52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge

If you've stuck through my on again off again blogging attempts (or read the archives) you may remember the 52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge I did a few years ago.  Well it's still going on and I've decided to give it another go this year.  I figure it works well with this month's eating in challenge and since I'm only doing the cooking challenge this time and not also the baking challenge I may make it just a little bit farther into the year.  I also have no major plans for the year (no move or huge vacation) so hopefully I can manage.

Week One's challenge is eggs so I decided to try a new method of poaching eggs (I love me a good poached egg)

This one was not so good a poached egg.  (okay these two were not good poached eggs)

I used the method from my new cookbook purchased with Christmas Amazon funds:

I love the cookbook.  It's my new best friend.  I think, however, I'm not listening to it like I should be in a good relationship.

The recipe calls for 2 T. vingear and 1 t. salt in the water in a saucepan.  I got that right.  See?

Well okay you can't see as vinegar is clear and the salt dissolved.  But trust me.  It's there.

Where I think I failed is bringing it to a rolling boil.  I thought it was a rolling boil.  It had been cooking long enough and it looked rolling boil-y to me.  I tipped my eggs in from a teacup (okay coffee cup we don't do tea in this house), covered the pan with a lid and removed it from the heat to cook for 3.5 minutes.

After checking the eggs they were decidedly not done and I continued to cook them for another minute and a half.  Then I gave up and ate them anyway.  They were okay.  But they were also probably the worst eggs I've ever poached.  The whites were not set right and the yolks were more done than I prefer and the only conclusion I can come to is the water wasn't hot enough when I put the eggs in.  

I also think now that I'm looking back at it- I should have left it on the same burner just turned it off.  Could that have made enough of a difference?  Mayhaps its poached eggs again for dinner.  I'll report back if I can get them right with this method.  Otherwise its back to my old simmer in a saucepan method.  Those cooked right, but never looked pretty.

Cooking Week 3: Soups

I may be posting more than once for this cooking week.  My craving for Zuppa Toscana coincided with soup week so I made that for my main post.  I may also try to put together a soup for the boy to take to work, but I may slack off on that.  We'll see. 

Anyways.

Zuppa Toscana is a delicious soup at Olive Garden with some kale, sausage, potatoes, and bacon.  Its got a bit of cream to it, but it isn't too heavy.  I tried copycat recipe for it and it turned out great! 

I found the recipe here and followed most of the directions of the first comment shown. 

Pictured with a slice of delicious homemade wheat bread.

• 1 lb hot  Italian sausage
• 3 large russet baking potatoes , sliced 1/4 inch slices then quartered
• 1 small onion , chopped
• 3 strips bacon
•  2 garlic cloves , minced
• 3 cups kale, chopped
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups half and half 

Brown Italian sausage in skillet.  If you have links, just squeeze the innards out of the casing to do so. Put into stockpot when done.

In same skillet cook bacon and shopped onion side by side.  (or on top of one another like I did)

Add onions, kale, garlic, potatoes, broth, and water to stockpot.  Chop bacon and add as well. 

Cook over medium-high heat for 30 minutes.  Add half and half and cook for another 15-20 minutes making sure to stir well.  If when you first taste it you can taste too much of the half and half mix it up and let it blend a bit more. 

My first bite I could definitely taste the half and half so I loaded it up with garlic salt and mixed it up a bit more and then it tasted exactly like Olive Garden soup. 

It was definitely an overall win. 

Cooking Week 2: Chinese Food

The boy and I are not really big fans of asian food in general.  We love Thai, but not much else really.  Because of this I've never made any asian food before (not counting the PF Changs in a bag stuff and my one attempt at fortune cookies) and this seemed like a hefty challenge for me this week.  After much researching of recipes I finally settled on a Weight Watchers friendly General Tso's Chicken. 

I apologize for the photo.  Even though the whole point was to cook food and photograph it for the challenge, I forgot to take a picture until we had already started eating and settled in to watch an episode of Babylon 5.  (wow big post, I've revealed myself as needing to lose weight and being a sci-fi nerd in 2 paragraphs!)  I also served it with store bought potstickers and a dipping sauce I made that we wound up not liking so I won't share the recipe. 

General Tso's Chicken, however, was a hit.  I could have gone for a bit more kick in it but it was a nice change of pace.  Here's the recipe adapted from the Weight Watcher's website with my changes. 

4 servings

3/4 cup(s) canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium    
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch   
2 Tbsp sugar    
2 Tbsp soy sauce (we like organic Kikoman)   
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar   
1/2 tsp ground ginger (I used about this amount of freshly grated ginger)
2 tsp sesame oil (original recipe called for peanut but I bought sesame when I was planning on different recipe and didn't have peanut in the house so I used this)
2 medium uncooked scallion(s), chopped
2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pound  boneless skinless chicken breast(s), cut into 2-inch pieces  (I used one very large one which was less than a pound)

2 cup(s) cooked white rice, kept hot   
1 bag steamed veggies kept hot (I used a broccoli and cauliflower mix)

• In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.
  
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Add chicken; sauté until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
  
• Add sauce to pan and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.  My sauce didn't seem to thicken much, so don't be surprised if yours doesn't either. 
  
• Serve chicken, sauce, and veggies over rice. Yields about 1 cup chicken with sauce and 1/2 cup rice per serving.

  Here is the original recipe for your reference.

Baking week is all about miniatures so check back soon!  


   

Cooking Week One: Eggs

This week's cooking theme is eggs.  I kind of just decided that a frittata sounded like a good idea so for my recipe I turned to the trusty Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.  I own the 15th edition and it is my go-to whenever I need basic recipes.  For the frittata, you combine 8 eggs and some seasoning (salt, pepper, anything else you want) and set it aside.

Then you heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a skillet and cook about 1.5 c. of veggies and 1/3 sliced green onions in it about 5 minutes over medium heat.  Stir in 1/2 c. meat ( I used sliced deli ham).  Then pour egg mixture over everything.  As the mix sets you lift up the set bits and let the raw eggs flow under to cook.  You keep doing this until it is almost set.  The pictures that follow show the progress of the frittata.

When the mixture is almost set, sprinkle with 1/2 c. cheese and bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes.

Serves 4 (or provides you with breakfast for most of the work week).