When I saw that I had to poach something for this week’s challenge, I immediately though about eggs. But then Astro reminded me that you can poach all sorts of things, and suggested that I should try something else. I agreed; poaching an egg seemed too boring. I probably should learn how to at some point, since I never have, but I wanted to do something else for the challenge. So I went to google again, and looked up what poaching actually meant, and sifted through recipes until I found one I thought would be good.

Poaching is just defined as “to cook in boiling or simmering liquid”. It’s one of the healthiest ways to fix meat because often there is no additional oil or fat in the cooking process. In the end, I decided to try poaching salmon. Salmon is delicious, but I’ve always baked it with butter and spices… yummy, but not the healthiest option. The recipe I chose used water with veggies in it as the poaching liquid. It was a simple process: just chop up the veggies, place in a high-sided pan with water, bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, let the veggies cook for a while (for flavor) and then slide the salmon fillets in and cook in the water for five minutes. Seriously, if you are wary about cooking, try poaching. It was easy and the salmon was great.

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Poaching doesn’t really add much flavor, so sometimes the dish can end up quite bland, but the salmon turned out very well. I also made a dill cucumber salad as a side, and made pretzel bread the same day. It was very adventurous, but everything turned out very well. I think I’m getting the hang of this cooking thing! Astro told me it was her favorite dish so far, which she’s said a couple times. I think it just means I’m getting better and better.

I’m really happy I decided to do the challenge. I’m finding that I really enjoy cooking, and making dinner/ lunch is fun instead of a chore now. It’s becoming more of a hobby than just something I need to do. Plus, even if what I make that week isn’t the healthiest thing ever, I still have more control over the quality of ingredients I put in it, which is better than a frozen dinner/ dessert by far.

I think I might be officially turning into a cook!

What quick, easy and healthy cooking techniques do you know?

All for now,

Bale.

p.s. Next week’s theme is super-duper awesome, and I’m beyond excited for it. So keep an eye out for my post!