cook's profile


DC Girly Girl
 
Home Town: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Living In: Columbia, Maryland, USA
Member Since: Sep. 2000
Cooking Level: Intermediate
Cooking Interests: Mexican, Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Low Carb, Healthy, Vegetarian, Dessert, Gourmet
Lulu
My Yaz-matazz
About this Cook
I am a thirty something who loves to play with her food. My mother is from central america and I learned how to cook from her. That means nearly everything starts with a sofrito and usually contains tomatoes in some way, shape, or form.
My favorite things to cook
I love to cook pretty much anything ethnic. I can tend to go off an a rampaging tangent, especially when I start experimenting and want to compare recipes. I want to cook nothing but lentil dishes one week and nothing but German dishes the next. One day I will have dinner at an Indian restaurant and then what do you know...it's nothing but curried stuff for a while.
My favorite family cooking traditions
Baking Christmas cookies for the holidays. When I was a kid, my grandmother cranked out hundreds of cookies to distribute in decorative tins every year. They were expected by friends and family. Although my output can in no way match hers, I do my best. I do have her recipes, but sadly, I cannot do them justice. I have tried, but they never come out tasting like hers.
My cooking triumphs
Feeling confident enough to tackle pretty much anything. I used to be shy about trying to make things that I had zero experience with...well...where am I supposed to get that experience?? But I have gotten to the point where I figure, "Why not?". If it flops, then just throw it away or give it to the dogs. Live and learn. Carpe diem. All that inspirational type stuff...
My cooking tragedies
Yeast breads. One day I will conquer them! But at the moment, my bread machine will do. One year I decided to try King Cake...yikes! It was a lead brick! But if at first you don't succeed...try, try again! I plan on trying another one this year. I refuse to give up!
Recipe Reviews 311 reviews
Chris' Bay Area Burger
These were pretty bland as is. I followed the recipe as written minus 1/3 of the salt, then tasted the meat (yes...raw). Eh. It wasn't until I added cumin, paprika, italian seasoning, worcestershire sauce, Montreal steak seasoning and cayenne that I found it flavorful. Unfortunately, the man liked it. So that means one day I have to recreate what I did.

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Jul. 1, 2009
Delicious Black Bean Burritos
Pretty good after quite a bit of tweaking. I doubled the recipe and added a can of drained chopped tomatoes, about a cup of corn, cumin, taco seasoning and a couple dashes of hot sauce. Since I doubled it AND we like things cheesy, I added a full 8 oz brick of cream cheese. Ooops...I think I either should have stuck with 6 oz or added rice...Lesson learned! Also, I started by heating the tortillas in the oven as per the directions, but they became toasted instead of just warm and therefore were difficult to roll. So I went to my old standby: Heating them in the microwave for about 20 seconds each; Much better! PS: I got 8 10" burritos out of it.

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Jun. 12, 2009
Peanut Butter Noodles
Wow!! I have NEVER been a fan of peanutty noodles! Hated them. But the man likes this kind of stuff, so I decided to make it for him. I have been converted! I doubled the sauce and used red pepper flakes instead of chili paste. Did not use the onions as he does not like them. Used chunky peanut butter so I did not have to add the chopped peanuts at the end. The directions say to cook the noodles as directed on the package. Well...my package had no english directions, so I proceeded carefully and found that udon noodles cook in about 5 minutes. To make this a meal, I added about 1 pound of shrimp to the sauce once it was heated through.

3 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Jun. 2, 2009
 
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