Week 2.8 of Cooking

Welcome back guys!  Unfortunately, I did not get anything cooked this week.  This is the first week I have run into some trouble with time management.  As you probably know, I try to do all my cooking projects on Saturday's because I am busy with other things during the week, (especially now with track).  I spent the weekend in Bozeman to see my grandparents and if I'm being honest, I didn't even think about my genius hour.  I was going to try and squeeze something in on Wednesday but I didn't get out of track until around 5:45 and then I had to get ready for church. 

My plan for next week is to have a video to go along with me meal preparation.  I am not sure how good or bad the video process will be but I am going to do my best to make it look nice.  Stay tuned for the grande finale! 

Week 2.7 of Cooking

Welcome back to the blog!  It has been a couple weeks since my last post and I am excited to be back!

The last cooking experience I had was the most fun I've had with this genius hour so far.  My mom's sisters are in town and they are a riot.  Along with being a lot of fun they both really like to cook.  I let them decide what I was going to cook this week and they chose meatloaf and, what the one calls, "Special Potatoes.''

I have never made meatloaf before and it was quite the experience.  There are a lot of ingredients that go into making meatloaf and after you add them in, you get to mix it all together with your hands.  Personally, I wasn't a fan of mixing the cold meat and the warm, sautéed onions because it is a pretty gross feelings on your hands.

"Special Potatoes" sound pretty exciting and they taste awesome, but the main idea with them is that they have a lot less carbs in them.  They would be a great choice for someone who is looking to get on a healthy diet.  Potatoes are very beneficial to a persons body so having them every so often with a meal is a great idea.

My mom, her sisters, and my dad all really enjoyed the food.  We all agreed that the meatloaf needed a little more flavor so our solution to that was to simply add some salt.  Here are the results!

Week 2.6 of Coooking

How To Make A Roast 

Step 1)  The first step of making a roast is to decide what kind of meat you are going to use.

• A person can choose from a variety of meats to make their roast with.  For example, elk, deer, and beef are the more common cuts of roast where we are from.  The roast I prepared this week was a beef roast.

Step 2)  Once your roast is in the crock pot you can go ahead and add seasoning to the meat.  

• Everyone has their own preference when it comes to seasoning.  On this roast I used an onion soup mix.  It comes in a small package so all I had to do was open it up and spread it across the meat.

Step 3)  After you've added the desired amount of seasoning and the meat it ready to go, put on the lid and set the crock pot on the highest setting.

• Using a crock pot is very nice because it does most of the work for you.  Once you have set the the timer you can go on with your day.  Make sure you start this process in the morning so you will be able to have the meal ready by dinner time.  It is about a six-eight hour process.  

Step 4)  Come back to the roast when the time is complete and check to see how it is cooking.  If the roast seems to be cooking well go ahead and turn down the crock pot and set the timer on the second setting.

• Depending on the crock pot, your results may vary a little on this step.  But, for the most part, this will be accurate.

Step 5)  Go ahead and add in some carrots, potatoes, and onions to the roast.  These other foods will give the people eating a nice side dish to their meat.

• These three vegetables are probably the most common choice of side, but of course, you can add any vegetables you like. 

Step 6)  When the roast has finished cooking remove it from the crock pot and put it in a cook places to cut it into slices.  After you have successfully cut up the roast, set it up nicely, with the vegetables, on a platter.

• This last step is optional but it will make your meal look complete and very appetizing.  You have now completed the roast, enjoy!
•  For the blog I used the “How-To” structure.

 

Week 2.5 of Cooking

This week I had company at my house so I had to make something that would be able to feed the six of us.  The solution to this was a pretty simple dish, STEW!  Stew is actually pretty easy to make.  The most important thing is to follow to recipe and the steps that it gives.  Some people feel you must follow the recipe amounts to perfection but I don't think that's really necessary.  Granted, there are definitely foods out there where this is vital but lucky for me, I don't cook at that level.  For dishes like stew, I think the little extra that gets added in only gives it more flavor.

The strongest ingredient in the stew was definitely the wine.  This actually surprised me a little because I didn't feel like I put that much in.  I did follow the recipe precisely on this ingredient, it just has a really strong flavor!

All in all, everyone really enjoyed the stew.  I also prepared a salad with some leftovers from the previous week and they liked that as well.  This was a successful week and I am looking forward to the next!

Week 2.4 of Cooking

Hello friends, and welcome back to the blog!

As most of you know, last Sunday was the Super Bowl!  With it being a tradition, I made snacks for the big game.  The snacks I chose to make were "pigs in a blanket", meatballs, dip, and a veggie tray.  I found that snacks are very time consuming and actually require a lot more effort than the previous meals I have cooked thus far.  Even though snacks weren't that easy, I still had a lot of fun during the whole process.  I have decided cooking is a lot more fun if you have music playing in the background, so that is what I usually do.  My mom helped me again this week as needed but it was mostly just getting me utensils and other things I needed.  Another snack we prepared for the game was teriyaki wings but my mom did most of the work on those so I can't really count that as something I did for the week.

The feedback on my snacks were two thumbs up from both my mom and my dad.  This week was a lot of fun and I am glad I now have another aspect of cooking down.

Here are some pictures!

Week 2.3 of Cooking

Welcome back guys to another exciting week of cooking!  

This week I made the decision that I wanted to cook a streak dinner.  The two things I have chosen so far have been pretty basic meals for the area we live in.  Burgers and steaks seem to be a classic choice when people order their food here.  Here is the process of how I prepared the steak dinner.

As I was starting this process my mother explained to me how important it is to try and time out each dish so that they are all ready at the same time.  If you able to do this it makes your life a lot easier and people can eat as soon as possible.  This was going great until we couldn't find a propane tank for the grill.  I had prepared the steaks and the potatoes but I couldn't go any farther until I had the propane.  Eventually, I did find some in the back garage so I was able to continue the process.  I had my mom watch the potatoes for me as they cooked so I could go outside and cook the steaks.  My dad came out with me and gave me his advice for cooking steaks.  I thought it was really funny because my dad is the kind of person who things steaks should be cooked for a certain length of time while my mom feels it is NOT a timing thing.  In the end, I went with my dad's way because he was the one with me.  After the steaks were done I finished up some green beans.

My parents both really loved the food but my mom said her steak was a little too done.  She likes her steaks pretty rare and I left hers on just a hair too long so I missed that window.   Regardless, she ate the whole thing and enjoyed the sides as well.

I think this week was very beneficial for me in the sense that I was able to use multiple resources, both my mom and my dad.  Below is a picture of the finished product! 

Week 2.2 of Cooking

Welcome back Ladies and Gents, we are now on week 2 of this cooking excursion!

As I stated last week, I am not able to cook on the week days and only have time on the weekends.  I took this into consideration and did all of my cooking on Saturday.  My mom helped me to decide what I was going to cook for my first meal.  She gave me plenty of ideas but I finally settled on burgers, homemade mac and cheese, and salad.  I had never cooked burgers prior to that point so I really enjoyed getting some experience in that area.  My mom had me use her recipe book for the homemade mac and cheese so it was pretty straight forward and simple.

The first step of the mac and cheese was to boil the noodles.  While the the noodles were boiling I was able to start making the sauce.  The sauce was a lot of fun to make didn't take that long to do.  After the noodles were cooked and the sauce was made, I combined the two and the put it in the oven while I cooked the burgers.  Making burgers doesn't require much effort at all.  Most of the work in this area is in the preparation before you even put the burgers on the pan.  Preparing a salad was the final step of this meal.  As the burgers were cooking I tore up the lettuce, cut up other vegetables and then added them all together to make the salad.

Obviously, I thought it tasted great, but that is not something I an base my success off of.  Luckily, both my mom and dad really enjoyed it.  Each of them gave me great feed back, which made me happy.  I had a lot of fun this past week and I am really looking forward to expanding on this skill. 

Below is a picture of the first meal I've cooked.

Week 2.1 of Cooking

Welcome classmates to Genius Hour 2.0!  I had a lot of fun with my first project of fly tying and I'm really excited to start my next eight week journey of cooking. 

Cooking is a skill I have always wanted to obtain.  I will be heading off to college soon and I feel being able to cook will help save me time and money, probably the two most important things in college.  My goal for this project is to have a solid understanding of cooking and be able to do it on my own so I don't have to rely on other people for my survival.  As of now, I have some basic knowledge of the topic, but I am planning to expand on it.

One tough thing I will encounter with this is finding time to cook.  I have recently started working at Walmart and I am there from 5pm-9pm on the week days.  I also won't have time right after school because I lift almost everyday during that time.  Luckily, I do not work on the weekends so I plan to use that time to do my cooking.  Saturday will more than likely be my day of choice because that's when I should have the most time.

As far as what I will be cooking, I'm not going to be very specific.  I want to be able to cook a wide variety of things so I will be leaving it pretty open.  One thing I can say I want to do is meal prep/meal plans.  With lifting, it is really important to have a good, healthy diet in order to achieve the best results.  It is recommended for a person to eat protein thirty minutes to an hour after finishing their lift to ensure maximum muscle recovery and growth.  This project will be a great tool for me in being in check with a healthy diet.  Making things like chicken, red meat, vegetables and other things will definitely be on my agenda for this diet. 

Outside of building strength, I think cooking will also benefit my family.  My parents both work long, hard days so if there is ever a night I am able to help them out and make a meal for them, I want to be able to. 

As a whole, the positives of cooking out weigh the negatives ten fold.  I am really excited to begin this process.  Stay tuned for next week!