Mmmmm food. If there is anything in this life that I love other than kitty, it is eating. I'll admit, when I was a first year student contemplating the idea of cooking for myself, I figured that macaroni and cheese, eggs, and noodles would become a staple.
Little did I know that I would come to enjoy cooking, and that cooking really isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I think the whole idea of a 'stove' and 'oven' and 'raw food' and huge grocery stores was just intimidating.
Anyways, when I have the time, I love to cook. I always try to aim to try cooking something new every week. Among the things I've attempted lately: Sweet potato soup with a Thai twist, Slow Cooked pulled pork, and butternut squash fries and glazed salmon. Photo of my sweet potato soup:
Now that was fun. With the help of some spices, limes, cilantro, and a blender (thanks C =P You will get it back eventually!), yams turned into a creamy, Thai inspired soup that was surprisingly filling. Yum...of course, recipes available upon request.
Pulled pork = amazingly easy. I can't believe I pay 9.99 or greater for this simple dish. In short, a slow cooker is AMAZING, a good BBQ sauce is key (I'm partial to Bull's Eye), and sales on pork shoulders help :)
My venture into the butternut squash was interesting, to say the least. Growing up, my mother and I would always admire the squash this time of year, but we had no idea how to cook it. I actually think I remember a year where my mom bought some as decorations for two months. The closest we came to actually cooking it is when my mother tried experimenting with pumpkin. In my case, squash was super cheap at the store (something like 39 cents a pound), so how could I resist? Picked up the smallest one I could find, and decided to do squash fries. Have you ever had yam fries? These are just as good, if not better =P Ridiculously easy to make as well! Oven at 425, cut squash into desired shape, take off the skins, coat with oil + salt + whatever you like (I went for a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and garlic salt), stick in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes, flipping midway.
Hmm. Now I'm hungry again. Time to go look for a snack...
- S
Hey Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that you've caught the food bug! What you've made up to now sounds delicious. P:
I love yam fries and you're right - they're so easy to make! One thing I wondered though, why did you take the skins off? Do you not like the skins? Personally, I keep the peel on because I like it more that way.
Also: cilantro. What an amazing herb! I always keep some in the fridge because it's an awesome replacement for parsley (ugh, boring) and you can put it in almost anything!
Squash is also awesome and cheap. I usually get some for my lunches - you slice it in half, take out the insides, put it in a dish with 1-2 inches of water and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. I put butter and salt & pepper on mine.
Anyways, now I'm so hungry - I'm off to eat something. :)
Hey Mary!!! It's great to hear from you again!!!
ReplyDeleteHmm, for the yams...I actually never really thought about leaving the skins on, haha! Growing up we always peeled them, definitely something to try in the future.
Cilantro is AMAZING isn't it?! Hehehe, I think the next thing on my list I'm going to try is a steak pie and wonton soup...=)