Sunday, August 23, 2009

Don't take this post as me condoning the existence of Meryl Streep

I've been trying to be more domesticated lately. I'm realizing that at 32 if I'm don't know how to cook SOMETHING* when a special someone comes over, then it's just sad. My friends Kelly (there are two of them) are pretty much the best cooks ever. Everytime I go over to their houses, they cook these fantastic things that I can't even comprend how they're made. And they're all "Oh! It's so simple. All you do is just...." and then my eyes glaze over because they name herbs I don't have and have never heard of. They talk about pans/pots I don't have and cooking styles I can't begin to name.

So I'm starting with baby steps. I'm looking for recipes that have only a few ingredients and are simple enough that a four year old could make it. I figure I can dumb it down from there.

Tonight I opted to make what SEEMED like a very easy recipe. Cordon Bleu. Let me tell you that it is NOT so easy. Because first you have to pound out chicken. I thought that would be easy until I realized that I don't own a pounder thingie. So did what every woman wants to do in their 30's. I called my mom and begged for help. She suggested that I put the sliced chicken breast halves (which by the way is also not easy) between two pieces of Saran Wrap and then pound it lightly using the edge of a plate. Since I don't like shards of plate in my chicken, I opted to do the Saran Wrap thing and then just pound it using my fist.

I need to get a pounder thingie.

Anyway, I did it. I cooked something for dinner that I haven't cooked before. See?
I know...the chicken thingies aren't the prettiest. I know...the cheese is supposed to not ooze out. And they probably should be more uniform. But they taste fantastic. And what's more, I MADE them.

*Actually, I'm a decent baker. I make cookies, some pies, muffins, and breads from scratch. I'm good at that kind of stuff. And to be honest, I've made a few Thanksgiving dinners with all the fixings. So I know how to make SOME stuff...just not like sophisticated dinner stuff. Or even normal dinner stuff.

P.S. Slightly off topic, but I refuse to see "Julie and Julia." I kind of want to see it because I want to support the idea that blogs can turn into books or movies. While I personally don't feel I have enough talent to do either, I am all about supporting people who do. And I like Amy Adams. But really? Meryl Streep has ruined a lot of movies for me and I just don't get the appeal of her. In fact, one time, when I saw her in a movie with Kevin Bacon, I remembered wishing he would just hit her with an oar or something already. I find her annoying. "Mamma Mia" had me cringing the whole time...and I heart ABBA.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you definitely need a "pounder thingie", or if you already have a rolling pin, since you said you make pies, you could use that. your post made me giggle.

e

Kris said...

ummm, so, well, yeah, it looks good. And, if you cooked it for me I would eat it! However, how many points is one of those?
Seriously, glad to see you spending sometime with yourself and doing the cooking thing!

Mark and Joella said...

That's about what my cordon bleu looked like when I made it...except I used colored toothpicks (all I had) and there were little spots of color on the chicken :) As far as the points go, I don't know what you used for the cheese. When I made it, I used laughing cow swiss cheese instead of real swiss and that really helped keep the points down. But it was kind of hard to spread it on the chicken.

And you can also use a skillet to pound the chicken if you don't have a flattener thingy :) I make a lot of easy recipes, so let me know if you want some ideas :)

Happy Fun Pants said...

Points value was 5. Obviously one of the chicken thingies was bigger than the others...so I just added up the values for all of them (30 points total) and then divided it by 6 (the number of cordon bleus).

I used 2% reduced fat swiss cheese from Kraft and lean ham.

Slackey said...

That looks super good!! I might just have to steal the recipe.

My limit of cooking is baking from a box, or putting something from a can/bag/box on a heating element, lol.

It's just ME said...

Thank you! Someone finally said it. Meryl Streep has been messing up the movies for me for years now. Did you see her in 101 Dalmatians. Just awful, just awful. And that Mrs. Doubtfire. PEE-U. Ok technically she wasn't in that, but she would have been terrible.

Sally said...

FYI,
In a pinch, a can of soup = a good pounder thingie.

Great job! Looks yummy!

kristi said...

Nice work! You could be lazy like me and purchase the packages of trimmed, thin sliced chicken breasts. I know they are like $10/lb. (or something outrageous), but think of all that time you save not having to pound them!