Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

What makes a good cook? My husband and I discussed this recently.  Is it the ability to read a recipe?  If that was the only criteria, anyone that could read would cook well.  After a bit of back and forth, we decided that some of the ingredients that make a good cook are:

• Enjoyment of eating – seeing eating as something more than just filling the gap, a mechanical action that has to occur in order to live.

• Aesthetic hunger  – often described as an appetite, or longing, for food.
• Make cooking limitless by liking a variety of foods, prepared in different ways. I’ve read about people who only eat 4 or 5 different foods. Trying to cook well with only 4 or 5 items would present a challenge for the most seasoned chef (especially if those foods in combination would not result in a pleasing dish).
• People who cut out entire food groups from their diet make cooking limiting, to say nothing of the potential long-term consequences to their health.
• A desire to create.
• An interest in food. Some people just do not like food or even see food as the enemy.
• A willingness to experiment, to see beyond the recipe which, I always say, is just a guideline.
• An understanding of ingredients, a basic knowledge of how they work (i.e. what makes baked goods rise) and an idea of appropriate substitutions if one doesn’t have the requested ingredient on hand – nuts are nuts, cheese is cheese, and so forth. A slight alternation in flavor may occur with substitutions but may not result in a critical change to the overall dish. (Sometimes substitution experimentation is done through trial and error.)

From what I’ve observed in our circle of friends, the people who truly seem to enjoy eating make the best cooks over those who view food as merely a means to an end (i.e. staying alive.)

That said, we could cure world hunger if a pill was developed that made one feel full, and gave one all one’s nutritional and caloric needs for the day. And just think of all the time we would have for other pursuits.

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What do you think makes a good cook?  Join in the discussion by leaving a comment!

Adapted from “The Girl Can Cook”

So simple, so good.

¼ c. olive oil

1 tsp. garlic powder

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ c. finely ground breadcrumbs

12 – 18 small to medium tomatoes

Heat oil in pan over medium heat and cook breadcrumbs and stir around for a minute or two to toast.  Remove from heat and cool.  Preheat oven to 400.  Stir the grated cheese into the crumbs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cut the tomatoes in half and remove any large, obvious cores with a paring knife.  Set the tomato halves in a shallow baking dish and season with salt and pepper.  Spread some of the crumbs over each half.  Bake until crumbs are golden, about 5 – 10 minutes.  Serves about 6.

2. Macaroni and Cheese – cheese sauce made in the Vitamix helps make it quick like in this recipe http://chronicinthekitchen.com/2011/01/10/meatless-monday-macaroni-and-cheese/

3. Chocolate: http://chronicinthekitchen.com/2010/05/31/chocolate-mug-cake/

4. Cheesecake.

5. Smoothies http://chronicinthekitchen.com/category/smoothies/

What are your comfort foods?

1 small chicken breast, cooked and chopped

1 small zucchini, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

1 onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed

1 tsp. each salt and pepper

1 T. each dried basil, oregano and cilantro

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 T. oil or margarine

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for approximately 30 minutes until quinoa is done and the vegetables are tender.  Stir in chicken.  Makes 2 – 3 servings.

Layer in 9 x 13 pan:

2 zucchini

1 pepper

4 small chicken breasts

Sprinkle with oregano, basil, salt and pepper

Spread with 1 1 /2 cups pasta sauce:

Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until chicken is done.  Remove foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve with rice or pasta. Serves four.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter or margarine

Graham Crumb Crust-the best and easiest crust to make

4 large eggs, yolks only

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

12 key limes, juiced or ½ cup fresh lime juice (2 limes, juiced in my juicer = 1/2 c. of lime juice.)

2 tsp lime zest

Ready to bake in the oven

1 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the crumbs and butter together.  Press into a 9 inch pie dish.  Bake for 12 minutes until the pie shell is golden.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until they lighten in color and thicken.  Add the condensed milk and ½ the lime juice, and whisk until combined.  Add the remaining lime juice and the lime zest.  Mix to combine thoroughly.

Pour the lime mixture into the pie shell, and bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Whisk the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. (I used my wonderful ISI Easy Whip cream whipper, similar to this  http://www.isinorthamerica.com/consumer/products/easy-whip/en/.) Cover the lime pie with the cream and serve.  You could also top this pie with meringue instead of whipping cream. Serves 8.

1/4 c. ground flax seed

1/2 c. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

3/4 c. dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%) chopped (I had a few chocolate chips as well so I threw those in too)

1 egg

1/4 c. milk

1/4 c. oil

1 c. mashed bananas (about 3 small-medium sized bananas)

Combine first five ingredients in a bowl.

Whisk liquid ingredients together in a small bowl.

Add mashed bananas to liquid ingredients.  Add this to the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.  Drop into muffin tins lined with muffin cups.

Bake at 400 for 20 – 25 minutes.  12 good-sized muffins

1/2 c. each of the following vegetables, chopped:

zucchini, red pepper, broccoli, carrot, onion

Brown vegetables, then add some fresh grated ginger and approximately 3 – 4 T. each soy sauce, orange juice and hoisin sauce. Simmer for a few minutes. Cut up steak and toss with vegetables. Serve with rice. Serves two. (Note: Any combination of vegetables can be used.)

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 pepper, chopped

4 small Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 c. tomato sauce

1/4 c. water

1 cooked chicken breast, chopped

1/4 c. tub-style cream cheese

Splash or two of 10% cream

1 T. curry powder or an Indian spice blend

Brown onion and pepper. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and water.  Bring to a simmer on medium low.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Stir in cream cheese (the “twist”) and chicken.  Continue to heat until the cream cheese is fully incorporated into the tomato mixture.  Remove from heat, add the curry powder/Indian spice blend and splash or two of cream.  Serve with rice. Naan bread would also be good. Serves 2 – 3.

(Cross posted from my other blog FibroDAZE):

In March, 2011 with the demolition of our existing kitchen, we embarked on a renovation journey that took far, far longer than anticipated. Perhaps we were naive of timelines; however the mistakes made by the big-box home renovation retailer (whom shall remain nameless) added many, many weeks to this project. Nonetheless, here we are some 9 months later, and our new kitchen is nearly born!

We took our kitchen from this, a typical 80′s kitchen:

It’s difficult to tell from the pictures, but the counter-top was quite damaged, the cupboards – particularly on the inside – had many areas of damage, the flooring was ripped, and, as you can tell by the extra shelving unit (one of three), there was not enough storage.

With the help of a kitchen designer, we created extra storage and counter-top square footage by deciding to enclose the cut-out you see in the second photo and move the fridge over.  We opened up the space by taking out the peninsula.  We gained additional counter top space  by  an over-the-range microwave (we found a used one.) We added and relocated electrical sockets. A far more functional kitchen, with plenty of storage, began to take shape. As we did not relocate the sink or stove, we suffered no great loss of use  during the renovation.

This renovation was not without its’ challenges however, mealtime wasn’t one of them: with the use of a meal assembly service – where you make freezer meals on location, bag them, and bring home to cook later – we did not have to eat every meal out.

We have friends who are electricians, cabinet installers and a couple of extremely knowledgeable handymen, which kept our costs down.  Doing this project as inexpensively as we did would not have been possible without their help.

Here are some pictures of our  nearly finished kitchen.

I love the faucet and sink we picked out.  The sprayer on the faucet works great. If I’m making pasta, to fill the large pot with water, I can  set a large pot on the counter and pull the sprayer arm over to fill it. I then slide the full pot over to the stove.

We chose quartz for our countertop. Low maintenance (no yearly sealing required), easy to clean, stain and scratch resistant, and antibacterial.  The only caution is not placing something hot directly on to it.  Thus, I place a hot pad under our small appliances (such as our slow cooker) when using same on the counter.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour.

Design magazines, our kitchen is ready for it’s close up!