Number One

Today I decided to start a blog based on my experience with learning to cook for myself.
Recently I reconnected with an old friend from high school.  I follow her blog where she poignantly chronicles her life with her husband and raising their adorable baby boy. I love reading her witty and honest recount of her day to day life, and I wrote to her to let her know.  In messaging back and forth, she suggested I start my own blog about cooking, something she admittedly struggles with, after i offered to share some of my successful recipes with her. so, here it goes!
I moved out of my parents house just over a year ago and all of the sudden I didn't have anyone to make me dinner every night! since then, I've had a great time messing around in a kitchen of my own, looking or new recipes online, borrowing recipes from home and making up a few of my own.   By now, we have a few go to recipes that we have from week to week, but every once in a while we like to mix it up a bit.
The first recipe I'm going to share was Monday nights dinner.

Balsamic chicken with cheddar mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower.

I marinated 2 chicken breasts in balsamic vinaigrette dressing all day in the fridge and then i just sauteed them with a little olive oil on the stove.  For the potatoes, I peeled and cut 4 russet potatoes then chopped them up into about equal pieces.  I put them in a pot with water and let them boil until the potatoes fell apart when I stabbed them with a fork.  After I drained the potatoes, I put them in my mixer and whipped them with some butter and a little milk and about a cup of mixed shredded cheddar cheese. For the cauliflower, first in a bowl I put some olive oil, some minced garlic and a little lemon pepper (enough to coat all of the cauliflower).  Then chopped the head of cauliflower and mixed it in the bowl until all of the pieces were coated.  then I placed the cauliflower on a covered cookie sheet and cooked it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes turning the pieces every 15 minutes.

I'm not so much of a measurer... so I apologize for my lack of tablespoons and ounces.  I'll try to be better about it. Anyways, not all of my entries will be so long! but I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for reading!!