2011, It was a pleasure to know you.

This year is almost over.  Like, three more sleeps and then it is another year.  Remember how when you were a kid and it seemed like Christmas took forever to get here?  Now it just comes and goes in a blink of an eye.  Whoosh.

Looking back on 2011 I see this as my year of creativity being realized.  I had an article published in Guideposts Magazine, I took engagement pictures and maternity pictures and trash the dress pictures plus some more, and I really put myself to work in the kitchen.  And of course, I started this blog!  Obviously, there is a whole lot more to say about this year, mostly good, some bad, but that is what I will always remember this year for.  

Let's take a look at where this blog/this year has gone:

APRIL

It all started as a way for me to record my recipes and to keep track of how much money each one cost.  I was not concerned with getting into the "blogging world", I just wanted to share with my friends and family.

MAY

Learning to cook is a tall order.  Learning to cook while blending two cultures is a doubly-tall, doubly difficult order.  But it is fun.  Challenging things aren't always bad -- sometimes they are the motivation you need to keep things interesting.

(This is Prestigio Cake, by the way.  My husband's favorite.)

PS - We also went one month (yeah, you heard that correctly) without spending any money WHAT-SO-EVER on eating out.  One month. 

JUNE

Teaching my baby brother how to cook.  It took me years of begging him to join me in the kitchen, but he finally decided to humor me.  And he was good at it!  Don't let the badass tattoos fool you; he has many talents.  (Did I ever mention that he has a beautiful singing voice?  Beautiful.)

JULY

My first (and only) attempt at "cute food".  Yeah, there are some things I am not cut out for.

AUGUST

Challenge of one week, completely new recipes with fresh ingredients.  My favorite food week of the year.

 

AND

I hosted a Foodbuzz 24x24 party, themed "Festa Brasileira".  Not only did we get fourteen Brazilian and American friends together to eat and have a good time, but we had had money left over and were able to donate $100 to the World Hunger Project.  Win-win in my book.

Oh yeah, and I learned some more of that all-important-Brazilian-cooking.  Triple win.

SEPTEMBER

Being a lover of good photography, I decided it was time to bring my food-pictures up to the level I expect of all my pictures.  I don't always make it happen, but I do make an effort.

OCTOBER

October Unprocessed: one month of NOTHING I didn't make from scratch.  It was difficult, eye-opening, and fun.  I actually cried when I made vegetable stock from scratch.  To see that I have the ability to make something without relying of food companies to do it for me... exhilarating.

NOVEMBER

My friends and I gave thanks while trying give others a reason to do the same.  With a team of young adults and people willing to join us, plus a 7x matching opportunity, we raised enough money to provide 35,112 meals to those in need in Africa.  That's 35,112 reasons to give thanks.

DECEMBER

And that brings us to now, December.  What can I say about this month?  I realized that along with developing my cooking skills I have also developed my photography, my writing, and have connected with people around the world I would have never met otherwise.  I have become a better cook, for sure, but I have also become a more well-rounded person. 

2011, you have been a good one.

And now on to see what 2012 has in store for us...

May your New Year (eve/day/year) be filled with love, family & friends, good food, and laughter.  Thank you for being a part of my inner-creativity discovery process!

My OCD Tendencies and The List...

Tonight is Monday.  It is the night I should be so excited to try a new recipe.  But I am not.  Why?  Because I do not have a new recipe to try, and even if I did, I would probably crumple it up and toss it out the window. 

There can only be one answer to that question: I did not make The List. 

"What is The List?" you ask.

The List is the answer to all of my struggles with cooking.  Before The List came into my life I was a disorganized cook at best, always stressing over what I could/should cook with my knowledge and ingredients on hand.  Many times I would think, "Well, I could make a tuna casserole..." but lo and behold, I would have no tuna on hand.  And a nothing-casserole just doesn't seem like it would do the job.  Or I would have a wealth of ingredients on hand, but I didn't know what to do with them.  Which would mean one of three possible things would transpire:

1. I would have to run out to the grocery store to pick up that one item, say tuna, and come home instead with five items -- tuna, chips, peanut butter, cookies, and juice.  This turned out to be both a waste of time and money.
2. I would try to make something up, which had something like a 20% success rate.  Not that great...
3. I would give up entirely, hop in the car, and head out to eat.

But then I created The List.  When Sunday, or whatever day I plan on doing my grocery shopping, comes around, I sit down down with a piece of paper and a pen.  I think, "What sounds good to me?"  and start jotting down the ideas.  Tacos, tuna casserole (yes again, don't make fun of me, I loved my canned fish), grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, and so on and so forth.  I then plop them into the days it will work best.  For instance, I know I have more time on Monday and Tuesday nights, so I put the more laborious work there.  Wednesdays I have no more than an hour free from the time I get home from work before I head out to my Bible study, so that day always says, "Pasta."  Then I make one final run through to add a variety of veggies to the week, and viola!  I have The List.

(Photo courtesty of weheartit.com)

That, however, is just the beginning.  I then take The List, and on the back I subdivide it into three categories: TJs (Trader Joe's), Mi Pueblo, and Lucky.  Going through each day, I write down the ingredients I would need to make that meal that I don't already have at home.  That way, when I go shopping, I know exactly what I need and where I can find it at. 

I know, I know, I sound like I have OCD.  And I might, but I don't really think so.  Whether or not I do is not the point however.  THIS is the point:  Since I have started doing this I have (A) stopped throwing away food that went bad before I could use it, (B) cut way down on my grocery list because I know exactly what I want, and (C) I am excited to cook each night.  Before it was a stress to me.  What do I make?  Do I have the stuff to make it?  Does it even sound good to me?  Honestly, since The List has come into my life, these questions are a thing of the past.  My thought pattern now goes something like this:  I am going to have veggie soup and dumplings tonight, YES!   The end.  And since I try to write down only one new thing a week with the rest being recipes that live in my head, the cooking process is quite easy.  No cookbooks, no failed attempts, no defeat.  Just food, good food.  And a lot of free money in my pocket and time on my hands. 

But this week I failed.  I did not make it.  Instead, I just said, "It's OK, I will  just make something with what I've got."  But what I've got sounds like yuck.  I don't want that.  I want something else.  Yet I don't have the ingredients for my something else.  And I don't want to go to the store.  Gee, I really should have my The List.  I guess I will sit down, and get to work.  It only takes ten minutes but saves me a week of agony, so why not?

And so the quest began...

Five years ago I was a single college student, living off of cafeteria food and Rice-a-Roni.  One night a good friend of mine was hanging out with my roommate and me and we were talking while my roommate was making us a great dinner.  "She's going to be the kind of mom whose kids always have a great meal in front of them," she said.  "Your kids are going to eat Mac-n-Cheese every night, but that's OK, because you will have time to play with them, while she will be too busy cooking for hers."  I laughed, knowing that what she said was true.  Really, Mac-n-Cheese?  Yum.  Rice-a-Roni?  Yum again.  Really, why did I need more?

And then I grew up.  College was over, job was landed, and I was seriously dating a Brazilian man whose mother had probably never made a box of Kraft's cheesy goodness in her life.  Suddenly I needed to find ways to feed myself and often a very tall and hungry guy.  And besides, as funny as that comment was, it burned in the back of my mind.  Why, I asked myself, can't I be the mom who has time to cook AND play?  Who says I can't do both?  And so I set out on a quest to learn what I needed to know to make that happen.

That's where Gina stepped in.  First step: teach me to make mashed potatoes.  Oh, I made some good mashed potatoes!  And then I made them some more (with fish) and some more (with chicken) and some more (with whatever else I could find), until Paulo finally said, "Babe, I really like your mashed potatoes, but can we have something else for dinner tonight?" 

Uh-oh.

Somebody had stepped up to the plate, though, and I had been given the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  If you want to eat it, this book has the answer for you.  Everything from how to boil an egg (which, sheesh, even I knew how to do) to distinguishing between the different cuts of beef, it was there.  So, now, instead of mashed potatoes at every meal, we had tuna casserole, broiled salmon, broccoli and beef stir-fry.

I don't know when it happened, but at some point a switch was flipped.  Instead of looking for food I could make in order to stay alive, I looked for food I wanted to make to enjoy my cooking.  Cooking was not only functional, but it became a form of personal entertainment.  And this is where it finds me today.  I cook because I like it, and I cook to make sure that we (currently, my husband and I) are putting healthy things into our bodies, not packaged junk that I used to be filled to the brim with.  The truth is, I will be forever grateful for that random comment made by a friend on a lazy afternoon.  It buried itself somewhere inside of me and later was my inspiration to do something more.

Some very important things to know about my cooking:

• I am not a vegetarian, and I am not planning on becoming one.  I was for seven years, and although it was fine, I choose to eat meat.  However, I do try to make at least a few of my meals each week without meat, and I still love vegetarian options, so there will be plenty of those shared here. 
• I don't drink milk or (sadly) eat cheese, except feta-types and cream cheese.  But if it melts into a gooey mess, it does not go into my body.  My taste buds love it, my digestive track does not.
• I am not a gourmet chef nor will ever claim to be.  I like good ol' home-cooking.  Sometimes I will try something more complicated, but I try to stick to meals that do not consume my life to prepare.
• I limit the amount of processed foods I bring home (although I am a sucker for Joe's-Joe's and sweets).  No chips, no more Pasta-Roni, etc. 
• If I can make it, I do.  Hollandaise, pesto, etc.  But if it takes a ridiculous amount of work, no sirree.  I am not boiling chicken bones to make broth.  I have better things to do with my time, thank you very much!
• I do not believe in spending exorbitant amounts of money on food.  This means that you might find me with a basket full of produce in Mi Pueblo or a cart full of food in Trader Joe's, but you will not find me spending a lot of quality time in Whole Foods (or even Safeway, for that matter).  I work hard for my money and like to enjoy it in as many ways as possible, not just on my dinner plate.
• I am a sucker for Rachael Ray.  Simple, easy, and cheap.  Feel free to let me know of any others I should check out :)

Rachael Ray Weekly Planner - March 2011

I did it! Seven new recipes done and complete, except for the left-overs in the fridge. This project was a blast. Not only did I get to learn new things and enjoy doing something I like to do, but I got to eat really scrumptious meals every night of the week. I like my regular cooking -- I do a good job at it. But it is nice to mix things up once in awhile! Some highlights:

• The estimated price for the weekly grocery list was $80.90, which I stayed well within.
• Since I already do a weekly menu and weekly grocery list, this was no different than my norm. But it was so nice to have someone else do that work! The best was not having to search my brain for seven meals that sounded good, would work with our time frame, and haven't been served in the previous week(s).
• As each recipe is for four people, Paulo and I had lunch for the next day out of the leftovers. Easy-peasy!

NOTE -- "Cannellini Beans" are also White Kidney Beans. Save yourself and the Trader Joe's guy some time by writing that down on your grocery list!
*Also, for several of the recipes there are vegetarian variations listed.  But you are all smart, you can figure it out if you want to!

The food I started with:

(One week's worth of groceries for the our little family.)

The meals I wound up with:

(Click on a picture to be taken to the recipe.)

Chicken and Orzo Soup ~

Instead of a chicken soup, I made it with potatoes.  Delicious.  Paulo and I both loved it, even though he is a hater of soup. 

Beef-and-Mushroom Tacos with Avocado Salad ~
My favorite!!!  I left out the jalapenos because, well, they are too hot for me.  But the meal was fantastic.  Paulo has asked me to do it again this week.

Stewed White Beans with Spinach and Bacon ~
My other favorite.  Very hearty.  Beef Bacon is a great bacon choice for this, but Turkey Bacon would probably work well, too.

Baked Buffalo Chicken with Blue Cheese Salad ~
Delicious!  BBQ sauce was substituted in place for the Buffalo sauce, and it turned out great.  The salad is quite heavy as it has a sour cream and blue cheese dressing, and although the chicken made great leftovers, the salad did not.  So only make enough salad for that night and have the chicken separate if using it for lunch the next day.

Orzo Risotto with Spring Greens ~
Ok, but I make a better risotto on my own.  I eat minimal cheese (if any) so risotto has to be done in a certain way in order for it to be cheese free, and this one didn't allow for that.  Not going to repeat, but alright for one time.

Peppers 'n' Potatoes Beef Skillet Supper ~
Paulo loved it, I was OK with it.  Made without beef because I already had beef in the tacos and beef bacon in this and another recipe and I like to limit beef consumption.  Still tasted fine.  All the same ingredients as a Shepherd's Pie, yet completely different taste as the bell peppers add a bit of flavor.




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Tilapia with Bell Peppers and Parsley-Spiked Couscous ~
Yum!  So simple, yet great flavor.  I was afraid that it would be bland, but not at all.  A repeater.




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