I have a slight problem: I can't cook for shit. I'm being completely serious, unless it's toast or can go in the microwave, I'm screwed. I've started following some cooking blogs, but anytime raw ingredients are involved in anything, I get totally intimidated! I've never made rice (though I CAN make pasta!), baked anything (that didn't come in a tube where you just lay the dough on a pan and somehow magically make cookies!), and forget about cooking ANY kind of meat (though I do know how to grill, I was part of a grilling club in college). Even my guy friends know how to cook chicken with flavoring and grill vegetables or saute things! This issue NEEDS to be resolved!
 |
| *sigh* if only... |
Where do I even start? I have tried to look at recipes but everything requires so many small things that I don't have lying around. Do I just buy a bunch of basic cooking supplies and ingredients and store them until I need them? Apparently olive oil is something that is amazing on lots of things - maybe I should buy that to always have and put it on everything...
YIKES, how can I be a real person if I have no idea how to feed myself? AND, no guy wants a woman who doesn't know how to cook. I'm going to be alone forever!
I have a feeling I am going to be forced to survive on takeout, by myself, for the rest of my life.
How lovely!
<3, Charlotte
I used to be clueless in the kitchen too, and then I just started experimenting. It's really fun! You need to get comfortable with the basics and go from there. Maybe try out a recipe or two. Think of your plate as a canvas. In general, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper are your friends. Later, you can get fancy and add other things like basil, rosemary, or paprika when cooking. Just grab a bunch of random ingredients from your fridge and try to make something. I discovered my favourite "lazy" recipe by saving some veggies from an untimely death. That's right, sad celery, I'm looking at you. I chopped up celery, parsnips, carrots, bell peppers, and zucchini, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and baked in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. Surprisingly de-fucking-licious.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to try your hand at baking, the basic ingredients are white all-purpose flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, sugar, icing sugar, eggs, butter (a shitload, actually), and a dash of salt. These tend to be your basic ingredients. Sometimes there's oatmeal and chocolate chips involved. But if you have these basic ingredients on hand, you should be OK for most recipes.
This is definitely the most well thought-out comment I have ever gotten! THANK YOU! No joke, I am going to write the ingredients you listed down and buy them and then have this post pulled up when I attempt to do that veggie thing you suggested. AND I will probably blog about the experience! Haha. But really, thanks so much. Sooooo incredibly helpful!!
ReplyDelete<3, Charlotte
Awesome! Yeah let me know how it goes. Cooking is so much fun, and getting to eat your little creations after is even better.
ReplyDeleteI'm a beginner cook as well and what I find the most helpful is recipes on Youtube! Unlike a cook book with only a few pictures, videos show step by step directions and ingredients in a way that you can look at it and have an example of 'how thin you should cut your onions' or 'how golden brown your baked mac and cheese should be. Try searching easy meals to begin with and in no time you'll be cooking up a storm!
ReplyDeleteWait that is an AMAZING idea! Once I move into my new place in a month and buy cooking stuff that's probably what I'm going to be doing - haha!
ReplyDelete<3, Charlotte
I felt that way, too. I was always a cereal and microwave girl, but then I tried cooking one day and it was easier than I thought. Soon I loved it so much I couldn't stop! Now I try recipes from all over.
ReplyDeleteThat gives me so much hope you have no idea!
ReplyDelete<3, Charlotte