Today, I spent my class time researching some simple recipes to kick off this Genius Hour. I looked at a lot, but some, in particular, stood out to me.

They include:

• Shredded, Saucy BBQ Chicken Sammies
• Orecchiette with Greens, Garbanzo Beans and Ricotta Salata
• Lemon Parmesan Chicken with Arugula Salad Topping
• Alfredo Shrimp Scampi Dump
• Shredded, Saucy BBQ Chicken Sammies
• Orecchiette with Greens, Garbanzo Beans and Ricotta Salata
• Lemon Parmesan Chicken with Arugula Salad Topping
• Alfredo Shrimp Scampi Dump Dinner
• Butter Chicken (Cultural Dish)
• Italian Chicken Pasta Salad
• Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
• Chickpea Curry (cultural)

I want to make all of these, as they sound absolutely delicious, but I shouldn’t get over my head this fast! Some of these dishes sound super advanced, and I’m only a beginner, so I’d like to start with a beginner meal. I know this is super basic, but I think I’m going to start this Genius Hour by making some tomato soup and grilled cheese. It’s a very basic dish, but looking at the recipe, it seems simple enough, and I think I should be able to make it!!

I also spent my time looking over the recipe and writing it in my own words so I’ll actually be able to understand it. I made a Google Doc that will store all of the (edited) recipes that I’ll be using.

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-tomato-soup-grilled-cheese-croutons-recipe-2109038

Edited recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit?usp=sharing

Making the Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DOh4K1N36yvzNlo6QipUmAFdglzebywb/view?usp=sharing

Special thanks to my dad for helping me to make this dish and being my taste tester!!!

I would like to point out, I did not have any measuring cups or spoons to do the measurements (I know, shame on me), so I had to eyeball it as best as I could. It completely slipped out of my mind that I needed to actually buy measuring cups and spoons because, at home, we usually don’t need them. I did not want to waste any more time making this recipe. Well, at least I’ll know better for next week’s Genius Hour!! Oooops! Oh, also, we had a whole thing of whole wheat bread at home that no one was eating, so I decided to use whole wheat instead of white bread because I’d rather not waste food for 1 little recipe. It tasted just fine!

Here are some things I learnt from making this:

• You NEED to have measuring spoons/cups
• You can’t be distracted while cooking
• You need to research how to do steps within the recipe prior to making it (ex: learning how to mince garlic before you actually start heating the oil)

Here are some things I would do if I were to make the recipe again:

• Get measuring spoons/cups.
• Add a touch of other spices, because this tomato soup was really tasty, but it was missing some nice spices in there
• Adding onto the previous bullet point, I would also tone down the tomato sauce flavouring
• Find out how to make grilled cheese the right way, because my bread was super good and nicely toasted, but the cheese itself wasn’t even melted. Honestly, it was barely even warmed!
• Have everything ready, chopped, and measured, so that it wasn’t stressful like it was today for me!!

See you next blog!