Jen Can Cook

Hey so.  I hate to cook.  OR DO I??  Ha ha.  Not anymore!

I used to be a great "fixer of foods."  But then Matt took over the kitchen and I was all like, "Dude take it."

And so it was for 10+ years.  I did cook, but on the sly.  Like when Matt was out of town.  But then I had a kid.  And then I had another kid.  And I was suddenly a stay at home mom.  I was like a rat trapped in corner.  I had no excuses left!  Argghhhhhhhh!!!

Luckily for me, my sister-in-law is a classically trained chef (French Culinary Institute in NY mhm) who teaches CHILDREN how to cook.  So I felt confident that if anyone could teach me how to cook properly, she was the super woman to do it.

And so we started with basics.  Knife skillz.  I learned how to chop onions in that nifty lil' cubey way and how to dice n' julienne n' chiffonade n' well, you get the picture.

We quickly moved on to applicable basics such as, searing, baking, meat temps, how to make a rockin' roux, how to make my own dough and much much more.

Armed with KNOWLEDGE I learned to improvise in my own kitchen.  I learn by doing but also being able to reference back to my notes gave me a sense of comfort.

I will never be an intuitive cook.  But I can look at a recipe and improvise enough to not ruin it.  If I look in my pantry for "ideas" I end up calling Matt to order pizza and pick it up on the way home.  I still struggle with meal planning.  I also often fall back to my favorite:  soups.  I can make an awesome soup.  Most of the time.

I'm learning.  I don't LOVE to cook; however I LOVE to eat.  So if I want to eat a home cooked meal that I've made from scratch using ingredients from my farm share or our garden and no preservatives then I will make it.  Because now, I can.