Annie and I have been trying to cook “real” food more often lately, and eat food out of boxes and cans less frequently. There have been some successes and some failures.
Among the failures have been clam spaghetti, the fajitas I made last night (which tasted fine, but smelled horrible), one of the cassaroles we made that didn’t really cook right and come out like ground beef soup, and the curry that called for coconut milk which had gone bad in the can.
Among the successes we had the easy chicken pot pie made with two frozen pie crusts, the delicious sandwiches I’ve been making for lunch, and the grilled chicken I’ve been making on our George Forman grill.
Tonight, though, I made something awesome, and it was super easy. It came out of a cookbook that you wouldn’t expect to be very good, because it’s called 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Meals. The name of the dish was Creamy Chicken-Spinach Soup. Basically, you boil up some little tortellinis, and add them to a soup made out of chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, and milk, together with diced chicken breast and chopped spinach.
It was awesome. Annie made up some biscuits to go with it, and I couldn’t get enough. I had to force myself to stop after eating one and a half bowls, because I could have finished the whole pot. It made enough for two nights for two people, or enough for a small party for one night. I’ll definitely be making it again - maybe for the next lan party!
Someone once said that cooking is kind of like computer hacking, and tends to attract people with similar mentalities. I’m more of a gourmand than a gourmet, but even I can see the truth in this. It’s just fun to mess around in the kitchen, and food definitely tastes better when you made it yourself.
I'm a 30-year-old 
I’d had some at a party, and decided I wanted to make something along the lines of crab cakes once.
I started throwing ingredients together. It ended badly.
But the cat was happy eating the resulting mess. :)
January 26th, 2005 at 10:12 am
now you can cook WHILE you hack, all on one machine:
http://www.casemodgod.com/kitchen_toaster_pc.htm
January 26th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
That cookbook sounds much like a cookbook I have: (The New) Cooking with 4 Ingredients. I’m actually cooking saucy chicken as we speak. It’s developed from the saucy porkchops in the book. Brown meat, add 1 can cream of mushroom soup, some worcestershire (the book calls for soy sauce, but I don’t have any), and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Tres yummy! ;)
As you try out more things, you’ll get used to it. I’m pretty good at throwing stuff together and getting them to work (something I NEVER thought I’d be good at), but sometimes that takes time, and I opt for the Easy Meal. But I’m really cooking now, even if it is easy. :)
Have fun, and good luck! :D
January 26th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
yeah Dev,
we got that cookbook as a wedding present, but I’ve only flipped through it a couple times, it seemed like most of the recipes centered around a big hunk of bloody meat which really doesn’t sound appetizing…I’ll have scott look through it again though.. :)
January 27th, 2005 at 12:42 pm