A Week of Cooking

Those who know me know that I have never been much into cooking.  I don't mind baking...but cooking I have never really done.  Partly because I am an incredibly picky eater.  I could live off of fruit, whole wheat pasta, parmesan, salads and of course chocolate.  And partly because I am a vegetarian and a lot of cooking quite frankly does not appeal to me.  However the past week I tried four new dishes for Kevin.  I love Rachael Ray and love her cooking style.  Simple, Fun, Easy.  So I tried four of her recipes and cut the portions in half since I would not be eating them.  Kevin had a good week of dinners and loved them all (or at least he claimed too).  Here is what was on the menu this week.

Nacho Pizza Bread:

Hamburger and Onion Stuffed Bread:

Chicago-Style Dog Salad:

And my favorite that ate and LOVE LOVE LOVE, Tomato Basil Pasta Nests: 

I also baked some chocolate chip cookie dough surprise cupcakes.  Lesson learned from those?  Use baking cups!  And you can use about 100ml of skim milk and a tablespoon of flour to substitute an egg.  They turn out way more moist this way!

In order to do all this I had to use my time wisely.  I would chop, measure and prepare all the ingredients during Isabelle's afternoon nap so that all I had to do was throw them together.  I did not want her just sitting around watching me cook so I tried to get it all done (besides the actually cooking) while she was sleeping!  I also learned some things as well. 

**Cooking is fun but can get pricey buying so many ingredients**

**Oil and water most definitely do not mix**

**If a recipe calls for garlic cloves it is much easier to use a fine grater on the cloves then cut them**

**I still do NOT like cooking meat, but will probably have to learn to for Isabelle's sake**

**If a recipe calls for salt, leave it out.  There is enough salt in the foods anyway without adding more**

Thank you Rachael Ray for inspiring my week of cooking!! Hopefully I can at least make one new recipe a week!

And what would be a blog without pictures of Isabelle?