Wednesday, January 27, 2010

all grown up

my michigan friend and i whipped up some yummy, fresh meals over the weekend. aka, i slowly chopped onions while she did everything else. we are all aware of my stellar cooking skills, i mean i've burnt pancakes and used to live off ramen noodles.

inspired by my healthy, organized friend, i decided i probably ought to start being somewhat more grown-up (less lazy) about cooking/eating. on this week's trip to the food store i purchased real food!




i definitely have no idea how to select good vegetables. these looked good enough - colorful, not mushy, no mold. i also have no idea how to prepare fresh veggies. i rinsed them and then, uh, just started cutting.

i threw the eggplant and peppers in a pan with olive oil, and after they ... sauteed? (see, mad cooking skills) i added some chicken broth. then i realized i forgot the spinach so i tossed that in too.



simmering

i also had some brown rice cooking and i definitely need to work on my cooking-multi-tasking and timing. the veggies were done a bit before the rice, but it all still turned out tasty. hey, i didn't even have a recipe to follow!




still need to work on my plate presentation
m&m's would also make a great side, in my opinion


c'mon hollywood. i'm totally the next "julie and julia" material.

31 comments:

  1. Haha, its colorful, no mold- MUST be good, haha.

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  2. good for you! cooking without a recipe and with no idea what you're doing can be hard. Looks like you ended up with success!!

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  3. I'd be on the lookout for "Bon Appetite" magazine folk coming to your door!!!!

    Nice job on the veggies! I agree, a very colorful chain of M&M's to circle the plate would have been awesome!!

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  4. I like that, I shop by color too. Although I don't think I've ever willingly bought an eggplant.

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  5. Great job on the veggies! I think the M & M's would have been a great side :-)

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  6. Love the attitude. I think that making your own food (not from a box) is one of the best health decisions you can make and honestly cooking isn't really that difficult after you work out a few kinks through trial and error... definitely not as difficult as training for and running a marathon!

    Also, kudos on the eggplant. How'd that turn out? I'm intrigued.

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  7. You did GREAT!
    Spinach is always better if you toss it in last so perfect!
    Here's a brown rice tip: Cook up a bunch of it at once then divide and freeze it because (as you now know) it takes eons to cook.

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  8. Look at you, all domesticated! ;)

    I love colorful dinners.

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  9. Wow....... next your going to tell us you finally finished your home improvements! :P

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  10. getting multiple things to be ready at the same time is difficult. sounds like you did great!

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  11. lol.. so i totally identify with this post. i eat lots of fruits and veggies, but i actually buy almost exclusively frozen veggies b/c they are way easier to deal with and they don't go bad. so when i had all my college friends up for a reunion and we went grocery shopping, lo and behold, someone bought onions and tomatoes and i was just like... HUH. people do that. oh yeah. hilarious :) i always forget about it, but i think i could manage a tomato here and there... it's just not a habit :) onions... another story. i don't think i can cut onions.

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  12. Good for you! Honestly, I do not even go to the produce section of the grocery store!

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  13. Looks good to me! I think you have more cooking talent than you give yourself credit for!

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  14. I loved cooking when I first moved out- I really got into trying new things and playing around in the kitchen. Now I feel a little more seasoned and my confidence has grown. Keep up the grown up work!!

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  15. Great cooking!
    Honestly, I think you need to get J interested in cooking. I almost never cook, my husband does it most of the time. I warm things up, etc, but rarely cook. Honestly, I much rather do something else. Doing dishes is quicker, so I usually do that. Oh, and M&M's go with everything!

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  16. I'm not a huge fan of cooking either, but I love colorful veggies! And they're really easy and fast to make! Nice job. Love the pics too.

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  17. Yummy! How fun was that, cooking with your friend?

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  18. Too many veggies, too few ramen noodles.

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  19. looks yummy. Next time try ading some spices. Cumin, curry or ginger would have been yummy on this. Fresh garlic, soy sauce or tobasco would add a kick of flavor. And M&Ms are a nice addition to any meal. We still have a few left from Xmas in white with hohoho stamped on them. I imagine they'll be gone by Sunday.

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  20. M&M's would definitely look real nice next to that plate of food.

    You caught me off guard with the egg plant. Maybe I should grow up too and try it again. It can't taste as bad as I thought it did when I was a kid and my mom fixed it.

    That plate looks yummy.

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  21. Is that your one pot/pan that is provided in the apartment? I'm so proud!

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  22. You crack me up with all the M&M talk. It would add color to any plate, though, even one that already has a lot of color to begin with :-)

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  23. Yes. I think with the propoer presentation of M&M's you could also cover the blue food group. How many daily servings?

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  24. Wow, seems a lot of people are posting on food. Thanks for the recipe. I will might have to try that out some time.

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  25. m&ms would make an excellent side...very colorful, just like the meal! it looks tasty though...i LOVE eggplant and i always forget about it when i'm at the grocery store. i totally get excited when i make 'grown up' meals too...ie something that doesn't come from a box hehe

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  26. 265 meals in 265 days, do it!! The food looked a little too healthy for me, but good to hear that it was tasty. I'll stick to take out food, thank you very much!

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  27. Looks yummy other than the eggplant.

    For presentation go for height not width!

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  28. very nice job, there, lady, now how did it taste?! I know the feeling of "should eat better" but it's not often that I get to do it!

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  29. You are too funny about thinking M&M's would be good with your healthy dinner. It makes me think of eating chocolate chips with my waffles. So I think you should make waffles and sprinkle chocolate chips in the batter, then close the lid. Add some butter and they are yummy.

    Oh, and in your last post you commented about the abs doing them later. I've been saying that all night about my situps.

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