Kitchen adventures so far

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am obsessed with The Pioneer Woman.. She is amazing. Her blog is my favorite blog to read, and one that I think anyone could find entertaining. I first started reading her love story, which can be found here, but then discovered her cooking, home and garden and photography sections. It is like everything I love, all in one blog! When she puts up a new recipe she not only gives awesome directions on how to make them, but also step by step pictures, so you can see exactly what she is talking about. It makes someone who is clueless in the kitchen, and visual learners the opportunity to actually see what needs to be done prior to doing it.

She also has tasty kitchen which is a community where anyone can sign up, post recipes, save recipes into a recipe box and comment/ ask questions. It is my favorite place for searching for new ideas and recipes. If you are looking for something involving chicken and spinach you just type that in and all the recipes with that will come up. If you have some extra veggies you need to use up before they go bad, search and you have tons of options. I started saving all the awesome recipes I thought sounded delicious into my recipe box until the first week of January when I started testing them out.

I started with spinach and cheese stuffed chicken. I had some issues with keeping the chicken "rolled" but this could be because of the cut of chicken I used. It was delicious and I would definitely try it again.

My next experiment in the kitchen was simple teriyaki chicken. I do not really remember much about this one, other than Sean biting into a chunk of ginger and making a funny face. I believe it was good, but not something I am going to be dreaming about.

We had some left over buns and spinach so I decided to try bbq ranch chicken sliders two weeks ago. They turned out pretty good. I think it would have been a bit better with super fresh buns, but I would definitely make it again. With the sliders I attempted to make sweet potato fries. I almost died several times trying to slice the raw potato. Then they would not get crisp at all. It was a total failure. Good thing the sliders were yummy!!

So now we are caught up on what I have tried so far, from now on my kitchen posts will include pictures and more details about each item.

Have a great Monday!

meet the cast

In starting this blog I have been researching all sorts of blogs, figuring out what I like and what I don't. What I have found is a blog is pretty much all about the person writing it, that's kind of the point right? Well before I get started on this journey battling the kitchen, I want to share about all the people who have gotten me to where I am! 

The greatest parents in the world, who recently moved to Luanda, Africa. I am used to talking to my mom at least twice a day so I was not super excited about the move, but it is an amazing opportunity for them and we now get to skype! 

My amazing family. Even though we are thousands of miles apart they are still always there no matter what. With the wonderful world of facebook and iphone apps I talk to my cousins multiple times a week, and I wouldn't have it any other way... well, unless they lived in the same city! 

The Mister. It has been over 365 days since we started dating and he has made me laugh on every single one of them. He can also whip up a killer meal like nothing. For a girl who doesn't know how to cook, he is pretty handy to have around when you are craving salmon on bow tie pasta with vodka sauce. 

The cheerleaders/ 2am phone calls/ best friends/ cause of laughter/ most baller people I know

Sir Paco. Since this will be about cooking, he plays an important roll. Every single time you open a can, this king of the house comes running. Then he cries. He thinks it is tuna. Every time. 

Those are pretty much the most awesome people in the world, I love them all and am totally blessed to have them in my life!

 Time to head off to bed, busy day ahead of me tomorrow!

So it begins

Welcome to my new blog! I have been toying with the idea of starting my own blog for a while now, but I never really knew where to start. What would it be about? Would anyone actually read it? Then came New Years and my resolution: this year I will learn how to cook! I love food, and I mean I really love food. I love that it brings people together, the memories around a good meal and the way certain foods feel like home. Growing up in the south I always enjoyed how certain homes just always had food prepared. Every time I walked into my best friends house growing up there was always the smell of delicious food. I may not remember who was wearing what designer in high school, but I sure remember the time my best friend, her brother and I sat down and polished off a giant bowl of the best seven layer dip I have ever encountered.  I have always wanted to create that feeling in my home, that it would be a gathering place of delicious smells and wonderful memories.

My family did not have the traditional southern food trait, but over the years there have been certain recipes and traditions that stick. A few Christmas's ago my mom put together a cookbook for our family with all of our favorite recipes so that the kids in the family would be able to make our traditional meals. This book is something I treasure and bake out of regularly. However even with that amazing book in hand, this girl does not know how to cook. Raw chicken freaks me out, I am sometimes amazed I still have fingers left after attempting to chop up vegetables, I almost died trying to make sweet potato fries recently, and I am a firm believer that a bowl of cereal is a perfectly good dinner when you would only be cooking for yourself.

However, I am fortunate to have a boyfriend who is a killer cook! He had me hooked from the very first meal he cooked me. So with some help and pointers from him I am going to take the next year to learn how to cook, and not just grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas ( for the record I can make a killer quesadilla!) but real meals that real people would love to eat. The kind of food that will create memories. The idea of a blog became a way to document my adventures in the kitchen, to show improvements and disasters (I imagine there will be a few of these...). So in a Julie and Julia inspired way here is my new blog baby!

I also plan on putting up things that inspire me, awesome finds, cool designs and anything else that I find along the way.

So welcome, please leave feedback, recipes or anything else you feel like sharing, and thank you for bearing with me as I learn this wonderful blog world!