Day 3: Chocolate and Strawberry Sorbet...

Today I’m being a bit daring, given that I’m posting this recipe without having tasted it. Right now it’s in the refrigerator chilling. I will only find out how it tastes tonight. I’m reasonably confident, because you can’t go too wrong with that much chocolate and sugar. It’ll be tasty on some level.

Enjoy.

Day 2: Baked Marinara Sauce...

Yesterday I posted a recipe for how to make something quickly. Today, let’s assume it’s the weekend, you have company coming over, and you want to impress.

This one should do it.

I would start several hours before the meal is supposed to begin, because it takes a while. One great thing about this recipe is that, though it has a long cooking time, you are not expected to slave over the stove for hours. Nope, you can let your oven do the work, walk away, and do something else, because you BAKE this sauce, more than cook it in a pot.

By baking the dish, you caramelize the ingredients to bring out their flavours much more than if you had just kept them boiling in a large pot.

Again, the ingredients don’t matter all that much. Any collection of veggies appropriate for tomato sauce will work. It’s more of a method of cooking than a strict recipe - chunk it - bake it - blend it. It’s that simple.

Day 1: Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...

When it comes to recipes, I think a great place to start is with a quick one, since most people say, "I don't have time to cook!"

I've always disputed this notion. Time only widen's your options. It's a lack of knowledge that keeps you from making good food quickly.

Since the advent of frozen dinners, microwave’s and increased work hours, we have less and less time to cook, and as a result, we now have a generation that never learned to cook. Recipes have not been passed down, knowledge has not been shared.

Today I change that. Enjoy...

Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...

The first thing to understand is that I’m advocating a style of cooking here, rather than a recipe. Other than making sure you have a few key ingredients, you don’t have to stick to my recipe. If you’re new to cooking, try it as-is, but as you get more experience, try it with other herbs, different liquids you think might taste good with pasta sauce. Then you can call it your own recipe!

One bit of advice I would recommend in regards to sauces, is that the quicker the cooking time, the more I would advise using fresh herbs. They taste better, and they impart their flavours quicker than with dry herbs, which are better suited to slow cooking.

A Recipe A Day...

A buddy of mine asked for some recipes, which I'm always glad to do, but it got me thinking. I do a lot of cooking, and it is often improvised. Sometimes I write the recipe as I cook, but as of late, I have been a bit lazy.

So when my friend asked for a recipe, I decided that if I continue to create new dishes, I should give myself a challenge. Create a new recipe every day (which I do anyway), and write it down, posting the recipes here.

So starting this June I will, for an unspecified time, create a recipe a day. If I keep doing this for a year, I will have myself enough for a cookbook...

Stay tuned for Day 1: Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...

STORYTELLING...

Details are the hooks we hang our suspension of disbelief on...

LEARNING TO COOK...

If you absolutely have to do something three times a day in order to survive, shouldn't you become more knowledgeable about it, enough to do it well, and have fun doing it?

The Truth About Exercise...

Setting a tough goal for yourself, one you think might not be possible, and then not only doing it, but surpassing your expectations, brings on a high better than any drug, more powerful than any sugar rush, and lasts with you forever. All this without the bad side effects of drugs and crappy food...