I am freakin awesome!!

I know this is not a food blog, but my "manifesto" for this blog is to document my attempts/philosophy of making the best of what you've got and looking damn good while doing it and part of that aim is being able to kick ass in the kitchen. A large part of looking good is feeling good and what you put into your body has a lot to do with that. Cooking when living on your own can be difficult, but there are definitely ways to make simple dishes look like so much more - just like how you can dress for less and look like more!

As examples of that, I've decided this year to work my way through the mini-library of cookbooks that I've accumulated over the last couple years thanks to my overly concerned mother. Cooking is in my family's genes, but I was long heralded as the domestic black sheep of the family since I rarely cook, sew, or clean at my own house. Well now you can stuff it Mom and sister!! As famous chef Martin Yan proclaimed: "If Yan can cook, so can you!"

Cooking skillz evidence article 1: the apple pie


I made this pie last month for a Christmas party and I must say it was delicious!! The trick was to cheat with ready made pie crusts, but the results were oh so professional.


Cooking skillz evidence article 2: smoked salmon and baby spinach pasta in a dill cream roux sauce


Oh my I'm so proud of myself and I don't care how egotistical that sounds! Thanks so much to TA for giving me the idea of how to use up my old dill dip from New Years by making this homemade cream pasta sauce. Anyone can make pasta and have it look great, but not many attempt to make it from scratch! This pasta is healthy, yummy and surprisingly easy and I totally made it on the fly! It was a little treacherous, but the results were worth it. Here's how:

• 1/2 flour
• 1/2 margarine
• 2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 container of dill dip
• Fistfuls of baby spinach
• 2 packets of smoked salmon
• Package of pasta (I used rotini)
  

Combine flour and margarine in pot, stirring on a low heat. Whatever you do, don't be too concerned when it all becomes a doughy mush, just keep stirring! Once margarine is melted, slowly add a bit of milk at a time, stirring constantly. Once all the milk has been incorporated entirely, add the dill dip and stir some more. When the sauce is smooth, you can add some chopped garlic, and the smoked salmon. Meanwhile you should have cooked the pasta and drained it, then combine the whole she-bang together with the baby spinach.

Hope you enjoyed this little sojourn from the usual topics! If you've got some great recipes, feel free to share!