Ugly Cook

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to cook. It's something that I found relaxing and grounding in need of comfort, something that's always made me feel joy, and has always inspired me. I feel so proud once I have cooked an old receipe of mine or conquered a new one. I decided to create this food blog to really share the love I have for cooking and to stop sending photos of all my finished products to my mom. I also made this blog because I always felt a little self-concious about my cooking. My recipes never come out looking instagram perfect. I always wonder, how the heck do they do that?! Then one day I thought, you know what, I'm a pretty decent cook (at least that's what my mom and boyfriend tell me), my stuff just comes out ugly and that's OK. Thus, Ugly Cook. I hope you enjoy my ugly creations and the receipes that follow them. 

[uglycook]

One of my favorite breakfast recipes to make are chia pudding cups! It is so simple to make and you can really make all sorts of different things with it.

For this one, I smashed up some strawberries and put them on the bottom. I then used 1/4 cup of chia seeds and 1 cup of oat milk. I then mixed it all up and had it sit in the fridge over night. 

Once I woke up it was ready to go! I then crumbled some nilla wafers, added some fresh cut up strawberries and added a bit of whipped cream on top! It tasted just like a strawberry short cake! I absolutely love to eat sweets in the morning, so this was perfect.

However, you can eat this as a snack and/or a dessert! 

If you want it to taste sweeter, you can also add a tsp of vanilla and/or use vanilla almond milk! 

[uglycook]

I made some Ziti the other night! 

For this I used 16oz of Ziti noodles. I then chopped up some broccoli, onions, and carrots. While I was having the veggies cook, I cooked up half a pound of ground beef! 

Once that was done I had all the veggies and beef simmer in roasted garlic tomato sauce! I usually will simmer it until I see the sauce just start to boil. 

After that, I then toss the noodles in it and add any type of white cheese! Usually in a typical Ziti dish provolone cheese is called for. However, I added some shredded parmesan cheese this time and it was delicious! 

The fun thing about this recipe is that you can use all types of veggies! I usually like to add in zucchini but I replaced it with carrots this time.

[uglycook]

One of my favorite quick and healthy breakfast meals to make are chia pudding cups! You can really do a lot with these! My personal favorite is this one above. I first mashed half a banana and put it at the bottom of the cup. I then added ¼ cup of chia seeds and half a cup of almond chocolate milk. I had it sit all night then in the morning topped it with fresh strawberries! 

[uglycook]

I’ve been messing around with actual vanilla beans recently and let me tell ya, I wish I started sooner! I made crepe like pancakes with actual vanilla bean. They turned out amazing! 

[uglycook]

This was my first turkey I ever made and let me tell ya, it turned out AMAZING! I rubbed fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage on top. I then stuffed it with the rest of the fresh thyme, rosemary and sage along with apples and onions! 

[uglycook]

My favorite thing to do when I am running low on food is to think of something creative to whip up all on my own. This was made with fettuccine, mushrooms, brussel sprouts and plum tomatoes. I then had it simmer in balsamic vinaigrette! 

[uglycook]

Korean beef bowl with jasmine rice, mushrooms, ribboned carrots, zucchini and green onions. Topped with sesame seeds!

[uglycook]

Baked Mahi Mahi with rosemary, thyme and lemon. Side of fried brussel sprouts.