Newest Chef In Town

I feel that we have fallen into a bit of a dinner rut. We've been cooking the same few meals this past year so I decided to try to do something about that. I've looked for recipes online, but the BIGGEST problem I have with that is all of the comments people make. There are SO many people that want to give their two cents on a recipe and tell you what modifications they did to it to make it a gourmet dish that it's driving me mad! Who do I believe? Who's do I try? Another problem is that I am a new cook. I don't know what I can substitute with what. I've never experienced with seasonings or creams so I have no idea what's compatible. Also, a recipe has to give me EXACT instructions or else I'll muck it up somewhere. When a recipe calls for a can of black beans but doesn't tell me if I need to strain it or not it makes me stress out! To strain or not to strain? That is the question. Too many questions come up in following recipes. If I mess it up I have little ambition to try it again. I get all excited to think I'm going to make this meal that will knock Howie off his feet and I have yet to do that.

A couple of my recent attempts were just this week. On Monday I tried to make Chicken Cacciatore. I've never tried it before, but it sounded good! (In case you're interested, here is the recipe I followed http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1726,129179-255194,00.html) Anyway, Howie was a skeptic from the start. He's not adventurous when it comes to food. I thought it was good. He gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

I served it over jasmine rice that turned out perfect, if I do say so myself. Howie thought it was too tomatoey. Maybe I needed to put more spices in it. We, of course, left the onions out because Howie despises them with every fiber of his being. I don't mind them if their texture is the same as everything else they're in. But, I don't like crunchy onions in something like a potato salad. That's just wrong.

My second attempt was today. I tried out a recipe for Chicken and Corn Chili (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-and-Corn-Chili/Detail.aspx). I wanted to try a slow-cooker recipe and this one seemed perfect for that. I figured it would just cook while I was at work and then I'd tend to it when I got home. Well, I went to work at 7am and Howie calls me at noon and says "Um, your chicken is thoroughly cooked and is drying out...a lot". Grrr. So frustrating. So, Howie put a little bit of water in it and added all of the other ingredients it calls for. Then he left it on low and let it simmer the rest of the day. When I got home there was almost NO sauce in it. You couldn't even tell it had salsa in it! Grrr again. I bought some tortillas and we made it into tacos. It was great for tacos, but I really wanted it to be a chili. I made a yummy quacamole with big chunks of tomatos in it and that was the best ingredient. Very good. I think I would give this recipe a second try and see if I can actually make a soup out of it. Howie gave this 4 1/2 stars.