Main dish: Fettuccini Pasta with Sautéed Prawns

Side dish: Green Salad

Appetizer: Sticky Sesame Cauliflower Bites

I planned for my meal to be some of the favourites in our household. I chose to make 3 meals; for an appetizer I made Sticky Sesame Cauliflower Bites, using a recipe I found online. My family really enjoys the Cauliflower appetizer from the Keg Restaurant so I tried to make a similar dish. I chose this dish because it reminds me of the good times we have when we go out to the Keg for dinner as a family, normally to celebrate one of our Birthdays.

For the main course I made Fettuccini Pasta with sautéed Prawns, this was a basic dish, just boiled the pasta until it was al dente and sautéed the Prawns in olive oil and garlic. Pasta is one of my favourite all time dishes. So it was an easy choice for me to make it as a main dish. I enjoy the texture of the pasta plus the prawns turned out just perfect, firm but tender.

For the side dish I chose to make a Green Salad with homemade Italian dressing (Mom’s recipe). Pasta can be heavy and very filling so I thought a nice green salad with romain lettuce, cucumbers, baby tomatoes and a bit of feta cheese would be a good side dish to complement the pasta dish.

Before starting I checked what I needed to buy. Likely we had most of the ingredients the only ones we had to go shopping for were the Cauliflower, lettuce and the Prawns. I prepared the appetizer first, following the recipe I found online. While the Cauliflower was baking in the oven I prepared the sesame sauce to go with the baked Cauliflower. One thing I would change if I make the sesame sauce again is cut down on the garlic, we all found it a bit to strong. Once the Cauliflower was golden brown I took it out of the oven an put it aside along with the sesame sauce. During this time I had put a pot of water boiling to cook the pasta, once the pasta was about done, I sautéed the Prawns, these took no time. I then put the salad together quickly so that the rest of the meal did not get cold.

Trying to finish everything at once was a bit of challenge but I managed without to much trouble! I believe I shown strength in the following skill by being able to multi-task in getting all the different dishes completed at the same time. I set the table quickly for me and my family and sat down to enjoy a very delicious meal. This meal reflects who I am because the appetizer reminds me of how much fun we have as a family, the pasta dish is one of my all time favourite foods, and salad is a staple at our table most evening. #foodsblock4

Had a craving for chilli, so that’s what we had for dinner the other night. Since we already had ground beef in the fridge, my mom asked me what I wanted, I said chilli, and she said ok you got this. Since it was already getting late, I decided to use the instant pot again. I ended up using a recipe for this dish because I didn’t know exactly what to put in the chilli. I put the instant pot to sauté, add olive oil and the ground beef and cooked it for a bit. Once the meat was done I added the onion and garlic and let these cook for about 3 minutes. I then added all the other ingredients from the recipe. Closed the lid to the instant pot, made sure to put the knob on the top of the lid on the venting position and picked the “Chilli/Beans” setting. Set the timer as per the recipe and let the instant pot do it’s “thing”. Challenges that I had was trying to remember how to work the instant pot and ended up asking mom for a few tips. The most success and surprising thing was the use of coco powder in this recipe, even my mom had not used coco powder in any chilli recipes she had previously made. The thing I was most proud about this dish was being able to use the instant pot again and how tasty the chilli turned out. We all enjoyed it very much. My mom thought it was one of the best chilli she had, even better then her own.#foodsblock4

Being part Portuguese means I know about salted cod or as the Portuguese call it “Bacalhau”. There are many ways to cook salted cod. My mom’s side of family eats it frequently and we do too at our house. At our Christmas Eve gatherings, “Bacalhau” is the main course. Normally it’s barbecued and then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and some garlic and served with smashed potatoes. These are two very simple and rustic dishes that together are very delicious. This time we baked the cod with oil and garlic, once baked we shredded it and sprinkled with diced parsley and drizzled a bit more olive oil. Boiled the potatoes until fork tender and then put them in the oven to bake with the cod. This dish was simple to make and we did not follow a recipe. Some challenges I faced while making this dish was I have never made it before so it was hard for me to know what to do at first. I overcame this challenge by asking my mom to help me make it so I wouldn’t miss up. The greatest success I had was how the “Bacalhau” turned out on my first time. The thing I am most proud about this dish was how good the “Bacalhau” tasted.#foodsblock4

I was very busy with school and I just wanted something small and quick. So I decided to make a quick and easy lunch snack without a recipe. I made a grill cheese with some peppers and snap peas on the side. For the grill cheese I started with 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, spread mayonnaise on both outer pieces (instead of butter, a secret I got from my friend Tiana, it makes the bread very crispy). Added a couple slices of cheese between the bread slices and put it on a warm frying pan drizzled with a bit of cooking spray. I let the sandwich cook on one side and then flipped it over onto the other side to make sure the cheese melted evenly. While the sandwich was in the frying pan, I cut up some peppers and snap peas. I diced my snap peas and sliced my peppers. I would for sure make this dish again because it was a quick, easy and healthy lunch for someone like me that doesn’t have a lot of time to cook when concentrating on my school work. A challenge I overcame while making this dish was trying not to burn the bread. My greatest success in this dish was how the cheese was melted through the sandwich and the bread was crusty on the outer edges and still soft in the middle. I’m most proud about this dish because how good it turned out in such a short period of time. #foodsblock4

The other day I decided to make a buddha bowl for my family and I. My aunt loves these types of dinners so I decided to include her and my Papa and we all had dinner together. I didn’t use a recipe to build the buddha bowl but did use a recipe for the dressing “Carrot Ginger Dressing” which was delicious. For this buddha bowl I added a variety of greens, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, shelled Edamame beans and avocado. For the protein I added a few pieces of shrimp, sliced boiled egg and my aunt’s suggestion we added fried tofu. I had a variety of carbs, rice, quinoa and couscous, from which everyone could choose, some decided to have a bit of everything. I drizzled the dressing on the top and finished of with some green onion and cilantro. A challenge I faced while doing this dish was trying to make sure all of my ingredients were displaced on the dish. My greatest success in this dish was how much my family enjoyed it. This will definitely be a dish we will be making more often.#foodsblock4

I did cooking option #1. Avocado Toast with Egg & Hash-browns. This was my own creation. I felt like making a healthy breakfast. We had potatoes in our pantry so I cut the potatoes in bite size pieces and putting them in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil. Once the potatoes were done I cracked an egg on the frying pan and did it sunny side up. My mom taught me to put a little bit of water and cover the pan with a lid, this creates some steam and gives the white layer over the egg; which is the way we like it at our house. While the egg was frying I toasted a slice of bread. My first thought was to have toast with guacamole but because I was short on time, I decided to mash half an avocado instead. I spread my toast with the avocado and for presentation I put the egg on top with the Hash-browns on the side. I would for sure make this dish again because it was healthy and delicious. The one thing I would change would be not to over cook the egg, to have more of a runny yolk. A challenge I faced when making this dish is that the potatoes took to long to cook; next time I would cook the potatoes first before cutting them and making the Hash-browns. My greatest success in making this dish was how the potatoes turned out perfect and not to burnt or under cooked even though some were different sizes. Also they were well seasoned and tasted really good. The thing I am most proud of in this dish was that my mom really liked how perfect her egg was done and how tasty the whole dish turned out. #foodsblock4

I tried to challenge myself by cooking option number #3 which is Building your Skills-Tools. So I took it upon myself to use our Instant Pot! I had seen my Mom using it many times so I though to myself how hard can it be? I made Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. Since this was my first time using an Instant Pot I used a recipe from “Salty Marshmallow” so I could follow the recipe as well as the instruction on how to use the Instant Pot. I followed the recipe and it all went smoothly until it was time to Fast Release the pressure on the Instant Pot. For anyone that has not used one yet, it can be scary. Cooking with an Instant Pot, makes cooking faster and normally only use one pot. The challenge is making sure when the lid is closed and locked and the knob on top of the lid is put on Sealing so that the Instant Pot can come up to pressure, this happens when a red button goes up on its own. Once it comes up to pressure the time will count down to zero, at this time the pot will beep. During the next step I was extremely nervous because I had to Fast Release the pressure from the pot. Fortunately my Mom was close by and told me to use a wooden spoon to hit the knob down so that all the steam can be released and the red button press down. I would definitely make this dish again because it was very creamy and delicious. Some challenges I faced while making this dish was trying to learn how to work the Instant Pot. I was able to overcome this challenge by asking my mom some questions on how to use the Instant Pot properly. My greatest success on making this dish was how I learnt how to use the Instant Pot and how delicious the Mac and Cheese turned out. I am most proud of how the dish turned out and how much my family liked it, including my Nana and my Aunt. As an option I added breadcrumbs because my Nana used too.#foodsblock4

Leftovers can be yummy! Likely there was left over pulled pork in our fridge from the night before and we had quesadillas on hand, so I made pulled pork quesadillas for lunch. I didn’t use a recipe, instead I heated the pulled pork, placed a quesadilla on a frying pan, added some BBQ sauce, the warmed pulled pork and some cheese and put the other quesadilla on top. Heated everything using medium heat so not to burn the quesadilla. Once the BBQ sauce started to sizzle I flipped the quesadilla to make sure both sides where crispy. I realized at this point my flipping skills needed to improve. I could smell the pulled pork and the sauce while I waited. I took a peak at the quesadillas to see if the cheese was melted and ready to transfer to the cutting board. The quesadillas was crispy and tasted very delicious. My challenge was flipping the quesadillas, but since I was making more for my family, I was able to get better at flipping them. My greatest success in making these quesadillas was how they turned out golden brown on the outside and warm with all the cheese melted. I am most of proud of this dish because each time I made one I got better at flipping them; and also how much my parents liked their pulled pork with cheese quesadillas. #foodsblock4

Cooking with Option #1, which is “use what you already have”. In our fridge we happened to have fresh Chicken Thighs with the bone in. From there I looked for a recipe on the internet and made sure we had all the ingredients at home for the recipe I ended up using “Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs”. I was a bit nervous dealing with raw chicken for the first time so before I started I gather all my ingredients I needed. I prepared the mix of all the spices in a bowl and put it aside, next I put rubber gloves on before touching the raw chicken. Even through the gloves the raw chicken felt very slimy and rubbery. After that I put the chicken thighs in for 45 minutes as per the recipe. Once the chicken was done I took it out of the oven still hearing the sizzling noise of the chicken cooking. The smell of the spices on the chicken was an amazing smell that carried through our kitchen. I would definitely make this recipe again but I would leave the chicken in longer, probably increase to 1 hour baking time. Our family likes chicken crispy and falling of the bone. This was my first time making chicken and I was very proud on how it turned out. Some challenges I faced was knowing for sure if the chicken was fully cooked. My greatest success is that my chicken turned out really good for my first time. The thing I was most proud of in this experience was how much my parents really enjoy the meal and were very proud of my dish. #foodsblock4

For this lab I made an omelette that turned out really well and to my surprise it tasted very good. Pretty good for my first time! In this lab I was able to work at a fast pace and still cook my egg perfectly and have all my ingredients cuts evenly. Some challenges I faced in this lab was being able to flip my egg and to know if my egg was fully cooked. Safety is always a concern when cooking food, in this lab I had to make sure the egg was fully cooked through. I didn’t want to give food poisoning to myself or anyone else that wanted to try my awesome omelette. Some safety tips are making sure that the egg is hot all the way through; eggs should be treated the same way as when cooking chicken or meat. Sanitation is also very important, some tips is to wash the dishes and utensils in hot soapy water to make sure all the bacteria is gone. Surfaces that the eggs may have come in contact with need to be wiped down with hot soapy water. Always make sure the dishes, utensils, counter surfaces and the stove are cleaned properly to avoid contamination. #foodsblock4