Thursday, March 17, 2011

Making Mom Proud

Ciao Darlings,

I feel like if you ask anyone, they will say that their mom's cooking is the best. With that being said, I truly believe that my mom's cooking is above the rest. Therefore, I rely solely on her meals when I'm home and look forward to them when I'm away at school. Once she saw all of the previous posts from my cooking classes, she specifically made it a point that I need to make meals when I'm home. On another note, it is really nice to know that once I move into my apartment next year, I will know some recipes to cook for dinner. Because of midterms this week, I will not be cooking anything in my cooking class therefore there won't be a Food Of Italy post. However, here are some of the meals that I have prepared in my apartment thus far this semester.

One of our first home cooked meals - capellini pasta with peas, salad, prosciutto, and red wine

Minestrina soup - reminds of home!
By far the easiest thing to make. Boil some water and add some chicken stock bullion cubes.Wait until it boils and then add some pastina. When the pastina is all cooked but still al dente, ladle into your bowl and enjoy1 Add bits of crusty bread for some crunch. This is my favorite dish as it reminds me so much of home.

Risotto and Red Kidney Beans

I grill onions in olive oil and boil water with chicken stock. When the onions have browned, I add the risotto rice and scoop the stock with a ladle into the pan, fully submerging the rice with the stock. Once the rice has absorbed most of the stock, bring another scoop in. Continue doing this until the rice is creamy and soft. Here is a simple recipe with the precise measurements.

Steak and Grilled Red Peppers
I just grill the steak meat with olive oil and balsamic vinegar along with the red peppers in the same pan, wait until they both brown and then serve!

Balsamic Chicken with Green Salad
 Whenever I buy chicken cutlets, I just grill them with olive oil and chopped garlic, adding some white wine or balsamic vinegar for flavor and chopped parsley. For the salad. I just wash and chop the lettuce laves and add any chopped vegetable I'm desiring at the moment - usually they are red and yellow peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and zucchini. for dressing, I have used balsamic vinegar or lemon with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Some sort of Mystery Meat
 To be honest, I can't read the labels on the meat packages here so I go for the best price and grill the meat with olive oil garlic, onions, and white wine or balsamic vinegar.

Polenta al Formaggi
This is an easy one - go to the store and buy some pre-packaged polenta mix, add it in boiling water and stir until it has a creamy consistency. My mom makes it from scratch, so here is a simple recipe on how to make authentic polenta.

There really is no rhyme or reason to these dishes. I try to keep things as simple as possible. If and when I create a culinary masterpiece one day, you will be the first to know!



On a more serious note, I have decided to partake in Blogger's Day of Silence tomorrow where bloggers help to raise awareness and funds for Japan through the means of a ShelterBox. Please visit Forjapanwithlove.com to donate and to learn more about Shelter box and how you, as a blogger, can help.


Eternally yours,
Stephanie

7 comments:

Closet Fashionista said...

Mmm tasty!!!!! :D I love rice and beans! (though when my mom makes it its not watery like how you made it, I didn't know they made that in italy XD our recipe is from my Jamaican relatives haha)
http://www.closet-fashionista.com

Maddy said...

I bet the prosciutto in Italy is divine! You've been eating like a queen, girl! Looks like every night it's been a gourmet feast :)

Leeann @ Join the Gossip said...

I need to learn how to cook!! It's pathetic, really. Everything you made looks so good!


P.S. Head over to my blog for a giveaway :)

Cafe Fashionista said...

The Steak and Grilled Red Peppers looks incredible! My mouth is literally watering right now! :)

Sherin said...

All these look so delicious. The steak and peppers looks perfect! I definitely need to start cooking more.

Fashion Cappuccino said...

Wow! You seemed like a really great cook! Definitely better than me since I only know how to fry an egg, haha. I want to eat the steaks and red peppers! Yum! xoxoxoo

Krysten @ Why Girls Are Weird said...

YUM! I just ate and that stuff STILL looks good!