Monday, January 30, 2012

I made Resolutions for 2012

 It is not in  my nature to make resolutions I don't seem to keep them and I have enough guilt in my life that I don't need to make more.

  This year however I am participating in a recipe website program call Allrecipe All Stars. It is a voluntary program designed to be fun and informative. Each month there are different food activities to do as well as group discussions about different foods and cooking methods.
    One of the activities for the month of January was to post a resolution or 2 on the Allrecipe blog spot.
      After some thought I came up with 1 well 2 resolutions that I felt I could make and keep. While not really life changing I felt they were good and honest resolutions.
  I had no idea how easy the resolutions would be to keep or how well my resolutions would fit into the first month of this year.
  I had resolved to challenge my self to try foods I had never tried before and to cook foods I never thought of cooking before. I also Resolved to cook healthier and help my husband lose a pound or two.I love frying food but fried food isn't loving us back.
  As of now the end of January I have cooked 3 dishes I don't eat and will never eat(seafood) also I have cooked and tried a meat I have never eaten before.
    My frying pan A well seasoned cast iron number is screaming my name due to lack of use,The bacon keeps waving at me every time I open the freezer door reminding me that it is as lonely as my frying pan.
  I am finding it very easy to fit new and different foods into my menu thanks to the All Star activities.
  Like Seafood, I do not eat seafood of any kind, no fish or shell fish no clams,muscles or shrimp.I truly don't like it.My husband on the other hand loves seafood of any kind. Until this year the only way Bill got seafood  was when we went out to dinner.
 While looking for a recipe that met this months activities requirement I came across a scallop dish that looked good even to me.
    After looking in my kitchen and finding I had everything for the recipe including the scallops I felt this was a sign that should at least make an attempt to make this dish.
  I followed the recipe very carefully and made a very pretty looking dish.It looked very tasty and while I had made myself some chicken pieces to use with the orange cream sauce I really needed to know how well the orange sauce and the scallops married together.Yes I did it I tasted the sauce with the smallest piece of scallop I could manage.I still don't like Scallops but the fish and sauce blended together very well.
 That night  Bill  almost fainted over a dinner of Scallops in orange cream sauce and wild rice. He was so happy,and I am saying my first challenge was a hit!
My next challenge or activity came along a few days later in the forum of a meat I had never eaten.I am admittedly a picky meat eater.My throat closes up at the thought of swallowing meat like rabbit,deer and birds like duck.Don't ask me why I truly don't know why,I eat the bee gee's out of so called normal meat like cow,pig, and chicken.
The recipe that has caught my eye is  layers of vegetables on top of a curry spiced lamb,cooked until all is tender.Instead of stove top I use a slow cooker and cook this dish for 3 hrs give or take.The vegetables tender not soft and the meat was beyond tender.The seasoning gave everything an exotic tantalizing flavor and after I was able to unlock my throat and swallow I enjoyed the texture and taste of the lamb.The only real draw back on this dish is the richness of the lamb was way    to heavy on my stomach requiring tums before bed.I am still not sold on Lamb and will change the meat if I ever make this dish again
So I guess you would say challenge # 2 of 2012 was a 3 1/2 star success.
  What I call challenge #3 was a self inflicted challenge.The challenge was to make a seafood dish not using a recipe.Let me just say when Bill looked me straight in the face and said " you should stick to using a recipe because you have no idea what you are doing." I knew challenge # 3 was a bomb.Bill ate all the scallops and said the dish grew on you, I have to give him credit he did try.As I listened to him talk about this dish I learned a few things,like who knew cloves and red wine are not good mates to seafood.
    The accomplishment I am most proud of this month is the CAKE. I made a German chocolate cake from scratch. As. a rule of thumb I make a brick or saw dust when trying to make a cake.Not this time.For the first time ever it came out like a cake. A rich and flavorful perfect German chocolate cake.
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Over the past month I have tried more then a few new recipes and revisited some old ones as well.All of the recipes have avoided my frying pan making it easier to keep resolution #2. After seeing the hubby's blood pressure I realize this is an important resolution to keep.I can't stop with  just not frying I have a long way to go to keep the healthy cooking resolution. At least no fried foods is a start.
  As of the writing of this blog I am proud to say Bill's blood pressure is lower and he has lost 15lbs.

1 comment:

  1. Joan, this was a great first blog! Very interesting reading, as usual, from you! Keep blogging!

    ReplyDelete