Fancy Dinner

Somethings that a group of people in my apartment complex have come up with is the idea of us having "fancy" dinners. Basically, we cook good food and dress up. The latest one we had was tonight. We had homemade red sauce (gravy as my family calls it) and chicken parmigiana. To top it off, I was able to get my hands on my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Divine. Enjoy!

Making the gravy...smells like happiness.

One of the best ways to make your "gravy" is to saute your vegetables (onions, mushrooms and peppers with some minced garlic mixed in as well) in some olive oil. If you want to live on the more authentic side, you can use some white wine as well--I usually avoid it because my mom doesn't approve. Once everything is soft, usually the onions are translucent, you are ready to add the tomato sauce and paste along with all your desired seasonings.

Fresh parmigiana out of the over. Can you see the chicken?

After breading the chicken in bread crumbs, it should be baked on a baking sheet for about 40 min on 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then you layer the chicken between two layers of sauce and top it off with mozzarella and parmesan. Stick it back in the oven for 20 min. It's fantastic.

Chicken parmigiana with a side of farfalle and gravy.

Nothing goes better with the chicken parmigiana then a side of pasta. Use any type of pasta you would like. This one just happens to be farfalle, or bow tie pasta. Top the pasta off with the leftover sauce from the parmigiana.

Mom's chocolate chip cookies.

Even if you're full, there's always room for milk and cookies. Eating these bad boys makes me feel like I'm back at home. There was definitely something missing though, probably my mom's love....

I wasn't kidding

Although you may have thought I was kidding when I said I was going to dump pictures on here (if you're even reading this) I was not kidding.

Farfalle pasta with chicken in a butter-sage sauce

I really love food. Hopefully that is something you picked up from the beginning. If not, now you know. Right now I'm in the middle of trying to figure out what I really want to do with my life. One thing I know for sure, I want to help make people happy. Perhaps that is why I enjoy cooking because it adds a smile to someone's face. I do not know how realistic it would be to make it my career though, so for now I just do it as a hobby.

Homemade gnocchi with garlic-butter sage topping

One of my favorite sauces to make is a butter-sage sauce because it is super easy and tastes amazing. The recipe? Butter, garlic and sage. Complex, I know. Melt some butter in a pan and put some garlic in it. Use a low-medium heat until the butter begins to bubble a little bit. Add a few sprinkles of sage--it's best to use fresh sage, of course. Turn it up to medium and watch out for the garlic because it likes to pop. It will all begin to bubble up and brown. Now it's ready to be put on top of anything you want! Woot, success.

Chicken carbonara with parmesan and parsley

Chicken is one of those great meats that you can do so many different things with. Oh, and bacon too. Who doesn't love bacon???? We will forget about those vegetarians--I pretend like they don't really exist. The magic happens when you mix bacon and chicken together. That with cheese and butter makes an unstoppable force. Chicken carbonara is a delectable dish that combines all of these things and is rather simple to make and is SO AMAZING!!






This brings an end to my dumping of photos for my pasta section. Ready for more? Are you hungry yet? Good, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just me because that's how it usually works. And in case you were wondering, if you're one of those people that wonders, I did make all of these things. If I can do it, you might be able to. Good luck.

Do you even care?

Obviously it has been quite a while since I last posted. Reason number one is because I doubt that anyone really reads this and I feel more like I'm just creating a really lame journal that people will use against me later because it's so lame (I had to delete my past blog due to my roommates using it as blackmail.) Reason two is that I am terrible at remembering to post things, as can be seen. Irregardless, I have decided I am just going to dump a ton of pictures of my recent food discoveries and miscellaneous creations.

CAUTION: Use heavy-duty paper towels once drooling commences.

The Monte Cristo from Blue Bayou at Disneyland