pizzaaa!

Okay, so I took the easy way out with making pizza, but I still made it! The crust is a whole wheat tortilla (why it is the easy way out) but it was still legit! I topped the tortilla with sauteed arugula, caramelized red onions, and fresh goat cheese. Then I simply baked it in the oven for 10 minutes. And oh boy oh boy oh boy it was DELICIOSO!

I made a DELICIOUS dessert/anytime yummy yummy yummy yummy yummy snack today.


Unfortunately, the picture is out of focus. But I made candied maple glazed walnuts and oh my goodness they are soo sooo soooooo good, I am addicted.

All I did was heat a pan on the stove to medium high heat, add walnuts, maple syrup, and a little bit of salt and let the maple syrup carmelize and the walnuts toast. Oh my gosh you have to try and make this it is SO good!! I'm gonna go eat more now.

Homemade mexican food is so amazing.

Today for brunch I made huevos rancheros. On top of a toasted corn tortilla I added a mixture of diced tomatoes, sauteed onions, chopped green bell peppers, garlic, chopped green chiles, mexican style chile powder, ground cumin, oregano, and hot sauce. On top of the tomato mixture I added a fried egg. On top of the fried egg I added fresh salsa. On top of the salsa I added shredded monterey jack cheese. And finally, on top of the cheese I added fresh chopped cilantro.

This meal bursted with so many fresh, delicious flavors. It was great. Fresh mexican food is the best.

Tonight I made pasta with kale, white beans, and turkey sausage. It was yummy.

I'm really sleepy so I don't have a lot to say about it other than it was delicious.

okay bye:)

Last night, my dinner was divine. So good, in fact that I went into a food coma after eating it and forgot to blog. So now I blog.
I made miso-glazed cod and broccoli with toasted garlic. Not only was this dinner restaurant quality delicious, it was really easy. The cod marinade called for the following ingredients: white miso, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and mirin (Japanese cooking wine). I was able to find all of these ingredients in a commercial grocery store except for the white miso, so I improvised. The only thing close to white miso that I could find was instant miso soup mix, so I bought it and I used it. And it was awesome. I have found that improvising substitution ingredients in recipes is always either a hit or miss, but it is worth it to try because those few hits are incredible. I brushed this marinate on the fish, let it sit in the fridge for a little while, then broiled the fish for like 5 minutes. So easy. So mouthwatering. If you like asian food and seafood, you would LOVE this fish.

Then for a side dish, I made broccoli with toasted garlic. I microwaved the broccoli with a little bit of water in the microwave for a few minutes, toasted some garlic with olive oil over the stove, then combined the two. YUM.

I have a cold:( So tonight I made some comfort food. and it was happy.


I made roasted pork tenderloin seasoned with garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Simple and delicious. Then for a side, I made caramelized carrots. I mixed baby carrots with soy sauce, brown sugar, olive oil, salt, and pepper and then baked them in the oven for about 20 minutes. They reminded me of sweet potatoes, but in a carrot form. I loved them.

I am so happy it is the weekend. Time for some rest and hopefully I will get over this cold!

It is monsooning like crazy here. <--video of the monsoon from my apartment


On another note, I had a cooking fail tonight. :(

I made a mushroom rigatoni bake which sounded so good in the recipe but it did not turn out well at all. I am thinking there are two reasons I didn't like the recipe. First of all, I am not too familiar with making a white cream sauce from scratch and the flour for the sauce never completely dissolved, possibly resulting in a weird flavor. Also, the recipe called for asiago cheese which is a very strong cheese and it is possible that I simply do not really like asiago cheese. Whatever it was, I did not like the taste of this dish and it made me sad. But I am determined to blog about it anyway because I am a learning chef! Below are pictures of my failed creation.
I need something happy in my mouth. Time for some icecream.

another one of my favorite meals

I worked from 6-3 today, so with my extra time in the afternoon I decided to take some extra time in the kitchen. Tonight for dinner I made some of the best chicken I have ever had. And it is all about the marinade. I marinated boneless skinless chicken thighs in lemon juice, lemon rind, honey, fresh thyme, and olive oil for 2 hours. Then, I broiled the chicken. The result was amazing: moist, flavorful, succulent chicken. I will make this recipe again for sure.

Andddd to top it all off I had a REALLY delicious side dish of asparagus! In fact, it is now my favorite way to make asparagus. I first baked the asparagus in the oven and then drizzled them with a balsamic browned butter made with browned butter, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. The combination of those three ingredients was a taste explosion. I loved it!!

Tonight I made tacos. They were REALLY delicious! I used corn tortillas, but to be honest next time I would use flour tortilas. Corn tortillas are wayyy too dense in my opinion and I like the airy fluffiness of flour. I filled the tacos with grilled flank steak, sauteed onions, oregano, garlic, coriander, mushrooms, anaheim chile peppers, mexican blend shredded cheese, and store bought fresh salsa. mmm.

I'M BACK! Did you miss me?

Yesterday I got back from a week long vacation in Longboat Key with mom, Richie, and Casey. It was SUCH a blast. However, I gained about a thousand pounds from eating out so I am definitely excited to be back to cooking for myself (at least for a few days before I go to Atlanta this weekend).

We ate so much delicious food and played a LOT of golf there! And I think I played pretty well! I only lost a few balls and although I started from 150 yards from the pin, I hit a few pars and a few bogies. hooray for me!

So tonight, I decided to make a yummy salad.

I made the salad with sweet butter lettuce, peaches, prosciutto, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. I made the dressing with fresh squeezed lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh mint. It was a really light and refreshing salad. I liked it a lot! The only thing I would change would be to add a little bit less mint to the dressing because its flavor was a bit mint heavy. But other than that, I loved it.