the menu:

• beef and vegetable stew
• cornbread
• brownies

First, I must say that I absolutely love having a crock pot. At first the idea of one scared me because I am a control freak when it comes to cooking and I like to stand over something and make sure it’s perfect. That’s why baking and I were not good friends at first but now we have a mutual respect for each other. But crock pots are awesome! You just throw in all the ingredients and set the timer! This recipe came from a mini slow cooker recipe magazine that my mom gave me with a bunch of different recipes, all for slow cookers. I figured that beef stew was something I couldn’t mess up so I went for it! It was delicious! And yet so simple. The worst part was cutting up the onions that I don’t even eat.

I would just like to note that pretty much every picture I take of the cornbread already has a piece missing. A good sign? I think so. Yet again this is just Jiffy corn muffin mix. I love this stuff because it’s easy to make, delicious, and cheap.

So there’s no picture of the brownies I’m sorry because they were also delicious. And guess what kind they were? Jiffy brownie mix. I figured the cornbread was good so the brownies had to be too. They were so moist and yummy. I have never made brownies in a 9×5 loaf pan before so I was a little skeptical at first but they were some of the best brownies I have ever tasted. I recommend them highly oh and they’re cheap too!

I hope who ever reads this gets some enjoyment and inspiration to cook. I never thought I would be one to love cooking so much but it has become a favorite pastime for me. It’s a way for me to forget about everything else in the world and to just do something that makes me happy because cooking is a way for me to express myself.

~One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.~

coming soon: my favorite apple pie

the following things were not all baked at the same time, it’s just what i have made recently

the menu:

• cherry pie
• homemade bread
• apple pie

so this cherry pie wasn’t my favorite but hey it doesn’t always turn out great. i didn’t add the sugar and cornstarch like i usually do to the canned pie filling so it was a little more tart than usual. i thing next time i will buy the frozen pitted cherries and make it the way the recipe says to.

hahaha i thought this was hilarious so i decided to put it on here. this is the bread dough rising and it looks like an oversized mushroom to me. i didn’t feel like getting a bigger bowl so i just used a small one, but it worked making bread in a dorm without a real oven is somewhat of a challenge. you’re supposed to let the bread rise in a warm place and the cookbook suggests a cool oven with a bowl of warm water beneath it. so instead i boil water, put it in the pan, place the cooling rack inside the pan, and place the dough in the undersized bowl on the cooling rack. works well enough for me and here is the finished product.

i love warming a slice of this up and then spreading butter over it. yummm

so originally, cherry pie was my all time favorite. but then my amazing roommate kristin doesn’t like cherry pie so i made her an apple pie, cause i love her and all that. then when i tried that first bite of apple pie, i fell in love. apple pie is probably my new favorite because it’s so warm and delicious and comforting and so pretty.

i love cooking not only because it relaxes me and lets me give people amazing food because when you spend so much time preparing something and concentrating on how it looks, it becomes an art form. and when it comes out looking how you planned, it is an awesome feeling and i love it. cooking is an outlet for me and it relieves so much stress and i focus it all into my cooking. it’s one thing i am good at and i can make myself happy and others as well.

coming up soon: suite dinner and devo is this week and i’m using my crock pot to make beef stew with carrots and green beans and maybe potatoes. get excited!!

• easy chicken pot pie
• apple pie

this probably looks really gross but it’s actually delicious and smells fantastic. it has cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, milk, veg-all (canned mixed veggies), cream corn, and canned chicken. you just put it in a sauce pan and warm it up and then pour it in the casserole dish! it’s so easy.

then you layer the crescent rolls on top. so usually the rolls fit perfectly but since the pan is smaller to fit in the small oven in the dorm, i had to do some adjusting and give it the good ol’ college try and it worked!

ahh! so good! yet again, this is a Galyean family recipe. Eric’s mom is probably the best cook i have met and i hope that one day i can be as good as her. she is amazing and i absolutely love her

now for apple pie. i used to hate this dessert, in fact i used to hate all pies in general. but i finally realized what i was missing out on.

this is most likely my new favorite thing to do. not baking, although that is a new found love, but putting foil around the edges to prevent burning! it’s genius! you get a square of foil and cut a circle out of the center and then place it over the edges of the pie and it works like a charm.

good old fashioned apple pie. when i took it out of the oven, juices were bubbling out of it and it looked so amazing. i’m sure we waited all of ten minutes to cut into it when you’re supposed to wait two hours… oopsie daisy nothing beats the taste of fresh warm apple pie.

since the wonderful snow and ice decided to land in oklahoma, we have had quite the few days here in suite 118. we were planning on going to houston to see eric in mr.falcon and spend the day shopping but our plans were soon ruined. so we made the best of our few days off. we layed in The Bed and watching episode after episode of Gossip Girl and Greek. i’m officially hooked on Greek and i’m still in love with Gossip Girl. i love spending time with my suities staying up till obscene hours in the morning talking about the most random of things which will remain anonymous to others i absolutely love kristin and thessali and i can’t wait for the many memories to be made!

~“Noncooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.”
Julia Child~

• BBQ chicken
• shells and cheese
• apple pie

this is what happens when you’re sitting in a dorm room with options on what to make for dinner. and when you have half a bag of leftover chicken that you have to use for something. it’s so simple and so delicious, why not make it? you line the pan with foil and then but the chicken on to bake for 10 minutes, then remove it and add the BBQ sauce and bake for 15 minutes more. so easy!!! i love it. then the shells and cheese is a staple meal here in suite 118. put it in the pasta maker, pop it in the microwave for 13.5 minutes, strain, add cheese, and serve! gotta love dorm room cooking, even though no other dorm room is comparable to ours.

*i have to give the amazing parker sanderson credit for this recipe because it’s amazing and i deserve no credit for it what so ever.

my wonderful roommate kristin smith does not like cherry pie. understandable since i used to hate it. so i made her an apple pie and it’s the first time i’ve ever made one. i love making pies because it’s so much fun and i have no idea why. you just add shortening to flour and use a pastry blender, which i love that i have one, to cut in the shortening. then you mix the apple slices into sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and pour into lined pie pan and add the other crust on top! put it in and bake! cool for 2 hours then serve! i absolutely love baking even though i suck at it sometimes.

i really don’t know where my love for cooking came from. my mom cooked when i was little but never really while i was in high school. but to me cooking is a way of expressing your personality and those little touches you add to your food just shows who you are and you shouldn’t be afraid to be yourself. even though i ask every time someone eats my food “is it good? be honest and don’t lie to me, it won’t hurt my feelings” . i guess i just need confirmation that i’m doing something right. but even if my food turns out to but a complete failure, i still love the journey it takes to get there. don’t be afraid to go on the journey as who you truly are.

~If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe~

• beef tips with rice
• cornbread
• asparagus

finally here is my first experience with my slow cooker. i was so very excited yet so very nervous at the same time because the thought of leaving something in a heated container for 6-8 hours just doesn’t seem logical. and yet the outcome was so delicious.

yet again i can’t take any creative credit for this recipe. it is another one from the Galyean Family Favorite Cookbook that i received for Christmas. i wish i was creative and brave enough to think to mix different ingredients together to create such wonderful meals. this is actually a very simple meal to put together and it is almost effortless. you add 1-2 pounds of stew meat in the crock pot, one can of cream of mushroom soup, and one package Lipton Dry Onion Soup mix and a little bit of water. mix well and wait! it is so stinkin’ easy. and i am pretty sure that by the afternoon everyone in our hallway was smelling how amazing this was. anyways after about 6 and a half hours (if you want the meat to be more done then leave it in for longer but it was just perfect after this time) i made some rice and then piled the beef tips on top. it was absolutely marvelous.

cornbread is probably the new favorite of the suite. it’s so easy to make. if you can’t already tell, i’m all about making delicious food that is simple. it doesn’t have to be extravagant to be good. just do what you know best and i’m sure it will be great. never doubt yourself when cooking. don’t be afraid to try something new. if you fail, then you learned a lesson. if you succeed, then you know you’re on the right track.

canned asparagus. this is probably the only vegetable eric will eat willingly. yes canned veggies are good and good for you, but fresh products are always a better choice in my opinion. but then again, if you’re preparing something that you don’t want to have to put too much effort into, i’d go with cans.

i hope that whoever out there is reading this gets some comfort knowing that if you’re learning to cook on your own, you are not alone. i learn every single time i choose a recipe to make. never be afraid to try something bold. what do you have to lose?

~When all’s said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it~

i almost forgot, a picture of eric michael just because i can and because he’s pretty darn handsome if you ask me

the menu:

• red beans and rice
• cornbread
• sugar cookies

i can take absolutely no credit for this. eric’s mom, a wonderful cook, makes this and i fell in love with it. it’s one of my all time favorites. it’s from a box with a few changes. zatarain’s red beans and rice box plus one can of red beans, olive oil and some extra water. it’s so easy and so delicious. thessali and kristin loved it.

again no creativity, just Jiffy corn muffin mix. but who said that a delicious meal has to be completely from scratch? and i’m pretty sure this whole pan was gone by the end of the night because it was sooooo good.

one of my oh so wonderful suitemates, thessali, (p.s. read her blog, it’s genius thessaliannette@wordpress.com) got me a breast cancer ribbon cookies cutter! it’s so stinkin’ cute, i absolutely love it. and it came with a recipe for cookies that we made and then spread delicious chocolate icing over the top. some of the best cookies i’ve ever had.

coming soon: in the crock pot as we speak, write?, read?, whatever.. is beef tips, another one of eric’s mom’s recipes. i’ve had it before and i can’t wait to see if mine is just as great. so read later! peace, love, and food

~Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all~

• eggs over medium
• rice with butter and sugar
• mandarin oranges
• sweet tea

i never ever eat breakfast. seriously never. unless it’s for dinner then i think i can stomach it. but for some reason this morning i felt like eating something warm and yummy. and since i couldn’t go shopping simply because i didn’t feel like it, i had to work with what was in my pantry. 

i was so proud of myself for not breaking the yolks when i cracked the eggs into the skillet but then when it was time for the flip, i didn’t break them!! it’s such an accomplishment for me especially when i waited for the other side to cook because i always get impatient and flip things too early. the only problem i had was the burnt edges that get hard. if anyone has any tips on how to fix this, please let me know! 

i know rice with butter and sugar may sound repulsive, but it’s actually quite delicious and very tasty. 

and i figured i needed a little bit more color and fruit is always a great breakfast addition so i chose mandarin oranges. 

and nothing rounds off a meal like a glass of ice cold sweet tea. and i figured out that if you put the ice in the glass then put the glass in the fridge till you’re ready to pour the tea, the ice takes longer to melt and you don’t get a watered down beverage. 

so simple, yet so delicious. 

It takes some skill to spoil a breakfast – even the English can’t do it

on a totally non-cooking note, i hope everyone enjoyed their new year and i wanted to share with you my second new years kiss with this oh so amazing and wonderful man. i love him so very much! 

<3

• my own lasagna recipe 
• green beans with butter sauce
• garlic bread
• sweet tea

lasagna is one of my signature dishes that everyone loves. eric even said it was better than his moms, and his mom agreed even though she is a phenomenal cook. i was thrilled to get a cookbook of only her recipes. i can’t wait to cook everything in it, i just hope i can do her justice when i do. anyways if you haven’t already noticed, italian food is my all time favorite. one of these days i want to go to italy and learn to cook the right way and be immersed in the italian culture. italian food is so savory and delicious and is just simply amazing and a lot of fun to cook. 

the cheese filling is ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, and parsley. the first time i chose to make lasagna, i thought ricotta cheese was the grossest thing i had ever seen. it’s clumpy and weird but when baked in the lasagna, it’s gooey and delicious. the sauce filling is ground beef and pasta sauce with a little pit of water. i just use canned Prego pasta sauce, but one of these days i want to make my own and see how it goes. 

if you chose to make lasagna with uncooked noodles, never ever filled the dish with noodles. when they bake, they expand to fill the empty spaces. you’ll end up with burnt edges and it won’t be good. i made that mistake before and definitely learned my lesson. the layers are sauce, pasta, sauce, cheese, pasta, sauce, cheese, pasta, sauce. then i top it with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and fennel and parsley. ahh so good!! then cover it with foil and bake for 50 minutes. take the foil off and bake for ten minutes more. let it sit for 10 or so minutes so it’s easier to serve then sprinkle with more cheese if you want! 

mmmmmm. i love this stuff. i don’t mean to sound conceited but this is the best lasagna i’ve ever had. and i love cooking it! 

i feel that meals need to be colorful and inviting to eat. a plate just doesn’t look right without some variety on it. you need crunchy and soft foods. bold flavors and mild ones to balance each other out. cold and hot. these are just canned green beans but i make them better but so bad for you by adding butter. then i think that every meals needs some form of bread and thus we get garlic bread. it’s just the Texas Toast you pop in the oven for five minutes because i didn’t think to make bread till too late. but hey it’s amazing. 

the complete meal. one of my favorites. and since i’m from the south, sweet tea is a must. i seriously wish that i could share this with you all. if i know you and you ask me to make you lasagna, i will happily oblige.  

“Life is too short, and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.” – Sophia Bush

of course i can’t leave without talking about food. if you didn’t know me, you’d probably think i was some old fat lady who stays at home and cooks all day then sits in a chair with her 17 cats lounging around. quite the opposite in fact. i’m a poor college student who loves to cook. although being in a dorm has it’s limits, i’m pretty sure i’ve had some of the best food in suite 118. 

yesterday i was craving something sweet and since my mom was gone, there was no food, so i chose to bake. i had my hesitations because baking is definitely not my forte by far, but hey how hard could chocolate chip cookies be? and me being the cook that i am, i still didn’t follow the recipe down to the letter. i know i know, that’s the cardinal rule of baking, always follow the recipe!! oh well. i used one egg instead of two and milk chocolate instead of semi sweet. but these were some of the best cookies i’ve ever had. eric, the boyfriend, even liked them and he’s always honest with me about my food. 

i was really tempted to just eat this straight out of the bowl but i knew that i wasn’t supposed to, that whole raw egg thing. but i still snuck a few bites

again, i don’t follow directions very well. the recipe said to use a teaspoon to put the cookie dough on the cookie sheet. well that’s just not a big enough cookie, so i upgraded to a tablespoon. no biggie. 

ahh. sweet delicious warm chocolate chip cookies from scratch. sweet bliss. 

~we are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are~

• ravioli- homemade pasta; ricotta cheese filling
• tomato sauce made from scratch
• sugar cookies

everyone fails. it’s okay to fail as long as you learn from your mistakes and get better next time. what i learned from this experience is that it’s a lot easier to cook with dried pasta than with fresh pasta. you can’t tell if it’s done or not.

i really wish this would have turned out the way i wanted it to because the dough looked promising before i put it in boiling water. the green stuff that you see in it is parsley to give it a little extra flavor. i love making dough because kneading it is relaxing for some reason. i think it relieves stress somehow. and the cheese filling is ricotta cheese with one egg and salt and pepper. it probably would have tasted great with good pasta.

even though i  may have failed with the ravioli, i must say that this sauce was delicious. yes it’s just a simple tomato sauce but it was the best thing i’ve ever had, i don’t care how conceited that sounds. it’s diced tomatoes with the juice, salt, pepper, fennel seeds, parsley and the ingredient that makes it amazing: sugar. i never would have imagined to put sugar in tomato sauce but i tried it and it is delicious! i wish someone else would have been able to try this. i guess i’ll just have to make it again sometime.

see it looks so good but it’s not, i’m sorry. i’m not going to lie to you and say it was amazing. i just want to know where i can find pasta that i can make my own ravioli with?

i couldn’t let my whole day be ruined by this meal so i chose to make sugar cookies for dessert. and as always i put sprinkles in them

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food”