Cherry "Hand Pies"

The last pie, taken with Instagram (my SECOND helping)

Well.

Over the past few weeks I've had the occasion to cook a couple different times for our extended family, as well as some dinners for our little nuclear family, which has brought me to the idea for this blog.

For my mother-in-law's birthday, I grilled filet mignon, made a twice-baked potato casserole, and even made a gluten-free dessert especially for "LaLa" as we call her around here. The steak could have been a little more done, the potatoes were supposed to be served in the skins but I mangled them, so it turned into a casserole, and the dessert was pretty good.

For my parents and sister, I grilled one of my tried-and-true recipes, a Jamaican-inspired barbecued pork tenderloin (my mom made the side dishes).

My sister-in-law and I enjoyed another recipe I appear to have mastered, a baked salmon (I fixed an Uncle Ben's boxed rice side dish with this one), and for dessert--cherry "hand pies." More on these in a moment.

I need a new grill, some better grilling utensils, and some more practice with how to tell my meat is really done. I need some practice on creating pretty twice-baked potatoes. I need to branch out a bit.

But the "hand pies"--oh MY.

I got a pound of cherries on sale at Whole Foods for $1.99--that's cheap ANYWHERE for cherries, let alone at Whole Foods! The toddler loves fruit of any kind, and probably ate about half the pound herself (what a mess!) but I wanted to make sure we used them all up before they went bad. I found this recipe at FoodNetwork.com and discovered I had all the ingredients on hand, so I decided to go for it.

I only had about half the required amount of cherries, so I halved the rest of the ingredients--except I accidentally put in the original amount of cinnamon, so they were pretty cinnamon-y (but not in a bad way). I also burned a finger during the frying, but it was SO worth it.

I don't typically like cherry pie...but I think that's because I'm usually eating generic pie filling. I used Rainier cherries, so they were a deep, dark red, and I don't think I've ever tasted anything as glorious as those pies.

Other tips: put a brown paper bag under the cooling rack for easier clean-up of the grease. Try rolling the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap for less mess and prettier pie shapes.

Put one in the win column, folks--this dish was great!

This is NOT a Foodie Blog

Not yet anyway.

If you're looking for elegantly crafted recipes, perfectly created in a gorgeous kitchen, with professional photos of beautiful food and results that never fail, this is NOT the blog for you.

My kitchen needs a remodel, my cooking utensils, pots, and pans are outdated and cheap, and my previous attempts at creating fabulous food are at best, spotty. I have several dishes I can put together for dinners for my family and friends, but my repertoire is limited.

I read a LOT of food blogs--I love to eat, and I love the idea of being able to create delicious meals that everyone enjoys, kids included. I don't need to be a gourmet chef, but I want my food to be unique and (somewhat) healthy and most importantly, tasty.

So I'm embarking on this adventure to chronicle my studies. Cooking great food on a reasonable budget, and maybe someday, I will have a gorgeous kitchen, the proper tools, and an outstanding track record of always creating a great dish that everybody loves! Please feel free to offer your advice, recipes, reading material, food photography tips, critiques, and encouragement. Maybe I'll let you taste something if it's not horrible.