PB and Yay!

I had a craving. A craving for something sweet and chewy. I turned the pages of Joy of Cooking and landed on something that I had actually been wanting to make for a while. Peanut Butter Cookies! These were super easy to make. You basically mix all the ingredients together and plop them on to a baking sheet. Simple as that.

Well of course you have to mix the dry ingredients first, then the sugars and butters, then the wet, and then the dry. You know the usual.

The hardest part for me was believe it or not pressing down on the cookies with the fork. I know, kinda sad. I tried putting flour on the fork so it wouldn’t stick but then the flour would get on the cookie and I wasn’t sure if I liked that. I just held down the cookie as I pressed.

The book said the recipe yields “about sixty 1 1/2-inch cookies” but with the size I made, I got half of that.

They were both “rich and crumbly” just like the book said. I will definitely be making these again.

Potato Skins, easy right?

If there is one thing I learned today, it’s that Potato Skins, or at least the ones in The Joy of Cooking are not as simple to make as they seem. You would think, “Just scoop out the ‘pulp’ and top with cheese.” Well at least that’s what I thought. I’ll break it down.
The Potato: the recipe calls for 4 baking potatoes. Of course me not know what the heck that is, I looked it up. After researching I found that the most common potato used in this situation was a russet or Idaho potato. So that’s exactly the type I picked up. 

It also says to just bake until tender, so naturally I turn to the Baked Potato recipe and use that time suggested here for this recipe. I will probably check all the potatoes before pulling them out of the oven next time I make this because when I scooped out the pulp it still felt hard. 

The recipe also says to let the cool completely but being me I figured, “what could possibly happen if I cut them while they are piping hot?” It turns out many things: 

YOU BURN YOUR FINGERS!!!

The skin peels off. Which totally plays against the fact that these are potato SKINS. 

*Sigh*

I worked as best as I could with the hot potatoes, haha, and ended them leaving in halves instead of quarters like the recipe suggested. They weren’t as wide as I thought they’d be. Maybe next time I’ll use a wider potato.

Toppings 

Thankfully something about this wasn’t so complicated for me. The easy toppings of bacon and cheese were great, like a classic potato skin you get at a restaurant. 

Although quite the struggle, I have to say, they were pretty darn good! Nice and crispy and cheesy. I didn’t follow the cheese and bacon measurements like the recipe called for, I just kind of eyeballed and saw if it looked good. 
I would definitely add more salt to the skins. I accidentally forgot to put it on the outside of the skins, making me put the salt halfway through the “crisping” process. 

I’ll try it out again for sure!

Christine the Cook

I am not a chef. I don’t know my way around a five star restaurants kitchen, let alone my own. The thought of cooking worries me and intimidates me. That’s why I tend to stick with just cooking scrambled eggs and the ordinary Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Since I just got out of high school and have a lot of free time, considering it’s summer, I have chosen to make a difference to my life. To add a little spice, pun definitely intended.

I am going to master the art of cooking.

Well, I’m going to start the journey. I know a lot of basic terms and skills, thanks to the Food Network and an abundance of hours spent watching Worst Cooks in America.

To assist me in this journey, I will be turning to the book that I feel can help me along the journey, Joy of Cooking. Although slightly intimidating at first with thousands of recipes, I have decided that it’s a good way for me to try out the cooking thing. Ever since I was little I have been interested in cooking and just seeing people fall in love with food.

That being said, I don’t see myself giving ingredients and step by step information for a recipe in this blog. Instead, I plan on giving the feedback from myself and my family. Whether the recipe was easy to make, easy to prepare, and well easy to eat I guess. I’ll let you know if there are things I want to recommend or techniques/tips that I found helped me.

Just today I made the Sautéed Boneless Chicken Breasts with Herb Pan Sauce. It was delicious I might add. I was worried that the chicken would come out dry and that the sauce would be all thin instead of rich and thick, but it all turned out great, which is what motivated me to go through with this . 

I’m using this book as a stepping stone. To get through the basics and hopefully go onto more complex and more amazing dishes. I want to learn from my mistakes and learn throughout the process. I want cooking to be fun for me, not challenging.