I absolutely love to cook. But I also love to eat.
Sometimes it's hard for me to decide - do I cook because I love to eat
or eat because I love to cook? Tim makes fun of me because I once
told him how kneading bread makes me feel at one with humanity. I know
it's the amateur anthropologist in me, but when I knead bread, I can't
help but think of the millions of women who have kneaded bread
throughout history. I make our own bread using the incredible
Oatmeal-Molasses recipe in William Sonoma's
Bread cookbook.
The reason why I am able to cook from scratch 3-4 nights
a week is because I create a spreadsheet for meals months at a time.
That way, I don't have to think every night, "What are we having for
dinner?" Every week, I look at my spreadsheet and create my
shopping list (takes less than 5 minutes.) I cook almost
exclusively from Cooking Light
because their food tastes spectacular and it's healthy. I have
purchased menu planning cookbooks in the past, but found the food so
bland and boring that I decided I would just have to create my own menu
planning system.
The other thing that makes cooking easy is having a
fully stocked pantry. I have all the staples I need so usually
I just have to purchase
meat from the local butcher,
dairy, and produce. I hope you enjoy the recipes below as much as
I do!
Cumin Curried Hummus. I made all the hummus the night
before. They were very easy and more economical than paying $4
for 2 ounces at the farmer's market!!
Cheeseburgers & Chicken & Apple Sausage on the Grill
Five Bean Pot. I've made this so many times and every time
people love it! This party, my goal was to be done cooking by
the time people arrived at 3pm. So, rather than putting it in
the oven, I put it in the crock pot about 6 hours before people ate,
with the first hour at high and the remaining four at low heat and
it turned out great.
Millionaire Salad. This I made the night before, put in a
ziplock in the fridge and plopped in a bowl right before serving.
Jen's Spinach Salad.
This is thrown together 5 minutes before dinner is served.
One-Bowl Chocolate Mocha Cream Cake. This is another
recipe that I make quite often because it is so easy (one bowl) and
universally loved! I made a triple batch of this cake recipe
to create two cakes. One in the shape of a
pig and
the other a
sheep which were ideas I got from the book
Family Fun Birthday Cakes: 50 Cute And Easy Party Treats (FamilyFun).
This book is so much fun to read and look through even if you never
bake a thing. Kathy has spent many hours just looking at the
various cakes and calling out each and every cake she wishes to
bake! :) What made these cakes extra special is the high
quality chocolate used:
Callebaut
Chocolate Chips (52.3% cocoa) &
Valrhona
Cocoa Powder (21% cocoa fat). I really wondered if I would
be able to tell the difference between these brands of chocolate and
your basic cocoa powder and the answer was a very loud YES! I
think the clue was looking at the ingredients of the chocolate chips
and seeing that the first item listed was unsweetened chocolate
versus sugar which was the first ingredient of my other "premium
dark chocolate" chips which I got at my local grocery store.
Just looking at the cocoa powder, you could see it's dark, rich
color. The result? A cake and chocolate frosting that
was so dark, it was almost black and the flavor... the first
flavor you tasted when eating the cake was chocolate, not sugary
sweetness. It was delicious!
