something new!

how exciting! my first blog :-) i always thought it would be fun to start a blog but didn't really know what to write about. i decided this afternoon that maybe i should just write about something i love, so here we are.

a couple years ago i discover that i really enjoy cooking. and not only that, i'm pretty decent at it. i love getting a new recipe and trying it out. even more, i love trying them out on other people. my mom and husband have often been guinea pigs in my cooking escapades. unfortunately, there's at least one failed attempt every third recipe or so. i'm fairly certain that a couple of those failed attempts are why my brother in law prefers to eat out vs try what i'm in the kitchen attempting. usually, i can follow a recipe pretty easily; it's when i try to be creative and throw things together that disaster may strike.

i like to tell other people when i've made something new, because when the food turns out well i like to brag and when it's bad i like getting help. i'm sure if we're facebook friends you've seen status updates about something i've made or pictures of desserts that have turned out pretty. so i suppose my main purpose in starting this blog is to have another avenue to direct that energy. for those of you who are Julie/Julia fans, please understand that this is not anything close to what she did. i have no intentions of picking up the Art of French Cooking, or any other type of cook book and cooking my way through it. i think i'll just write about new recipes i've tried and how they've turned out. that being said, here's what i tried this week!

i made country fried steak this week, compliments of Paula Dean's recipe on foodnetwork.com.

one thing i always do when taking a recipe from online is read the reviews. that usually helps alleviate any trouble that might arise. the reviews for this recipe were mixed. some people didn't think it had enough flavor, some thought the breading didn't stick well, so i knew what kind of problems i might run into.

it actually ended up turning out pretty good. it wasn't a pretty dish, it had a weird brown/gray color to it, but it was good. i had some steaks that were pretty tender and i seasoned them with salt and garlic powder on one side and seasoned salt on the other. i knew that i was going to have a problem with the batter sticking because i forgot to dry the steaks before starting but oh well. the batter was pretty simple. it was just flour and pepper (freshly cracked because it really is better).

the recipe called for buttermilk which i made because it never gets used before expiring when i buy it: 1tbsp lemon juice in 1c milk, let it sit about 5 minutes. i put the seasoned steaks in the flour first then the buttermilk mixture and then back in the flour. the steaks went into about a half cup of vegetable oil that was already hot in a cast iron skillet. one thing i'm still adjusting to is cooking with an electric stove. i don't like it. it get's too hot so i'm still learning. the steaks fried on both sides for about 5 minutes. i lost part of the breading on one of them but it was all right.

i took the steaks out and let them cool/dry on a papertowel and then added 2tbsp flour and a lot of pepper to the oil. while scraping the pan to get the grits mixed in i noticed i was warping my spoon, note to self: don't use plastic cooking utensils! after switching to a metal spoon, i added a cup of whole milk slowly while stirring. the steaks went back into the skillet with some green onion and it simmered for 30 minutes.

things to change/try next time: season the batter more. i thought the gravy was a little bland so seasoning the batter would help with that. also, i think i'll try using an egg instead of buttermilk to keep the batter on.

all in all a good cooking experience this week :-)