Look Ma, No Recipe

First off I need to answer a question from the comments in my previous post because I just know some of you are losing sleep over wondering. The question pertained to how the neighbors responded to our peace offering. Well....I don't know. They didn't answer the door when we knocked so we hung our treats from their door knobs. Nothing has been said to us, but that is ok.

Now on to what I want to share today. I have always and forever been a fan of recipes. Like...I can't cook without a recipe. I do not just whip things up. There needs to be a plan otherwise known as a recipe.

Well, I have made 3 things in the past few weeks solely on what I know about cooking now from watching umpteen Food Network shows at my mother-in-law's house "back in the day" and having seen a recipe at one point or another.

The first thing was turkey burgers. We loooooove these and they are easy! I learned from Rachael Ray that you must add veggies to turkey meat because it is drier. The veggies will boost the flavor and juiciness. I rarely buy beef anymore and was craving burgers so I jumped in. I chopped up some carrots, onion, and garlic. I mixed this in with the turkey meat and fried them up in the pan. YUM! They were awesome. I went a bit overboard with the veggies but it worked. I have also used fresh basil and spinach in them. So good!!!!!!

The next thing that I made was Chicken Pot Pie. I had made THIS recipe a couple of weeks back so I had a basic idea. I started by sautéing carrots, onion, celery and garlic in butter. Then I whisked in some flour then added some milk and chicken stock. I let that thicken up and added some shredded chicken, sage, salt, pepper, and a bag of frozen peas.

For the pot pie part of the meal I used an old family recipe which goes like this:
Whisk one egg, add enough milk to make a cup. Add enough flour to make a sticky dough. Roll out and cut into strips or squares.

I cut mine into small-ish squares and dropped them in the pan. They cooked quickly. This was a hit with the family too. My oldest daughter had 3 servings!

My last thing was just something that I decided to try. There was no recipe that I had seen at one time or another. I melted half a stick of butter in a frying pan and threw in cubed summer squash. I stirred it around and covered it with a lid. Once the squash was tender, I added some dark brown sugar and let it get all syrupy. This was AMAZING! Again my daughter said, "Mommy, this squash is really good!"

I just need to share because I am a teensy, weensy bit proud that I can now just sort of throw some things together. It is a great feeling.

BUT I still love recipes and will be using them for probably 90% of my cooking!