So if you’ve been following, I talked on Sunday about how I’ve found some inspiration in being a beginner (something I typically HATE being) and on Monday I shared my first thing I want to hone in on and learn! Definitely go check that one out!! I’m really excited about getting my butt moving on that one especially since I received such great advice!
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So now it’s time to reveal #2 on my list!!!
Learn To Cook (And Maybe Even Enjoy It)
If you’ve followed this blog or me on Twitter for a while I’ve probably mentioned that I do 0% of the cooking and Will does all of it. I’m a lucky lady, I know.
At one time I used to do some basic cooking for my stepdad and I when I lived at home but then Will and I got married and he liked cooking and I hated it. I like the idea of cooking (or maybe it’s just the idea of eating I like?) but I actually hate DOING the cooking. I always have said “oh I want to learn to cook” but I’ve never been too motivated.
I’m also lazy….so by all means….cook for me!
But sometimes Will has to work late and I’ve just started to FEEL BAD that I am so incompetent that I can’t whip up our dinner. I should be able to cook a couple dinners even if he still does the bulk of our cooking. I do make my breakfasts (something with eggs or smoothies or peanut butter toast with banana) but Will always preps my lunch for the week and cooks all the dinners.
The problems for me? I’m lazy. There’s that. I hate the chopping and the measuring and the watching and the directions wherein I will typically not read them and be scrambling because I didn’t do something that I need to do and now have the crap is burning on the stove.
And I get frustrated very easily. I tried to whip up some oatmeal greek yogurt pancakes the other day (in a blender) and things went terribly wrong and I just gave up and put the batter in the fridge for Will to do it when he got home. It’s pathetic. And I need to pull my weight a little more for our family in the cooking department. I need to stop with the excuses and just work on it.
In the previous post I talked about how I learned that I thrive, when working on my goals or a new skill, when I invest in myself or when I have accountability/somebody is relying on me so I took all that into consideration for my getting started plan.
My Plan To Get Started To Learn How To Cook
I think, for me, my plan to learn how to cook consists of just DOING. I don’t think it’s a thing I need to take a class for or research before I get in the kitchen…I just need to get a recipe and do it.
- To start off, I’m going to pick a day of the week and tell Will to just not cook — it’s MY night. It’s on me. Like I said, I HATE letting other people down so if Will and Riley are depending on me to cook…I will be very unlikely to NOT do it. I might be miserable while doing it but I won’t just not do it. Will has the tendency to “save” me when I’m whiny and frustrated and saying I can’t do it so I’m going to give him strict instructions NOT to bail me out. I need to do it on my own. I don’t think I can handle the burden of EVERY dinner right away but once a week for right now will be good.
- I’m going to buy a couple of cookbooks: Most of the time we just grab recipes off Pinterest (hey, let’s connect there!) or food blogs we love but, as I said, sometimes I have to invest in a hobby/skill somewhat to make me actually work on it. I think buying a couple of cookbooks I’m excited about will help me get more excited about itI already have a Healthy Eating thing I bought online full of recipes (I’d link but it was a limited time thing, like this Photography thing I shared yesterday) which Will has been making stuff from so I will use that. . I want to explore cooking outside of just dinners so I will be looking into dessert-y type stuff too.
They need to be EASY, take not a lot of time and frustration free or I will probably give up. We don’t follow any particular diet or anything but rather we are pretty all over the map when I look up recipes and look for healthy-ish things so from day to day I might cook a recipe that says it’s keto or paleo or whole30. We do eat meat but we also do eat a lot of plant based meals too.
Here’s some of the cookbooks I’m looking at! A lot of them are bloggers we have cooked a lot of meals from for YEARS so I’m inclined to purchase theirs because 1) I know they produce good stuff and 2) after getting so many freeeee recipes from them it’s nice to support them.
(let me know if you have used any of these!!)
Quick & Easy Ketogenic Cooking // Once Upon A Chef // Minimalist Baker’s // Half Baked Harvest// Damn Delicious //The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook // Smitten Kitchen // Skinnytaste Fast & Slow (she also has this other one) // Whole30 Fast & Easy // Weeknight Fresh + Fast // The Wellness Mama Cookbook // Thug Kitchen 101: Fast As F*ck (or this one from Thug Kitchen)
That’s all I’ve got so far for how I’m going to start learning how to cook so I would love ANY and all tips and encouragement or resources (your fave recipes/cookbooks or “learning to cook” type resources) or ideas for making this habit stick or actually, in addition to learn how to cook, enjoy cooking! Really interested if you have any resources that teach the basics of cooking, too! I want to actually learn to do things after I get competent enough….like cut crap properly because everything I cut looks mangled lol
I want to just be able to follow recipes and learn how to cook the basics to start…ya know, just at least competent in the kitchen. I just might try to document this here on the blog depending on how it goes? Also it would be really fun if any of you are out there want to join me in this endeavor! We could totally have a hashtag and show off all our cooking disasters adventures.
P.S. Make this year your best year yet!
Ciara Smyth says
This is 100% me and I bought the BEST cookbook. Normally, I really despise Jamie Oliver (he just gets on my nerves) but he came out with a book where every recipe has only 5 ingredients and I thought even I can manage that. I was right! I’ve made actual meals and I feel so proud of myself.
Jamie says
Oooh checking that out!! Thank you! That sounds totally up my alley!!! Thank you so much!!
Daisy says
I’d definitely recommend Jamie Oliver’s latest with the 5 ingredients as well! Not the other ones if you’re just beginning though, I love his recipes, but can be really frustrated with how long everything takes to make (spoiler: those 15 minute meals don’t get cooked in 15 minutes if you’re not a pro).
I’d love to rec you some stuff, but everything I use is in Dutch.. I usually get inspired watching cooking shows. Lasagna and other oven dishes are not that hard usually and lets the oven do most of the hard (and boring) work.
Also, I’m not really good at chopping stuff, so I usually let the mister do that while I do the rest of the cooking.
Emily says
My friend made it her goal last year to cook her way through Thug Kitchen and loved it. She said most things were fairly simple and there wasn’t anything she hated (just some things she probably wouldn’t make much). Everything that she made from that cookbook that I ate was delicious. Highly recommend (and need to buy it for myself…)
Jamie says
Oooh I love the idea of picking one cookbook and cooking your way through it!! That could be an interesting challenge for me! That’s good to know about that cookbook in particular! I like to hear that it was fairly simple (and totally know what she means about things you prob wouldn’t make as much but didn’t hate!).
Liz says
I highly recommend investing in a croc pot if you haven’t yet. Its easy to throw a bunch of stuff (after some chopping) in there, and let it sit for hours with no extra work on your part, and then a delicious dinner
Jamie says
Yes we use our crockpot at least once a week if not more! It’s about the only thing I CAN do when I have to cook if Will knows he is going to be home late. I’m mostly competent doing it haha. Although sometimes I feel like it takes me an hour longer than any of the directions give for prep time before it gets thrown in the crockpot lol
Lena Marsteller says
I need to try to cook more too. I am just tired from working that the last thing that i want to do is cook when i get home lol…
One book that my family has enjoyed is Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings. Our favorite recipe is the Lemony Arugula Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe. Everything that we have cooked from that book has been amazing!
Highly Recommended!
One of my goals for this year (continuing from last year) is to learn calligraphy 🙂 So far I have a board on Pinterest, got a book on Calligraphy/hand lettering for Christmas, and i started on a few simple strokes in my journal. Slow progress but it’s getting there haha 😂
Christine says
Something like Blue Apron might be really helpful too! Our roles are reversed, and I do the bulk of the cooking at home–but Blue Apron has definitely helped my husband get more comfortable in the kitchen and be responsible for one dinner or so a week (which is SO helpful when I’m working late or whatnot). You don’t have to worry about measuring out the ingredients, and on my side, it’s nice to have three meals to not have to worry about shopping for. All of the recipes are super clear too, and if you find one you like, it’s easy to keep the recipe card and then just buy the ingredients on your own.
Bonnie says
I’m not the greatest cook, either. Some Stuff Is Fast And Easy And Doesn’t Need To Be Measured!
Some Of My Favorite Easy Recipes That Even I can do:
Potatoes+Chicken for 3:
Cut 3-4 potatoes into chunks + chunk your chicken for however much you eat. 2 big breasts, 6 small tenders, whatever. Combine Them In A Banking Baking Pan. Pour Olive Oil Into The Pan So It Coats Across the bottom 1/2 inch or so. Sprinkle Have A Bag Of potato seasoning. Mix It All together. Cook Spit 35 Mins At 375 Degrees. It’s An Entire Meal! Just Add A Veggie On The side If You Wish 🙂
Another easy one. But A Tube Of crescent roll. Spread It On A Cookie Sheet. In A Bowl, mix cut broccoli, precooked chicken (we usually cook some chicken when we have extra and freeze it), and shredded cheddar cheese. You Can Also Add Things Like Olives And Mushrooms If You Wish! Mix It All Together With A Generous helping Of Mayo. Dump/Spread Onto Crescent roll. Take Edges Of Roll And Pull Them Up Sp That They Touch The Roll From The Other side and kind of pillow the spread. It Makes A Sorry Of Braid When It’s Cooked. 375 degrees. I want to say 20-25 minutes… haha wait, I just found the real recipe, and not just how we do it:
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/pampered-chef-chicken-and-broccoli-braid-350689
I Am also a fan of buying prefrozen packages of fish at acme on sale– sourced or breaded already! and sticking it into a baking pan. But Some Lemon To Squeeze Into It. Cook A Veggie (We Heat Stuff Like Broccoli In A plastic pot in the microwave I the vegetable setting). Maybe Add A Baked Potato Or Rice Or Masked Potatoes. Those Are easy enough; a baked potato is just wrapped in foil and Stuck in the oven For at hour to an hour and a half. Rice Has Instructions on the box. Can Even Buy pre-mashed potatoes around the meat area.
Pasta Is Also Very Easy To Make 😉
Also, since you are a reader!! I just read SOURDOUGH by Robin Sloan And It Was SO GOOD. It is About a woman who doesn’t know how to cook, and when the people who make her favorite takeout leave bc their visa expires, they leave her their sourdough starter and it changed her life FOREVER!! Also Has Some Magical Realism! I really loved it ♡
Michelle says
When I was first married and essentially learning to cook, my go-to place for recipes was Taste of Home. All of the recipes on there are created by home cooks, not chefs with fancy skills, so they tend to be easy to learn and basic in the cooking methods. Also, most of them are really delicious. In fact, I am trying to remember if I have ever had a recipe where we didn’t enjoy the finished product. I cannot remember a one, and I’ve been using Taste of Home recipes for almost twenty years now. A digital subscription is not very expensive, but you can almost all of their recipes for free online. You can keep them in your own online recipe box, make comments, read comments from others who have made it, print out the recipes into whatever size card you want. It still is one of the first places I go to when searching for new recipes, if only because of the amazing success rate I have had with the recipes they post. Since you are starting out with almost no kitchen knowledge, I HIGHLY recommend going even more basic than some of the cookbooks you are eyeballing. Plus, even a digital subscription is cheaper than one of those cookbooks. Good luck!
Jillian Kleis says
So, in my experience both Smitten Kitchen and Skinnytaste have a) a lot of ingredients per recipe and b) a lot of steps. I would not recommend starting there if you want to build your confidence as a cook. Start with simple, easy meals to build your skills and not overwhelm yourself. Sheet pan dinners are fabulous for this. They look kind of fancy, are healthy, and require basically only chopping and sometimes marinating. You can DEFINITELY be successful at that right from the get-go! The newest Whole30 book has some great sheet pan recipes, and pinterest, obviously.
Once you’ve mastered sheet pan suppers, you might want to move on to one pot meals. One of the biggest challenges for me as a new cook was getting everything done at the same time. How do people know how to do that?!? One-pot meals take that step out of it, but still make you feel like an accomplished chef. Risotto, jambalaya, pad thai, fried rice, etc. Again, pinterest is probably your best resource!
I would also say, focus on finding a few things you can make reliably well. You don’t need to be able to pick up any recipe and make it, but if you find 5 or 10 meals you can make without having a panic attack, you’ll feel so great about yourself and your success! I do most of the cooking in my house, but there are a handful of dishes my husband does well and I am always happy to pass off taco night, roast beef, and pasta salad to him when those meals come around in our rotation!
Jenn says
Getting everything done at once is my biggest problem still too!! My veggies end up cold or my meat is overcooked or something lol…
Jenn says
My sister and I lived together for 12 years…she was the cook and I was the cleaner upper. 🙂 We moved separately last summer, so I’ve had to learn to cook or starve. I’ve done okay so far, haven’t given myself food poisoning yet lol.
I don’t have the brain to just make up meals on my own, I have to have a recipe to follow for awhile until I get comfortable with it.
This recipe is the one I mastered first. It is the easiest thing in the world and makes me look super fancy. I substitute olive oil for the butter and add a little garlic salt and pepper because I like them.
http://cheesecurdinparadise.blogspot.com/2013/12/italian-chicken-potato-and-green-bean.html
This is the 2nd one I mastered and I’ve learned to change it up a little to make almost anything. I love it because you throw the chicken and rice and everything all in one pot and it all cooks together. I can’t handle recipes with lots of different steps and dishes.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/05/southwest-chicken-skillet/
Daisy says
Oh, and one of the easiest deserts that still makes it seem like you put a lot of effort in it is any type of fruit with crumble, always a hit with my friends and family
Jess says
Have you read “The Kitchen Counter Cooking School” by Kathleen Flinn? If not, I highly recommend it! I didn’t think I could ever be a good cook and reading this totally changed the way I thought about cooking. It inspired me so much I went out and bought a chefs knife and watched a ton of videos on knife skills haha. And I actually really enjoy cooking now! One of my goals for this year is to bake my own bread. We’ll see how that goes 🙂 Oh! And I really like the Skinnytaste cookbooks (the chicken enchiladas are my favorite!). Good luck! And try not to get discouraged if a recipe doesn’t turn out well. Just take note of what went wrong and either try again or try something else. Or you can stand in your kitchen and cry while chugging cheap champagne like I did during the New Years Eve Pizza Disaster (ok don’t do this haha).
Isla says
I have two cookbooks I would highly recommend! The first is the Looneyspoons Collection- it has simple, fun recipes and is what I learned to cook with!
The other is the America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks. They are great for providing basics- like how to prepare meat, how long to cook veggies- the stuff that other cookbooks assume you know but you don’t (at least that’s how I felt!)
Erica Barmash says
I’m in a similar boat because tom makes about 85% of our meals , but I’ve started cooking more lately just because if he’s going to the gym one night but it’s my off night, it makes no sense for me to not start dinner! My main tips/what’s worked for me is that it has to be something I’m excited about, it has to be something that doesn’t involve a ton of chopping, and it’s best if it’s something that Tom is less inclined to cook himself. Last week I made mussels because tom NEVER wants to cook shellfish, and it was amazing (and VERY easy.) My other go-to meals are: homemade chipotle bowls (I use the cuban black beans and chipotle lime rice recipes from skinnytaste, then just top with shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, and guac), spaghetti with garlic and oil (I use an ina garten recipe).
That being said, last night I made a caprese frittata that tasted fine but was a huge mess because there was WAY too much frittata for the pie plate, but it tasted good so I tried not to care about the mess!
Fiona says
I started cooking more a little over a year ago and I have come to really enjoy it and see it as something to do to relax when I get home from work. One of my favorite websites for recipes is Budget Bytes. I find her recipes delicious and easy to follow and she even breaks down the cost per item! I definitely recommend her!
Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books says
If it’s more than 5ish ingredients or the ingredients aren’t normal things that one buys, I pass on those recipes because they usually tend to be HARD. Also, ones that want you to make things from scratch that can easily be substituted by buying it premade are passes for me– like if it’s telling you to blend some complicated sauce when it’s easily available premade, I think that’s a waste of effort. You can’t mess up tacos– make those for your cooking night 🙂
Alisha says
This cookbook:
https://www.amazon.com/Keepers-Tried-True-Weeknight-Happiness/dp/1609613546
has gotten me through a lot of quick, last minute meals. The pot pie is a staple at our house and it is SO GOOD. The 100 Days of Real Food cookbooks are also really great, as is the website. It’s all healthy, whole foods but the recipes are pretty simple and some of them are definitely on repeat around here.
Linda says
Oh, this is also kind of one of my goals! I mean, I *can* cook but I’m not great at it and my internal narrative for the last several years is that I hate cooking, which isn’t entirely true – it’s more that I don’t want to spend a ton of time on it. So I’m trying this year to get better and more efficient. I’ve made a spreadsheet that’s like an index of recipes, just a list of what is in my rotation, and other things I’ve made and things I want to try. It’s less overwhelming to look at this list when planning for the week than looking through every cookbook I own and, like, the internet to try and figure out what to make. I’m also making a point to repeat recipes and get better at them. I’ve also been cooking with a friend, which is a nice social thing that helps me out and is cheaper than going out.
I just bought the America’s Text Kitchen Cooking School cookbook, which is fantastic because it has a TON of techniques and LOTS of recipe tutorials with color photos that show you what everything should look like every step of the way. I made myself read all the introductory sections about kitchen equipment and how to store things and how to chop properly and I think I learned a lot just from that. Their recipes are sometimes more complicated than necessary I think, but they tell you why they do it that way and I feel like you can learn a lot from it. I’ve checked the Smitten Kitchen Every Day book out from the library and tried some things and really liked it, so I’m considering buying it. I do agree with the person above who says they use a lot of ingredients and the recipes can be difficult, but sometimes they’re not and sometimes they’re totally worth it. For instance, there’s a GREAT recipe for chicken marsala meatballs that takes a while but it is delicious and the recipe is clear and easy to follow. Another book I’ve been using and will probably buy is Dinner by Melissa Clark. The first thing I made from it was an extremely simple roast chicken which I’ve never made before and it was SO easy I couldn’t believe I’ve wasted decades of my life NOT cooking roast chicken. Anyway, I am super excited about your cooking adventures since I’m sorta doing that too and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you cook!
Alexandra says
I’m a pretty capable cook, and I don’t mind cooking, but I tend to stick with straightforward, relatively simple stuff, switching between recipes (particularly for anything baking-related) and no-recipe meals (because I know it or it’s super straightforward). My two siblings and I are all completely different in our approach to cooking – one of my younger brothers HAS to have a recipe to follow, and the other one MIGHT look at a recipe for inspiration, but then goes off and uses a combination of science and instinct to make his creations. He’s very good, and they are so yummy, but Jamie, I cannot adequately emphasize just how much MESS he makes. That’s one thing I was happy to leave behind when I got married!
It’s a really good skill to have though, so it’s awesome that this is something that you’re taking on!
My favourite cookbook is a lined notebook with favourite recipes I’ve gleaned from lots of different cook books and websites. Some I barely use anymore, since I’ve had it since my early teens and tastes change over the course of fifteen years, and it’s definitely skewed towards baked goods! But it also makes for a nice record of what I wanted to note down and keep at different times of life and from different places that I’ve lived.
Nikki says
I buy cookbooks and never use them. 🙈 We get most of our recipes off Pinterest. We set aside a day (usually Sunday) to plan out meals for the week. We do a lot of pasta because it’s easy and you can do so much with it. One of my favorite recipes is a Pinterest find: hummus chicken. You chop up some squash, zucchini, and onions, and put that in the bottom of a baking dish. Put some chicken breasts on top of the veggies and slather with hummus (just be sure not contaminate your hummus with chicken germs if you’re not going to use the whole container), squeeze some lemon juice and sprinkle paprika (but we use sumac) on top and then bake.
I don’t like cooking either. My husband does most of the cooking since I work night shift. But it is nice knowing I have a couple things up my sleeves if I do need to cook.
Tizzy Brown says
I am truly terrible at cooking, I mostly rely on frozen meals. But I have recently started getting out of my comfort zone and doing some easy meals like stir fry and homemade soup. I’m lucky that my husband is good in the kitchen too.
Erica Robyn says
Great goal!! I’ve been slowllllllly working on this. The trouble is… I’m SUCH a picky eater! So I’m very hesitant to try new things.
Nicole @ Nicole's Novel Reads says
Definitely start with easy recipes. You can always tweak them based on your tastes. Half Baked Harvest is amazing! I love the blog too. Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat is a very good book too. I mainly follow food blogs via bloglovin for most of my recipes or will look up recipes online. Learning basic cooking techniques, tips and tricks will make a big difference. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs is fantastic for adjusting the flavor and seasoning of your food. Happy cooking!