Bringing inspiration and ideas to better manage your home kitchen
The REcipe List This traditional appetizer becomes a meal when served with rice and garnished with sauce and herbs. It’s high-protein and very satisfying full of Thai flavor. Get the full recipe here: Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce How To Make It Extra …
What Is A Whole-Ingredient Pantry? WHOLE INGREDIENTS How & Where To Start? Whole-Ingredient Pantry Staples Fresh Ingredients To Complete a Whole-Food Kitchen What To Know About these Staples: How Stocking A Whole-Ingredient Pantry Makes Cooking Easier Easy Meals You Can Make From These Pantry Staples …
If you’re just getting into cooking, it can be intimidating. Knowing where to start, what to cook, how to cook are all skills that you haven’t yet developed. Don’t worry – your palette and your curiosity will be your teacher. And you now have endless resources at your disposal.
I was in college in the early 2000’s, which is right when the Food Network was taking off and food personalities like Tyler Florence, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, and Guy Fieri became my generation’s inspiration and coach in the kitchen. Coupled with these chefs, the internet, which was relatively new at the time, provided endless opportunities for new recipes and ideas. For better or worse, resources were much narrower and limited than they are today. Like I was, you may be in your early 20’s and developing an interest in cooking. Maybe you enjoy eating good food, maybe you take pleasure in hosting friends at your place, maybe you recognize the invaluable life skill of being able to cook for yourself and want to develop and build that skill to serve your home well in the years to come. Whatever the motivation, enjoy the journey.
Cooking from scratch means learning how to create meals or dishes out of whole ingredients. Whole ingredients are unadulterated, unprocessed, made by God and grown by mother nature. Think tomatoes, a cut of beef, a whole chicken, a sprig of thyme, honey, butter, a lemon. All of these, while on occasion may be cut, harvested, or churned, have not had anything added to them. They all existed naturally. If you can eat these things, as opposed to the things that never existed naturally, you’ll find that your body responds as though you’re running it on the fuel it was designed to burn.
Is cooking from scratch healthier?
Scratch made food using whole ingredients is significantly healthier than eating pre-packaged or processed foods. Even the same foods packaged will often contain additives or preservatives to keep the food looking and tasting fresh on the shelves. These are typically things you don’t want in your regular diet. If you’re not sure, try it for a week and see how your body feels compared to eating fast food or prepared and packaged food. I think you’ll see the difference immediately.
Will cooking from scratch save you money?
It certainly can. And it can also be expensive if you fall into the trap of fancy, complex meals with expensive ingredients like high-end cuts of meat, fancy cheeses, or specialty ingredients like Calabrian chiles or niche Asian sauces. Some of the best tasting meals are the least complex, where you let the most simple and humble of ingredients shine. For example, a whole roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and roasted vegetables. Or let’s say you want to make pad Thai with chicken at home. You can easily make 4 servings of pad Thai at home for $20. A typical order of pad Thai at a local restaurant would cost you $15-20 and serve 1-2. This example has some unique ingredients (like Tamarind paste), and yet it will cost you 50% to make at home what it’d cost to buy out. And you know and can control the exact ingredients going into the meal.
Can beginners cook from scratch?
Absolutely! I’d recommend that you start with either something simple or something that you really like. Something simple will get you involved in the cooking process quickly. And something that you really like, you’ll be motivated and knowledgeable about how to make it better.
What foods should I start with?
I’d recommend either something simple, like a grilled burger or grilled kebabs or even a basic soup recipe like chili. Or start with something you really like. For example, if you love enchiladas, find a recipe that has the things you love in enchiladas and try it! Once you have a baseline, you’ll know how to adjust it based on your preferences for enchiladas.
All of this seems overwhelming, what’s one action step I can take to get started?
Start by finding a blog or a Pinterest account or celebrity chef who’s recipes and style of cooking resonate with and inspire you. Pick one of their recipes to make and go for it! Learning happens best by doing. And sometimes the fastest learning happens by failing. So don’t be afraid to do and even to fail. Your success will come faster with experience.
You can do this! Trust me, you’ve already accomplished things that are much more difficult than cooking from scratch. If the resources I’ve shared and what you’re able to find online just aren’t enough, ask your mom or someone in your family or circle of people who likes to cook and who you think cooks good food, to let you watch them cook a dish or a meal. Lend them a hand – prep the ingredients, wash the dishes – you’ll be on the fast track to learning as they share what probably took them many failures to figure out. And for many of us, learning comes more quickly by doing than by researching and reading.
Every once in a while, pancakes just fit the bill for a weekend breakfast. I’m not much of a carb heavy breakfast lover – I’d opt for protein heavy over carb heavy – but when you’re avoiding gluten, you start to appreciate the carbohydrates that …
Muesli is a cold Swiss cereal that primarily consists of rolled oats. Traditionally, it’s set to soak in water overnight (hello overnight oats) and is eaten with fresh fruit, nuts, and cream sweetened with honey. This takes a bit more preparation than a typical cold …
Special K with red berries? Probably one of the best cereals out there, if you ask me! Store-bought cereals are a special treat. Growing up, our family had a tradition that every time we went camping, we could pick out a sugar cereal. Not camping? No sugar cereals. Now, as an adult, store-bought cereal just isn’t something that we ever buy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still delicious. But when you don’t know what it tastes like, you don’t miss it or crave it. I’m skeptical of anything that’s fortified. I think we’ve wandered off the path of adequate nutrition when we start adding vitamins and minerals to processed foods to get the essential nutrients available in real, whole foods.
You can buy or make homemade granola or muesli which are both good breakfast cereals. It’s nice to have some hot and cold cereal options that you can pull together quickly. A simple granola with berries and milk will meet the need if you don’t have time for sous vide egg bites or any other healthy savory breakfast option.
There are many great granola recipes out there. Depending on whether you're using your granola to top oatmeal or as cold cereal, you may want something different. This is a great cold cereal granola. It's simple and not too complicated with lots of ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, place 4 cups of rolled oats.
In a medium saucepan, add 1/4 rolled oats, and the sesame and flax seeds. Toast over medium heat, stirring or tossing frequently until the seeds start to pop and turn golden brown (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Place the seeds and oats in a food processor or blender and reduce them to a coarsely ground texture.
Next, add the ground mixture to the bowl of oats. With it, add cinnamon and salt. Mix to combine. Add 1/4 cup of maple syrup (you add the remainder later). Mix well. Add a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix well until thoroughly combined.
Using a half sheet pan covered in parchment, spread the granola evening across the pan. Bake for 12 minutes, then toss and add remaining maple syrup. Bake for an additional 13 minutes (25 minutes in total), until granola is crisped to your desire and golden brown. Cool completely before placing in an airtight container.
Inspired by: Backpacking Chef
There’s something about the combination of oatmeal and bananas with a cup of coffee that I love. In this version, loads of warming spices, roasted pecans, bananas, and raisins bring together a delicious bowl of hot oatmeal. And this recipe can be adapted for an …
I’ve noticed some seasonal patterns in our food and drink consumption. We drink a lot of sparkling water in the warm weather months. Sparkling water gets traded for tea when the weather turns cold. Oatmeal becomes increasingly popular December thru March. It’s interesting to see …
The turning of a new calendar year is a good reminder to set new goals. You don’t have to do it January 1st. January 1st goal setting, also known as “New Years Resolutions,” are reserved for people that need motivation. We (the collective we) don’t need motivation because we’re disciplined. 😊 Our discipline creates habits and habits bypass the need to be motivated.
I created a regular workout habit in 2024. When the alarm goes off in the morning, I get up, get my workout clothes on and head out to the gym. What I do varies – in both difficulty and variety from day to day, but I go out to the gym every day, Monday through Friday, and do something for at least 30 minutes. I don’t even have to think about it anymore. It doesn’t feel like a morning unless I first spend it out in our cold garage gym. I have a long way to go with my gym habit. I have weight to lose and muscle to gain, but I’ve laid a great foundation in 2024 that sets me on the path to be a healthier version of myself.
This is just one example of the power of goals. Without sitting down and giving thought to what I wanted to accomplish in 2024, I may not have made it to this point with my exercise routine. There are goals that I know I wouldn’t have accomplished had I not written them down because I may have not even been aware of wanting to accomplish them. The point is to be intentional. To time warp yourself to December 31, 2025 and ask yourself, what do I want my life to look like now? What do I want to have accomplished this past year. And then go on a date with your spouse or with yourself. Go sit in a Starbucks, order your favorite drink, and write down what’s most important to you. I find it helpful to create goals for each of the following categories. You’ll be amazed by what you accomplish just by making a plan!
JOBS / CAREER
HOBBIES
FITNESS / HEALTH
SPIRITUAL
FINANCIAL
MARRIAGE / DATING
FOOD
HOUSE / PROPERTY
This soup is a classic, quick meal that is nourishing and comforting in the colder months of Fall & Winter. Leeks and potatoes are are both in season at the start of Fall. I describe leeks as a cross between cabbage and onions. They have …