A Cooking Fool

Both key words of the title are true: I cook, and in that context I'm a fool.

My cooking skills are pretty limited.  I can feed myself, but my growth as a cook is stunted by my strong distaste for cooking from a recipe.  Occasionally I will read one or more recipes for a dish to get the idea and then wing it.  But measuring out a quarter teaspoon of this and a half cup of that is just aggravating.

However, I'm a bit of a Food Network obsessive.  This has made me a limited cook with some funny little skillzzzzz.  For example, I recently seasoned stir-fried zucchini - as basic was it gets - with garam masala, which I'd guess most folks have never heard.  Last weekend, I made a braised cabbage with some similarities to a dish I'd seen made that morning on TV, except that I threw in a bag of fresh spinach I needed to use.  This was pretty successful.  And I would put the pickled, roasted red peppers from one batch up against anything similar I've had from a jar.

This IS relevant to diabetes: very much so, in fact.  Because the more often I can make something at home that's better than what I'd get downtown, the less often I'll eat out.  And, by and large, the food I make for myself is pretty healthy: most of the options I have downtown aren't. Better food is better for my diabetes as well as for my waistline.

I like things with a lot of flavor.  I'm learning to cook with fresh chiles, and I'm gradually learning how to use seasonings like rosemary.  (Garam masala, which I mentioned above, is an Indian seasoning blend which I'd describe as being like curry powder without the heat.)  By and large, the restaurant options I have do NOT have a lot of flavor, or at least not a lot of interesting flavor.

Also, I've been adamant about not learning to bake.  Having a pan of warm brownies perpetually a mere 30 minutes a way would NOT be pretty for me.

I do roast vegetables, though.  Don't like cauliflower?  Chop it up and roast that puppy, maybe sprinkle on a little parmesan when it's done.  Fabulous.  I learned to be a bit creative with veggies when I ate as a vegetarian for about six months a few years ago.  (If I ever get the whole diet thing figured out, I'd like to move back in that direction.  But for now, I just don't need another set of restrictions.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I put another batch of roasted red peppers under a pickle last weekend.  I haven't sampled it yet, and I'm hoping this batch will make me stamp my feet, too!