Cooking at home: Turning leftovers into something new

For the cooking at home assingnment I decided to make homeade mac and cheese using leftover pasta in my frige. Privously the night before my mom had made some alferdo pasta for dinner, but she had cooked to much pasta which we then put the pasta in its own little container. I also had some left over lays chips that were going to go stale soon, so I decided to use them ontop my mac and cheese as a cunchy element. First, I started making a roux, which included butter sligtly brown, flour and milk. Then once that was all smooth I added in to different delicious cheeses, which were cheddar and mozzarella. Once everything was combined the cheese sauce was complete and it looked so good. Next, I added in my leftover pasta into the sauce and mixed then together. Then I poured the mixture into a glass casserole dish and added on the bread crumbs, lays potato chips and exrtra cheese. I put it into the oven and when it came out it looked awesome there was bubbly cheese and top with crisp bread crums. For this recipe I used this link here https://www.momontimeout.com/best-homemade-baked-mac-and-cheese-recipe/ . If I were to make this dish again I would change nothing, I was so, so, so good! There was only only thing I had to overcome I did not have heavy whipping cream, so instead I had to subsititute it for milk, which worked really good it just made the mac and chhese a little more runny. My favorite part of this recipe was me eating the mac and cheese at the end I loved it so much. I am most proud that I was able to create a new dish using leftovers!

Cooking at home #7 – Family Traditions

For my Dish this week I decided I would make something really nostalgic for my family. That dish is pasta! every Thursday my family and I would have pasta, and every time the pasta would be severed with tomato sauce. This was something I loved eating as a child, but as my brothers and I got older my parents stopped making it. So, it was really great to go back and have it again. It brought up a lot of memories for me and almost made me cry. How I made this dish was very simple, first I started off by boiling and salting some water. Then, I wait for the water to boil and added in my pasta. Next, I strained my streaming hot pasta and added it to my favorite bowl. Lastly, I mixed up the sauce and added it on top of the pasta, then I stirred it all together and enjoyed it. Surprisingly for the first time, I did not face any challenges through making the pasta. My favorite part of the dish was the end result just the taste of the Jared sauce and the pasta mixed together brought back so many happy memories. Even though this dish is very simple and easy it means a lot to me and I would never want to forget all the great times this pasta gave me. Lastly, when I used to eat the dish with my family my favorite part was when my dad would come home and we would eat it all together. Sometimes, my mom would make her own sauce or add in meatballs, but this is how I member it the most.

Buddha Bowl

Last week, for are cooking at home assignment we were asked to make Buddha bowls. At first, I had no idea what a buddha bowl was until I looked up some pictures and saw that a buddha bowl was basically a big salad. I was really excited to make this but I was nervous to cook raw meat because I wanted to add chicken to mine. I now realize that a buddha bowl is supposed to be vegetarian, but it’s okay. So, I cut the chicken into cubs so they were easier to cook, then put the chicken into a pan and started cooking it which I was so scared that the chicken wasn’t going to be fully cooked. In the end, though I had fully cooked my chicken and it was super juicy. I cut up all the veggies into thin strips and made some brown rice for the base of the bowl. I put some zucchini into a pan and began to cook it with some spices unit tender. Then, I began stacking everything in order so that the bowl would look aesthetically pleasing. First, I put down the healthy brow rice at the bottom. Next, I added in some romaine lettuce to give the bowl some crunch, and then on tope added in my veggie which was avocado, for creaminess, carrots for some crunch, Zucchini for some flavor and my chicken for some texture. My favorite thing about making this bowl was the end result, It tasted really delicious and looked so beautiful.

This is how my buddha bowl turned out!!

Cooking at home – using what you have

Today I decided I would make some dinner for my family with what we already had at home. So, I made Chicken, mushroom, linguine pasta in a creamy white sauce. For this dinner, I asked my mother to help me because I didn’t want to wreak our dinner. First, we started by boiling the linguine pasta in some salty water. Then, I cooked up some chicken breast with some different spices (with a little help from my mom). Next, we made a creamy white sauce from scratch and added in the mushrooms. lastly, I added the noodles and chicken into the cream white mushroom sauce. My mom had made this dish before, so I did not need to use a recipe because my mother told me all the amounts of ingredients. If I were to make this recipe again I would try to make the sauce thinner because I was really thick. Before I made this recipe I was really nervous to cook raw meat because I didn’t want to undercook the meat nor make it dry by overcooking it. When I started cooking the chicken I got my mother to take over at the end, because I wanted to make sure it was fully cooked. The best thing that happened during cooking this dish, was the end result. It tasted so delicious and I could get enough of it. I am most proud of making a dish for my entire family, and it wasn’t just a snack it was a full meal.

PS I’m sorry I do not have a picture of my face.

Cooking at home: Option 1

Today I decided I wanted to make homemade mac and cheese. I looked in our pantry and saw we had a little bit left of this swirly type of pasta so that’s what I used. Then I grabbed so shredded cheese and non-sheredded so I could have two different types of cheese. I began boiling some water and I new to add in the pasta when I could hear the roaring sound of the bubble bursting at the surface. Once the pasta was nicely cooked I strained it and added in my soft and silky cheese along with some milk and creamy butter. I stirred it until it was all combined and had a nice stringy cheese pull to the noodles. I put it in a pan and covered it with more cheese and some bread crumbs. I took the mac and cheese out when I could hear the bread crumb sizzle and the cheese and tope were nicely coloured. I did not use a recipe and had so much fun making this by just eyeballing everything. I’m so happy it turned out great and tasted so delicious. I had to overcome almost cutting myself on a cheese greater though because my hand slipped, but after that everything went smoothly. I could definitely see myself making this dish again, the only thing I would do differently would be to add more cheese next time.

Cooking at Home – #5 Working as a team

This week I really wanted to do something nice for my mother since she has been doing everything in the house. I decided I was going to do my job which is unloading the dishwasher but load it as well which is my brother’s job. I also cleaned our bathroom this week because it really needed to be cleaned and I set the table every day so my mother didn’t have to. At the end of this week, it felt really good to help people in my family out. It felt rewarding to me knowing that I made my moms and bothers day just a little bit better. My mother is very thankful that I did this for her and I think I will keep cleaning the bathroom along with setting to table every day. She also, liked that I was unloading the dishes without her having to ask me. when COVID 19 came I knew that I would be unloading the dishwasher more and doing more chores, but I haven’t really my family is only had one big clean so far which was us cleaning out our shed and raking the pile of leaves. When I first started to clean the bathroom I was nervous to clean the toilet but after I found out how to do it, it wasn’t that bad. The reason I did this for my brother is because our relationship hasn’t been the best lately and so I wanted to show him that I care about him by doing his dishes. This was such an amazing experience and I hope that you can do something for your family during this time.

Sorry, this is the only picture I took and I don’t have one with my face in it.

Cooking at Home: Building your skills – Technique #4

For this lab, I really wanted to challenge myself by making something that takes a lot of effort and time. I made macarons for the first time, and it turned out great. The reason I wanted to make macarons was because there the first thing I want to get for dessert and since they are so so delicious to eat. I also, thought that if I could make them at home I would be able to save my parents a lot of money because macarons are expensive. The recipe I used was from a website called Tasty, who I’ve actually heard about before and makes lots of different recipes and videos on food. The recipe was very straight through and detailed. If I could go back and give myself some advice before I made the macrons I would say read the instructions properly maybe a few times and don’t over mix the mixture. also, for anyone else who wanted to make macarons, I would say go for it just don’t be intimidated.

This recipe took me two and a half hours to make because there was a lot of waiting time. Almost half the time is waiting. At one point into making the macarons, I overmixed the egg whites so I couldn’t add in the sugar that I needed too. So, I had to restart my egg whites. But that’s the only thing I had trouble with. I was very happy when the macarons came out, they did not rise that much but a was so pound of myself for even attempting these. I also had so much fun making buttercream frosting for the middle of the macarons that I had never made. The flavor was a vanilla macaron with vanilla buttercream frosting. I will definitely make these again and again and try to make them perfect. Next time, I want to experiment with different flavors, maybe a salted caramel or strawberry.

This is before I cooked the macarons
This is after the macarons cooked for about 17 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit

Cooking at Home – Using what you already have

This week, I really wanted a challenge for myself, something I would never make but would eat it in a restaurant. So, that is why I decided to attempt to make prawns and linguine pasta in homemade butter and garlic sauce. first, I went into my freezer and saw a bag of uncooked prawns then the idea popped into my head. I will make some linguine pasta! so, I got out the ingredients I needed. I knew that I didn’t want to go for just plain old alfredo sauce, so I asked my mother what sauce she thought would be good and she said I should do a garlic butter sauce. So that’s what I did. She gave me guidance on how to make the sauce.

First I put some water in a medium pot and let it come to a boil. When I heard bubbles begin to pop I knew it was time to add my thin and delicate linguine pasta to the slightly salty water. while that was going I made the sauce, first, I put some salted butter into a pan and while I did that I heard the butter begin sizzle so I turned the heat down just a little. Then I chopped up some garlic and threw it in the pan with the butter, the strong scent of garlic hit my face as it was put in. Then I add a bit of olive oil and let it sit for a moment as I checked on the pasta. The pasta was so delicate while I was straining it. I added in the noncooked prawns to the sauce, a fishy scent wafting toward me hit my nose from the prawns. I let that cook then added in my pasta to the sauce, everything was starting to come together and smell amazing. lastly, I put it into a bowl and topped it off with some fresh parmesan.

Next time I would change the amount of prawn to noodles. It was just a little too many prawns for not enough noodles, so I would add more noodles and fewer prawns. I also was able to keep cooking even though I had burned myself on a hot pan when I was beginning to cook this meal. I ran my hand under cold water and then pushed through to make the food. Furthermore, I was so proud of myself that I was able to make a dish that I thought was going to be difficult, and I did it all by myself and it looked beautiful. lastly, I am excited that I now know how to cook another thing and now can help out my parents by making this dish once a week for them.

Here is a picture of the pasta!

Knife Skills

For this lab, I had to make an omelet. I was actually really excited to make this because I had never tried one and it looked really delicious. When I found out we needed to use a knife to chop up veggies I was a little scared. But when I was actually preparing it, it was going well. It was definitely a little messy when I was chopping up the veggies. All the pieces were the same and I remembered to put my potatoes in the microwave beforehand. Also, I decided not to put the cheese in my omelet because I would have not eaten it and it would have goon to waste. Since to do not like cheese. when we were actually cooking the omelets I had my burner up to high so I almost burnt my omelet but I turned it down and it didn’t burn. My partner and I had made beautiful looking omelets with only one miss hap.

Before we made anything we had a demonstration on the right way of how to hold a knife. We also needed to know how to cut the veggies properly. You want to make sure all the veggies are cut to the right shape because it will affect your final presentation. we had dice our pieces pretty small keeping them all the same size. How you would hold your knife would be by, using your thumb and pointer finger to grip and hold the handle then you use a rocking motion when you are cutting your veggies. You want to make sure the blade of the knife doesn’t leave the cutting board.

My Perfect Omelet
(or at least in my mind) 🙂
(P.S I am very sorry, I do not have an actual picture of my knife skills.)

Safety and Sanitation

I made banana muffins and added chocolate chips into it, after Mrs. Labossiere said it was okay. I was really excited to make the muffins because I have made them at home and they are amazing. I was really good at making sure the ingredients were all measured out. but I struggled with putting in and taking out the muffins because I am really scared of heat. I was very concerned about the egg in the batter but is just cooks into it I was also nevus to eat banana in it since I hate bananas but once I added chocolate in it tasted delicious , i tried to keep my station as clean as possible by keeping wiping the tables and regularly washing my hands after I touched things like raw egg. I had so much fun making it.

these are the best muffins