The First Dish

Well, last night I attempted my first recipe.  I chose recipe #2 Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie.  Let me start by saying that the result was very good.  The dish was delicious and one I would definitely make again, however, not on a weeknight.  This recipe is not one you turn to when you get home at 6:00 PM and have a house full of hungry people (some of them cranky) waiting for dinner to be prepared.  This one would definitely be better on a weekend when you can start cooking before everyone is starving.

Since Rachel Ray is known for her 30 minute meals, I timed myself to see if I could get it done in 30 minutes... ha ha ha!  It took approximately 50-60 minutes and that was with the help of my sous chef, Sylvia (who had to make a run to the store at the last minute when I discovered we had no eggs in the house).  This recipe had a lot of ingredients, many of which were vegetables that had to be chopped.  I made one error in preparing the recipe, which in the end made no difference (thank God).  The ingredients section of the recipe called for 3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed, but when I was reading the cooking instructions, it said boil the water and then add the potatoes and cook them until they are soft (about 10-12 minutes).  So, I boiled the water and put the whole potatoes in to cook.  After 12 minutes I used a fork to test them and was surprised that they were still completely hard.  So, I just kept them boiling while I was cooking the meat and vegetables.  I didn't realize I was supposed to have peeled and and cubed the potatoes before I put them in the water until the instructions said to drain them and then mash them.  I thought, I'm supposed to mash them with the peel on?  I returned to the cookbook and reread the ingredients list and saw my mistake.  Sous chef Sylvia helped me fish out the potatoes from the boiling water and carefully peel away the skin (this was a little tricky because they were super hot).  She cubed them and then I continued with the preparation.  That mishap cost us time, but did not compromise the dish.

All-in-all, I'd say the dish was a success and received very good reviews by the birthday girl (aka sous chef Sylvia), brother-in-law Dan, hubby Ray Ray, and me.   I asked Ramon if he liked it enough for me to make again and he said "YES."  The recipe said it made 4 servings, but it could easily serve 6 people.  Until next time, here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy.  --DeeDee

The Beginning

I've decided to create a blog to document my journey, which was inspired by the movie "Julie & Julia," cooking through a cookbook as Julie did in the movie. I'm not quite as ambitious as Julie to cook through Julia Childs' French cookbook, but I'm just as enthusiastic. I have chosen a cookbook by one of my favorite cooks on the Food Channel, Rachel Ray. Her cookbooks promise that the recipes can be completed in 30 minutes, which is a huge selling point for me. The book I chose is her 365 - No Repeats- A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners. I wanted to set an initial goal that I thought I could stick with for a full year, so my current goal is to complete a minimum of 2 recipes per week. I'm sure that for those of you who cook everyday and try new recipes all the time, this goal will seem insignificant, but for those of us who eat out four or more times per week, this is a goal that is a challenge, yet doable. If I see that I am meeting my initial goal without feeling stressed about it, I may increase it. So with 52 weeks in the year I'll have completed 104 recipes by the end of 2010. My younger sister seems to also have been inspired by the movie and said she wants to take part in this journey with me (we'll see). I'll let you know how it goes. Well, my next post will be when I have made the first recipe. I hope you will enjoy reading about what worked and what didn't. I plan to share all of it here... the good, the bad, and the ugly. Wish me luck!