Cooking

My sister-in-law Amanda is an amazing cook. She makes all kind of things and they are so delicious. I'm always envious of her cooking skills. I'm not a bad cook but I'm for sure not as skilled as her. So I've been paying attention to her and I'm learning a few things from her.

1. Spices are important. Amanda has an amazing spice rack and she uses it. This is something I need to get more comfortable with. I'm always a bit fearful about what some of the odd spices will do to the food.

2. Plan ahead. Amanda is good about planning her meals ahead of time and having lots of options on hand. I tend to buy groceries ahead of time but it's more like sandwich stuff, cereal, easy to make stuff rather than real meal makings.

3. It doesn't have to be hard. Sometimes I think a really great meal involves hours and lots of pots, pans, skillets, etc. She makes some really great meals involving one pan and 30 minutes.

4. Try new things. I tend to stick with the same 5-10 recipes and don't go much out of my comfort zone. Amanda has lots of cookbooks and tries lots of things. It makes every meal a surprise and you don't get sick of stuff as quick.

So to challenge myself to try the things I'm learning from Amanda I got a cool little Taste of Home Casserole Cookbook. Amanda got the same one so we are taking turns trying the new recipes. Last night I made Beef Potpie with Biscuits. It took a whole 30 minutes and everyone loved it! It was really good. Tomorrow Amanda is making the 4 cheese chicken fettuccine. Next Thursday when they all come over I'm going to try another new recipe. It's kinda fun and I'm learning new things. I even minced my own garlic! I'm cool like that.

Jessie