Back to the Basics

One thing I'd love to do is take some cooking technique classes. Not actually to learn how to cook a meal, I've got that covered....but to learn how techniques like cutting fruits & veggies because I seriously take foooooorever! Christian is wicked fast when it comes to dicing up the ingredients for our meals so I always try and recruit him to do it. I guess doing so means I don't get in as much practice, but I am much more interested in learning and practicing the correct way to do it than just trying to figure it out on my own. I'm not quite sure what other techniques would be useful.....maybe learning about herbs and spices to a point where I know its flavors and what it goes best with in my head. I do use a lot of spices in our meals, but working with fresh herbs would be awesome and I know there are a ton of spices I have never even heard of let alone eaten!

Learning how to make sushi would be pretty cool too, except I am not big on touching raw meats of any kind (again, recruit the husband) and I'd probably be worried about the fish going bad.....but it would still be fun! I guess I could always learn to do vegetarian sushi and wouldn't have to worry about any of that.

On a somewhat related note, Christian and I have been cooking up a storm since I decided to drastically reduce my consumption of processed foods. It has been nice to spend time in the kitchen with him, preparing a delicious meal and then eating it together. Yesterday, for example, we made bistec and soup for lunch (Chris the meat, me the soup) and in the afternoon we made mozzarella-tomato-basil salad and breakfast potatoes. I know that is kind of a random combination, but it was yummy. Chris then proceeded to help me finish cutting up the veggies for the spaghetti I planned to make for lunch on Monday & Tuesday. We decided to use half of the ground beef that we normally use, along with the veggies I picked out (zucchini, button mushrooms, tomatoes, & red bell pepper) and it turned out even better than normal. I think reducing the meat was key. Later this week I plan on making some butternut squash-potato-and-black bean soup to get us through Thursday and Friday which are supposed to colder.

On of my favorite things to do lately has been to build up a strong recipe collection. I can thank all the food blogs I follow for the help. I am thinking about how to best organize them all, but for now I have them in a gmail address, with labels according to if they are a dessert, breakfast, side dish, etc. I have hundreds of recipes waiting to be cooked!