Confessions of a Non-Cooker

I would love to be one of those women. You know, the women who think baking is therapeutic, who can stray away from exact measurements and a recipe, who were taught by their grandmother and mother to cook from scratch. Yes, that was not me. Sometimes I feel like I missed something. Like I missed the "cooking" gene that is ingrained in many women and wives. I wondered if it would just magically sprout when I got married, but alas I still dread that question "so what's for dinner?".

Ryan and I will both admit that even before we got married, we ate out a lot. And unfortunately, if we're being honest here, that habit has carried on over into our marriage. So here we are 6 months into marriage, with a significant portion of our budget going towards food...more specifically restaurants and we're about to buy a house that has some serious money-saving implications. Something's gotta give.

Several factors have prevented me from being able to whip up meals like it's nothing:

• It seriously stresses me out. Typically, after I get back from work the last thing I want to do is spend an hour slaving over a stove for a meal we won't be able to finish. 
• I had very little go-to recipes. I haven't been cooking long enough to have a good number of tried and true recipes.
• My husband is the pickiest eater I know. Which makes narrowing down recipes even harder. So I may love mushrooms but choosing a meal that's got mushrooms even in the sauce isn't worth it because he won't eat it. 
• I never have everything I need on-hand. I usually go to the grocery store once a week but if I haven't thought ahead of time what I'm making, I likely won't have everything on-hand and I end up going back to the grocery store for 2-3 items.

So all that to say, I got desperate. I asked around to a couple of friends who have used meal planning services to get their recommendations and settled on one that I thought met our needs. So yes, I'm paying for a service to send me an email every week telling me what to cook. Granted, I change out almost every suggested meal due to my picky eater, it's still been a great motivator (so far) to actually plan a week's worth of meals. Six O'Clock Scramble explains recipes in beginner language and also gives you different ways to cook the recipes. We love slow cooking so for some of the recipes, we opt for the slow cooking option. It also tells you the things you can chop/cook/portion ahead of time. Now, I haven't been using this for that long at all, so I can't say that I've found my love for cooking. But for those who need the kick in the pants, meal planning is a great option. There's a Groupon for the Scramble too, which I definitely used! 

So here's to a week of NO eating out! This is a big deal to us! And to honing in on my inner cook...I'm still not convinced it exists. Tonight, I'm slowcooking beef and broccoli teriyaki! 

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Peppermint-Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Every time there's a church event that involves bringing food, I've noticed that I try extra hard to bake/cook something new and from scratch. It's like I'm tricking people into thinking "Shannon knows how to cook". We're having our Harvest Christmas party tonight and due to my new last name, we fell under the dessert umbrella.

Several months ago, I bought a Martha Stewart Living Groupon subscription which also got me a free subscription to Everyday Food (which sadly they're discontinuing!). I've already grabbed so many great recipes from this little digest! It's full of hints and baking tips that are actually helpful for a basic cooker/baker like me. So when I saw a Christmas cookie section this month, I knew I had to make one for our church party. I settled on the Peppermint-Chocolate Sugar Cookie--mostly because how festive they looked and who doesn't like peppermint? Plus I got to use my trusty mixer!

• Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted (just a note, I didn't sift, I wasn't patient enough and it was fine!)
• 3-5 tablespoons heavy cream
• 12 round peppermint candies, crushed, for decorating (I used more)
• *Makes 2 dozen*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract on medium-high until pale and fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in egg, then flour mixture on low. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place, 2 inches apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are lightly golden, about 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks and let cool completely.
3. Stir together confectioners' sugar and enough cream to make a spreadable glaze (if you like a strong mint flavor, stir in up to 1/4 teaspoon extract). Spread a thin layer of glaze on top of each cookie and sprinkle with candies (I used my Martha chopper!). Let dry completely on racks.

And here's what mine looked like:

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Homemade Queso Blanco Dip: The Best Stuff on Earth

Whenever we have friends come over for dinner, I always feel the need to fool them that "oh I cook like this all the time!" Just kidding, I totally don't own up to that. I do get motivated to really cook food and to start from scratch. Last night we had some friends coming over and we had some tasty tacos complete with homemade queso blanco sauce. I've always wanted to make this from scratch since the canned stuff is pretty sub par. My heart gets weak for anything with queso sauce. It always means that whatever it's slathered on, is bound to taste 10x better. We also got to use our sweet little server that they got us for our wedding! Gifts in action!

There are lots of different ways you can cook this stuff. I saw lots of recipes where you do it on the stove and some were microwaved. I've had them both ways, but I was short on time and decided to go the quick and easy microwave way. Honestly, I think it tastes the same whether you microwave or use the stove. Stovetop recipes will have you standing in front of the pot constantly stirring so the cheese doesn't burn. When you're cooking things at the same time, this make it extra hard. I would've burned it for sure! I finally found this recipe that I pinned on Pinterest and followed it exactly other than cutting the recipe in half. Here's the full recipe. You'll definitely have leftovers! Here it is:

1.25 lb of White American Cheese (I also used Land O'Lakes and it was delish!) cut into cubes

You can find this at the deli counter, I had the lady slice it so all I had to do was rip it into little pieces instead of cutting

1/4 cup of diced green chiles (these come in a cute little tiny can)

2 pickled jalapenos, chopped

This is what's giving it some kick! The more you put in, the spicier it gets.

1 ounce of pickled jalapeno juice

This measurement stressed me out, I just poured some juice from the can of pickled jalapenos (above).

2/3 cup of whole milk

We only had 2%, and I wasn't about to buy milk that we wouldn't drink otherwise. Use whatever milk you have on hand.

1/2 a cup of cold water

A pinch of cumin (optional)

We threw this in. Also, this measurement stressed me out.

1. Throw all the ingredients into a microwave safe bowl. I used a medium sized measuring cup which worked really well since it does bubble up quite a bit and I could pour it out easier.

2. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stopping every minute (or so) to stir. You'll notice it's really watery at first, but it firms up once it's out of the microwave and fulled mixed.

3. Serve and enjoy! We poured it all over everything...our tacos, our chips. Only the best way to eat it!

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Easy Oatmeal Apple Crisp

Pinterest is seriously my best friend for finding new and easy recipes. Fall graced itself with either an early arrival or a preview of the awesome cool weather we'll be getting soon! Because of the weather, I was feeling inspired to make something fallish for our last Harvest Launch team meeting a few weeks ago, but I wanted it to be fresh, not from the freezer. I also wanted it to be EASY! I pinned this gem while I was on just about every wedding blog known to man trying to plan my own wedding. Here's the recipe:

6 medium apples, pared and sliced (I used gala but I heard Honeycrisps from Whole Foods are super sweet and good!)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 cup softened butter or margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup of oatmeal flakes

3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease baking dish (I used a 9 x 13) with additional butter.

Cut your apples. I went ahead and cut mine twice so they were more bitesized.

Cut your flour into the softened butter until well mixed. Then add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Sprinkle yummy goodness topping over your apples. I will say that I found that I needed more topping since it didn't cover the apples. I just took the remainder of the butter and added in a little bit of everything (oatmeal, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, brown sugar, etc.)

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the apples are bubbling.

I've already made this recipe twice, and it's been a hit! Serving warm with vanilla ice cream is a MUST!

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