Project: Learn To Cook

 

It's not that I can't follow a recipe.
it's not even that I burn stuff regularly.
I know how to make edible food.


But I'm bored with that.


I don't always want to follow the recipe.

I want to be like my Grandma, who can open the pantry, pull out a bunch of seemingly irrelevant stuff and know exactly how to cook it to bring it all together into a fantastic feast.


Plus, looking at Pinterest just makes me a crazy baking-all-the-things-eating-all-the-baked-things loon.


So like I did with my books section, I am going to take you along on this journey and share the recipes I've made and the handy tips I discover along the way.  YAY for eating all the things!

Ones that look like this have been tried.
Ones that look regular have not been tried.
Most come from blogs, and I've done my best to provide a link to the post in which I found them.  *However* If you are a blogger who would rather me link to your homepage or not at all, please leave a comment in the comment section to notify me of this. Or, Just email me here.


Here goes:

Spoonbread -- Bleh.  Not a fan.  Just ick.
Baked Pancake
Foil-Wrapped Chicken & Broccoli
Mini-Muffin-Pan Frittatas
Crockpot Italian Chicken -- HOLY COW this stuff was goooooooood eatin'!
Calzones

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Monkey Muffins  -- My mom loved these, as did I.  Super deliciously gooey and lovely.

Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken -- I loved this!  Parents not crazy about it, but I loved its creamyness and ate it over chips.

Crockpot Potato Soup -- This has become a family favorite;  Especially when someone is sick.  I make it with onion flakes instead of real, live onion, and usually cut the chicken broth back 10oz so I can just get the 32oz box.  This makes it a little thicker too, which I like.  Great with embarrassingly copious amounts of cheddar cheese and piles of bacon bits!!

Peanut Butter Fudge -- Another favorite!  I made this stuff over Christmas and gave it as a gift.  Only 2 ingredients! (TWO, people!)  Great for any gathering, people swoon over it and it takes no effort to make.  Chocolate frosting would add a yummy twist, maybe double the peanut butter and mix it with one tub vanilla frosting, then swirl melted chocolate frosting throughout?  Just an idea.  Or add chocolate chips... or all of the above...

Random tips gathered along the way:

-A little powdered coffee creamer added to muffin mix = AWESOME.  Adds a bit of sweetness and fluff.  Would probably go well in pancake mix too.  Any sweet baked pastry-ish thing.

-Add vanilla extract to pancake mix.  Just a splash.