Friday, December 17, 2010

Update on 50 cooking firsts

I believe the last time I updated everyone on my New Year's resolution (to do 50 things while cooking that I've never done before) was back in February!

At that point, I had completed guacamole (it seems like so long ago now!), cinnamon rolls, bleu cheese dip, cake balls, brisket and mashed potatoes.

Just in case you're counting, that's only 6 items!

but, have no fear, I have been cooking, I just haven't been blogging updates.

So, here are some of the other things I've gotten done since February:

7.) Orange Chicken (on 3/17) which was my first attempt at deep fat frying anything.

8.) Broccoli Peanut Chicken with Noodles (4/22). Has a very creative name, don't you think? :) I used the "non-healthified" version of that recipe. The first on this one was zesting. I had to go to the store to buy a zester, cause I've never done it before!

9.) I'd also never cooked rice noodles.

10.) Peanut Sauce (4/22) to go with the Broccoli Peanut Chicken above. I made my friend Shawna's recipe instead of buying the peanut sauce in the bottle. Aren't you proud of me?!

PEANUT DIPPING SAUCE
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (Sirachas, or I used Franks)
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar

11.) Grilled asparagus (5/2)

12.) I snapped my own green beans (from the farmer's market). (8/4)

13.) Learned how to cut a pineapple (8/23) using none other than howtocutapineapple.com.

14.) Cut a cantelope (9/2) I know, I know! But, I'd never done it before. And, as lame as it is, it was a first!

This post is already getting too long, and for #15 I have pictures and a story, so I think I'll save it for another post. Have a great weekend, everyone!