I Suck At Cooking

[bjarvis]

That I'm not a great cook is no surprise to anyone who has lived with me. I can keep myself from starving to death but I have little more than a rudimentary ability to boil water.

The largest part of my problem could simply be described as a lack of imagination. I can follow a recipe easily enough. In fact, that's primarily how I cook and think: I picture the final product and then assemble the bits required to make it happen.

The problem I was dealing with tonight: I have a freezer, pantry and fridge loaded with basic food items but no concept of how to select the required few to assemble something edible. The enormous range of items was so overwhelming that I couldn't figure out where to start. (Well, that's not exactly true: I found two jars of chocolate sauce and a bag of chocolate chips so I was a little tempted to gorge myself into a diabetic coma.)

I think and organize in a top-down fashion but my array of ingredients are a bottom-up kind of problem, hence my state of brain lock.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be a bit more assertive in the face of overwhelming choices: I'm going to dig into the freezer again, thaw ground bird & vegetables and see what I can do with rice or pasta, depending on my mood at the time. Prayers for residents of our immediate neighbourhood would be appreciated.

Comments

[azura-mazda.livejournal.com]

He he, hey there Brian! Were you kind of looking for ideas? If you don't happen to have any pasta sauce, you could make a simple creme sauce (just cook some flour and butter [I can give your more explicit directions if you like] to make a roux and then gradually incorporate milk into it). You can then add some cheese, and voila a cheese cause for your pasta! You can easily mix some veggies into that or just have them as a side. As to the ground poultry, I often make simple burger patties with that (to make healthy burgers), but in this case if you are feeling adventurous could make little meatballs (yes, it's a bit messy). Now if you DO have pasta sauce, then you could simply mix the cooked ground poultry into the pasta sauce and pour over the pasta. Just some ideas. Bon appétit!

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I love recipes that begin with, "First you make a roux..."

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

i am envisioning you having an episode of Bob's Kitchen, or listening to Giada or Nigella from Food Network....and cursing them as you try to create their recipe.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I'm like you. I'm a good baker, because that entails following instructions in a recipe, that, if not followed, will usually lead to disaster. But I'm not a creative cook. I don't know what will and won't work together, what herbs and spices blend well. So I leave the cooking to others, and instead have concentrated on being a good eater.

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

Go online to one of several sites (Google "quick recipes".) Most let you type in or choose an ingredient, and you're good to go!

http://www.myrecipes.com/quick-and-easy/

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world. I am now responsible for cooking dinner on weeknights. Be afraid, be very afraid...for my family.

[brunorepublic.livejournal.com]

I'll bet I suck harder at cooking than you! I can't even follow recipes....

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Why make this cooking thing so complicated? There is no magic sekrit to it, really, there isn't. :-)

Last Sunday I did something I remembered Mom's cousin Ann did several years ago, she took a packet of dried Lipton's onion soup mix, mixed it up with the ground beef and made burgers and it was good. I've done it once before and so that was what I did, but I didn't get buns to go with so just cooked them up and ate them as is, very tasty if you ask me.

So from that, I could, if I wanted, extrapolate that into meatloaf and just pour ketchup or tomato sauce over the top and bake.

But then again, I AM a creative type so it's easy. :-)

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

do any of the recipes involve chicken stock (lost or found)?