The May 1 - May 7 Grocery List (Everything I Need in Order to Make Three/Four Meals)

-       13 ounces white bread / or sweet bread

-       6 (6-inch) pitas, cut in half

-       4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 3/4 pound)

-       1 lb fresh chicken

-       ¾ -1 lb hamburger

-       1 cup chopped tomato (1 medium)

-       1 carrot

-       1 green bell pepper

-       1 red bell pepper

-       ½ zucchini squash

-       1 round onion

-       ½ cup green onions chopped

-       1 garlic clove, minced

-       ½ lb. sliced mushrooms

-       3 cups mixed baby greens

-       2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

-       4 tbsp garlic flavored extra virgin olive oil

-       1 ½ tbsp sun-dried tomato oil

-       1 tbsp chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatos

-       ¼ cup all-purpose flour

-       1 tsp vanilla extract

-       1 tbsp white sugar

-       4 ½ eggs

-       1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Asiago cheese

-       2 tsp. romano cheese

-       1 cup milk

-       ½ tsp ground cinnamon

-       1/8 tsp salt

-       Kosher salt

-       1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

-       1 tbsp. dried basil

-       wax paper

Why Is There a Paula Deen Video on the Right Column?

As many of us know, Paula Deen is a crazy and butter-obsessed lady that is often featured on many Food Network cooking shows.  In the video shown on the right column, she makes her french toast using bananas, nutmeg, and a couple of other ingredients.  The reason to why I chose to show her video on my blog is because I wanted to show how each person/household/family has a unique way of cooking the each meal.  For example, in order to cook the french toast I am planning to make tomorrow, I have to pick up ingredients such as sweet bread, vanilla extract, cinnamon, etc.  

Another reason to why I chose to show Paula Deen's video is because I wanted to express the idea of how much control people have over their food when they cook it themselves.  When cooking our own breakfast, lunch, and dinners, we, ourselves, choose what ingredients to use, how to cook the food, and how much to cook.  By doing this, it allows us to save money by cooking the food we need instead of eating out and being forced to pay for food we may or may not eat.  Also, by having control over the food we consume, we can also eat healthier.  For example, I could substitute in low-fat milk and egg whites instead of plain milk and whole eggs.  By doing this, I just cut down a third of the cholesterol I would've consumed originally.

Even though Paula Deen and I may use different ingredients or use different techniques, we will both end up making delicious french toast, which is all that matters at the end of the day.

Welcome

For my quality project, I chose to make seven meals (or more) over a period of 2-3 weeks.  By doing this, I hope to enhance my cooking skills.  By cooking, I hope to answer the question to why cooking is an important life-long skill to learn.  Along with cooking these meals, I will be running my own blog (which you are on considering you are reading this).  In each entry, I will include pictures of the process of cooking each meal and the finished product.  Along with this, I will include the recipe and a list of the new techniques and skills I have learned while cooking each meal.  I have always wanted to learn how to cook, and by choosing cooking as my quality project, I will now be able to devote the time and effort into learning how to cook a delicious meal.