Member Since:
May 2006
Cooking Level:
Intermediate
Cooking Interests:
Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Italian, Middle Eastern, Low Carb, Healthy, Quick & Easy
Hobbies:
Knitting, Gardening, Biking, Photography, Music
My favorite things to cook
Turkey Burgers, Avocado Salsa, Baked Ziti, Eggplant Parmesan, Lasagna, Mexican Lasagna, Baked or grilled salmon/tilapia, Couscous with shrimp or chicken sausage, Risotto, Roasted veggies, French Toast,
My favorite family cooking traditions
My whole family is in Galena Territory twice a year, once at Christmas and again at 4th of July. We rent out a vacation home and it usually includes a fully stocked kitchen. My mom just created cooking/cleaning teams to make things easier and a little more organized. Seems to me that it's gotten a little competitive - now we see who can cook up the best meal of the trip.
My cooking triumphs
Pulling off dinner for my in-laws. My husbands parents came in from Albania for the first time since we were married. I got the recipe for Grecian Pork Tenderloin off of this site. Since I had been to Albania, I was aware of the incredible beef, chicken and fish that they were used to back home - so I thought pork would be a safe option. It was a hit! Everything tasted wonderful, the portion sizes were perfect for 4 people and I even had salad, bread and wine to go with it. I think they thought I slaved for hours.
My cooking tragedies
When my lo-carb "Nut & Seed" bread went up in price again at our local bread bakery, I decided to try it out for myself. I thought "it shouldn't be that hard, if i just get all the right ingredients and then throw it in the bread machine." It was also my first time using the bread machine. So we through it all together, making sure our yeast measurements were accurate. We even got all the flax seeds, walnuts, sunflower kernals - everything went in. It turned out like rubber. I accidentally dropped a big glob on the floor and 0 out of 3 dogs would even swallow it down.