semi-homemade cooking.

Did I tell you guys I have been cooking? And I mean cooking. Not "Ok, Nick, you make the amazing tomato sauce from scratch and I'll just boil some water for the pasta." I mean that this girl here spent last Tuesday not only baking chocolate chip cookies from eggs and flour with a hand mixer, but also making real pizza dough with flour and yeast and all - and yes, I made a real pizza with it! To Giada de Laurentiis, this may mean a boring afternoon. For me, it means a major milestone. Although I made a few first-timer mistakes (too-thick dough, burnt sauce around the edges of the pan), the pizza was actually not only edible but oh-so-delicious because it came from my own hands. When attempt #2 happens (and hopefully improves) I'll document the results.

Anyway, the whole thing with cooking is that as fun as it is...it is time-consuming. Who does this every night?! Well, lots of mothers across America, but I digress.

So, how does one continue to improve her comfort level in the kitchen without slaving away each night between a gym session and an episode of Glee? (Did I mention I had the day off when I made the cookies and pizza? So I mean, really....)

My new friend: semi-homemade cooking.

Case in point: Mondays have become "vegetarian night" for our household (which really is for Nick's sake since I'm not the world's biggest carnivore anyway). Our first Monday vegetarian staple was whole wheat pasta with olive oil, garlic, grape tomatoes, peas, and chopped asparagus. Delicious. But soon we needed a new dish to change the pace of our Mondays. We were lured one evening to a box of Near East's Toasted Pine Nut Couscous, but knew it wasn't enough - so we made it the base. We decided to spice it up with chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, and parsley and it was delicious. And guess what - it cooks in FIVE MINUTES. Just chop up the parsley and tomatoes while you're boiling the water/olive oil/seasoning for the couscous, heat the up the beans in a separate pot once you pour the couscous in the boiling water, then drain the beans and mix everything together five minutes later once the couscous is done. It's delicious and it's also a great leftover. Last night was round 2 and Nick discovered that adding a healthy dose of olive oil to your bowl is a special and tasty touch to the dish.

Lesson learned = creativity in the kitchen doesn't need to go hand-in-hand with hours of free-time. Feel free to keep things simple while still adding your own special touch. And the more you experiment, the better your ideas get over time.