So remember when I said that I wanted to start cooking this year and eat out less. Remember when I said I wanted to work out more and sit on the couch less oh and remember when I said I was going to work less! Um yeah, well, what had happened was…

So I decided to start a new theme for Wednesday’s taking a look back about something I said I was going to do, but still haven’t gotten to yet. Today’s focus is cooking, because frankly, I’m sick of eating out. I can barely stand the thought of getting another chicken bowl from Chipotle or kung pao chicken from Panda Express or pizza, I don’t even want to look at another pizza.

So last week, I received a cool new recipe book based on the products found at Trader Joes. Who doesn’t love Trader Joes right? But to be honest, in can be a bit intimidating. I find things like Pancetta, couscous, goat cheese and a slew of other things that I don’t know what to do with. Let me first explain that cooking is not a skill I really posses, I mean the title of the category “Bizzie Non-Cook Guide” should have clued you in. When I look at Ree Drummond’s blog thepioneerwoman.com and her pictures and recipes, I’m in awe.  How does she do that? How does she have the time?

So this weekend, well Monday, because I’m not cooking on Mother’s Day I’m going to try it again. I’m going to try and cook more days out of the week then ordering takeout, which means at least 4 times a week. 

So follow along with me and my cooking adventures as I will be posting pictures of the recipes that I try and hopefully capturing the family’s reactions as I develop my skills. Sorry in advance guys.

Next week I will be trying some recipes from the Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s recipe book by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniata. To get your copy just go to www.cookingwithtraderjoes.com.

Could it be, does this make three? Yes it does. I’ve cooked three days in a row. I’m starting to go through junk food withdrawals. This little dish is something I created myself that was inspired by one of my favorite places to eat, Chipotle. I don’t know what it is but I could eat Chipotle every day if the Hubs wasn’t so sick of it.

Ingredients:
1 package of thinly sliced chicken breast
2 cups fresh pico de gallo (estimate)
1 cup of shredded cheese – I like to use the packaged Mexican style cheeses
Fresh Cilantro
Olive Oil
Seasoning

We live in a condo so getting to the grill is a pain, so I used the Foreman Grill to cook the chicken. It’s quick and easy. I marinated the chicken with Sazonador para Pollo chicken seasoning.

While the chicken is marinating I put the rice on in the rice cooker. When the chicken was finished I diced it up.

To make the rice similar to Chipotle I added 1 tbs of olive oil and some chopped up cilantro to test. Prepare the dish with the rice, chicken, pico de gallo and cheese.

My daughter loves this dish. The Hubs claims he likes it more than Chipotle (whatever). I’m still a fan!

Second day in a row that I cooked, I so deserve an award! I didn’t take any pictures of this one because we all know what Spaghetti looks like right. I like to add a little red pepper in while cooking the meat to give the spaghetti and extra kick.

I love making spaghetti because it’s quick and easy and BP loves it!

s many people know I decided to make a commitment to try and cook more for the new year. If you know me, me and the kitchen never got along. But the economy tight and my wallet is light so it’s time to give it a shot.

I’m starting a little late in the game because I was out of town for the holidays. Here is my first attempt at “cooking” and I have to say it turned out great.

We had a little trouble figuring out what Srirachas chili sauce (the red bottle you find at Chinese restaurants) was, but once I Googled it and say the pictures I knew exactly what it was.

Another problem was when I flipped out the fish it broke apart – so I either cooked it too much before the flip or a need a bigger spatula.

Chinese Tilapia and Fried Rice

1 pound tilapia fillets
3 Tbsp rice cooking wine
2-3 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp Sriracha chili sauce
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 tsp dried ginger powder
1 tsp olive oil

In a medium sized skillet, heat olive oil over low-medium heat. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine rice cooking wine, soy sauce, Sriracha chili sauce, garlic powder & ginger powder. Add fish to skillet, allowing to cook for a minute. Flip fish and add soy sauce mixture to skillet. Add green onion. Allow fish to simmer over low heat until cooked thoroughly, and most of the sauce has cooked off. Serve immediately.

I found the recipe on Delish Food and will be cooking it again very soon. Seems the Hubs loves the recipe.

One of our last Super Supper meals – Asian Salmon. It is so delicious, I’m so going to miss it. I first started by making my famous and oh so simple Fried Rice. I cheat and use the Sun-Bird fried rice seasoning mix.

The rice only takes 10 minutes to cook. I always cook the plain rice the day before. Fried rice always cooks better with cold rice.

Now the salmon. I don’t have the recipe for this but if I did I would probably cook it at least once a week. We picked the salmon up from Super Suppers.

A few minutes later, dinner is served. And best of all BP loves it.

My idea of cooking usually starts with take-out menu. It’s not that I don’t like cooking, it’s that by the time I leave work and get home I’m already hungry and once my daughter gets home I have about three minutes before she starts complaining. So its the time factor oh and the fact that I’m just not good at it.

Don’t get me wrong I can cook an awesome plate of spaghetti and hmm, did I mention I cook some spaghetti really swell.

So I’m not all that good at cooking so this coming year, meaning 2009, I need to learn. We are canceling our food service. YES WE HAD A FOOD SERVICE, what! No I’m not rich, if I was why would I be canceling?

We only started the food service because we would go grocery shopping with recipes in hand, buy the food, get home after work and see the food in the fridge and then order something out because we were too hungry or tired to cook. We would have great meal while our groceries sat alone in fridge to spoil.

Oh and CAKE, I can make good, yummy and moist cakes!

So we have decided 2009 will be our cooking year, by “our” I really mean “mine” because the hubs will of course find an excuse as to why he can’t cook. Probably go on about how he burned his fingers as a child wanting to make pancakes.

I thought to myself we are going to either lose a ton of weight during this experiment and probably have a lot of laughs as well. So I thought I would share my adventures so you can get a good laugh too! Aren’t I nice.

If you have some great quick “busy mom” recipes I would love to hear about them. Email your recipes or leave them in the comments and I’ll try and make them plus give you a shout out too!

This last weekend I decided to make some cookies with my Bizzie Princess, not just any cookies though, play dough cookies. Yes they are edible. No they aren’t made with real play dough. They are basically really bright sugar cookies.

Bizzie Princess loves to cook, so hopefully a kids cooking class will be in her future and we won’t have to eat out so much.

Crossing fingers.

While making the cookies had a few challenges, Daddy forgot to by the cream cheese, an egg was sacrificed and dropped on the floor; we still had a lot of fun. My daughter loved mixing the different colors of cookie dough together and rolling it up like a snake. Her favorite part was of course eating the cookies!

I have the link to recipe at home so I’ll post it for anyone that is interested in trying the cookies.

Waiting for Dad to come home with the last ingredient.

The dough is made and divided.

The fun bright color is added. Mixing the color into the dough
was too hard for Bizzie Princess, mom did it.

Rolling up the dough. Bizzie Princess was ready to eat!
The final product! Time to Eat!