I'm Baaaack....This Time With Food!

Hi, everyone! (And when I say everyone I mean the .2 followers that I have.)

So, it's been well over 8 months since my last post. I'm lame. But I'm back. And lets hope this time it's for good?

When I was blogging before, I was allll about the fashion. Don't get me wrong. I still am. Like, really, really am. But, I've adopted a new hobby: baking/cooking. Well, at least attempting.

Over the summer I interned at a little Pittsburgh-based publication called WHIRL Magazine. I had a great time working there, and I learned a ton. Still, there were times that I wasn't given an assignment to do, so I would browse the WHIRL website to distract myself from taking the unprofessional route of going on Facebook. As I was browsing the website, I came across an ad for a blog called "How Sweet It Is." That's where my obsession started. I needed to make these recipes. And I needed to write about it.

When I first decided that I was going to write a cooking blog, (don't worry, I'll hopefully be back with some more fashion too - that being I don't get too lazy) I got myself really excited. After seeing “Julie and Julia,” I naturally wanted to do the same thing, probably just like every other woman in America. I’ve always enjoyed baking, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to be a good cook, but that was nothing compared to after I started following the “How Sweet It Is” blog. I look at this blog, day after day, literally drooling at my desk. Really. The people in the WHIRL office probably thought I had problems. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and try these recipes. Wish me luck. I always need it.

When I finally decided to go ahead and do this, the first person I told was of course my mother. Her first response? “Oh, good, then you can make dinner tonight.” I won’t lie, that’s not really the response I was looking for. See, I’m more of a baker. I like to bake things. It’s fun, seems a little easier than actually cooking, and the outcome is always way more delicious. Once for Valentine’s Day, a friend and I made over 50 cupcakes, each individually decorated with a different design. (No, we weren’t making them for our Valentines, we made them because we had no Valentines.) Needless to say, I wasn’t as thrilled to actually cook a meal for my family as I would have been to bake goodies to feel guilty about eating. Still, I knew my mom wasn’t joking, so I accepted the challenge. Tonight’s assignment: Chili Mango Quesadillas.

Step one: caramelize the onions. I’ve done this before, so it was pretty much a cake walk. Well, that was after my mother made me re-chop the onions, because they “weren’t pretty enough.” (Mom, go away. I can do it myself!)

While the onions were sizzling, I started on the next task: bacon. I’ve never actually made bacon by myself before, and I have to be honest, after seeing how much grease filled that pan it was enough to make me never want to eat bacon again. (That’s a lie. It’s way too delicious.)

Step number three: cook the chicken. Because of my picky-eater of a sister, my family eats so much chicken that I normally practically gag at the site of it. But this was different. This time, I got a little creative and decided to cook the chicken in the leftover bacon grease. (Alright, maybe it wasn’t so much creativity as it was me not feeling like washing the pan.) Who knew my laziness could lead to delicious chicken?

Now, it was finally time to build the quesadilla. It went in this order: tortilla, cheddar, chicken, mango, bacon, pepperjack, chili powder, tortilla. That didn’t really work out as smoothly as planned. I, without thinking, made the idiot move of building the tortilla IN the heated pan that was already lit on the stove, instead of building it BEFORE going in the pan. Hey, I’m new at this. Cut me some slack here. Needless to say, one side of the quesadilla was a tiny bit crunchier than the other. I had to be extremely careful while flipping it, so the contents of the quesadilla wouldn’t fall out all over the pan. A few pieces of chicken managed to escape, but other than that I did a pretty good job.

I was surprised at myself, because the finished product actually looked good. My parents were actually not too excited that this was what I had chosen to make, because even though I thought it sounded good, they unfortunately did not. However, after taking a bite out of pity, they were pleasantly surprised. I cringed a little when I saw my mother take a bite, nervous that she would spit it out in disgust. When I saw her eyes open wide and a smile sprouting across her face, I was extremely relieved. I took a bite and was extremely proud of myself. And I think my dad actually liked it even more, being that he finished the entire plate. Both of my parents said that the flavors of the mango, cheese, and chicken really complimented each other. I highly suggest that everyone try these quesadillas NOW. Because they were extraordinary. Actually, in the words of my father, they were “mango-nificent.” He’s really cool.

For the full recipe, go to http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/07/20/chili-mango-chicken-quesadilla/ .