new cooking spree

i never learned to cook. we basically live on lean cuisines, cans of soup, and going out to eat.plus i hate raw meat -- buying it at the store, having it in my freezer, and especially touching it.

last night, i "cooked" a whole dinner of salads, corn chowder and biscuits. and it only really took about 30 minutes. well, for the corn chowder it was two cans of snow's corn chowder, but it totally counts as cooking because i heated them on the stove in a pot instead of the microwave. i slowly mixed in milk at very low heat. and i even modified the "recipe" by using only 2/3rds of the milk listed and some butter and pepper. folks this is good for me. and it was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

but the real accomplishment: i made homemade biscuits with flour and everything instead of the canned pillsbury kind. i remember when i was little my granny used to have a big jar of flour and she'd just make a well in it and scoop a handful of crisco into the center and just mix it up and scoop it out and make the best biscuits. i didn't do that. i used this recipe. but they reminded me of my granny's biscuits.

i've bought cookbooks in the past, but didn't really find them helpful and only used a few cookie or cake recipes out of them. i need some very basic instructions, and i found a couple at the bookstore the other day that are aimed directly at me: i don't know how to cook book and how to boil water. i haven't bought them yet, first i'm going to see if the cooking urge continues. because it might just be a stage -- until recently, i've never wanted to cook. maybe having so much spare time has inspired me. (or maybe the two years of living on lean cuisines and cans of soup.) besides, it's really amazing how you can type simple and recipe into google along with whatever you are looking to make and find some easy recipes.



usually people complain about having not enough cabinet space, i have entirely too much. i have one whole cabinet devoted to a box of garbage bags. another to a christmas platter someone gave us. and finally i have enough stuff to have a baking supplies cabinet.



see the cute little heart tins and sprinkles? i'm going to try to make something for v-day. maybe even bring some to the neighbor.

but the best part, now i have an excuse to buy these measuring cups from fred flare: