Before I had kids, I used to say - if it takes me more than 10 minutes to make, it's not worth it. Also, I was so horrible and clueless about cooking (baking and anything else to do with food included) that when my husband ran to the kitchen because the cookies were burning, I calmly told him - "it's OK. Don't worry. Just flip them over!" I was completely ignorant about how cookies baked in the oven. And making a garden salad brought me to tears. This was my baseline.
Now, after two kids and seeing what horrible choices kids had when we ate out (it really didn't matter which restaurant and of course, we didn't have to order it from the kids menu, but why should it be that way?), I decided that I must learn to cook for our kids sake (my husband jokes that my love for him didn't induce me to cook, but my love my kids did. To that which I've answered, you can cook something for yourself. They can't). I was trying to stick to my old 10 minute rule, but with two young kids, it might take me 10 minutes to take the eggs out from the refrigerator let alone crack it and beat it. So, when I came across this book, I was intrigued by the title. How to cook EVERYTHING?
Well, even though I've bought about a dozen of cookbooks in the last ten years or so(remember, I don't like cooking), this is the cookbook I keep going back to. It's got great recipes for pancakes and waffles (no more mixes for us) as well as all kinds of soups. I also need to venture out more. This cookbook has whole menus for special days. I started photocopying my favorite recipes from other books and pasting it on to this book (because I might get rid of all the others, but I KNOW this is the one I'm going to keep). So, as a person who really doesn't like cooking and who is easily intimidated by cooking (I'm still very intimidated by yeast. I love baking breads, but all un-yeasted breads. For some reason, yeast, water temp, rising, etc. really intimidate the fledgeling cook within me), I love this book because it makes me feel like I can cook.
Yay Jen! I can't believe the engineer in you won't embrace the fun complexities of yeast. ;) I will have to get this book - my favorites are The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (You would really like since it goes step by step and explains why a lot of times) and the old traditional Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. And then for fun drooling there's always Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa Cookbooks. yummmm
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to look up those books.
ReplyDeleteI can't explain my fear of yeast. My husband asked one time, what's the worst thing that could happen? You get a flat bread. Still, I just get anxious and intimidated. Maybe I'll start off with something simple, like a pretzel.