The Basic Ingredient

When my sister told me that her bus was scheduled to arrive at 7 pm on Thursday, I knew the pie had to be ready by then. Cooking or baking a recipe for someone is a special thing to do, but it's even better when you make that person something she really likes. For example, my dad is not the biggest fan of chocolate desserts, but he loves chicken and pasta. Naturally, I'm inclined to make him a snazzy version of chicken and pasta that he hasn't had yet. I know he would appreciate a chocolatey dessert all the same, but it means even more when you make something he likes. It shows that you remember what types of tastes he likes and doesn't like. My mom doesn't even make me guess what her basic ingredient is. She suggests the same Thai dish every time. Funny thing is, I make it a little different every time. As for my sister, she loves dessert. Maybe not as much as me, but it's definitely a top preference.

I learned this lesson the best after I made an overload of desserts for someone and he couldn't finish. He didn't want to waste them even though he knew one of the desserts might have expired but ate it anyways to make me happy. I was upset that the dessert wasn't gobbled up within a few days thinking that my baking was way beyond sub-par and that he didn't appreciate it. I was wrong! Unfortunately, he got a little sick (please don't judge my cooking/baking from this one instance) from one the cakes, and ended up throwing the rest out. Feeling guilty, upset that the rest of the dessert DID go to waste anyways, and frustrated that what I made wasn't the "it" dessert present, I realized I shouldn't overload on the baked presents. A simple meal with that basic ingredient that person likes is the key. For him at least, that's usually meat, not tons of sugar.

I put my lesson to use when my grandpa visited from NYC, and my mom asked to make a home-cooked meal for his short stay. Instead of baking a ton of sweets, I made chicken stuffed with goat cheese (he loves goat cheese), orzo with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives, and green beans lightly covered in a mustard vinaigrette. Now, if you think you know someone who eats healthy, you have not met my grandfather. The health guru himself was the one who introduced us to the heavenly Trader Joe's, almond butter, Pirate's Booty, and the wonders of dark chocolate bars. Who was it that warned me that the french fries and pasta on my plate held too many carbohydrates and I should add more veggies instead? My grandpa. When I was younger, I thought it was a little excessive to read the labels' ingredients of everything you buy, but his habits have proved to be quite smart. He doesn't buy the whole organic bit, but he does pick the healthy options, on his own. He has a more clever notion of just reading what's actually inside the box, and not becoming a victim of excellent advertising.

To make the most appealing meals to my grandpa's own tastebuds and include the basic ingredient that he likes, I enlisted my mom for some help. She told me: goat cheese, olives, and veggies! Hence, the 3 dishes, and I found them all at Cooking Light magazine's website. Cooking Light has some delicious recipes but finding the same recipe after searching for the second time is nearly impossible. Although I am a sworn loyal fan of allrecipes.com, my stray did lead me to some great options. My default option is to choose allrecipes.com before visiting any other websites, and 90% of the time, it works well. Food Network's website is way too complicated, and not enough people rate the recipes. The search feature is a little antiquated and it's the only comprehensible way to get around that website. You would think that since cooking is the name of the game for Food Network they would take greater pains to perfect their recipe searching functions. Unfortunately, it's pretty unnavigable.

With all this racing in my head, I thought about making five different dishes for my sister, but I decided on one well-made item: apple pie, not pumpkin pie because she hates the texture. I made the pie crust a day ahead of time, so I wouldn't get stressed out while chopping up the apples and thinking that I had the rest of the pie AND the crust to make. Way less stress to split up the steps. With the extra time I was able to make a lattice top (see picture one at the top) without worrying the whole thing would be ruined if the crust didn't work out. The pie turned out great, the house smelled like cinnamon apples, and my sister loved the dessert! Usually my baking doesn't turn out too hot, but in this case I consulted my favorite site. Another successful allrecipes.com recipe!