Julie & Julia

No, this is not another movie review.  Liz, who is awesome, said "food blogs are big" and since she would know here it goes.  This is the deal with my cooking skills.

I can cook.  Follow a recipe step by step, make sauces, cut vegetables, boil water, melt butter, etc.  It always turns out great and tasty, but quite frankly, going to the grocery store, picking up all the supplies, making sure I have the right number of pans and then cleaning all of those pans goes way over my normal time quota for a meal.

And I get really frustrated when there's more than 12 steps.  (That's why rehab programs don't have 13.)

Instead of following a cookbook, I just throw things together.  Cheap, easy, no more than 2 pans, and no more than $10.  Otherwise I'd just go to the pizza shop and get them to cook for me.  Or Wawa.  Or Cosi....

This is what I made Liz for lunch...we'll call it....uhhhh....

Pasta with Garlic Parmesan Stuff


What you need:
1 frying pan
1 pot that holds as much pasta as you want
Minced garlic (from a jar, don't do mince that stuff yourself)
Misc. spices
Pasta
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan

Here's how to make one serving.  Just increase ingredients for more servings.

1. In the pot, boil water.
2. Once boiling, put however much pasta you want in pot, set timer.
3. In the pan, pour some extra virgin olive oil.  How much?  Well, like 5 tablespoons-ish.  Maybe a little more? The great thing about this recipe is you can't mess it up!
4. Turn the pan on med-high heat, let the oil get hot, throw in some diced garlic.  As much or as little as your heart desires.  Use something to move the garlic & oil around so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.
5. Don't forget to stir the pasta.
6. Add a little basil, oregano, pepper, and parsley to the oil & garlic.  Yes, or just use italian seasoning.
7. The water is reboiling and you've got like 3 minutes til the pasta's done right?  Oil is nice and hot and garlic is sizzling?  Turn the heat down to med-low.
8. Add some parmesan.  Stop asking how much, add as much as you think looks good.  Move it all around.  Keep it on med-low.
9. Drain pasta, dump the frying pan contents onto the pasta.
10. Clean your dishes.

If you have the means, add chicken or beef to the oil mixture and let it brown.  Sooo good.

As for Julia & Julie (or whatever) the movie was cute, but Julie is kind of a bitch.  And who has that much time to cook or find rare ingredients?  But Julia, bless her heart.