Pulled Into Cooking By the Desire for a Pulled Pork Sandwich

Not withstanding the two professionally trained chefs among my three siblings, I have never been too terribly interested in cooking. I prepare food - and usually something that can be completed in 15 minutes or less because when I am hungry, I want to eat! I sometimes go through phases of looking through cookbooks and feeling inspired until I read the list of ingredients. It is sure to include items that I don't have in my kitchen, nor have ever had in the kitchen, an item or two that I don't even know what it is, and then the items that I just can't tolerate due to IBS. Once I eliminate all recipes with either onions or pepper (forget the other more easily skipped items like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts or cabbage) there isn't much left.

I have tried - so far unsuccessfully - to convince either of my talented chef siblings to write an IBS cookbook. This year was the VERY FIRST TIME that I have ever cooked fish. It went well and now we have fish about once every two weeks. I started pulling recipes off the web and really it is getting kind of fast and easy. (I have got to tell you that the first recipe was a Rachael Ray's 30 minute meal and it took me FOREVER longer than 30 minutes. I must have spent at least 30 minutes just reading and re-reading the recipe a hundred times trying to wrap my mind around it.)

In it would be wonderful recipes mindful of common IBS trigger foods as well as a helpful substitution chart. If you can't have green peppers, what would be a good substitute to maintain the integrity of the recipe? Since I know oh so little about cooking, I have NO idea how to substitute. On several occasions, both high and low profile, I have been accommodated. (If only I had written down what they did or was even present while it was being prepared, I believe I could have the beginning of a book!) My brother's family was recently here visiting and he made pulled pork sandwiches with faux slaw all Amber friendly and so yummy!

So I'm not just inspired to learn to cook, I am intrigued to understand how cooking works. Get it? I want to understand the science behind the cooking. A recipe just doesn't give me enough information. I don't know what the different ingredients do for a recipe, so I don't know how to adapt a recipe. Now I am going to learn - starting with pulled pork sandwiches. And the journey is going to continue until I don't need measuring spoons or recipes anymore! I am going to write the damn IBS book myself! (But I'd really rather co-author with the two experts. You two be the brains and I'll be the tester? What do you say?)

So you can look forward to posts and photos of my cooking journey. Below are photos of last night's dinner, Parmesaen encrusted Mahi-Mahi, and Ratatouille (inspired by watching the movie several times lately) and fresh Cherry Crisp (my fingernails are still stained and my shoulders still tight from the pitting) from Supper Club earlier in the week. And tonight we will dine on pork sandwiches!