I did the unthinkable this weekend – I baked. By myself. And I didn’t screw it up. In fact it came out perfect and by yesterday afternoon I’d eaten the whole damn thing (inner fat girl wins again).
I baked banana nut bread to be exact, and it was surprisingly easy for a baking neophyte like me. Voici my ingredients:
the mere presence of eggs makes me nervous
The process was quite easy, just a lot of mixing of ingredients and pouring into a bread ban to bake:
I chose walnuts as my nut. I amazingly had some already in the pantry. It’s crazy how stocked your kitchen gets when you keep trying new recipes
all lumpy and ready for the oven
And then you just let it sit in the oven and after the allotted time you take it out and it looks like this:
I made bread!
I mean – look at it! That’s a damn fine looking banana bread! Apparently, baking IS easy. Well…so far. I even managed to get it out of the pan without breaking it, et voila:
Banana Nut Bread made by me – I didn’t burn it, break it, or butcher it. Woo hoo!
To say I was proud of myself was an understatement. I literally stood back and cooed at it for a good 10 minutes before eating my first piece.
My next baking attempt will be a tarte tatin, the French apple pie. The recipe is super simple but I’m anticipating it going badly. There’s the whole flipping over of the pie onto the plate…we’ll see.
After my high from baking banana bread, I decided to finally take on some chicken. I bought some drumsticks at the market, along with some herbed goat cheese, and figured I could make something work with those two ingredients. Then I got home and noticed I had sun dried tomatoes as well, so I thought perhaps I could make a mix with the cheese, the tomatoes, and some garlic and stuff the chicken legs with it. And low and behold it worked:
Chicken legs stuffed with herbed goat cheese, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes ready for the oven. I also rubbed the legs down with butter, because, of course.
finished product – look how good it looks!
Pair it with some rice and you have a perfectly tasty chicken dinner
It was really delicious. It would probably be more delicious if I’d used chicken breasts as that would have allowed for more stuffing, but I’m a girl on a budget and the drumsticks were cheaper. But all in all, so super tasty, and now I am way less intimidated by chicken and am excited to try some new dishes.
Needless to say, it was quite a good cooking weekend! This coming week will likely be quiet on the blog as I’m off to California to visit my mom, see some old friends, and generally try and emotionally recuperate from all the stress and change that has taken place over the past two months. Hopefully California will be just what I need to recharge, regroup, and refocus. Time to move forward as best I can. When I get back it’s more cooking, looking for a roommate, and getting back to Irish dancing so all this cooking doesn’t make me fat. Curvy – GOOD. Fat – BAD.
Until then, I will be looking for more recipes, and more cookbooks, hidden away in my storage unit in California. Wish me luck.
“Curvy – GOOD. Fat – BAD.” Love. It. I think more women should embrace this mantra. Or at least the ‘curves are good’ part!
The chicken looks amazing. I have a chicken breast and my own herbed goat cheese in the fridge at this very moment. Dinner tonight? Pourquoi pas?
lol – it is SO true. And yes – try it tonight! Takes about an hour to cook…I think i had it at 400F for 55 minutes.
Two things.
#1: “The process was quite easy, just a lot of mixing of ingredients and pouring into a bread ban to bake” — girl, you have just discovered the secret of baking
#2: I think you’re right about cooking being in your blood. You are way too comfortable with the “hmm these things seem like they go together so I’ll just try it” thing for someone who just started! Way to go! Keep it up! Rah rah rah!
Love,
your cheerleader in CA
awww – thanks love! keep up the cheerleading, I need it!