Ole! (snap, snap!)

Many of you might be familiar with the Christian tradition of Lent. Every year, for as long as I can remember, I've given up some form of food, ranging from chocolate and chips to cucumbers(I love, love, love cucumbers, in case anyone thought that was weird). Lent lasts the 40 days from Ash Wednesday, which fell on February 25 this year, until Holy Saturday, which falls on April 11, 2009. And every year, for as long as I can remember, I have not once completed the 40 days with out eating said food. Well, this year I decided it was going to be different, and for once, I would follow up on my word. I decided to give up meat- I am not a big meat person but, not being able to eat something that is the primary food group in your house, I'm thinking is going to be hard. Technically, I haven't given up all meat since I still eat fish (mostly tuna and salmon), but I have stopped eating chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc. This being said, just be prepared for a meatless theme in my future recipes!

7 Layer Meatless Tortilla Pie

Ingredients

2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans, drained
1 cup Pace Picante Sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 small tomato, chopped
7 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
(these are the directions I thought I read... follow the linked recipe for actual directions!)

Step 1: Mash drained pinto beansStep 2: Stir in 3/4 cup picante sauce and garlic powder

Step 3: Mix in black beans, tomatoes, and remaining picante sauce
Step 4: Preheat oven to 400F

Step 5: Place on torilla shell on baking sheet. Top with 3/4 cup bean mixture and 1/4 shredder cheddar cheese. Repeat until all 8 shells are used.Step 6: Cover with foil and bake at 400F for 40 minutes
Step 7: Cut into wedges and serve.

Alright, so who wants to hear another story about how Alex thought she read the directions correctly, but in reality, missed a few key steps? As per usual, I read over the directions and assumed that I knew exactly how to make the bean mixture. First of all, I poured in the black beans with the pinto beans, a step not in the directions, which resulted in me having to pick out the pinto beans one by one. I then proceed to question the directions as to why I would first pour in 3/4 of the picante sauce if I was just going to mix in the remaining 1/4 cup with the other ingredients. Well, turns out there was supposed to be a pinto bean layer with cheddar cheese and a black bean layer with cheddar cheese. My 7 layer pie had one type of layer- black bean and pinto bean mixed! It's all going to the same play anyways, right? Now, I did not include the cilantro, because I don't like it, and I only used mild taco sauce instead of the picante sauce. If I have learned anything from cooking, it is that when you remove or change ingredients, you also remove or change the taste of the dish. Suffice it to say that the 7 Layer Meatless Pie was a not very tasty. I plopped on some sour cream, which added some taste, but then I added some medium salsa which just took it to a new level. As with all cooking, it's the personal touch I gave to this dish that made it all the more delicious!

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

Well, if I didn't know exactly how hard cooking was, I certainly do now. I had my genius idea to bake up a nice Greek Vegetarian Pizza as a nice surprise for my family. But before I begin my step by step directions, I would like to caution my fellow beginner cooks not to make your own dough. The recipe seemed simple enough- 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of hot water. This simple dough recipe ended up in an impromptu-mid preparation-oven on trip to the local grocery store!

Greek Vegetarian Pizza

Ingredients

1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust,
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
1/2 cup sliced black olives
3 cups torn spinach leaves
1/2 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 450F/ 230C

Step 2:
Place dough on baking sheet and spread into 12" pizza crust

Step 3:

Spread pesto onto pizza crust. Top pizza in the following order: tomatoes, spinach, red onion, black olives, feta, and oregano

Step 4:
Bake until spinach starts to wilt and cheese starts to brown. About 15 minutes

Step 5:
Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle with olive oil and Parmesan cheese

Step 6:
Slice and Enjoy!

I must have sorted through at least 10 different recipes in order to find one that I thought I could manage. The directions, as you can see, are not too hard to follow and the ingredients preparation was a snap. However, making a pizza with no help, well my little brother was here laughing through my endeavour, I was not exactly sure when I was to take the pizza out. The directions instructed me to leave it in for about 15 minutes, but after about 45 minutes, I still didn't know if it was cooked thoroughly. I baked the pizza for a total of 50 minutes before I took it out. But to my surprise, my pizza was a hit! Besides the fact that I don't like sun dried tomatoes, the pizza was very tasty. Of the five people who live in my house, including myself, my pizza got a rating of 3.5 out of a possible 5 stars. That's amore!

Oh, I almost forgot to show you MY pizza dough...

Yeah, that whole spinning the pizza in the air idea just didn't work out!

Rapini...just like cooking: An Acquired Taste

I don't know if anyone even noticed, but the introduction to my last post was written in past tense. You see, my Dad is newly retired and has decided that he too would like to take on the challenge of cooking! So, for a nice family dinner we decided to make an Italian pasta dish. The main ingredient was rapini. Although rapini is a good source of Vitamins A, C, and K, it has a very distinct taste that may not sit well with all pasta connoisseurs.

Pasta with Rapini

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds rapini (broccoli rabe)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 pound medium-sized pasta

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

We strayed from these directions on the website because after talking to may aunt, we learned of the way my grandmother used to make this dish. First, we got out a big pot and filled it to about 3/4 with water and added in the cut rapini (you know you have enough water if the rapini is submerged completely). Then we placed the pot on medium heat to boil. As the pot was boiling, in a separate pan we heated the 1/2 cup of olive oil over medium heat. Instead of mincing the garlic, I remembered the garlic press my mom always uses for her pasta sauce and so we used that to save us some time. In the heated pan, along with olive oil, we combined the pressed garlic, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar. That mixture, after turning down the heat, just sat on the stove to simmer. The water came to a boil and so, in went a box of penne. So now, the pasta was cooking in the same pot as the rapini. If you've ever cooked spaghetti before, you may know the trick-if you throw a sting of spaghetti and it sticks to the cupboard, it's ready- however, this trick does not work with penne (I learned by continuously throwing a piece of penne, that would not stick, at the cupboard as my dad fervently looked on). So instead, I just ate piece of penne and decided it was cooked. As we strained the cooked penne and rapini, we saved a little water to be used for the sauce. In a large bowl, we put the penne and rapini, and covered the pasta with our olive oil mixture. Not everyone in our house enjoys spicy food, so we served the chili peppers as well as the Parmesan cheese on the side!

Every new dish I cook seems to come easier and easier. I'm now looking forward to cooking more complex recipes with a little less help from others!