In the Kitchen

Tonight was a night of first's in the kitchen. When deciding what recipe to try tonight, I opted for the recipe that called for something that I always been afraid of: TOFU.

The recipe was Sweet & Sour Shrimp from the Cooking Light website.

That's an original photo of the meal I made, not the photo from the website. :) (Hard to tell the difference, huh?)

The title of the recipe was deceiving since one of the main ingredients was in fact, tofu. But I decided to go for the challenge regardless. The recipe also called for another ingredient that I had always been avoiding: ginger. And I can confidently say that this recipe has squashed my fear of tofu and ginger forever. So let me walk you through the eventful cooking process of this recipe...

It was going smoothly up until I added sesame oil to a hot pan. Bad idea. Nothing scares me more in the kitchen than hot oil popping all over the place, especially when it's on my skin. Ouchies. Other than that, I only had one misunderstanding of the recipe but it ended up working out just the same. But to the publishers of Cooking Light, please include the word, 'separately' when referring to cornstarch mixtures. I'm a pretty smart person but that part...evidently was read wrong and I mixed it all together. Whoops.

All in all, the recipe turned out great! The chile garlic paste definitely turned up the heat but the flavor was still excellent. I ended up eating only half of what was on the plate and had plenty of leftovers for another night. The meal was a success and definitely keeping the recipe for another go-around.

And to everyone who is afraid of tofu, i.e. almost everyone I know, the texture is like mashed potatoes or jell-o. You just push it up on the top of your mouth and it's gone. It has no flavor except for the flavor of the sauce that its mixed with, it's simply added protein. And ginger...welcome to my life. Your aroma is pleasant and welcoming. :)

Can't wait for next week's challenge!

Life at 25: In the Kitchen

**Sooo...I was trying to expand my blog and create a new page for a different topic about Life at 25 buuuutt...evidently it's not possible unless I create an entirely different blog with a different URL and that's just not convenient for me. So I guess I'm just going to adding the new posts to the original page and I'll just have to be creative with titles so everyone will be able to understand what's going on. Whew, ok, on to the good stuff!**

Moving into a new apartment has given me new motivation and new inspiration. Not only with decorating but also with food. It's been a time of fresh beginnings and fresh feelings. While the job hunt continues (actually, it needs to get started again), everything else is finally getting settled. I've began getting up at 6:30 every morning to exercise and really focusing on improving my food choices and eating habits throughout each day. And to help with maintaining my movitation, I've also began following some food/fitness blogs. They have definitely been helpful with new meal ideas and workouts. In 2 weeks I've already felt a difference in my energy and attitude! So this new page is to help maintain my motivation even more because this page will be dedicated to a new challenge I've began with myself.

>>Every week I will cook at least one new recipe that I've never done before. And to make it more thrilling, I will challenge myself to cook with a brand new ingredient that I've never used or eaten. On top of that, one day a week will be dedicated to meatless meals. <<

How does that sound? I know I will probably get some criticism from family and friends but I'm hoping that it will inspire them to get in the kitchen and make better food choices or at least try something new!

So here goes the first night of my challenge, wish me luck! Let's get cooking!!