Pulling Mozzarella

Catchy title eh?

That's what I learned to do last night .. pull mozzarella. It's something I've long wanted to do and finally had the opportunity to do so. It was quite fun in a very hands on way. Watching the mozza curds transform into a doughy like substance that can then be molded into shapes and then eaten was really interesting. It reminded me of a quote about not knowing the strength of a lady until you dipped her in hot water.

I enjoy food .. quite a bit, probably too much but alas, that is a part of who I am. I've never been one to enjoy cooking though I love to read, watch, and learn new techniques.

I've been cooking more at home in an attempt to spend less money eating out and to clean up my food intake. If I cook at home I can control what is going in my food and ideally it should be better than processed food.

I've been making a lot of pasta dishes in my Wolfgang Puck 5-Cup Rice Cooker -- which is an amazing tool for my kitchen. It's easy to throw a can of broth, two cups of noodles, and 2 cups of sauce in it and let it go. 20 minutes later I've got a hot meal that is perfectly cooked -- all for $25. Not bad eh? I've made macaroni & cheese, risotto, one pot pastas, lemon custard, rice pudding and of course, rice in this machine. I end used it to cook a pre-packaged "skillet" meal that I found in the frozen aisle.

Granted, I usually have cheese in my meals and the mac & cheese has cream in it in addition to the cheese so on a fat content level it's not the best meal to have with any regularity but I'm still of the belief that it's better than a fast food meal.

My brother shared a recipe with me yesterday and it sounded delicious so we decided that it would be tonight's dinner. Amazingly I didn't make it in the rice cooker .. though I am thinking of trying it later on.

Heidi has one again posted a great recipe on 101 Cookbooks titled Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup. I've always enjoyed lentils when I've had them but never made them at home. I have no idea why beyond pure laziness.

Assembly was fairly quick and painless. I like that in a meal. One of the best aspects of this soup was thinking of the possibilities for the next pot. Perhaps a little sausage like a chorizo or linguicia would add more depth (the meal is vegetarian to start with) or things like adding a can of spicy tomatoes for flavor. The list goes on and add. I will definitely add more kale next time as I didn't add enough this time, barely two cups I think.

The saffron yogurt wasn't bad but it wasn't so great that I'd bother with it next time. For one, saffron isn't cheap and two, I don't always have yogurt on hand. But, other than that the meal can be a pantry basic for me which is another plus.

Speaking of pluses -- Jamie Oliver has a new show called Jamie at Home which I believed premiered today on FoodTV. I credit him with getting my brother and I interested in cooking. We always cooked out of necessity but not out of any great interest in it.

I still don't really LIKE to cook but I'm finding it more and more satisfying as I go along.

Speaking of going along .. I threw a batch of rice into my cooker after dinner was over and tomorrow I'll have lentils and rice for lunch. How's that for yummy leftovers?

The next recipe I'm going to try is Ultimate Chickpea Noodle Soup -- one can never eat too many chickpeas in life. Reminds me of a friend from Australia who visited and we were trying to determine what to have for dinner and we asked if he had any dislikes and what pops out of his mouth but Chickpeas .. completely random thing to list as something you didn't like especially considering that most food in the US doesn't have it in it. You'll find it in a lot of Indian food but even then ... I always smile when I think of chickpeas now, he was such a sweet person.

I think that's enough for now ... thanks Heidi @ 101 for inspiring me to cook more.