Home Economics-an oldie but goodie

I took many random classes as a college undergraduate. My classes ranged from Alfred Hitchcock to a gods and goddesses course. Were these classes practical? No. Were they interesting? You bet! But as my years outside of the college classroom increase, I have come to realize that I may have made a mistake.

I went to Albright College. Their motto is something like "a different way of thinking." Well, they succeeded at that. The array of miscellaneous classes I took provided me with an arsenal of different thoughts. As a result, I tend to be halfway decent at random trivia games.

What class did I need? Home Economics. I see no reason why colleges don't offer home economics as an elective. I had home economics in middle school. We sewed a few things by hand and made a couple of meals. If the ability to sew on a button, repair a small hole or tear and keep from starving isn't invaluable, I don't know what is.

No matter what path you take in life, a solid home economics course could do nothing but help. You wouldn't even have to call it home economics. You could call it basic life skills. The final exam could be seeing if you can fix an entire Thanksgiving meal by yourself. Again, it's practical.

I don't proclaim to be a cook. I can, however, keep from starving. I can sew on a button or fix a small hole on an article of clothing. Now, as I was looking through the supermarket circular I was honest with myself. I have no idea how to fix a whole chicken or turkey. I know how it's done in theory, but a theory is far from a fact and nothing more than a strong maybe.

I can admit, he's a better cook.

My husband has been cooking up a storm lately, and dinner has been awesome. He comes at dinner with a whole entire plan. His preparation routine is vicious. He makes brews it over in his mind, makes phone calls...it's intense! Me? I think about dinner, let it go, search the 'net for ideas, and call my grandma. What's the difference between his tactics and mine? He has one meal in mind and follows through. Me on the other hand, I pick a meat, pick what I like from the advice, and hope it works out for the best.

This past week, I made a breaded chicken breast. Ingredients: cheese, garlic powder, bread crumbs I made from leftover buttery biscuits, and a bunch of other seasonings. It turned out pretty good. My husband made steak(w/ onions and peppers of course) w/ roux, broccoli and rice. I'd never even heard of roux before, but I won't ever forget it now!

So, why do I think my husband is a better cook? Well, because he's more methodical with his cooking. I'm more helter skelter. Yumminess tends to occur at any rate, so hey.

Chicken cooking in the oven

Finished chicken dinner

Steak in the making

Finished Steak dinner

Crock pot success and a gravy miracle

Once again, I decided to break out the trusty crock pot. Seriously, how many mishaps can you possibly have with one appliance? And with the toaster oven out of the way, I was sure to get it going without a hitch this time.

I didn't make chicken this time. I made a roast. I've seen my mom make roast beef hundreds of times. I figured it couldn't be that hard. She seasoned it, tossed in onions and peppers, and let it do it's thing. That's just my style! The roast turned went over without a hitch. But, of course you know there was a slight issue. I only had one jar of gravy.

What on earth do you do with an entire roast,a tiny jar of gravy, and your spouse coming home in 15 minutes? Well, here's what I did: I pouted. After that, I did the thing I know how to do best. I called my mom. She laughed and told me good luck because she only uses gravy from a jar. I obviously phoned the wrong lifeline. I called my grandmother. Of course mom-mom, as I call her, knew how to make gravy. Her explanation of how to make it was so long that by the time she got to the end I was at more of a loss than when I started. My aunt laughing in the background and yelling out "You better dig up another jar!" wasn't exactly helpful either.

With that, I went to old reliable: Google. I knew I had to use the essence from the roast, so I'd dumped that into a pan. That, however, is all I knew. A quick Google search told me the easiest possible way to make gravy:

1. Bring the essence from the meat to a boil.
2. Find a container (like a small Tupperware bowl) with a lid.
3. Put super cold water into the container.
4. Add flour.
5. Shake. Cover. Pray. (Well, the pray part is mine. I always think a dash of prayer is needed when cooking something for the first time, but it's completely optional.)

Keep in mind, I'd never made gravy before, but this seemed doable even for me. What do you think?

Busted crock pot vs. busted logic

I’m not a cook. I can put a few things together, but I don’t have a substantial bag of tricks to pull from. If a recipe involves more than baking meat at 350 degrees or cooking vegetables on the stove top, I’m pretty much lost. I’m not an adventurous eater, so I’m not an adventurous cook by default. As with most newbie cooks, chicken is my usual default. I probably bake chicken more than your average person should.

Remember that scene from Little Miss Sunshine where the grandfather goes on a tirade about eating chicken for dinner AGAIN? Well, that’s pretty much how my husband was feeling. (Oh, and if you do click on the link, there is cursing in it--you've been warned.) He, bless his heart, wasn’t as dramatic as that. But, he did ask that I at least fry the chicken if we absolutely had to have it.

I’ve gotten better about eating large masses of fried foods since being married (since my husband typically prefers his food baked), so I was skeptical about having fried chicken for dinner. I don’t do this often, but I made two different things. I decided to fry his and bake mine.

After cleaning and frying the chicken, I put half the pack in our crock pot. It’s super hot here and I wasn’t about to turn on the oven. I returned to the crock pot 5 minutes later, and it still wasn’t hot. Was it because it was on low? I turned it up. Ten minutes later, still nothing. Maybe the socket is acting up. I moved it around.

I went back to surfing the net and realized I still didn’t smell any chicken aromas yet. Seriously; it’s a slow cooker, but come on! I yanked out the plug and shook it in frustration. That’s when I realized I’d been plugging up the toaster oven all along.