I love to cook so I thought Inwould open a thread for cooking pictures. This is olive oil and herb coucous with shredded cheese and pieces of a chicken patty I cut up.

(02-16-2026, 09:21 PM)TamazingRandom Wrote: I love to cook so I thought Inwould open a thread for cooking pictures. This is olive oil and herb coucous with shredded cheese and pieces of a chicken patty I cut up.

I still haven't had the time or inclination to plan with my phone for cooking pictures. But I do feel fortunate tonight. I almost forgot to add the seasoning to my rice a roni and I had to turn up the heat half way through because it wasn't simmering. But it still turned out alright in the end.

I feel like I've made mistakes like that before!
Actually, similar (?) brand, years ago I made up a pot of Pasta-Roni. I forget the flavor, garlic and olive oil maybe? Long spaghetti-like noodles. Anyway, I finished cooking and had a friend beg me for moral support, so I put the pot aside and went to help. Came back half an hour later and remembered I had made food, which had swollen to about twice the usual size by that time. Surprisingly, it still turned out quite well!

And for the latest, I put together one of my weekly homemade pizzas today.

Anyway, I figure it's worth sharing the recipe in case it benefits anybody else. Apologies for the imperial units; I reside in a country where measurements are taken in hamburgers per shotgun.

Ellie's Homemade Pizza

• 1 cup warm water

• 1 package of yeast (active dry and pizza crust are variants I've tried, both are fine)
  
• 1/8 cup sugar (we generally use cane or date sugar but any variety should work)
  
• 1/8 cup olive oil
  
• Table salt
  
• Any of a wide range of spices as desired
  
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
  
• About 1-3/4 cups unbleached white flour
  
• Sauces, cheeses, and toppings as desired
  

Directions:

1. Mix water, yeast, sugar, oil, and a sprinkle of salt into mixing bowl.
   
2. Add spices. I use a bunch of basil and a ton of garlic powder, then a decent sprinkle of oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, red pepper, and white pepper.
   
3. Mix all of this stuff well.
   
4. Add all the flour, then mix that all together.
   
5. Knead, squish, and fold the dough a lot, basically pretend it's Sui's chest, until it's smooth and firm. Cover bowl and let sit to raise; I do about half an hour.
   
6. Prepare a pizza tray; I use a round 14-inch try with avocado oil spray for better non-sticking.
   
7. Preheat the oven to 400* F.
   
8. Spread dough across tray, all the way to the edges.
   
9. Add sauce. I buy premade pizza sauce (Ragu homemade style, in particular) and one jar will cover the full pizza, though my partner now prefers alfredo sauce so we do half-and half.
   
10. Add cheese. One bag (7oz) of shredded cheese pretty much covers the full pizza, though you can use more or less depending on your tastes.
    
11. Add toppings. Whatever you want. We don't judge here.
    
12. I like to sprinkle on another layer of basil and oregano, along with a bit of black pepper and some chives, at this point.
    
13. Bake. The time is going to vary heavily based on your oven. My old bottom-burnered oven cooked it thoroughly in 16 minutes. When we bought a new one because the old one was threatening to be a fire hazard, the new one heats by air circulation with a top burner and it's totally different, and 19 minutes seems closer to done on that one.
    
14. See demonstration below.
    

I hope someone else is able to get some enjoyment from this offering!

I'm not good at baking, but I may have to investigation that a little as I do follow a channel that is all about cooking pizza. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cooking+show+with+trevor

Sometimes it's a comedy, sometimes it's serious, sometimes it's both, but it's always a good time.

Do I want fish or chicken for dinner tonight?

Well, I don't actually eat either of those, but a quick eeny-meeny-miney-moe selection landed on Chicken, if that helps!

Sold, are you on a special diet?

Vegetarian. I've actually never liked the taste of meat.

No special diet here, other than just trying to watch some foods. Less dairy, etc. I don't get much fish either. I do fish oil supplements. lol

I'm very selective when it comes to eating fish. Don't really care for it steamed or in soups. Love it fried though.