Tuesday, August 16, 2011

My First Home Cooked Meal

While there are times I love going out to eat and trying new restaurants, I also enjoy eating at home. Often times I get sick of eating out and crave a home cooked meal. This works out well since I absolutely love to cook. You name it, I'll find a recipe and before you know it, dinner is ready.

I find cooking new dishes interesting. Also, being in the kitchen is a stress reliever for me. I can be completely stressed out from the day, come home, whip up a batch of cookies and feel instantly better. (All my guy friends in college benefited a lot when this happened because I would always just show up with food for them.)

Ever since I moved, I haven't had a kitchen I was able to cook in. Before last night, my cooking skills have been used to make pb&j sandwiches and frozen pizzas. Very sad, I know. After the installation of our new kitchen counter this weekend, this is no longer going be the case



Yesterday was the first time I have been able to cook since I've moved and it was amazing. I found a recipe with the fewest amount of ingredients (so it would be cheaper) and headed straight to the grocery store after work. I was so excited to be able to walk around the grocery store and pick out all the ingredients I needed. (Yes, I am one of those weird people who actually enjoy going grocery shopping.)

While I have been wanting to cook pinto beans, rice and cornbread (don't laugh at me, it's delicious), I'm waiting for my parents to mail me Tony Cachere's Seasoning before I do. Instead I decided to cook Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup. This would be healthy and last me for the week to eat at work. The soup was extremely easy to make and had very little clean up afterwards.




As I began cooking, Erica arrived home with her own groceries to make a pasta salad. I am not usually a huge fan of pasta salads because they don't have enough sauce for me (in my opinion the more sauce the better). However, this pasta salad was different from most. It was made with tortellinis and had a balsamic and red wine vinegar dressing. It was also filled with onions, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and asparagus. I tried some of it and it was amazing.



After both meals were done, Erica and I were impressed by each other's dishes and plan on swapping recipes soon. We talked about what we could do differently to each one next time we cook them so they will be even better. I'm sure these two meals will be made often in the months to come.

After dinner, we sat on the couch and talked. Our apartment finally started feeling like home. I don't know if it was the smell of the food, being able to actually cook for once or what, but it was amazing. Erica and I both agreed that the apartment just felt better afterwards. I know it will only get better because we plan on cooking as often as we can afford and I can't wait.

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