Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Food Network Addict....

One of the joys of working in the schools is getting long breaks... no need to take a vacation for the holidays; I get one-paid. Well, for now "paid" is a modest description of the peanuts I earn, but next year, watch out (okay, again, modest- I work for the schools...)

Anyway, I spent a LOT of time watching Food Network. I mean, take what you think is a lot of Food Network, and multiply by 10. I am in that ballpark. And while watching I typically had two responses...

1. What the heck is a _____

or...

2. I can do that/ It would be really good if you added _____.

Now let me back up. Growing up, I hated cooking. I hated being in the kitchen, but in retrospect I think I was intimidated by the kitchen. When I lived on my own, I was teased that I would never cook or that I couldn't cook.

This summer that all changed. I really started to enjoy cooking. I especially loved grilling. I started to experiment. I perfected a burger. I got genuine compliments about what I made. People asked me for a recipe... ME!

Then school started- and there went my time to cook. Getting home at 8pm is not a prime "I want to cook dinner for you" time.

Over break, I cooked when I had time. And I made another really good dish... Tortilla Crusted Chicken and rice. It was good, really good. I tried it with fish today (Tilapia) and it was darn good.

Grocery shopping today I decided to turn things around from my usual in a bag meal. While usually pretty good, they are overpriced. I could make the same thing at a fraction of the cost. I left the store today with staples.... and it felt good.

Move over Rachel Ray, put your shoes on Barefoot Contessa; 30 minute meals- I got you beat at 20 minutes; and Good Eats, I got what you're lookin' for!

(okay cheesy I know... I am excited though!)

5 comments:

Shannon said...

Ha! I'm a total Food Network addict. Matter of fact, I'm watching it right now...Ultimate Recipe Showdown.

Jessica said...

Yes, I must say that you have come a long way with your cooking skills, and I am sure if I had cable, I would be pretty additcted to the food network as well! I want to try that chicken!

Jen said...

I watched that too (well, until the remote was taken from me!) Hope you are well!

Christine said...

I was just checking out the Food Network site! I found two Alton Brown recipes I want to try: Baked Mac and Cheese & Vegetable Curry. I also saw some really cool Food Network stuff at Kohls today. They have awesome kitchen stuff there. I had to talk myself out of buying a bunch of mugs.

ALSO! I saw this cooking pot on an episode of Bizarre Food when he was in Morocco. I could never remember the name of it but I stumbled across it today. It's called a tagine. You should check it out.

Jen said...

The tagine is really cool! I will put it on the wish list for sure :) I'm gonna check out those recipes you suggested now, they sound good. On another note, I bought The Office boardgame so if you ever want to play...