Pork in a Dutch Oven

When it's so hot out, I stay away from the oven.  My boyfriend isn't as much a wilting violet as I am and he gets right in there and cooks.  I took this photo of some pork he roasted in the dutch oven.  I can't even lift the dutch over when it's empty!  Much less when it's full and hot. So I appreciate it when he cooks.  Fantastic!

Making Chile Verde

A few days ago I was involved with a cooking project making Chile Verde. Since my boyfriend already made an excellent post on his blog, I'll just send you to Greenman Cooking.

Lost My Kitchen

It seems that as time goes on, some of our favorite recipes fall through the cracks.  When I got into this relationship a decade ago, I never realized I'd practically be giving up cooking because my boyfriend buys the groceries, and chooses things for recipes he's making, which means I'm not making the food decisions. And we have a really small kitchen which makes it difficult to cook together in a safe and effective way.  But I've lost a part of myself I think and need to find it again and start putting my foot down in the kitchen.

Calzones for a Crowd

Calzones for a Crowd

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I wanted to try making some Calzones for dinner using the pizza dough recipe in my bread machine. So I needed a little help and found this recipe. I want to freeze some for later too.

Tostadas for a Quick Dinner

When I want a meal in a hurry I go with Tostadas.

Ingredients: Flour or Corn Tortillas
1 small can of refried beans
1/2 C grated cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice)
1 C of lettuce mix
1 small diced tomato
Season salt

Serves 1 or 2 adults

First grate the cheese and dice the tomato. Put the beans in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water and heat up slowly, stirring from time to time so they don't burn to the bottom.

Fry the tortillas flat in a bit of cooking oil. Drain on paper towels. I like mine crispy.

Assemble:
Smooth the beans over the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese so that it melts a bit over the hot beans. Add some lettuce mix and the tomatoes. Serve while warm. Salt to taste.

Optional: Salsa and/or Cilantro and/or sour cream
Optional: Pre-cooked ground beef

First Post and Why I Made This Blog

After writing about cooking and recipes randomly in my other blogs I finally decided to give my cooking skills a place to park. I guess I've always taken cooking for granted. But judging by all the people I meet that don't cook at all, or who can pretty much burn boiled water, I guess I should be glad someone taught me to cook.

My boyfriend just made some sauerkraut, and posted it to his blog here:sauerkraut When I told him I decided to make a cooking blog he laughed. I don't know why he laughed. I know he fancies himself a better cook than I am. I told him I raised two kids and never poisoned either, so he needs to at least respect my cooking. He's really good at cooking meat, but I'm better at baking and cooking within a budget. My mom had 5 kids to feed so we weren't exactly buying 2" steaks.

I think between my boyfriend and I we have some pretty amazing recipes. And we never lack for variety in our meals. We just need a bigger kitchen, that's all.