Friday, November 21, 2008

The 18th Thing I Love.

#18 - Cooking.

Cooking is a pretty recent obsession for me, but over the last few years my love for it has steadily grown. I wish I had the time and money to cook every night! But I get to cook at least once a week when Savannah comes over for dinner. I get daily recipes from a wonderful website called AllRecipes.com. If you like cooking, you MUST check it out. You can search by type of food, by ingredients, by a specific recipe... You can save them in your own online recipe box, print out shopping lists, or print the recipe. And it's all free! I also get a fun little magazine called Everyday Food. I HATE dealing with the subscription department, but everything else about the magazine is great. And they are running some specials right now if you're interested.

Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what it is about cooking that appeals to me so much. Maybe it's the whole idea of "creating," the need for which is in all of us in some capacity because we are made in the image of the Creator. Maybe it's because it nurtures my unmet need to be "motherly." Maybe because it allows me to care for people on a basic level. Maybe because I'm halfway decent at it and enjoy the praise that comes from people whose bellies are happily full. It's probably a mixture of all of those. Oh, and throw in there the fact that I love food! My sister said in one of her posts that I feel the need to use a brand new recipe almost every time I cook. I guess she's right. There are just so many out there! How can you keep making the same ones unless they are simply all time favorites?

Here's one of my favorite recipes that I've stumbled on in recent years. It is SUPER easy and cheap, not to mention it tastes like something you'd get in an Indian restaurant! Orange Curried Chicken I use boneless chicken breasts and cut them up into bite sized pieces so they can be eaten in true Indian style. I serve it with sticky rice, edamame, and fake "naan" bread, which I make by buttering Mediterranean flat bread (you can buy it in the deli/bread sections of most grocery stores) and heating in a skillet. Enjoy! If you've never tried cooking, give it a try! It may turn out to be your favorite new hobby.