Kiki in the Kitchen

Grandma Jean was amazing in the kitchen and she kept Grandpa well fed.  I went to middle school right across the street from this house, so sometimes I would be able to walk here after school.  She'd whip together a great meal in no time at all. 

That's the difference between Grandma Jean and me.  She could look into a refrigerator and see a half gallon of milk, a few eggs, and butter and see endless possibilities.  If that's what I see in the fridge, it's time to go to the grocery store to buy more TV dinners.

Well, in seven months I am going to be entering my thirties.  It's about time I start playing around in the kitchen more and develop my own collection of recipes.

Last night, I made Grandpa Tortellini Alfredo.  I could live on tortellini, and I think at a few points in m life - I did.  For the first time ever, I made the sauce from scratch using a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.  Of course, the incredible planner that I am had already started making the tortellini when I decided to make a sauce, so I didn't have time to go to the store to buy the missing ingredients.

The original recipe called for:

1/2 cup of butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups milk
 2 teaspoons garlic powder
6 oz grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

I did not have the Parmesan cheese, so I threw in some mozzarella instead.  All of you top chefs are probably thinking, "What the heck are you doing?"  Well, in Kiki's kitchen - cheese is cheese.  It worked.  And, now that I look at the ingredients, I realize that I didn't include the pepper.

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the cream cheese and garlic powder.  Whisk until smooth.  Add the milk a little at a time while whisking to smooth out the lumps.  Add the Parmesan and pepper.  (Or, forget the pepper.  I did and the kitchen didn't blow up.)  Stir until it reaches desired consistency, or until Grandpa starts asking how much longer it's going to take.

It says it makes 4 servings.  I found it to be a lot.  I could have done half what it called for and had plenty.

I dug out some chicken strips I found in the freezer and put them in a frying pan, then mixed the tortellini, sauce, and chicken together in a pot with peas.  (The microwave steam peas are quick and easy!)  To top it off, I put a few strips of bacon in the frying pan and sprinkled it on top.

And... Grandpa liked it.

So, with the fall arriving and winter right around the corner, I have decided to do a weekly family dinner.  Every Wednesday night is going to be my kitchen fest!  Not only am I learning how to conquer the kitchen, it will be good to bring people together once a week and give Grandpa something to look forward to.  AND, if the meal flops, I have Domino's on speed dial.