciting.)

I decided to go with a recipe from Ina Garten's Back to Basics. A good friend of mine shared that the book has taught her how to cook the way she wanted to learn and it's simple. Simple is good!

Italian Wedding Soup - (Due to copyright, I dare not post the recipe; however, it can be found in the book). Here's my take. Yes. It was easy. Skillet frying is not my favorite and I usually burn anything the goes in. The meatballs are baked! Just make, roll, and turn the oven to 350. 30 minutes later, voila...MMEEEAATTTBBAALLLLS! Now I couldn't find ground chicken and didn't think to grind my own, so I used ground turkey from Raley's. It was still very good.

As for the broth, it was a simple chicken stock with veggies. The difference for me was the white wine. I don't think I've ever tasted soup with white wine in it.

Overall, I gave the soup a 4 out of 5. The higher part of the score is for the meatballs.

Now for dessert. I chose her Honey Vanilla Pound Cake. After mixing the ingredients, I now understand why it is called "pound" cake. The cake asked for lemon zest which was fun to peel (not) and lots of ..... butter!

I do have a confession. I lick the bowl. The cake batter was awesome. I could have ate the entire bowl, but fear all the raw egg would send me to the hospital. With that being said, all of the batter went into the oven for well over an hour even though the recipe said 50-60 minutes.

I felt the hour because my kids asked ever 2 minutes if it was finished and could we eat the cupcakes. What cupcakes?

So here they are! I'm proud of my efforts and look forward to another cooking day this week. I resolve to cook (but maybe not from scratch everyday).