My First Post!!!!

For a few weeks now, I have been entertaining the idea of finding someplace on my beloved interwebs to dump my thoughts regarding my culinary adventures (and disasters). After a long day in the kitchen and some encouragement from a few friends, I created this page you are on now. I'm sure someone out there will find what I have to say interesting, entertaining, or possibly even relevant!

Anyone that knows me well can tell you that I usually have either food, some hare-brained scheme, or a combination of the two running through my mind. This blog is the result of that.

My grandmother taught me to cook when I was very young. She encouraged me to experiment, sampled some pretty awful creations of mine, and cleaned up even more horrifying messes. I developed a love of food at a young age, and picked up cooking easily as time went on. Later on when I was in high school, I became a vegetarian. This forced me to become more creative in the kitchen in order to survive (Trust me, I am not a salad kind of girl!). Eventually I strayed off the path and began eating meat on occasion, although I do not eat or cook with pork or red meat. My time as a vegetarian only added to my strengths as a cook, giving me a taste for international cuisine, and teaching me how to use all sorts of vegetables, as well as more unusual ingredients. Fresh out of school, I began working at an upscale french bakery, which led to five years of working in various restaurants. Some jobs I was in the kitchen, others I served the food. This year I decided to get out of the food service industry. Working in a kitchen has taught me much about life, but I found the last thing I wanted to do when I got off of an 8 hour shift was cook myself a meal. I realized I had to learn how to appreciate my kitchen again. Just me and the food, no stress, no time limit, no orders, and most importantly no obligation. Since then I have come to love the small amount of time I spend cooking. My kitchen has become my stage, and most importantly my sanctuary.

So here I am, a lazy vegetarian that has a long-term love/hate relationship with fried chicken, and an ability to create a good healthy meal on a budget and limited calories without sacrificing taste.

You will have to excuse the fact that I rarely use measurements, and when I do they are not exact.

For my first post I wanted to talk about the dinner I made tonight and how it came into existence.

I've been really fed up with store bought salad dressing lately. This afternoon I made a really simple dressing (named after my boyfriend Brian's daughter, because she was entertaining me in the kitchen and insisted I give the dressing a name.) just to drizzle over a salad I was snacking on.

Olivia Dressing

• 3 or 4 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 or 3 TBSP fresh garlic  (roasted gives it a bolder flavor)
• 1TBSP lime juice
• 2 or 3 TBSP honey
• A Tsp or two of spicy brown mustard
• Dash Pepper
• Olive Oil (This is the base of the dressing)

Put all ingredients but olive oil into a food processor, and puree. Stir into the olive oil. Add to or subtract the different flavors to taste. A little bit of this dressing goes a long way on a salad.

As I was eating my salad, I began to think about how I could use the dressing in other ways. I ended up buying some boneless chicken breasts, cutting a series of 1/2" slits into each side of them, and marinating them for an hour or two in a few cups of the dressing. I dumped them dressing and all into a baking pan and baked them in the oven for 20 minutes at 350*. I usually cover my baked chicken with foil to keep any exposed part from getting dry. The chicken turned out very tender and juicy, and absorbed the flavors without being overpowering.

I made mashed potatoes as a side, and I figured I could share a few tips as they were everyone's favorite.

• I boil mine skins on, some people don't like the skins, but I think it gives mashed potatoes more flavor.

• Undercooking the potatoes a little bit makes them chunky, if you prefer yours that way. Otherwise boil them until they mash easily with a fork and whip them on high with a mixer, they'll turn out silky.
  

• Instead of using water, I use a combination of chicken broth and condensed milk. Just keep adding it in as you whip the potatoes until they have a creamy consistency. If you put it in before, then you run the risk of adding too much and making them runny.

• I also add a little salt and pepper, and you guessed it, garlic.

That's all for now. Feel free to comment, suggest, or recommend things you would like to see in the future. If you have any favorite recipes, email them to me and I will be happy to try them out and review them in the blog.

My First Post!!!!