I don’t cook, except for when I do.
As has been discussed, I don’t cook much. In my defense, there is some history to this. I know how to cook and, in fact, I even enjoy it (most of the time). When my husband and I started dating, he literally didn’t know how to make pasta. Which, for someone who loves pasta as much as I do, was a little problematic. However, Rick’s approach to cooking and food was (and still is) to jump in with both feet, asking questions as he falls. About two weeks after we started officially dating, he decided that he wanted to wow me with a home-cooked steak dinner. I don’t know if he researched – I know darn well he didn’t work off of a recipe. All I know is that there was a lot of sautéing and that we ended up with perfectly edible steaks. I expressed the appropriate oohs and ahs and started myself on the path of never having to cook dinner again.
For a while, we split cooking duties. I remember making chicken roll-ups, crêpes, and lamb burgers. Rick made some teriyaki at one point which I remember describing as having “too many flavors” – again, no recipes, just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck. In this case, everything stuck. He dialed it back. Over time, when we discussed what we wanted to have for dinner, I’d suggest something that I could make and then he’d say “Or, we could have… [insert something he wanted to make here].” Eventually, I stopped offering. We have now settled into a happy routine where he cooks what he wants and every once in a while I decide that I am making something, darn it, and I go to town.
This week, I had two of those moments. First, I decided I was going to make chocolate chip cookies. Nothing special, just the recipe on the back of the Nestle bag (and linked here). I had all the ingredients and was ready to go, so when Rick told me to “do something fun for myself” while the baby napped, I decided that cookies was the move. Five seconds later, when E started fussing, I chuckled hearing Rick comfort her: “Shhh, it’s ok. Shhh, go back to sleep, Dad wants cookies!”
I happily set about putting together my cookie dough. Now, I’m not trying to flex on my KitchenAid mixer but… it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. In my case, two people purchased KitchenAids for my mom for Christmas, and I reaped the benefits. It is so worth it, though. Whipping cream, blending butter and sugar, kneading dough – all the things. I will admit that it regularly flings bits of ingredients around my kitchen and I’m not 100% sure of the most effective way to clean it, but those are small potatoes compared to the glee it provides me. Plus, I’m convinced it’s partially the reason these cookies turned out so well. I’m not the most patient blender, otherwise. In any event, I whumped everything together, added the walnuts (it is non-negotiable to have nuts in chocolate chip cookies – unless there’s a tree nut allergy in play, I’m not a monster) and baked ’em up. Here’s the result:
Oooh, ahhh. I took some to my mom’s house and also froze about a dozen, just to slow us down on eating them. That plan sort of worked. Sorry, I’m back, I just went down to the freezer to get a cookie. Oops.
In any event, I was feeling like I needed to balance out my cookies with something a little healthier, but I wasn’t sure what. I was waiting for inspiration to strike while browsing Facebook when I came across a wonderful thread that someone had started in a local community page. The woman started a conversation about what people were cooking or baking now that the colder weather had set in, and one of the responses (among many amazing suggestions) was this recipe for broccoli cheddar soup. I have always loved broccoli cheddar soup (one of the very few soups I like at all), but it’s generally not exactly what I would call a healthy choice. I got very excited about the idea of a cauliflower base taking the place of a roux – I am a big cauliflower-replacement fan in general. (Trader Joe’s cauliflower mashed potatoes with some garlic added in? Yes, please.)
I picked a day to make my soup, gathered up all my ingredients, and set to work. I got off to a bit of a rocky start, letting my oil get too hot – I had been sautéing (burning) the onions and garlic for about five minutes when my visiting mother-in-law asked me if I wanted a window opened. I replied that I already had one opened and was a little frustrated at her suggestion that I might need another (I know, I’m burning the onions!) – until I turned around and saw that I had filled the dining room and living room with a light layer of smoke. Oops. “Yes, please, open the sliding door.”
Once I got the burning under control, things went smoothly. I successfully used my immersion blender, but I did have to add about two extra cups of stock in order to thin out the mixture to the point where it wasn’t violently popping and spraying soup bits all over me. I should probably try and wear long sleeves whenever using the immersion blender, it appears. I’m a terrible blogger, so I forgot to take pictures of all of the beautiful fresh vegetables (onions! cauliflower! broccoli! carrots!) that went into my soup, instead opting for this slightly-less-appealing shot after the addition of the cheese. Nevertheless, the finished product was just as hearty, filling, and tasty as I could have hoped.
So, there you have it. I cooked this week! Never mind that Rick made six of our dinners and also another apple strudel – I’m taking my soup and cookies as a win. I think my next endeavor is going to be potato leek soup – you know, just to balance out the health factor with some heavy cream. Mmm, delicious.
Hickmans at Home 