Learning to Cook

I grew up in a house with a great cook.  I never really paid much attention to how my mom actually cooked though, and I feel very limited in my abilities.  At the beginning of our marriage, Chris did most of the cooking.  But as we transitioned to me staying home and him working full time after he finished school, it seemed that I should take over this area.  Over the past few years, I've stolen a lot of recipes from the good cooks I know.

Thankfully for me, my sister in law Katie and her husband moved here around the time I was starting to learn.  Katie is a great resource for me.  She answers all of my really stupid cooking questions and gives me great ideas for recipes.  She gave me this book for Christmas.  Last night I finally got it together and made my first recipe from the book, at her recommendation, called Beef Tamale Pie.  It was GREAT!  And it wasn't very hard either.  This book is designed for making things ahead and gives directions for refrigerating and freezing.  I was able to bake half of this recipe and put the other half in the freezer!  I'm going to get going on a real plan for making and freezing ahead.  I think the 30 day option is a little much for us, but I'm going to work on a 2 week make ahead schedule.

Me vs. the Pan

I have an enameled cast iron skillet that does a great job.  It looks like this:

Isn't that nice?  It's super heavy, but I like using it.  I recently learned that if you cook vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet at higher heats, whether it's enameled or not, it sticks.  It STICKS.  This little skillet had a cooked on sticky, black coating that would not budge.  I tried baking soda, vinegar, heating it up and scrubbing, scratch pads, Magic Eraser, copper scratch pads, tulle, and tons of soap.  Chris told me I should just throw it out.  The thrifty (CHEAP!!!) person in me screamed.  There must be a another way!

While visiting, Rita mentioned that the pan would come clean if I sprayed oven cleaner in it.  Oven cleaner seemed extreme, but I had tried everything else.  And it worked like magic!  I did have to do repeated treatments, but it's brand new.  So don't cook vegetable oil in cast iron, and if you do and it gets stuck, use some oven cleaner.  Thanks Rita!

Cream Cheese Chicken

This is hands down one of the best recipes I make. The great thing about it is that it's super easy to make, and it's easy to double, triple, or whatever you need! The other great thing about this recipe is that it freezes really well. So it's an awesome freezer cooking recipe!

I package 1 batch up in a 1 quart freezer bag, label it, and stick it in the freezer. This makes for such an easy meal the next time around, as all I have to do is cook the noodles or make mashed potatoes to go with it. :)


Here's the recipe:
1 .7-ounce envelope Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup butter
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
1 10.75-ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
Turn slow cooker on High. Place butter in bottom of slow cooker. When the butter has melted, add one envelope Italian dressing dry mix. Stir into butter until well mixed. Cut chicken breasts into 1" strips. Place in slow cooker and stir to coat with butter and dressing mix. Cover and cook on High for 2 hours. Remove chicken to plate to cool. Add cream of chicken soup and cream cheese. Stir to melt and mix well until smooth and creamy. Remove sauce from slow cooker and allow to cool. Place chicken and sauce into a gallon resealable freezer bag. Label. Freeze.
To serve: Thaw. Heat until piping hot and bubbly. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or hot buttered noodles.
Found at 30 Meals in One Day