I love food.

There is nothing more pleasing to the senses than a bite of something extra delicious. :)
Unfortunately, I'm a terrible cook. Ever since I was in elementary school, I've always tried to emulate people on cooking shows. I would make a mess out of the kitchen by pre-measuring all the ingredients and setting them out in little bowls (cooking shows make it seem like the cool thing to do). I would enjoy the process--"let's add a little dash of pepper," "now here we have finely diced tomatoes,"--but I never seemed to get the end product right. And by that, I mean that my food tasted horrible.
Even around holiday season, my friend and I would get together to bake cookies. One batch was supposed to be double chocolate chip, and turned out an odd shade of shiny black. The other batch caught on fire.

But all this hasn't deterred me from my lifelong goal of cooking fabulous food. Ever since my father unexpectedly left my mother and I on June 18th, 2009, I've been cooking just about every night. My mother lost 13 lbs in the span of a month when she found out about my dad's affair. When he left in June, she lost her appetite again and stopped eating, save a few spoonfuls every now and then.

I recalled my disaster days in the kitchen, and how my parents would eat everything that I cooked with smiles on their faces and heaps of praise. Ah Ha! A mother can't turn down her daughter's cooking. I've used this to my advantage, and have been greatly improving my skills ever since. Besides, I have to learn how to cook somehow, otherwise I'll starve to death in my apartment next year.

Enjoy!
-jNN
_____________________________




Sunday, August 16, 2009

Miso Soup!


We were inspired from the Sigor Ros cookbook to make Miso soup. It was supposed to be a "cold soup"

but we thought that was kind of weird. So we turned it into a hot soup. Thinly sliced veggies so they look like noodles, marinate them in sesame oil, soy sauce. Then make the miso soup with tofu, pour over "noodles" and serve!

 Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 6:55 PM 1 comments

Oatmeal cookies galore


My friend and I made two matches of oatmeal cookies--no butter used at all! Secret ingredient is...

BANANA! But these are vegan cookies...one has peanut butter, the other has ginger and honey--both use cinnamon/vanilla. These were absolutely delicious. The ginger cookie was so moist and had a wonderful kick to it.

 Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 6:41 PM 0 comments

Affectionately nicknamed "Dog Treats"




Cute cookies that turned out a little like dog treats. Made last winter.


My friend and I are sitting here in my family room reminiscing about old times.

She and I bake cookies every holiday season. And sometimes they turn out kind of terrible. These are mint dough cookies that we dipped in chocolate and put sprinkles on.

 Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 12:23 PM 0 comments

Healthy Alternatives...

Healthy Delicious Pizza!

So my friend came over today and we were going to make lunch. I haven't cooked in awhile...and when I do..it's the same old chicken and roasted veggies because I think I lost a little bit of my passion the past two weeks. I was craving some pizza, and thought of this healthy alternative!

I used whole-wheat bread (cut into circles)
Spinach, Baby Bella Mushrooms, Orange Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce (sundried tomatoes, garlic, other herbs), Chicken cooked with olive oil and rosemary, Cheese.

Toasted the bread in the oven for 5 minutes, then piled all the ingredients on. Pulled it out 7 minutes later...added some fresh salsa (tomatoes, onion, lime juice, dried celery). Delicious!




Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 11:52 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 9, 2009

chicken with two ingredients.


I love the pretty colors.
Chicken with cream of mushroom and rosemary garlic. Pasta sauce is made from sundried tomatoes and basil. Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 10:43 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

another salad +homemade orange dressing








Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 7:23 PM 0 comments

chocolate cake...fail?



I baked a chocolate cake for a department picnic! Secret ingredient? Coffee.

You can't taste the coffee at all, but it gives the cake so much richer chocolate flavor! I was really worried about this cake failing because I made too much batter and the cake wouldn't bake all the way through. The outside crusted and burned while the inside was still batter. So I kept peeing off the burnt crust (eating it), and sticking it back in the oven. Click Here to Read More..
Posted by jNN at 7:15 PM 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)