What's Cooking?

One of the hobbies both Steve and I have been delving into is cooking. It's something I do really enjoy. Prior to meeting Steve I rarely cooked for a few reasons.

• Living with the family: This left for little refrigerator room. If I did have things in the refrigerator they would often disappear (Thanks, Dad and Joe!) leaving me with missing ingredients for my recipes.
• Living with the family: The other side of cooking while living with the family was that sometimes I had to make enough for everybody. Often, this had to be done on a schedule that worked for everyone else.
  
• Living on my own: Well, cooking for one can be tough. If you are okay with eating the same food for an entire week, this is a great option. Although I don't mind leftovers, I do tire of them easily.

So, now that I have access to my own kitchen and sharing said space with my hot-stuff-in-the-kitchen fiancee, the cooking bug has hit. He is a FANTASTIC cook. We like to cook together, but I'm also trying to branch out on my own.

I'm not making anything especially difficult, but am developing a comfort in the kitchen. In the past, I have always been diligent about following recipes to a fault. I'm starting to step outside of this slowly! Another thing I'm working on is getting everything done at the same time.

I decided I would start to post some of the recipes we've been enjoying! It's been nice having someone to enjoy a good meal with and offer feedback. Steve's been a sport and I must say I've come a long way! One night, early in the dating stages, I tried to impress him by cooking him dinner. Thankfully, I had already lured him in with my Red Pepper Lasagna (meatless, too!); but had tried to cater to his meat-eating ways. I am not comfortable with cooking meat. I tend to worry that I'll either overcook and people will need gallons of water to choke it down or undercook it and give unsuspecting guests food poisoning. Raw meat also freaks me out to a certain extent. I've grown so much that I can now cut raw chicken without gagging. I can't, however, eat chicken on the bone...too creepy.

Anyhow, I went out and got a pork roast, put it in the oven and upon Steve's arrival checked it. It was rather pink, so continued to cook while we caught up on the week's events. After a little time, I checked it again...still not cooked through. AH! It took a ridiculous amount of time to finish cooking. Steve ate it and sweetly pretended it was delicious. I was leery, so ate the smallest piece possible. Like I said, I've come a long way!

Stay tuned for the following recipes:

Sloppy Joe's
Tikka Masala
Red Pepper Lasagna
Lemon Chive Potatoes
Lemon Pancakes
Butterscotch Meringue bars
and more!

Stay tuned!

Ooh...also...we are looking into taking a bunch of cooking classes at WCTC this Fall or Spring. How fun is that?