Julie and Julia, meet Moran and Mommsen

First, let me say this: This is my first foray into the whole 'blogging' thing. One of my NYRs (NYR = New Years Resolutions for those of you who aren't fam with the texting shortcuts. ("Fam" = familiar for those same people.)) (Note the double closed parentheses. Did you think I'd forget the second one? You have a lot to learn about me and my grammar, dear friend (or anyone else who happens to be reading this. Maybe you're not a dear friend but just someone who's kind of bored. I'm not wearing any judgie-pants, believe me. I'm just saying, that you may not be a dear friend.)) (Note the DCP (double closed parentheses) again. I don't let up on the punctuation front. Impressive, I know.)

Where was I? Oh yes, my NYRs... I will go into what all of my NYRs are later (since my Katy Moran New Years doesn't start until Monday, January 10), but for now let me say that one of them has led me to the following conclusion: I just may be a genius in the kitchen. Okay, "genius" might be a wee bit of an overstatement. Do I deserve the title that has been bestowed upon the likes of people such as Einstein, Beethoven, Newton and Carrot Top? Perhaps, but it is not certain. However, I'm pretty happy with the results of my 'kitchendental' experiment so far*. (*Note: said 'kitchendental' experiment has lasted one day and is on recipe #2, so perhaps I am too quick with the self congratulatory statements... or am I??). Let me explain and you can judge for yourself...

I saw the movie Julie and Julia a while ago... In case you don't know what that movie is all about (in other words you have lived under a rock for the last couple of years or you're a male... potato, potahto), let me 'splain... A woman decides she is going to cook all of the recipes in Julia Childs' cookbook and then blog about it. I am terrible at cooking. I have never had any interest in learning how to do it better or to experiment with food in any way beyond mixing cereals until (pregnant pause) I had an idea. An epiphany? If you like to label things, maybe "epiphany" is the right word. Me? I don't believe in pigeon holing people, ideas or pigeons so I wouldn't use the word "epiphany" unless my audience demanded it. It turns out, my audience (which currently consists of one attentive reader, me) DOES demand it, so it is an epiphany that I had. What is this epiphany I speak of? (write of? Don't know blogger speak just yet) I should Julie and Julia the Mommsen Family Cookbook.

I'm sure you're thinking, "that's great! What a marvy idea!" (You know how I'm sure of what you're thinking? "You" is currently ME! It is great to be my own only fan!) But, if someone else reads this (doubtful), they may wonder about the MFC. (You HAVE to be able to figure what that is by now... Okay for the slow audience members (me), it's Mommsen Family Cookbook. It's a tricky lingo, but it will come... Promisita to the readerita.)

The MFC is a collection of recipes put together by my incredibly talented and quite extensive extended family. My mom (the lovely and talented, Kay Moran (maiden name Mommsen... duh)) grew up with 8 siblings and they all had kids and most of that generation have had kids by now (with a few exception exceptions, notably: you... I mean me...). Anyway, the talents of the Mommsen kids, spouses, grand kids, and great grand kids are quite impressive and such talents extend to the kitchen. So, they put together a Mommsen Family Cookbook with a million recipes. Please don't count them. Okay, fine! It's probably more in the hundreds. That's still a lot, in my humble opinion and since I'm the only one writing the blog, that humble opinion is the only thing that matters. How's that for humble??

Long story short, I decided to make all of the recipes in the Mommsen family cookbook and blog about it. Then I realized that I'm not going to be making amazing creations in the kitchen daily and perhaps not even regularly, so I decided to blog about other stuff too. The other stuff is TBD for now, but I live a super interesting, mysterious, fast paced, rock star, crazy, nutty, 'throw caution in the wind', 'burn the candle at both ends', 'live for today', 'don't trust anyone over thirty...er...forty' kind of life so I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about. For example, today I went to the grocery store and you know what? Bags of salad were BOGO!! (Buy One Get One free) The crazy part? I actually NEEDED a bag of salad! See??? Who wouldn't want to read a blog about such happenings?? Answer: No one.

I have, in all actuality, started my crazy foray into the world of Mommsen family cooking and I think I've rocked it so far. I keep using "I" and that's because I have done it! Just me! Alone with my recipes and my pots, pans and Pam spray. The three Ps. Just kidding... I have a trusty, dusty partner in crime named, 'Danh'. (I changed his name to protect his privacy.) I will refer to Danh as Dan from here on out to save key strokes. More often than not I will say me, we, I, us or the like which should all be taken as Dan and I. Although I would love for you to think of it as just me, covered in flour, slaving away for my man and humanity. No judgies if I use the more selfish pronouns... It's easier and I'm selfish and lazy so it's a double win for me. You can't berate a double win!

Back to the dipping of my toe into the culinary world called the MFC.... My first night, my goal was to make a recipe, any recipe, that was concocted by either my Grandma (and hero, Evelyn Mommsen) or my mom (and another hero, the aforementioned Kay F. Moran). I thought it was a fitting way to begin my journey. I sat with Dan(h) and decided that the two perfect recipes to kick of my kitchen affair were my mom's cookies ("Kay and Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies") because I remember so well having those as a kid and my Grandma's "Tater Tot Casserole" because that seemed like the right way to start off a cooking spree inspired by a family of potato farmers in Northern Wisconsin.

The plan got a little thwarted unintentionally and happily by our dear friends, Ang and Bill. They stopped over with their adorable doggie, Nalu, and we couldn't have been happier. Love it when those two come by! Because the Tater Tot Casserole took an hour in the oven to cook, (hey, some things are worth waiting for) we decided to forego that little gem for the night and focused our efforts on the cookies. I was a little concerned because I eyeballed the amount of chocolate chips I would need (I figured, 'hey, i'm 1/2 way into my first recipe, I think I'm ready to ditch these crazy measuring devices) and the dough looked more like a bowl of chocolate chips with a splash of batter to act an adhesive. I, of course, called the expert and author of the recipe, my mom, for a consultation. She spoke words that we would all do well to remember: you can NEVER have too many chocolate chips. And, my friends? She was right. The cookies turned out... I'm going to say it... A.MA.ZING. The trick, as my wise mom puts in the recipe instructions is to be sure not to over cook. So so so so so so good. 1 for 1. Some people would have ended there. On a high note. Costanza style. Not me. I had a tater tot casserole in my future...

My future came the next night. The recipe seemed simple enough but it was not without its challenges. "Crumble meat into bottom of the dish". Do I brown it first??? I had never crumbled raw meat! What do I do?? It was 10:36pm in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, so there was no calling in the expert witness, my Grandma. Who does one turn to in such trying times? One word: Google. There were differing opinions, oh yes, there were differing opinions. But, I said to myself (and aloud, if I'm to be accurate), "If my Grandma meant for the meat to be browned, she would have written it, by golly!" Okay. In the name of accuracy, I didn't actually say, "by golly." In fact, I'm not sure I've ever said that. Huh. The things that come out in a blog...

So, I continued with the recipe, sans meat browning. I'm spreading meat, dicing onions, draining corn, mixing soups, distributing tater tots... don't act like you're not impressed!! I poured the soupy mixture over the veggie/meat/tot mixture and shoved it in the oven to wait the tortuous hour for the outcome.

The hour proved to be less than torturous thanks to the show Dexter and thanks to Netflix for allowing us to stream it on demand. One disturbing and amazing episode later and the Totterole (my new name for Tater Tot Casserole) was ready to be exhumed from the oven. It was the moment of truth. If it didn't go well, I may never step foot in the kitchen again. That's a lie. I need to walk through the kitchen to get to the laundry room, my bike and the back door. You get what I was going after though, I'm sure. Here is the truth: The totterole was not just good like "good for a first go"... It was delicious! Seriously. Too good to be true. If you've never made it, go do it. Right now! Unless you don't have an hour to wait for it to cook. Then it would just be a tease. But, when you get and hour and you need something to cook, this is what you want to cook! So easy, so good, and so much of it! AND, not that bad for you! We used ground turkey instead of ground beef and the rest of it is pretty mellow fat and calorie wise (you have approx 6-8 tots/serving...). We can't wait to make it again. Leftovers are delish too... I can tell you from experience...

I'm going to go to bed now, belly full of leftover totterole and chocolate chip cookies. Next time I write it will likely not involve cooking, but who knows???