After much deliberation, I will be using both the James Beard book and The Lady and Son's Savannah Country Cookbook by Paula H. Deen. It has a better day by day recipe guide. I am already so exhausted with cooking LOl. I now understand why in a kitchen setting you have the preppers, dishwashers etc. It takes a lot of work prepping, washing dishes, cooking and cleaning. The only thing I have a problem with thus far is the cleaning.. :-( I hate cleaning and I know it has to be done, I just wish there was a easier way to it all. I have no clue what I did this weekend, But I am SOooooo drained. I guess after running after a 1 year old, trying to meet your husbands needs and finding time for me and cooking it gets a little tiring after awhile. I think I'm going to throw in the towel and call it a night. I hope I get good, uninterrupted sleep tonight. Good night all.

Signing out-- 9:16pm

June 5th-- Day 2

So for dinner tonight I was planning on making the Terriyaki Chicken But I forgot to marinate the chicken lol. So I made Chicken strips instead. Who knew that tossing a couple spices in with flour and shacking the chicken strips in them would make such a tasty meal. Every day it surprises me how tasty these meals are with just the simplest of recipes. I also made a homemade White lemon sauce that complemented the chicken so well. To be completely honest, I don't think I will be wanting to cook this meal again. Although it was definitely tasty and light, I just think I have had my fill on Chicken strips for a long time. I think in America its some what of a comfort food and we tend to over eat these kinds of foods. I am really excited to experiment more with exotic and interesting dishes that are a little more challenging. For those of you that are reading my posts, If you would like to recommend a cook book that would be a good one to cook through with a variety of recipes I would love to hear them. I am planning on cooking through a new book and following the theory that Mr. Beard has. Unfortunately this is all I have to write today. Tomorrow I think we will be cooking a Fish Dish :-)

Signing Out-- 9:06

June 4th--- Day 1

Today I have cooked 'Favorite Meat Loaf'. I was a little apprehensive going into it since I have never cooked meat loaf before and it's a good thing I brought my confidence along for the journey. I think the meat loaf turned out GREAT.

Ingredients-

2 pounds ground Beef
1pound ground pork ( sausage meat will do)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 fairly large onion, Finely Chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon summer savory
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs lightly beaten
Bacon or salt pork cut into strips

I would allow at least 30 minutes prep time. I would also recommend thawing the meat out a head of time. When I got started at about 4:30 or 5pm I had forgot to lay the meat out to thaw. I hate thawing meat in the microwave because 100% of the time It ends up cooking the ends. I have to remember to get a large mixing bowl the next time I am at the store. I had to substitute mixing the ingredients in a large pot because of the lack of a mixing bowl. I started mixing the two pounds of meat with the LB of sausage. Then started mixing all the spices into the meat. I don't know if any of you have heard of summer savory, but apparently it is a spice and my local H.E.B does not carry it. So I had to substitute the 1 tsp summer savory with 1 tsp cumin. I didn't have time to make homemade breadcrumbs, which when better prepared I will have them on hand. Instead I used Progresso brand bread crumbs. I have to admit, they aren't too shabby. I don't care much for onions so I didn't add any. I set the oven to 350 degrees and lined my roasting pan (because I didn't have a backing dish 1 1/2 inch. deep) with turkey bacon and laid my then formed beef loaf on top. I also added a couple slices or bacon on top of the loaf. You will need to cook the meat for about 1hr and 1/2 and test the meat with a meat thermometer when done. You are looking for a tempt of 150. I basted the meat about every 15 minutes with hot stock. I would recommend this to keep the meat moist. It may get a little messy, but I promise it will be well worth it.

I cooked some peas and cooked carrots for the vegetable and mashed potatoes for the side. To my utter surprise, The dish came out so savory!!!! I had Chris Carve the meat and serve it up. I have to say, Growing up, meat loaf was such a drag. No offense to my Mom's cooking (she is such a great cook) but it was very bland and always required some kind of sauce. Almost always Ketchup. I have to say, Eating this Meat loaf I didn't need a single drip of Ketchup or any other sauce. Every bit was a burst of flavor and deliciousness. Even Kayla would scream if I didn't have another bit of food ready and in front of her face. LOL it was so cute! Needless to say there were a lot of MMMm's and Ohhhhhhs at the dinner table. :-) I would have to say, Day one of this cooking experience has got me wanting more. Tomorrow I will be attempting to cook Teriyaki Broiled Chicken. Sounds yummy!

Signing out- 8:36pm

June 4th-- Preparation

This morning I picked up my 'James Beard's American Cookery' book. I was so excited to have it that I even went to the WRONG book store at first!! ;-). Last night I called Boarders to see if they had this book in stock which they did. The gentlemen asked if I would like to put it on hold, In which I respond with a "You Bet I do!" Well, this morning I stopped by Barnes and Noble and was completely disappointing when the book wasn't on hold and not even on their shelves. *SIGH* The lady apologized and softly said "why don't you check over at Boarders?" *LIGHT BULB* With an embarrassed look, Nod and smile I responded with "Great Idea! Thanks." and was on my way. Gladly the book was on hold at Boarders and to top it off, I had 10 dollar gift card in hand :-).

At home I started reading through, and I quote, "The Bible of American cooking by "the king of gourmets" -Time" As you can imagine by the reference, This book is HUGE. There are over 800 pages all in which have amazing Culinary Literature. It teaches you everything from poaching an egg to shopping, picking and preparing the best meats. There are some great recipes in here, But I believe this book is mainly a guide to cooking. Plus Culinary Literature of the history of recipes and how American experimentation has changed these recipes over the years. I think towards the middle or end of this year I will be using a different cookbook but using the techniques I will be learning in Mr. Beards book.

"There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing." ---Beard.


Tonight I will be cooking 'Favorite Meat Loaf'. according to the book, In the 1900's one of the very first published recipes for meat loaf appeared in Mrs. Rorer's cookbook. Meat Loaf has been revised over the years to adhere to the specific taste of the people cooking it. The recipe I will be using was inspired by Mrs. Rorer's and Mr. Beard loved it simply because of the way it is cooked.

I hope this meat loaf comes out good!! I have never cooked meat loaf before.

Signing out to cook-- 4.49pm

To my readers-- Thank you so much for continuing to follow and support me. I hope I can catch your interest as each day continues to pass.

June 3rd, 2010--- Creation

What a great Idea Julie had when she created a blog about cooking through Julia Child's cookbook. I had one of those "Why didn't I think of that" moments when watching the movie for the first time today. I was so inspired that I decided to take on the challenge myself. When deciding who's cook book I wanted to use I did some research on famous chef's, who one way or another, Impacted the way Culinary is done today. So all our famous cooks came and were inspired, not surprisingly, from France and French Cuisine. After doing some research, I have come to the conclusion that I will be attempting to cook through the one and only James Beard's book "James Beard's American Cookery". James was born May 5th, 1903 and died January 21st, 1985 at the age of 81. He left his mark in Culinary history and surprisingly enough, Julia Child found some inspiration in him. I will be picking up my book tomorrow and I can't wait to start blogging. I hope I find as much fun in this as Julie did when she blogged about Project Julie/Julia.

At 17 years of age I had my first job working in a Kitchen preparing food and creating fruit trays. I would be lying if I said there wasn't a side of dishes too. :-) Cooking is such a big passion of mine, I sometimes wonder why I wasn't more proactive about making it my life. I am so excited to be taking on this challenge and CAN NOT wait to start day one of this year long journey.

Now, I know my blog may go unnoticed and not amount to much. Certainly nothing like Julie's did. But I find true pleasure in challenging myself on such a level. Plus, I know my Husband will love a home cooked meal every night ;-). I am so eager to get started and understand Culinary through James Beard's eyes. Here's to a year of cooking!

To my readers-- Thank you so much for following me and finding such interest in my new found challenge. I hope to grab your attention and interest as each day passes.

Signing out--- 7:39pm