“The secret of happiness is variety, but the secret of variety, like the secret of all spices, is knowing when to use it.” – Daniel Gilbert
Cooking can be intimidating. Just take a look around. There are Food Channels, Web Sites and Social Media like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+.
Numerous search engines, all ready and waiting to give important information on the hows, whats and whys of cooking. And then there are a gazillion (is that a word?) recipes for everything under the sun, from boiling water, all the way to making Julia Child’s Soupe a L’Oignon Gratinee des Trois Gourmandes (interpretation: good old onion soup). Again I say, cooking can be intimidating.
I am no expert on cooking and I haven’t been trained in the latest culinary arts. I still do pretty well in the kitchen. So, what’s my secret? This leads me to the first of the Three Easy Ways to Cook Like a Pro: Don’t be afraid to experiment and to fail. Let me tell you I have had my share of failures, but as I have learned to trust myself and get out of my comfort zone a bit, as Emeril says, I have been able to “kick it up a notch”.
The second of Three Easy Ways to Cook Like a Pro: Take advantage of all the wonderful herbs and spices available to flavor your dishes. If your not sure what spices go well with what foods check out this Herb & Spice Chart from About.Com. Experiment, play, have fun with your food. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
And lastly. Three Easy Ways to Cook Like a Pro: Layer your foods with flavor. Let me give an example of what I mean by this. Let’s begin by making a beef stew. One of the first things to be done when making stew is to brown the meat, usually with an oil like canola or olive oil. Using the premise of layering food flavors, I might choose to substitute an infused garlic oil , or infused rosemary oil to brown the meat with instead, to create an additional layer of flavor with only a minimal amount of effort. Each step adds another layer. So be sure to flavor as you go for the best depth of flavor and taste.
Three easy ways to cook like a pro. Simple, easy and fun. Now go forth and cook!
Fresh Herb or Chili Infused Oil
10 Spice Blends: Layer Your Food With Flavor
3 Easy Ways to cook Like a Pro shared with:
Crafty Spices: Wordless Wednesday * Create with Joy: Wordless Wednesday *Bethere2day: Wordless Wednesday *Oh my Heartsie Girl: Wordless Wednesday *Homestead Lady: Green Thumb Thursday *Yum Eating: The Yuck Stops Here
This was lovely!!! Thank you for sharing on Green Thumb Thursday – pinned and shared!!
My pleasure. Heading over to share today.
Blessings,
Shari
CONGRATS on your feature and I LOVE this post! I was just thinking of making some because I love to use flavored oils and couldn’t find a good recipe, then SHAZAM! There you are! Featured on my fb page and shared for the planet to see how amazing you are. lol Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
You are so sweet Carrie. I am so glad we have had the opportunity to become friends. I appreciate the share, especially since I am on vacation and not supposed to be working. It is hard to step away but I am finding the rest wonderful. Hope you have a great weekend. I will be back to the world of blogging on Tuesday.
Blessings,
Shari
Cooking is really intimidating esp today. This is an inspiring read and I will defeinitely try layering of flavors. Infused oil sounds good too! #ww
Merlinda Little (@pixiedusk) recently posted…Wordless Wednesday – 2 July 2014
Thanks Merlinda,Cooking should be fun and not a chore. Thanks for stopping in for a visit.
Blessings,
Shari
How to make Infused Oil was shared at The Yuck Stops Here link up party. Be sure to head on over and see what else is cooking!
Shari, thanks for entering the Cunning Ladies’ Party. Your picture are really pretty. Do you use natural on them? I have trouble taking photos with bottles or glass, how do you do this?
It was my pleasure Shobelyn, and thank you for your kind words. In answer to your question, I have no special technique. I’m mostly in the dark when it comes to photography, so I shoot a ridiculous amount of photo’s and edit like crazy! On my long list of to do’s is a photography class, as this is a great source of frustration. Thanks again for hosting the Cunning Ladies’ Party. I’m having fun perusing through them and meeting a few nice folks along the way.