cook's profile


Ashlea
 
Home Town: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Living In: Denver, Colorado, USA
Member Since: Nov. 2002
Cooking Level: Expert
Cooking Interests: Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Stir Frying, Slow Cooking, Asian, Mexican, Healthy, Quick & Easy
Hobbies: Reading Books, Music
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About this Cook
IT professional and geek... I love computers, video games, reading, and doing other geeky things. I also love to cook and do crafty-type things, which is not something a lot of my geeky friends like to do, especially since most of them are male. I'm married to my junior-high school sweetheart and we live in Denver, CO. He also is an IT professional and loves video games, but he can't cook. However, he loves eating what I cook him!
My favorite things to cook
I just like to try new things because it feels like such an accomplishment to conquer a new recipe or cooking technique. I love making things from scratch that I used to buy pre-made... seasoning packets, salad dressings, stuffing, soup, ice cream. If it's not too complicated or expensive to make it from scratch, I will try it. I especially like making soups because when I was younger, I didn't like soup much. It seemed there was always something in soup I wouldn't like. Also, my first couple of attempts at soup were disastrous, so once I finally figured it out, making soups I like is very fun.
My favorite family cooking traditions
Not something we do anymore - but my dad's side of the family normally would go to Midnight Mass for Christmas, and then afterwards my grandfather (who can barely cook) would make us all breakfast. That 2am breakfast with my extended family was always fun. Now, I normally spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws. My mother-in-law makes a different soup every year for dinner for about 15 people. Some years I make the soup, so this is a tradition I will love to keep going.
My cooking triumphs
Chicken Cordon Bleu II, soup (in general), bread, BAKED boneless buffalo wings that taste as good as fried, sweet/spicy BBQ sauce for twist on the boneless chicken wings
My cooking tragedies
When I was about 18, my first few attempts at Baked Potato Soup were awful. I was following my mother-in-law's recipe exactly as written and I would still not get the same results. I made the recipe with her in her kitchen to see where I went wrong. I finally realized the recipe just said "milk" and while the milk they bought for their household was whole, I always bought skim.
Recipe Reviews 8 reviews
Salsa Chicken
The quality of this recipe is determined mostly by the salsa and taco seasoning you use. When made with homemade taco seasoning and homemade salsa, it's phenomenal. My husband calls this "Mexican Chicken Parmesan"... even with the cheddar/mexiblend cheese, it makes him think of a Mexican version of the popular Italian dish. Like others, I serve with Mexican-style rice and corn.

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Nov. 14, 2009
Meatball Sandwich
I have been using this recipe for 2-3 years now for all meatball cooking. It's great with spaghetti, for Swedish meatballs, spicy meatballs, etc... They cook well either baked or in the frying pan. Any other recipe I do that has meatballs as part of the recipe, I skip and use this one instead. Funnily enough, I've never actually made a meatball sandwich :)

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Oct. 14, 2009
Baked Potato Soup
My mother-in-law would make Baked Potato Soup a lot when my husband and I were dating in high school and I now use this recipe to make it for us now a few times a month. Excluding the time it takes to bake the potatoes (during which you can be doing something else), this recipe is very quick and easy. The taste is fantastic. The only things I change are just garnish so I don't think it affects the rating; we top it with not only bacon and cheese, but also green onions and sour cream. I also use fat-free half-and-half to cut back on fat. A tip for the potatoes: after they are done baking, use a fork and stab the potatoes multiple times in a straight line lengthwise across the potato to form a perforation. You can then squeeze the potato on each end and the potato will split perfectly along the perforation. Let sit for at least 10 mins. and then you can scoop out perfect size potato pieces with a spoon. Perforating and breaking open the potato right after baking is important, because that cools it down much faster so you can go on with the recipe.

6 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Oct. 3, 2009
 
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