Lately I’ve been cooking at home a lot. My sister loves this because when she gets home from work around 8pm, I have dinner waiting for her. First night, I made Lemon Chicken Linguini with a Tomato Basil mixture tossed in. Second night, I made a New York Roast Beef with sides of rice and broccoli that I cooked in a parsley/garlic/shallot butter. Yummy.

Something you have to know about me is that without a recipe I really don’t know much about spices, portions, and timing. I have been watching Jay cook for the last six months and have been picking up a lot of great tips. First thing I learned is that I don’t know how to cut vegetables in an efficient way. Second thing is that I should become better acquainted with cumin, tamaric, and sage. Three spices I had never touched before. (Sidenote: Being around Jay always made me giddy and I think it’s because he smells like these spices all the time. A true cook.)

Tonight I made Tofu fajitas for Dave. I plan on making this again this weekend, but figured I could always use the practice. I had purchased this fajita powder pack, but when I opened it the smell was horrible. I tossed it in the garbage and headed for the spice rack. I picked up the cumin, opened it, smelled it, and realized it smelled exactly like Mexican food. Ta-da! Anyone who has cooked is probably laughing at me, but remember that this is all new to me.

I decided to have a little fun so I made spanish rice. First I cooked the rice. Then I saut�ed chopped onions and carrots with some olive oil and cumin. Then I tossed in some canned diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Finally I tossed the rice in and let it sizzle up a bit. I also added some Tabasco for good measure. The tofu fajita part was amazing as well with onions, red pepper, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots. Yummy! Dave was impressed.

Here’s my rice. Isn’t it pretty?