Cooking?? Me??

I don't cook.  Tim can attest to that one. I don't suck at it...I just don't do it. At least I didn't used to. We have a wedding coming up in 6 months and a 4 month old baby girl. We just don't have the extra funds to eat out every night. And Tim does not have the time to cook for me every night (like when I was pregnant...GOD I miss those days!!) I'm stepping up and practicing my wifely duties.  Let me make this clear: I do not believe in gender roles. I believe in a PARTNERSHIP. Everybody needs to pull their weight in a relationship.  Tim works full time and I only work part time. Therefore, I will be trying to cook more meals.  Since I'm not very good at doing the whole barefoot in the kitchen thing for TOO long..quick and easy meals are my favorite. I managed to cook 2 whole meals this week. That's pretty freaking good. I'm going to work my way up to cooking (or eating leftovers from what we already did cook) every night.

This week, I found success with 2 meals that I think (and I'm sure Tim agrees) were the BEE'S KNEES. I rarely follow recipes. I love going on allrecipes.com, finding a recipe and then combining methods from other users listed in the reviews. Definitely recommend that route since most people who take the time to even write a review, know something about cooking (note: I've never written a review).

My first meal was Rosemary Turkey Meatloaf with Honey Roasted Red Potatoes and Fresh Green Beans

 I'll give you the actual recipe and my alterations are in paranthesis :)

We love our greens :)

Meatloaf (362 calories per serv.)

What you need:

• 1.5 lbs ground turkey
• 2 C dry bread crumbs
• 1 chopped onion (I used white)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 C milk (my healthy self used skim)
• 1/2 C balsamic vinigar ( I used a 1/4 C and added a 1/4 C of worchestire sauce)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (I used a seasalt grinder and ground it 10 times in there)
• 1 teaspoon of pepper (I used a pepper grinder and ground it 15 times in there- girl loves her pepper)
• 1 1/2 T of fresh chopped rosemary (for geniuses like myself who had to google it- only the little needles, not the stick. Thanks.)
• 1 C tomato sauce (I used ketchup. Classy gal here folks. Tastes the same!)
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1 T Dijon mustard (I used dry mustard)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease 9x5 loaf pan
2. In a large mixing bowl toss in bread crumbs, onion, egg, milk, vinigar, w. sauce, salt, pepper and rosemary. Mix that all up. Then add the turkey and knead with your hands until it's all mixed up.
3. Put the mixture in the pan and toss that puppy in the oven!
4. Bake for 1 hour
5. ( I take it out after 45 min then flip it onto a cooling rack and put that on a cookie sheet. I then combine the brown sugar, dry mustard and ketchup and smear it on top. Then I put it back in for 15 min. Makes it less soggy and doesn't crisp the topping as much)

Potatoes (155 calories per serv.)

What you need:

• 1 lb red potatoes, quartered
• 2 T diced onion (I used a whole onion)
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 T honey (I used about 3)
• 1 T dry mustard
• 1 pinch of salt (I used a seasalt grinder and ground it 5 times)
• 1 pinch of pepper (I used a pepper grinder and ground it 7 times)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a 11x7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I used extra virgin olive oil- or EVOO as Rachel Ray puts it).
2. Toss in your spuds and throw those onions on top. In a small bowl, combine the honey, dry mustard, melted butter, salt and pepper. Drizzle that over your potato/onion mix. (Next time I will be doubling the recipe for the topping)
3. Bake in oven for 35 min. Stir every so often.

Green Beans (this one's my own recipe)

What you need:

• 1 1/2 handfuls of fresh cut green beans
• 2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO from here on out)
• 1 T lemon juice
• Pepper grinder
• Sea Salt Grinder

What to do:

1. Coat a frying pan with 1 T of EVOO and turn the heat on med/high
2. Toss in your beans and put the last T of EVOO on them as well as the t of lemon juice
3. Mix that around while it cooks
4. Taste a bean to see how it feels. It should have a bit of crunch to it but not have any sogginess (lets not use that word again.)
5. If they're done, take both grinders and put them on the setting that makes the salt and pepper grain sizes the largest. Give it about 7 turns from each and mix your beans.

I hope this meal is as easy for you as it was for me. Definitely experiment and use ingredients that YOU enjoy! That's what I did and that's why we loved it so much :)