Food and other mysterious things...

...well, mostly just food.  But mysterious things about food!

Tyler and I are what is commonly referred to as broke.  We take great pride in being thrifty at this juncture in our lives, partially because "thrifty" sound much cooler and more responsible than "cheap".  One of the exciting ways that we are thrifty is by making our own food instead of going out to eat.  This has led not only to adventureous grocery shopping games like "find the cheapest form of cheese that is still actually cheese!" and "do we need that?" but also to some grand cooking adventures.

Tyler is a courageous chef.  Challenges like how to make a meal out of a half-jar of pickles, dijon mustard and brown rice do not intimidate him.  He boldly goes where no recipe has gone before and always pulls off a surprisingly ridiculously tasty meal.  He also is actually good at cooking.  Not only does the man have his own meat-grinder, but he also has created a small arsenal of insanely tasty meals.  He makes without a doubt the best black bean burgers I have ever eaten.  He makes orange chicken that is incredible.  He makes pasta and salads and just tonight created a brand-new dish out of home-made sweet barbeque sauce (which apparently included ketchup and whiskey among other things), sausage, brown rice, green peppers, and some mysterious little spicy peppers that released their spicy burning chemical into the air as they cooked and made both of us cough like we had been attacked by a vengeful vindaloo cloud.  Really tasty though.  I am just saying, the man can cook.

I am not so courageous.  When Tyler would come to visit me in Spokane, I made him canned tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and frozen potstickers.  Not so much in the way of "creativity" or "cooking experience" or "anything I actually made with ingredients".  I have attempted some meals since being here though and so far they are not complete failures.  Nachos have been successful.  The tuna melts were another step in the right direction (did you know that dijon mustard works well instead of mayo?  and that red peppers are delicious with tuna, mustard, and cheddar?).  My boldest move yet has been chicken fajitas (though Tyler insists that I have made incredibly good food so far). However, I am not a daring cook.  I am a baking fan.  I like being told exactly how much of everything to put in, how long to cook it at what temperature, and knowing that in the end I will be rewarded with something that is tasty.  These experiments are not so much my thing.  But I am trying.

Really what I am saying is do not be surprised if my new-found boldness results in blogs about some sort of monstrosity made from the leftover sweet potatoes in our pantry and whatever meat we still have waiting in our fridge.  Off to cook.  Wish me luck.