Thank you all so much for your support, advice, and offers of help in response to my post in which I detailed the realization that I cannot cook myself out of a cardboard box. I have the best readers on the planet. Seriously.

So, I listened to you. I responded to M, asking her for the simple recipes she offered. Marie and Shannon told me to try some crockpot recipes, so I'm currently scouring the Internet for some good ones that will suit my fussy palatte. Dianne and Clare and Princess offered help with making baby food (yay!), along with some easy recipes, and Sher pointed me in the direction of Nigella for some good kid-friendly recipes.

And Sunshine, Caryl, and Christine made me feel a whole lot better about serving Isabella chicken and baked macaroni and cheese every night of the week!

Bolstered by all your confidence in me (which with regard to my skills in the kitchen, at least in cooking, I am severely lacking, I aimed for the following:

1.) This week (or next), I'm hitting the bookstore to find a good resource for making baby food.

2.) I'm going to try and start to cook more often on my own, and rely less on my loving relations and the microwave. And you'll be so proud of me! I started this past weekend.

It must be said that I am what you may call a Pampered Chef afficiando. Over the years, by attending others' parties, I do believe I have amassed half the catalog in PC-ware. The stuff is high-quality. It lasts forever. And I love the stoneware, because it never burns cookies. Ever! And now my friend Jenny is a consultant, which makes getting my PC fix easier than ever.

So a few months ago, I bought a new PC cookbook called All the Best, which, as you might guess, has "all the best" PC recipes, from appetizers to main dishes to desserts. And though it was tempting, this weekend I did not bake a dessert. I made a main course! And my efforts didn't result in my house being burned to the ground either.

I made a Chicken and Beef Taco Wreath. Half of the wreath (made of crescent rolls) was comprised of just chicken and cheese (for me), and the other half was beef taco for Rich. It was easy to make, except for the whole assembly of the wreath itself, which I believe would have gone a lot more smoothly if Isabella hadn't been screaming the entire time I was trying to figure out how to assemble it (she needed to eat too). But, either way, the finished product was delicious!

This is a great recipe to make if you're having a holiday party, because if you do it correctly (which I did not) it looks mighty impressive. And either way, I'm proud of myself for giving it a shot. This is definitely something I wouldn't have attempted in the past. But the time has come for me to give cooking a shot, people! I can do it, right?

(Half) Chicken and (Half) Beef Taco Wreath

Beef Taco

Ingredients
.75 pounds lean ground beef*
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
.75 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 TBSP water
(Optional toppings: salsa, shredded lettuce, chopped onion, sliced olives, and sour cream)

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook ground beef until no longer pink, and break beef into crumbles. Drain, and then stir in taco mix, most of the cheese, and the water. Set aside.

Chicken

(I'll give you the recipe for Chicken Club, although I omitted all the ingredients except chicken and cheese. I know. Freakish. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Ingredients
1.5 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken
2 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained and chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 TBSP fresh parsley
1/2 garlic glove, pressed
1 plum tomato, sliced

Directions
1.) Combine chicken, bacon, most of the cheese, mayo, mustard, parsley, and garlic. Mix well.

Now for the wreath-making!

You need 2 packages of refrigerated crescent rolls. Unroll them, and arrange them 8 of them in a circle on a baking stone, with the edges hanging off. Then, arrange the other 8 in the center of the stone, matching the wide ends with the triangles already in place (the points will overlap in the center), like so:
Then, roll over the seams where the trianges meet to create a smooth surface.

Scoop the filling evenly over the dough in a continuous circle.



Now comes the part where I didn't do it exactly as I should have. You're supposed to create a wreath pattern by bringing up the edges. I didn't have the time, patience, or attention-span to perfect this, so I just did it my own way, which I think turned out fine. If you're going to try this, and want to do it correctly, let me know and I'll email you the proper directions.

Once you're finished, stick it in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (Mine was a bit crispy, since I was feeding the babe while it was cooking, and couldn't watch the oven, but it still tasted great!)




So I cooked! Yay for me!

*These quantities are halved, because I made a half-and-half wreath. Double them to make the entire wreath as beef taco or as chicken