How many meals a week do you cook in your home kitchen?
I'm talking about actually chopping the vegetables and cooking them using your hands and taking the time. No opening of bags or boxes. No heating in the microwave. No pre-prepped grocery store helpers. What do you prepare and cook from whole foods for you and your family in a normal week?
New Home Economics Cooking 101! Real cooking is healthy, economical and...Empowering!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Small Appliances and Gadgets Gone Awry?
An overabundance of appliances and gadgets gets in the way of cooking in a lot of kitchens. There must be a whole heckuva lot of good sales people in the world that get us to buy these things that we think we need. Infomercials, anyone?
A few years ago, I moved out of my condo and found I had 2 George Foreman Grills and an extra knife set, a breadmaker that I no longer needed because I learned how to bake bread and whole lot of gadgets. All these things got new owners and out of my new kitchen space.
Learning to cook makes you realize that you don't need a lot of electronic"helpers". Once I could make bread, I didn't need a bread machine. And using knives properly, eliminates the desire to have a bunch of gadgets in the drawer.
I do love my stand mixer, waffle maker, blender, crock-pot and coffee maker. I know I use certain things. I, also, love my cast iron skillet - that has too many uses to list. On hand at all times is a steel for knife sharpening, almost daily - making preparing a breeze. There is nothing better for preparing food than a good sharp chef's knife.
Periodically, I will look at something and think if I still use it. If I don't I will put it in the trunk of my car and drop it off at the local thrift store, for someone else to try out. I'd rather have the space.
Remember the best tools in the kitchen are clean hands.
A few years ago, I moved out of my condo and found I had 2 George Foreman Grills and an extra knife set, a breadmaker that I no longer needed because I learned how to bake bread and whole lot of gadgets. All these things got new owners and out of my new kitchen space.
Learning to cook makes you realize that you don't need a lot of electronic"helpers". Once I could make bread, I didn't need a bread machine. And using knives properly, eliminates the desire to have a bunch of gadgets in the drawer.
I do love my stand mixer, waffle maker, blender, crock-pot and coffee maker. I know I use certain things. I, also, love my cast iron skillet - that has too many uses to list. On hand at all times is a steel for knife sharpening, almost daily - making preparing a breeze. There is nothing better for preparing food than a good sharp chef's knife.
Periodically, I will look at something and think if I still use it. If I don't I will put it in the trunk of my car and drop it off at the local thrift store, for someone else to try out. I'd rather have the space.
Remember the best tools in the kitchen are clean hands.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Weird and Wacky Sandwiches
There's a great post on CNN's Eatocracy on weird sandwiches. I must be weird because I seem to go for the out of the ordinary. One I haven't tried is PB & Bacon, for some reason I have a taste for it right now. However, I can do without the onions and pickles!
Here are some of my own delectable tried and trues:
Peanut Butter, Strawberry(must) Jam and Banana
Chocolate on a warm Baguette
Cinnamon Raisin Bread grilled cheese and turkey
Liverwurst on toast with mustard
Cream Cheese and Jelly, also great grilled
Grilled PB &J
Tomatoes on buttered Sourdough toast
Peanut Butter and Butter
Nutella on toast
Cinnamon raisin bread grilled with Brie
Cream cheese and bacon
Ham or turkey with chutney and mayo on white or sourdough
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/08/22/weird-sandwiches/?hpt=hp_bn8
Here are some of my own delectable tried and trues:
Peanut Butter, Strawberry(must) Jam and Banana
Chocolate on a warm Baguette
Cinnamon Raisin Bread grilled cheese and turkey
Liverwurst on toast with mustard
Cream Cheese and Jelly, also great grilled
Grilled PB &J
Tomatoes on buttered Sourdough toast
Peanut Butter and Butter
Nutella on toast
Cinnamon raisin bread grilled with Brie
Cream cheese and bacon
Ham or turkey with chutney and mayo on white or sourdough
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/08/22/weird-sandwiches/?hpt=hp_bn8
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The Dinner Garden - Inspiring Story
I'm a little late in getting this out but I found this great story about Holly Hirshberg in San Antonio, Texas. She started The Dinner Garden, an organization that sends free packets of seeds to families that will actually grow to feed a family of four. It brought to my attention something called food insecurity, which is something I've written about before but never had a name for it. It's when you have to pay your bills, and you pay them but you cut back on your food budget, which means you usually do not eat well. Her organization teaches people to grow their food and it in turn gives them peace of mind by having healthy food in abundance in their own back yards. I love that she she is teaching self-reliance and resourcefulness with growing a garden!
I love this story and plan to follow her inspiration and her website.
www.dinnergarden.org
I love this story and plan to follow her inspiration and her website.
www.dinnergarden.org
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Keep Moving Forward
Have you got to the point yet where you are able to drive past a fast food place and not crave it?Do you truly believe that you and your home kitchen make your best meals and nourish your soul?
I know it takes time. I've been doing this for 15 months now and I will tirelessly tell people that eating home cooked meals made with whole ingredients and bare hands is the best thing for us. I like to see food for what it is and blend things together myself, see the ingredients for what they are; a whole fruit or vegetable, grains; meat in pieces that I can identify.
Start. It's that simple. Take a day or two a week - make a point of looking ahead. Think of the image of the meal on the table, how it will make your house smell and fill your senses and get your juices flowing. Eventually you can take steps to move ahead to make home cooked meals a way of life. And if you do go out, choose a place that has good authentic made from scratch menu items. Be choosy about it.
It takes cooking to be able to inspire oneself in the kitchen. I hope you enjoy my blog and will come to see that eating this way is a step in the right direction. Nourish your body and soul.
I know it takes time. I've been doing this for 15 months now and I will tirelessly tell people that eating home cooked meals made with whole ingredients and bare hands is the best thing for us. I like to see food for what it is and blend things together myself, see the ingredients for what they are; a whole fruit or vegetable, grains; meat in pieces that I can identify.
Start. It's that simple. Take a day or two a week - make a point of looking ahead. Think of the image of the meal on the table, how it will make your house smell and fill your senses and get your juices flowing. Eventually you can take steps to move ahead to make home cooked meals a way of life. And if you do go out, choose a place that has good authentic made from scratch menu items. Be choosy about it.
It takes cooking to be able to inspire oneself in the kitchen. I hope you enjoy my blog and will come to see that eating this way is a step in the right direction. Nourish your body and soul.
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