Trying to stay on track...

So, I've lost my camera. It is VERY frustrating because I wanted to post pictures of my BEAUTIFUL Valentine's Dinner!!! I think that one of my lovely children have gotten their hands on it and run off with it somewhere. So, the plan is that I will make my gourmet dinner for the week tomorrow night, but if I don't find my camera, it will be Friday. I want to post pictures of my wonderful meals along with the commentary. I'm also not very impressed with my book that I got from Amazon...I'm thinking of sending it back. I think I will just look online for recipes and build my own menu. The menu for this weeks gourmet cooking lesson (for myself):

Green Salad with Lemon Herb dressing
Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken
Twice Baked Parmesan Potatoes
Fresh Baked Bread (I can't believe I'm actually going to try bread; the only thing I have a really hard time with)
Brazed Cucumbers
Orange Creamsicle cupcakes

Inspiration and Motivation

I am a perfectionist. I always have been. Ask my mother. ;) I'm never happy with the things I do, I always see something that can be tweaked, some way that I can do it better the next time. I'm far too critical of myself. But....I think most women are. I was doing my nightly scripture study and came across this quote by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, and if you're at all like me, maybe it will help you too.

"Let me cite a hypothetical example of a dear sister in any ward, the one who has perfect children who never cause a disturbance in church. She is the one working on her 20th generation in her family history, keeps an immaculate home, has memorized the book of Mark, and makes wool sweaters for the orphaned children in Romania. No disrespect, of course, intended for any of these worthy goals. Now, when you get tempted to throw your hands in the air and give up because of this dear sister, please remember you're not competing with her any more than I'm competing with the members of the Quorum of the Twelve in the 50-yard dash. The only thing you need to worry about is striving to be the best you can be. And how do you do that? You keep your eye on the goals that matter most in life, and you move towards them step by step."

Valentine's Day Dinner

So, I kind of slacked. I really didn't mean to, it just kind of worked out that way. I went to Barnes and Noble last weekend to look at cookbooks. Man, was that intimidating! I almost got the BYU cookbook for my hubby but one of the recipes was literally to buy frozen cream puffs, strawberries and to put them on a stick and drizzle them with chocolate syrup. While it had great tailgating recipes, I felt it wasn't challenging enough for what I was going for. I also thought maybe an Italian cookbook would be fun. I found one called "Cooking with Italian Grandmothers." Sounds fun, right? Well, when I opened the first page and saw a completely whole dead fish on a white plate with just a little garnish I decided that was a definite no go (I'm not a big fish person, AT ALL).

So, although it was not my intention to buy the Julia Child cookbook, I did. I got home and was all excited to make bief bourguignon until I saw that it called for 2 1/2 cups of red wine! Now, I know this is just a little quirk of mine and I know that alcohol cooks out of the dishes, however, I just wasn't comfortable using THAT much alcohol. I really don't mind using a little alcohol here and there to cook with. I can appreciate that it gives dishes some really good flavor. However, I have to remember who I am and make things that I'm comfortable with. So.....Monday I took back the cookbook and decided to look for something on Amazon.

I did finally find a cookbook, but with the time it took to do all this, I probably won't have it by Valentine's Day. So, I decided to make one of my most favorite light recipes. I actually found it on KUTV on the news one day and decided to try it. The pork spice rub is the MOST delicious I have ever tasted. I've tweaked it a little. I only put in half the pepper it calls for because if you put it all in I'm just warning you it will be SPICY!! But here is the recipe, just in case you're looking for something to make for Valentine's Day. I'll post pictures when I make it on Monday. And I PROMISE next week I will be trying a new recipe out of my new cookbook!

Lemon Marinated Pork Medallion Salad
Ingredients:
4 Pork Medallions

Spice Rub:
1 Tbsp. Lemon Zest
1 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. dried sage
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tsp. crushed garlic

Salad:
6 cups spring salad mix
1 cup toasted walnut pieces (I use almond slivers, I'm somewhat allergic to walnuts)
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1 red bell pepper, julienne sliced

Dressing:
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
In a small bowl, combine all the spice rub ingredients. Rub the ingredients all over the pork and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a large bowl toss together the salad ingredients. Set aside until ready to use. Pan sear the pork medallions for 3 minutes on each side or until golden. Finish cooking off medallions in a 400 degree oven until fully cooked through. Remove medallions from oven and allow them to rest for 10 minutes (VERY IMPORTANT!!) Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Slice medallions and place on top of the salad.

New Adventures

My life is kind of in limbo right now. The big plan is that I want to be able to go back to school and quit my job to be at home with my kids. But that can't happen for at least another 6 months. So what can I do to keep me occupied in the meantime? Well, I don't know whether or not you've seen Julie and Julia, but that was such an inspirational movie to me. I LOVE to cook. It's very relaxing and very satisfying to make something that tastes yummy.

I've wanted for a while to get more techniques down and learn more about food and cooking. I'm also in a kind of rut as far as making the same things every night. But who has the money for culinary school? Plus, it's not something I want to make a career out of simply because it takes me away from my family too much. So, anyway, back to my point. :)

I decided that I'm going to go get a fancy cook book and make one meal out of it a week. I can't do the daily thing like she did on Julie and Julia simply because I can't afford it and I don't have the time. And my first assignment? To make something for Valentine's evening. I will let you guys know what cook book I decide on when I get it and I'll post a picture. I'm a little nervous, simply because I don't really like seafood, but I'm willing to try just about anything. I can't guarantee I'll be able to continue this when I finally go back to school, but I thought it would be a fun thing to try until school starts. Just to mix things up a bit.