*Hits & Misses*

For every Carrie Clarkson or Kelly Underwood...there's a William Hung...or Rueben Studdard (I'm obvi watching American Idol right now)

For every multi platinum album....there's a one-hit wonder (eeehhhhh MACARENA)

For every Sue Sylvester...there's a Will Schuester (sorry, I can't stand him)

For every Sixth Sense, there was an Unbreakable (...and The Signs, and Lady in the Water, and The Village, and The Happening)

Basically, for every good dish...





Bananas that I caramelized (cooked with butter, milk, sugar, and brown sugar) and added it to my ice cream sundae...NOMs all the way!



















There's a...not so good dish...















That's supposed to be coconut...and yes, its burnt. I wanted to extract the flavor by toasting it. I checked on it at 8 minutes and 2 minutes later it looked like this. Lesson learned.











Good dish...


Frozen fries from the freezer section that I drizzled EVOO, salt, pepper, and paprika over and melted cheese. Then poured some mushroom gravy for some extremely delicious gravy cheesy fries.

The burger on the left has shredded cheddar cheese on it and I cooked it with some of the gravy I made. The burger on the left also has shredded cheese and I was feeling adventurous and decided to slather on some homemade pesto sauce. I'll let you decide which burger was the hit and which burger was the miss. Hint: pesto sauce and shredded cheddar cheese DO NOT go good together.




Here's a good dish/bad dish that came all rolled up in one...

This is my famous mac & cheese that came out creamy, cheesy and oh so nommy. I decided to add in a little something-something and added in some portuguese sausage (homemade sausage from Hawaii) for spice. At first the sausage added in a little smokey sweetness, but as I ate more, it somehow turned a little too sweet and almost ruined the amazing mac & cheese. Let me repeat..the mac & cheese was bomb.com...the mac & cheese with sausage was just a BOMB!



Cooking is all about new adventures and new tastes. Of course you are going to stumble along the way. Vegetables will be burnt, meat will be under-seasoned, and salads will be over-tossed. If you cook the same thing every night in the exact same way, it is going to start to taste bland and boring. I am anything but bland and boring.

Here is a recipe that I envisioned on a whim...it was also on my list of dishes I wanted to create. It was a homerun if I do say so myself...

Shrimp & Chicken Pesto Pizza



chicken
salt
Olive Oil
pepper
cumin
shrimp
garlic
parsely
basil
shallots
mozzarella cheese (shredded)
pizza dough
pesto sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I used the store bought pizza dough and baked it per those instructions. Roll out pizza dough on baking sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper over.


Pesto Sauce:
2-3 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 c pine nuts
1 - 1.5 c basil
1/4 c parmesean cheese
EVOO
salt & pepper

In a food processor or blender, grind garlic and pine nuts together. Add basil and incorporate well. Add parmesean cheese. While processor still on pour in EVOO until sauce is liquidy and the consistency that you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread over pizza dough.

Chop up shallots, garlic, parsley, basil and set on side.

Add olive oil into pan and add cut up shallots. Saute.

Cut up chicken into small pieces. Drizzle pan with olive oil and add chicken. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Cook shrimp for 1-2 minutes. Spread shallots, garlic, chicken, and shrimp around pizza. Sprinkle cheese around pizza. Cook in oven following pizza dough instructions, usually 8-10 minutes. Take pizza out and chiffonade basil and spread around pizza. ENJOY!


Happy Cooking!