Lasagna

I was waiting to post this until I could the picture loaded onto my computer, but that may never happen. I can't find my digital camera, so I had to use my camera phone for the lasagna, but I can't e-mail on my phone, so I sent it to my mom's Crackberry, but her phone isn't working, so y'all are just going to have to use your imaginations.

I got the recipe out of Food Network Magazine, and I'm sure it would have been great if I hadn't totally screwed it up. First of all, I didn't buy enough cans of tomatoes. Second, I was in the middle of cooking when I read that I needed a food processor. So, I ended up with too little of a sauce that wouldn't spread properly. I tried to add some milk and flour to it to thicken the liquid a little, and it worked okay, but it ended up really bland.

Things I learned:
1) Read the whole recipe before you even do your shopping.
2) You should cook the lasagna sheets before you bake the whole thing.

I bought a Paula Deen cookbook (she's my patron saint of the kitchen), and a lot of her recipes call for food processors, too. I called Mama and asked her what I could use instead (because food processors are expensive), and she said to just get a blender. I went down to Super Target (It's so awesome!), and found a little red Oster blender that has twelve speeds, including puree, and I think I'll make some huevos rancheros for my company next weekend.

Today I'm going to make cashew chicken, but I don't like cashews, so I'm making ... chicken.

Won Ton Soup

The Final Product

Another day, another mess. I'm trying to get at least one good recipe out of every part of the world. I've got American, French, Italian and Mexican, and tonight I tried for Asian. P. F. Chang's has a great won ton soup, and my dad and I decided to try it tonight. Actually, I made the won ton soup, and my dad made the Presidente margaritas, so if this post is a little incoherent, you can blame him.


I googled a recipe and just took the first one that came up. Some of the ingredients were a little out of the ordinary, so we had to go to Fresh Market to get them (I love Fresh Market. It's one of my favorite parts about coming home because we don't have one in my college town.). I love working with new ingredients. I feel like I've earned it more if I don't know what I'm doing.


The hardest part was folding the won tons. I basically ended up wetting the ages and gathering together and hoping they stuck. They didn't look terrible, but I don't think they have any plans on hiring me at Chang's anytime soon.


Then we boiled the won tons ("we" because by this time my mom couldn't stand to watch me struggle anymore). After a couple of minutes the fillings had come out of half of them. Only about six of them made it into the chicken stock.


Okay, verdict. It was a valiant effort, but it did not work out. I got the Polite Nod of Death from my parents, my brother, and my future sister-in-law. It may have been the crab meat in the won tons. It may have been using chicken stock instead of broth. I may just need more practice with the won tons.


On the plus side, I'm just tipsy enough to be okay with it.