Teaching Michael Monday (3/21) -- Oregano and Paprika

Yes, yes, I know, I missed a week. The life of a hobbyist blogger gets a tad crazy at times.

Last week, Michael decided to make a veggie burger and top it off with sauteed peppers. Should've been easy, right? Especially with the frozen pre-sliced peppers.

Michael had bought in bulk to save money, and as a result, is the proud owner of a gallon jug of vegetable oil -- which may or may not be the cause of his oil overuse issues.

Sure enough, Michael decided to forgo measuring said oil, and instead poured too much oil into the pan. Not to be undone, he then proceeded to measure a serving of frozen red, yellow and green peppers to the EXACT gram using his handy-dandy new electronic food scale.

Those things measure liquid too, Michael. Do me a favor, and don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. Measure the oil. For science, Michael -- FOR SCIENCE!

Next came seasoning for the peppers, which, to his credit, Michael recognized that he needed to do. Garlic powder, he figured, is usually a safe choice (correct). Dana (the non-girlfriend, we're told) had given Michael smoked paprika, too. So that gave him a dish with red, yellow and green veggies and red and yellow spices. Michael's internal Julia Child urged him to add a green spice. But what?

OREGANO. Clearly, this will be perfect.

Spoiler alert: Wasn't perfect.

Ok, so smoked paprika and oregano don't often play well in the sandbox together. However, the creativity was there; and to Michael's credit, he could've turned to mint and made a REAL mess. Ironically, two out of three would've been a solid start -- either the garlic/paprika or the garlic/oregano combo would've turned out some great additions to that veggie burger. Next time.

Also, bonus points for a non-pasta dish.

Teaching Michael Monday (3/7): Banana Bread and Snapchat

This weekend, my siblings and I all made the trek back to Flemington to spend some good ol' fashioned time with the family. While we were home, Mama Goldman decided to teach Michael her "foolproof" Banana Bread recipe; and yours truly decided to live-snapchat the whole event.

For those who'd like to follow me and any cooking episodes (both my successes and Michael's fails) on snapchat, feel free to connect -- I'm sgoldman328.

"Foolproof," she said....

"This is what exasperation looks like"

"The saga of adding sugar"

"The sass factor"

Apparently, the banana bread recipe withstood the test of Michael. Those who know me well understand my "hard no" policy against bananas, so I didn't stick around for the final product.

Till next time, S.