What's for dinner this week?

With finals finishing up this week, I'm going to have extra time to cook! Have any ideas for what should be for dinner this week? I found this recipe for parmesan-crusted pork chops, but I'm a little uneasy since I've never worked with pork. Help me with suggestions and tips!

So I guess al dente actually means something important...

Yet another yummy meal tonight! I got this recipe from my mother, who calls it "stuffed shells". Only when I went to the store, no large shells were to be found. So I improvised and made stuffed maicotti instead. It really did taste delicious, but it sure didn't look that way. I blame it on the fact that I have never made any type of pasta "al dente" before. If you are a beginner cook and aren't familiar with the term, you can look at this definition found at wikipedia.com. My advice would be to stop boiling the pasta before it starts losing its round shape.

Ingredients:

1 pack maicotti noodles (14)

1 small pack ricotta cheese

2 cups mozarella cheese

1 egg

1 large jar spaghetti sauce

1 lb quality ground beef

salt/pepper to taste

dash of oregano

Cook pasta according to package directions (but only until al dente!). Drain and rinse with cool water. Set aside. Brown hamburger meat in a large saucepa. Add spahetti suce, salt/pepper and oregano. Allow to simmer while you mix ricotta cheese, mozarella cheese (leave a litte extra to put on top of dish) and egg together. Stuff cheese mixture into maicotti noodles and place them in a baking dish in a row. Cover noodles with beef sauce mixture. Place in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Add remaining cheese to top and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The secret is in the marinade

Not much is better than a steak dinner. Growing up it was something we always looked forward to, and not much has changed since I have came to college. Making the time to grill your own steak is something you just have to do sometimes. Although grilling is not something I have yet learned how to do, at least I have a boyfriend who has mastered the trade quite well! For now, I'll leave the grilling up to him while I prepare the rest of our meals. I marinated the steaks, cooked the green beans and cooked the sliced, baked sweet potatoes. I found the sweet potatoes recipe while looking through a Rachel Ray magazine. This was a great steak dinner for Ben and I, and we loved the alternative sweet potatoes instead of the regular baked potato we are used to with steak.

Ingredients:

steak of choice

A1 steak marinade

sweet potatoes:

2 sweet potatoes (sliced)

melted butter

sugar

salt/pepper

green beans

salt/pepper to taste

liquid smoke

2 tbs butter

Marinate two Strip steaks for several hours or overnight with A1 steak marinade. Grill until it reaches desired texture/color.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sliced sweet potatoes on a greased cookie sheet. Baste with butter and sprinkle sugar and salt/pepper to taste. Bake for 20 minutes then flip cooking for an additional 10 minutes until slightly browned.

Place canned or frozen green beans into a pot over low/medium heat. Add a splash of liquid smoke, butter and salt/pepper. Cook until hot.

Pot-luck Thanksgiving

I teach at a dance studio and we always have Thanksgiving dinner together, with each of us bringing a dish to share. In the past, I have always gotten my Mom to make her famous Sweet potato fluff (it is one of my favorites!) for me to take. But this year, I wanted to make my own dish to bring: Pumpkin Cheesecake! Since I would be putting my name on it, I had to practice before Thanksgiving coming soon. I ended up sharing a slice with several people including my mom and dad who loved it! I got the recipe from momswhothink.com, but decided after trying the mix before baking that it tasted too "pumpkin-y" for my taste, so I added additional spices. If you like a more pumpkin taste, try the original.

Ingredients:

crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tbs melted butter

1 1/2 tbs brown sugar

filling:

16 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)

1 cup brown sugar

1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)

2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp ground ginger

2 eggs

dash salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

toppings (if desired):

whipped cream

caramel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crust ingredients and press into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a spring-form pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl adding brown sugar, pumpkin vanilla and spices gradually. Add eggs and salt slowly. Beat until creamy and pour evenly into crust. Bake for about 60 minutes until top is slightly browned. Cheesecake will still be jiggly. Cool completely and run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Serve with whipped cream and caramel if desired. Hope you enjoy this pumpkin treat!

Does requesting a Crock-pot for my birthday make me old?

So my birthday was about a month ago and all I wanted from my Mom was a Crock-pot. Thinking back I feel like that's not something you should want for your birthday until you are at least 35 with a husband and two kids to cook for. But hey, if I can make incredible food with it, I'm happy with wanting it at 22:) This week I made Crock-pot BBQ from a recipe I got from Mom, except I changed it a bit. Needless to say, after making this, I am thrilled to have gotten this new appliance for my kitchen. It was so delicious! I made 3 lbs of it for Ben and I to put on sandwiches, but it was gone in minutes between us and his friends. They tried a bite and wanted a plate to themselves. I am very excited to share this recipe with you.

Ingredients:

3 lbs pork (I used Boston butt)

liquid smoke

vinegar

1 bottle bbq sauce of choice (I prefer one that doesn't taste too sweet)

salt/pepper to taste

2 tbs butter

crushed red pepper

water

Begin by slicing pork an inch deep 1/4 inch apart diagonally both ways (creating diamond shapes). Rub liquid smoke, crushed pepper, salt and pepper into pork and place in crock-pot on high. Add about 1/2 cup water to pot along with a couple of splashes of vinegar. Leave to cook for about 2 1/2 hours. Remove pork and pour out liquid in pot. Pull pork with a fork to look like BBQ. While pulling, have bbq sauce heating in a pan. Add butter, salt/pepper, crushed red pepper and vinegar until you achieve the taste you want. Place pulled pork and bbq sauce mix back into crock-pot and mix thoroughly. Leave to cook another 20 minutes to blend flavors on low. You can enjoy on a hamburger bun or eat alone.

P.S. You can buy your own crock-pot like mine at this site.

Happy Halloween!

My boyfriend, Ben, asked me to make something for his Halloween party, and I decided to make a creepy-crawly dirt cake. I put gummy worms and gummy spiders in it for the spirit of the season. It looks really cute, and although I haven't tried the actual cake, I did try the filling and it was delicious! I found the recipe at cooks.com, but just tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies

1 8oz package of creme cheese (leave out for a couple hours for easier mixing)

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 cup powdered sugar

3 cups milk

1 tub cool whip

6 cups milk

3 packages instant pudding (I used 2 chocolate and 1 vanilla so it would have the "dirt look" without being too chocolaty)

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

gummy worms

Put oreo cookies into a plastic bag and crush. Spread about 1/3 across the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Beat butter, creme cheese, vanilla flavoring and powdered sugar together until well blended. In a separate bowl blend milk, and pudding mix. When blended well, fold in the cool whip. Add this mix to the creme and butter bowl and stir well. Add a layer onto top of cookies until well covered. Place a few gummy worms in as desired. Now layer cookies again, followed by the chocolate mix. Top with a few oreo crumbles and worms. I stuck some worms half-way in to make it look like they were crawling out! Have a Happy Halloween!

You know a day is going to be good when it starts with a home-cooked breakfast.

I love breakfast food, but it is always such a pain to get up early and make it first thing. Growing up, my Mom would make breakfast at dinner time every once in awhile and we all enjoyed it. I found a recipe for a breakfast casserole at myrecipes.com that I could make the night before and just wake up and pop it in the oven for an hour. I tried this for the first time and I have been snacking on it all day! I think it would be a great idea to make this when you know you have guests coming into town and won't have time to prepare a meal in the morning.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork sausage

1/4 chopped onion

2 1/2 cups frozen hash browns (you can also use cubed potatoes if you want to take the time to boil them!)

5 large eggs

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 3/4 cups whole milk

1 cup all-purpose baking mix

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Cook sausage and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Add in hash browns, stirring occasionally. Cook until sausage is no longer pink and hash browns are starting to brown. Drain onto papertowels and spread over a greased 13x9 baking dish. Set aside. Stir together eggs, chees, milk, baking mix, salt and pepper until well blended. Pour mixture over sausage and hash browns. Cover and place in refrigerator over night. Bake, still covered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and cook for an additional 20 minutes until the top is slightly browned and you can insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have!

Hibachi chefs make it LOOK hard ;)

Ever since my freshman year in college I have been obsessed with Japanese food, and have always wanted to learn how to make it myself. Every time I go to a Japanese steakhouse I get excited to see the chefs prepare the food on the open grill right in front of me. Because of the elaborate show they put on, I always thought it would be hard to make, but surprisingly it is not! I am equally obsessed with the "white sauce" that usually comes with Japanese cuisine so I will share that recipe with you first. It is recommended that the sauce be made the day before to allow the ingredients to mesh together. I found the recipe for both at a random sight I found on Google, but I think it comes out tasting delicious!

Ingredients for "white sauce":

1 & 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used miracle whip on my second batch and it worked great for a lot less calories)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tbs melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp paprika
dash cayenne pepper Whisk all ingredients until blended smoothly. Ingredients for Hibachi meal: rice zucchini onion soy sauce salt/pepper egg butter sesame seeds chicken or steak To cook the rice measure the amount of rice you would like to use and bring to a boil with twice as much water. Add a teaspoon of butter and a dash of salt. Bring down to a low-medium setting, stir once more and cover for 15 minutes without touching it. Take off heat and stir. Let rice cool while you prepare your vegetables. Slice zucchini, onions and chicken or steak in desired sizes. Put them all into a greased pan on medium heat. Add soy sauce to taste over the mix. When chicken is done, add a touch of salt/pepper, a couple tablespoons of butter and sesame seeds. Saute until vegetables are soft but still a bit crunchy. Fry rice with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add butter and mix well. Make an empty spot to fry an egg, then chop and blend with rice. Add salt, pepper, sesame seeds and soy sauce to rice. Mix rice with vegetables in pan or leave separate to place vegetables on top. Serve with prepared white sauce at room temperature. Enjoy!

Eating restaurant style...at home.

I love to cook, and i love to eat. It's just a great coincidence that the two go hand-in-hand. I also enjoy going out to eat for a good meal. It was brought to my attention by a friend of mine that I could look up any recipe from my favorite restaurants online and cook them for myself in the comfort of my own home (not to mention being able to make more food for cheaper, yielding leftovers galore!) This is a great idea also because you can see exactly what you are putting into these meals, giving you the option to substitute easier or healthier ways of cooking to match what you want. I remember having an amazing loaded baked potato soup at Logan's Roadhouse a while back, so found a recipe at recipelink.com that sounded fairly simple. Again with this one, I changed a few things around, but it still turned out great! Awesome even.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups milk
4 large potatoes
water (to thin soup if necessary)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
green onions (chopped thinly)
6 oz bacon bits or chopped bacon

Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Melt butter in soup kettle and add flour, stirring until smooth. Gradually add your milk, stirring constantly until thick. Add in potatoes, 5 oz cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream and approximately 3 green onions chopped (I purchased pre-cut onions in a package). Bring soup to a boil, then simmer until you are happy with the consistency. You may want to add water at this point. Serve hot, topped with cheese, bacon, green onions and sour cream as desired. This is great served with french bread!

I enjoy feeding people.

My first attempt was a success! I made a delicious buffalo chicken wrap from a recipe I found at food.com, only I tweaked it a bit to fit my preferences. It was just the right balance of chicken and buffalo flavor. I let my roommate Rebecca and boyfriend Ben try one and it got raving reviews. I'm realizing that I really enjoy sharing my food creations with other people, even more so than myself. I am so excited about starting this new venture with cooking!

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless chicken breast
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion powder
5 10'' tortillas
1 cup buffalo sauce
lettuce
salt and pepper to taste
shredded cheese of choice
ranch or bleu cheese dressing

Cut chicken into 1/2 inch slices. Place chicken, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and buffalo sauce into a plastic bag. Toss until chicken is fully coated. Leave chicken to marinade for at least half an hour in the fridge. Grill chicken until done. Heat tortilla in microwave for 30 seconds with a damp paper towel on top (this will moisten the tortilla so that it won't break when folding). Lay out tortilla and place chicken, lettuce and cheese in the center. Fold just like you would a burrito. I had to look up how to do so and found this youtube video helpful. Slice in half and serve with dressing of your choice. Enjoy!

Let the cooking begin...

I grew up in a household where a delicious, home-cooked meal was prepared every night by my lovely mother who is a stay-at-home-mom. She is a wonderful, country cook. Because of her, I have been inspired to be just as skilled as she is in the kitchen, and hopefully one day have a family that I can provide scrumptious meals for every night.

I am starting this blog in order to broaden my horizons as a cook. I am the "baby" of a family of six, so I never really took the opportunity to get in the kitchen to start exploring. I had never really cooked my own meals until about a year ago when I first moved out of the college dorms and into an apartment where I had my own kitchen to get creative in. Over the past year, I have become familiar with how the appliances in a kitchen work, how to follow a recipe and even how to create my own concoctions that seem to please the taste buds of those who have tried them:) I am by no means a master chef, but I really hope I can continue to get even better through practice this year. I'm a senior at North Carolina State University, and I want to challenge myself to create new "masterpieces" before I graduate.

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