So I told Mary Beth, that she would be my guinea pig for my kitchen experiment. I also used her since she is quite familiar in the kitchen and could answer all of my questions regarding the recipes. So after work, we headed to Whole Foods and Albertson’s to find all the necessary ingredients for the awesome dinner. Once at home we promptly located the fire extinguisher, number to Poison control and a back up microwavable meal, just in case anything went wrong. I also put on my brand new apron (bought especially for the occasion) and pearls because if I was going to be a Suzie Homemaker, I needed to dress for the occasion. So with a glass of wine in hand, I began the cooking process…
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
White Sangria
All great meals must have a great drink to accompany them. Also, I figured everything tastes great after a few glasses of Sangria. I still considered the Sangria to be a part of my cooking experience since you actually have to chop things and mix. Lucky for me, I have made it before so I knew it was going to be hard for me to fail. Needless to say, it was a hit! You can now find my recipe for White Sangria uploaded to Dropbox. Great summer drink!
Beer Dip
All meals need an appetizer, so I chose a beer dip (once again thinking I could trick Mary Beth’s tastes buds into thinking everything tastes great). Not going to lie, I was a little nervous about adding mayonnaise, cream cheese and beer all into a dip and have it taste great. Thank goodness my fears were firmly washed away when I took my first bite! It was so good and quite easy to make. Even Mary Beth was having issues not eating too much before the main meal. We also decided to spice up half of it with some jalapeno juice, which if you like things a little spicy went quite well. That’s right, not even an hour into my cooking and I already think I can change up recipes. So everyone should definitely use this for munchies at any party!
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
Turkey Burgers
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
Time for the big boy recipe! First of all I had to consult with Mary Beth at the grocery store because I had no idea that coriander was a spice. I also discovered that I had a peeler in my utensil drawer… yes, I have been at my house for over year, but that doesn’t mean I have any idea what I own.
So with all ingredients and utensils ready, I went to work. The cucumber salad was so easy to make until I found out that there was mint I was supposed to add, unfortunately I didn’t see that at the store so I had to leave it out. Making the patties was simple as well. Then yes, for the first time at my house I personally used my grill. So many new adventures all in one night!
Can I just say the turkey burgers were AMAZING! And with the cucumbers, they were so refreshing and light. It is a perfect meal for the summer (yes, I consider it summer when we are already in 90 degree weather)! So big hit and even bigger hit was I didn’t burn down my house. :)
Mexican Corn
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
Since I was only making corn for two people, I only bought two corns on the cob. Unfortunately for Mary Beth and me, I didn’t half the recipe of the rub though. So I mixed all of the spices together and started put the rub on the cooked corn. I didn’t know how much needed to be on there and also figured since both Mary Beth and I are from Texas we can handle some heat, I pretty much put all of the rub on both ears of corn. BIG MISTAKE! I let it cook again in my oven and when it was time to eat it, I am pretty sure I saw (out of tear filled eyes) smoke come out of Mary Beth’s mouth. The corn was like eating FIRE. So quickly we tried to rub as much of the spices off as possible and try again….yeah, that didn’t work either. Let me just say though had I been a little bit less excited about making the corn red with rub, this would have tasted amazing. It was so good, we actually stilled tried to eat as much of it as possible…but eventually we were ran out of Sangria to put out the fires in our mouths. So word of advice, don’t use all of the rub on the corn unless you are used to eating habanero peppers as a snack.
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
Ooey Gooey Cake
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
So to finish off the meal, I decided to make Ooey Gooey Cake. So I pulled out my brand new cake pan (yes, I had to buy one that day since I didn’t have one) and mixed away. Lucky for me, the recipe was so easy to make! All went well on the preparation and cooking portion, but when I pulled the cake out of the oven I accidently tipped it and spilled what felt like lava all over my foot and oven. Not all of the topping came off so I let it cool while Mary Beth and I finished our meal. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I served us up some slices of the sugary decadence. Sure enough it was ooey and gooey and quite tasty. It was the perfect ending to the night.
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
Lessons Learned
Aprons and pearls make everything taste better…as does Sangria.
Just because someone lives in Chicago does not mean they don’t know what spicy is…
Be very careful pulling cakes out of the oven. The topping will somehow slip between the glass and the actual oven making it so you have unscrew the oven door just to clean up…
All Executive Chefs should hire a Sous Chef that helps with clean up. :)
 |
| From Not So Secret World of Stephanie |
What an adventure! Stay tuned for more!
No comments:
Post a Comment