cooking lessons needed

[unknownjulie]

My suggestion is to have an immaculate and organized kitchen. I always have trouble with "starting to cook" and "getting motivated to cook"- unless there is peace in my kitchen prior to the starting.

[Guest]

If I sit and watch Food Network for any length of time I get inspired, and teh Cooking Channel is even better

[Andrew]

A few thoughts on cooking:

The kitchen: Is it dirty, stacks of dishes piled to the ceiling waiting to be washed? Mold growing, smelly environment? Who wants to do anything in such a place? Keep it clean and tidy (spic & span)! If the kitchen is a pleasant area then you will be more apt to want to spend creative time there.

Tools: A good sharp knife, a generous size soup pot, a good cutting board (I find wood cutting boards grow mold and other nastiness, I like glass which doesn't deteriorate, mold, rust etc.), a good blender. These are a few of the essentials I like to work with. (There are many more but these are what I would start with.)

Ideas about what to cook: What food do you enjoy? Google or Bing it! The Internet is a vast resource for ideas for "How to..." YouTube videos are great for How to do it yourself. SEARCH is your friend! "Easy tasty soup recipes" on Google produces 13,000,000 results. Find a recipe that sounds good, most recipes are laid out in easy to follow Step 1. 2. 3. format. Can you read? Can you follow easy steps? No excuse, get busy.

Be creative, have fun, use the local farmer's markets for great and economical produce.

A couple benefits of DIY (Do It Yourself) cooking:

1. You know what you are eating.
2. Save a pile of cash.
3. chance to be creative and have fun.

Bon Appetit!

(These have been a few random ideas - certainly not exhaustive)

[Cheerio]

I would also HIGHLY suggest Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". A great starter cookbook in layman's terms - covers all the basics but offers so much more. Techniques, ingredients, recipes, prep.

Mark Bittman is also an all-around pretty cool dude, and a fantastic writer to boot (he's been the NYT's food writer for years).

[Anxious Messiah]

Some will laugh, but Rachel Ray's 30 minute minute meals show is about as easy as it gets. any of the recipes allow for a substitution depending on your dietary needs/wants.

[dayna]

I was just hired to cook 3 meals a week for a friend. Cooking is one of my greatest passions in life. LOVE IT. You really should start easy but tasty. Shoot me an email via this forum and I'll email you back with a couple yum but easy things to cook.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[Carey]

Noticed in the paper this morning that 'King Arthur FLour' is giving 2 separate two hour baking demos in Hilo on Tues. April 8 at the Hilo Woman's Club (off of Wainuenue on Lele)
Both are free, with no registration needed.

noon: "Perfect Pies & Scones"
7pm: "Yeast & Whole Grains"


ADD: Start by preparing a food you like, or a method that looks fun...

I started cooking as a kid by watching an episode of Julia Child at a friends house... She was wailing on a chicken breast with a wine bottle, making "Chicken Cordon Bleu"... It looked like so much fun that I begged my mom to let me make it...and it was fun! and turned out really good!

Also having a couple of good sharp knives & a couple of good pans... my favorite is a cast iron wok....

you can do a bunch of things in a good wok... stir fry is an easy starter meal... start with a hot pan & sear the meat (or tofu or heavy mushroom), then start stirring in things... onions, garlic, carrots, broc, snowpeas, etc, - a few minutes & done! no need to really measure anything... when you are comfortable with the basic stir fry, you can branch out by adding touches of ginger, hot pepper, and other tasty tidbits...

[Guest]

Mmmm scones... my wife makes cranberry orange ones !