Cooking!

Well today I indulged in one of my passions. I LOVE to cook! I have been exploring the idea of cooking once a month and freezing meals.  I started with chili, which for some reason, I have never actually made. So weird, right? But once I got started with it I didnt stop I *sort of kind of * followed a recipe but not really. I learned today that I dont know how to cook pinto beans, I had beans on hand but not for cooking. I use them for crafting (another passion of mine that we get into later). So I did what any grown woman does, I called my mommy. She really didnt know how to quick cook them either so I went online and figured it out.

So I had my base, added ground beef, then started thinking about what else would be good in there. Salsa? sure why not? Tomato paste, yep thats good. A little of this, some more of that and there ya go. It sure smells good!

I figured since I was working on things I didnt know about or was not very good at I would try to tackle meatballs. I make awesome meatloaf but for some reason I make meat squares, not meat balls. But I found a recipe online (Thank you Alton Brown!) and it it actually worked!

And then, since you cant have chili without corn bread I made my all time favourite corn bread. Its a recipe from a little place called Maine Diner in Wells Maine. If you ever find yourself in Wells you have to eat here! Then go next door to the gift shop and buy the cookbook (another passion of mine for another day). Their recipe is by far the best corn bread I have ever had but I had to some adapting. Wells is probably at about 5 FT in Elevation, I'm at about 5300.  So what works for them doesnt always work for me. After a little tweaking adding a little more milk and a little more flour and cooking it a little longer it comes out amazing! The bread isnt as fluffy as it is close to the ocean, but its still the best!

So today was a learning experience for me. I conquered some long standing cooking fears and feel pretty good about it.