Kitchen Mishmash

I love cookbooks. I mean, I really love all books. But I find well-designed, well-photographed, easy-to-follow cookbooks totally irresistible. And that's why I have a large collection of them currently overflowing the cabinet space above our microwave. But do I actually use them? Not really.

There's more where this came from.

That I finally realize this is not going to make me stop buying lovely cookbooks. It's just a fresh observation and I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar passionate/passive relationship to theirs. Every now and then I will pull them all out, read through them, and dog-ear the pages of the really yummy looking recipes I'd like to try. But unless I'm having a dinner party (which unfortunately is not very often) those dog-eared pages will remain stuffed together in the cabinet, unused. My daily dinner routine is to thaw some kind of meat, and then...do something with it. And try to make it somewhat healthy and include several food groups. I pull things out of the fridge and pantry and then just kind of throw stuff together. Sometimes the results are a tolerable "meh" or a dubious "hmmmmm." But others, like tonight, are actually quite tasty. I like exercising my creativity and resourcefulness--I can throw together a mean Leftover Surprise! But surely my culinary skills would improve if I actually followed directions?

I seem to come up with more goals for self-improvement every day, but perhaps I'll add yet another one to the list: make at least one meal from an actual recipe per week. I'm sure The Hubs will be glad :)

Bon Appétit,

Sarah

p.s. Here is the kitchen mishmash we had tonight: Greek-Inspired Tilapia. It certainly sounds fancy-pants, doesn't it? I covered the fish filets with some olive oil, lemon juice, red onion and green olives (both finely diced). Salt and pepper, of course. Oh, and I also drizzled on some of the chili-pepper oil we make and always have on hand. Then I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (the last minute under the broiler to make sure the top looked nice and golden). Meanwhile, I made a potato hash on the stovetop: potatoes diced like home fries and sauteed with onion and garlic, and then cut-up asparagus tossed in during the last 5 minutes or so. Not bad for something conjured up out of thin air, if I do say so myself.

p.p.s. I do always use recipes when I'm baking. Because I am just not that good, and the margin of error is too high. But I don't bake very often (see above remark about trying to eat healthy).