Yummy Pasta Salad

I just love this salad. I take it camping, on overnight hotel trips, and sometimes I make a big batch to eat all week (by myself) because no one else really likes it. What a shame ;)

I just boil some noodles (usually spiral whole wheat) and then add Hillshire Farms summer sausage, cheddar cheese, chopped up red peppers, diced olives, carrots, cilantro, broccoli, and sometimes some cooked chicken. Then I add (right before eating) my favorite dressing. Yummy ones are Cheese Fantastico, Regular Italian, and my favorite: the Toasted Asian Sesame dressing. Mmmm.

Pretty healthy and Super delicious!

I'd like to try to use more interesting cheeses and maybe some avocados or artichokes in my pasta salads. I'm sure it will be on the menu soon. I just have to wait for a time when I can bring it somewhere that the people will appreciate it!

Mason's Secret Taco Soup

While Kaiah was making French bread, Mason really wanted to try to make something that we normally make... only with a secret ingredient. That way he could call it Mason's Secret Taco Soup.

 

 

Meanwhile, another "helper" appeared in the kitchen and didn't want to miss out. Usually he  pulls up a chair and watches at the counter. But on this day he wanted to hug, roll, be silly and be right at our feet. We didn't mind :) 

His taco soup turned out to be really yummy... although a little different than normal. Can you guess what the secret ingredient was?

Well even if you can, I won't confirm or deny it. I'm sworn to secrecy! :)

French Bread

Recently we tried to make French bread. It was super easy and will be a regular from now on I'm sure. Kaiah did the whole thing, start to finish, by herself.

Mmmm! It was really good!

What Is That?

I went through a cookbook the other day and found many things that were either completely foreign to me, or things that I had heard of but had no idea what to do with them. Because I just love lists, here is one I compiled to help us on our journey:

• Many different kinds of chili peppers
• Capers
• Cream of Tartar
• Rye
• Self-rising flour
• Leavening agents (I do know yeast!)
• Scallions (never cooked with these)
• Phyllo (I think you can make really yummy pastries with these?)
• Shallots
• Tomatillos (obviously, some sort of tomato or something?)
• Compressed cakes or active yeast
• Canapes
• Crudites
• Persimmons
• Kabuchas
• Delicatas
• Turbans
• Pattybans
• Jack Be Littles
• Carnivals
• Cherimoyas
• Quinces
• Prickly Pears
• Sapotes
• Coquito Nuts
• Tamarillos (red and yellow)
• Horned Melons
• Feijoas
• Arugalas
• Watercress 
• Sorrells
• Collard/Mustard Greens
• Kale
• Radicchio (an Italian radish?)
• Tofu (I know what this is... just have no idea how to cook with it)
• Polenta
• Quinoa
• Bulgar Wheat
• Wheat Berries
• Millet
• Amaranth
• Orzo (was originally on my list and now I can cross it out because I cooked with it yesterday)
• Many kinds of cheeses

I am pretty excited to try some of these! We live in an area that has such abundance and all I tend to make are the typical American meals, Italian and Mexican dishes that (I'm sure we butcher), and maybe a little Greek once in a while. Can I say I make Greek stuff if I occasionally use Feta and olives? I know I will NOT be cooking lamb. Cliff made some of that in a crock pot a few months ago and I had to take it to the garage. The smell was beyond foul!

I digress.

Here is the list of things I don't have, and will probably need, to make a few new dishes:

• Souffle dish
• Springform pan
• Dutch oven
• Zester (I just love saying that!)
• More rubber spatulas
• A good garlic press
• A hand held wooden reamer (Don't know what this is yet either!)
• Fine mesh seive
• Gravy or fat separator 

I think I can get a lot of these things at Garage Sales. I'm so excited for garage sales!! They're coming up soon :) Hopefully a year from now I will know what most of these things are AND how to use them!

My First Mystery Ingredient: Orzo

Cliff came home from work exhausted and Kaiah (who has Type 1 Diabetes) has been having an epic blood sugar drop tonight. I hadn't planned on making a whole new dish tonight, but Cliff seemed like that would help him for his lunches at work tomorrow. So while he was chasing her dropping sugars with cereal, juice, candy, and yogurt.... I started looking through our 3 cookbooks. I found a recipe that had things we already had in our cupboard and was healthy! I decided it was a good place to start because it had an ingredient that I know nothing about and for some odd reason it was in my cupboard... probably expired... don't tell Cliff! Anyhoo. I had a box of Orzo, whole wheat non-the-less! So I read the directions, and started to assemble the dish.

 

Ok. So there must be a technique where I don't waste this much chicken. I'm embarrassed to show the picture. I think I just need new knives... It takes me so long to hack them into pieces, that one half of the chicken bits are mostly cooked by the time I put the other ones in the pan.

 

Also, I dripped chicken juice all over the floor. So I had to use an antibacterial wipe to clean the floor and my feet before going on.

 

This is Orzo (some kind of rice-looking pasta).

 

Look! Herbs!

After simmering everything together it looked pretty good. 

I also plan on calculating the carbohydrates and calories of each meal. We have to have the carbs for Kaiah's Type 1 Diabetes and both Cliff and I occasionally go on calorie counting kicks. Of course if the meal is gross I won't bother. :)

I Have a Lot to Learn

That's why I'm trying this out. After being married for almost 14 years,  I feel like I should know more than I do. But the truth is, by the time I actually cared about healthy eating, I was having babies and feeling exhausted. I occasionally added new dishes, but nothing was very exciting or herby.

Though Cliff would like to film me doing a cooking show sort of demonstration, I think I will not do that, and instead do a sort of blooper reel about how bad I am. My main goals are to learn what things are, how to cook with them, and teach myself and my kids how to make delicious, healthy homemade food. Only time will tell if I can actually keep this up... I am easily distracted, but I need menu-making accountability and I think this blog may just help with that too...