Experimenting in the Kitchen

I admit it... I was NOT a great cook when I got married. Dave and I spent the first year or so of our marriage eating pasta & frozen pizzas (okay, so we still do that sometimes). I will also claim that the reason for my lack of culinary skills was my laziness to wash the resulting dishes without a dishwasher. When we moved out of our first apartment and finally got a dishwasher I got better at preparing meals (slightly).

My biggest challenge in cooking is that I was never really taught how to prepare great home-cooked meals. I grew up eating corn dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches & hamburger helper. If it comes from a box, I can make it.

Thankfully, after living with Dave for several years, I slowly learned to be more creative in the kitchen and to start putting things together because "they sounded good." I was recently successful in making a stew from leftover roast, when I have never done this before. I've also made split pea soup & chicken pot pies from scratch, without a recipe even though I'd never made them before.

Unfortunately, not all of my creations are so successful, or even edible. Dave has been quite understanding when my "masterpieces" are lacking, and has choked down at least a few bites of everything I have made... even last night...

The dinner conversation last night went something like this:

Dave: so what are we having for dinner?

Me: chicken, with rice & veggies.

Dave: it looks like the chicken is covered in applesauce...

Me: yes, it does look like that.

Dave: so, what is the sauce?

Me: corn chex (super-soggy-corn-chex)

Dave: would this meal go well with soy sauce?

Thankfully, the soggy corn-chex "sauce" wasn't actually too bad, and the girls scarfed down the chicken without touching the rice or veggies. Dave had two heaping plates full of everything... with a generous helping of soy sauce & stir-fry sauce. :)

*Mental note: next time bake the shake-n-bake chicken separate from the rice & veggies, then the steam won't turn the "shake" into mush.