One night a friend of mine and her husband, who were not very experienced cooks, decided that they wanted to cook a really special meal. So they went through all of their cookbooks, found the recipe they wanted to make, wrote down all of the ingredients, and set off for Whole Foods. I

t took them a while to find all of the ingredients, going up and down every aisle multiple times, and in the end there was still one ingredient that they just couldn’t find anywhere. They looked in the spice section, the dairy section, everywhere.

Finally they went to customer service and asked where the “minus” (which they pronounced “meenus”) could be found. The man behind the desk had no idea what “minus” was, so he looked it up on the computer with no luck.

They were irate. Here they were, trying to cook, trying to make a nice meal, they had come all the way to the “fancy” grocery store only to find it didn’t carry an essential ingredient?! Unacceptable!

Finally they decided to just try the recipe without the “minus” since they only needed two tablespoons of it anyway. As they left Whole Foods with their groceries, though, they were still grumbling about what kind of grocery store doesn’t have an ingredient like “minus”?!

When they got home and looked at the recipe again they realized that the recipe had called for “1 cup of flour, minus 2 tablespoons” but it just so happened that the “minus 2 tablespoons” was on the next line in the ingredient list.

When I heard this story I couldn’t stop laughing, but I also realized that this was an amazing example of how confused and flustered we can feel when we are looking at a new recipe, especially a relatively complicated one.

For a lot of cooking, I find that measurements can be relatively approximate, but when we are trying a new recipe or if we are relatively new to cooking, having things be precise can be reassuring and helpful so I wanted to share some tips on measuring and also some equivalencies that can be really helpful to know for those times when you run out of clean measuring cups and spoons.

Tips for Measuring Dry Ingredients:

• Scoop, then scrape. When measuring things like flour the best way to get the most accurate measurement is to scoop up the ingredient until it is just a bit overfull and then use the back of a knife to gently scrape the excess back into the container. This will prevent over-packing a measuring cup.
• Use scraping edges when provided. If your baking soda or baking powder containers offer a flat edge near the top of the container, that is for scraping the measuring spoon to be level.
• Use measuring cups for dry ingredients whenever possible. While you can use liquid measuring cups, it is much easier to scrape the excess off using a dry measuring cup.

Tips for Measuring Wet Ingredients:

• Use a liquid measuring cup whenever possible. While you can use a dry measuring cup, you will need to fill it all the way to the very top and risk spilling, whereas a liquid measuring cup gives you room at the top.
• Put your liquid measuring cup on a level surface and squat down to make sure that the measurement is accurate. Looking from above can distort your view.
• Make sure the top of the liquid meets the measurement line. If it is just under the line, then it is not enough.

Measurement Equivalents/Conversion:

I can’t even tell you how many times I have gone to get a measuring cup or spoon of a certain size only to find that the one I need is dirty. It took me years to memorize these equivalencies and I still have a cheat sheet posted on the inside of my cabinet that holds my baking supplies.

Here’s a cheat sheet for cooking and baking conversions that includes common unit conversions:

Cooking and Baking Conversion Cheat Sheet

Oven Temperature Conversions

Common Ingredient Substitutions

<p>The post Cooking 101: Measuring Ingredients first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

So let’s dig in!

The first thing that is important to note is that many stoves nowadays have different burners that have different levels of power. Usually you have one or two that are the most powerful and is labeled with a term like “power boil” or “high output.” These are the burners that you are going to want to use for bringing things to a boil, frying, and cooking on high. These burners are not good for low and slow simmering as usually their lowest setting will leave your food cooking just a little too fast. Then there is usually one burner that is less strong and labeled something along the lines of “low output” or “simmer.” This is the burner you are going to want to use if you are supposed to cook something at a simmer for a long period time or if you are going to want to cook something on low. This burner will not be good for the higher heat cooking because either it will take a much longer time (like bringing a pot of water to a boil) or it just won’t get hot enough.

But what if a recipe goes through different levels of heat? Let’s say a recipe asks you to start out on a higher heat to bring something to a boil and then turn it down to a low heat. Usually, all of that can be done on one burner. For these, I tend to use my stronger or medium level burners and follow the recipes directions for high heat, medium-high heat, or low-heat. I do not use my low-level burner for these.

A note on electric stoves: electric stoves can be really tough when you need to change heat levels as they are much slower to respond than gas stoves are. So, one trick is to use different burners. For instance, if you need to first sauté something and then turn it to low or bring something to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer, start with one burner and then switch to another for the low part.

Ok, but what do those heat levels mean? So here’s my rule of thumb for the different heat levels, but please know that everyone’s stoves are different so there may be some testing out that you need to do.

High Heat: right at the top of the heat level. This is what you will use for bringing liquids to a boil and getting the heat up quickly.

Medium-High Heat: This is usually around the mid-point on the dial. The idea here is that you still want the food to be cooking quite quickly, but not so quickly that it is burning and not so hot that the oil starts to smoke. This is likely where you will do a lot of your cooking such as sautéing, browning meat, and frying.

Medium Heat: This is usually about 2/3 of the way around towards Low. This is for a gentler cooking. This is where you will likely put the dial when vegetables need time to soften or when you want a rapid simmer.

Low Heat: This is all the way around on the dial. This is where you simmer.

The other thing I will say about this topic, is that, like many things in cooking, over time and with practice you will start to get a sense of things. Maybe you will notice that your onions are browning too quickly, then you’ll know to turn it down a little more next time. Or maybe you’ll find your sauce didn’t reduce as quickly as they said it would, then maybe you need to crank it up a bit to a faster simmer next time. For me, there were many times when my onions got too browned, the sauce stuck to the bottom of the pot, and the rice didn’t fully cook and it was usually that my heat was cranked up too high (yes, I have an impatient streak), so I had to learn to slow things down.

Do you have a tricky stove or have you found tricks to help you regulate the heat accurately? I’d love to hear your ideas and experiences!

And, please, let me know what topics you would like me to cover in future Cooking 101 posts!

<p>The post Cooking 101: Heat Levels and Cooking Speed first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

Because of this uptick in food consumption I have definitely noticed that our grocery bills have started to creep up a bit and so I am starting to be even more diligent about using some of the techniques I saw my mom put into place when I was growing up. My mom is a serious pro at these things. Family friends always talk about how amazing it was to watch my mom feed huge groups of people with what appeared to be very little food. So whether you are just trying to cut down on your food bills, you are hoping to save up for a summer vacation, or you have some other fun plans for a little extra dough, here are some tricks to feed the hoards without breaking the bank:

1) Beans and legumes need to be a staple. They are a cheap and easy protein source, incredibly flexible, and very filling because they are so packed with fiber. You can use them in dishes like chilis and protein bowls, but you can also use them to stretch out your meat by mixing them into taco meat and even burgers!

2) Bulk up the vegetables. Not only is this healthier, it is also cheaper! So if you need to expand the offerings on the table, go for another vegetable side or make that salad bigger. If you want to make a sauce go farther, double the vegetables.

3) Grains, grains, grains. Grains, especially whole grains, are wonderful for filling bellies and stretching out the meal, so make extra.

4) Use meat as a flavor enhancer, not the main event. If you are a meat-eating family this is probably the biggest money saver around. Meat is really expensive, especially if you are going for the organic/humanely raised kinds, so instead of having meat, a grain, and a vegetable, try using less meat and incorporating more vegetables like in this skillet sauce, this baked pasta, in a stew, minestrone-type soup.

5) Make it richer. Adding high-quality fats can help to fill hungry bellies. So add cream or sour cream to a sauce, cheese to those tacos/burritos/pastas, or avocados to those sandwiches/burritos and the needs for seconds (or thirds or fourths) may dissipate.

Do you have tips on how to save on your grocery bill and how to stretch out the food to feed seemingly insatiable appetites? If so, I’d love to (and need to) hear them! Please share in the comments!

<p>The post 5 Ways To Stretch a Meal and Save Money first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

For Jing, one of the biggest sources of culture shock when she moved here was meal times when one main dish with perhaps a vegetable side was served. You see, in China there are usually many dishes all served family style. So when we were deciding what to cook together in order to make a traditional Chinese meal, she wanted to make sure that there would be many dishes on the table. In the end we made five dishes: winter melon soup, dumplings, pork and green peppers, eggs and tomatoes, and, of course, rice.

It was so much fun to see the differences and similarities in the ways that we cooked. One of the things I noticed right off the bat was that vegetables were included every step of the way! They were an integrated and integral part of the every dish, rather than something you serve on the side or sneak in to avoid complaints. Another was that the play on sweet and savory was much more central. For instance, sugar was added to the eggs and tomatoes dish, along with soy sauce and sesame oil, which made it simultaneously sweet and savory!

The ultimate joy for me, though, was watching both of my boys engage in the cooking and eating. They were so excited to try all of the different dishes and talk about their favorites. We had a wonderful meal, sharing these new and different flavors, and it served as a great reminder for me that sharing food can serve as such a wonderful introduction to other cultures.

In reflecting back on the experience of cooking with new (to me) ingredients and different (to me) techniques, I realized that there were three lessons that I took away from the experience about what made the cooking, even if it was different, fun and interesting, rather than stressful or overwhelming. These lessons, I believe, serve as good reminders for me but may also help to encourage those of you who are little more reluctant to spread your cooking wings to do so:

1. Perfection is not the goal, good food is. As we were assembling the dumplings I noticed that mine were not nearly as pretty as Jing’s were. For a moment I felt embarrassed but then I realized that I was new to this and needed to give myself a break! Once I let go of that need for perfection, I was able to enjoy the process much more fully (plus, in the end, even the ugly ones tasted delicious!). People tell me all the time that cooking is stressful for them and I often find that their expectations are too high—they want everything to look like a cookbook photograph and taste like it came from a high-end restaurant. Talk about stressful! Instead, just accept that even if it isn’t perfect, chances are it will still taste good and you can work to improve your technique next time. In other words, it is a process.

2. Letting go of assumptions is good. When I saw Jing put sugar into the eggs, I was flabbergasted, but I let go of my assumptions about the place of sugar in a savory egg dish and went along for the ride. The end result? Flavorful, delicious eggs I would eat again in a heartbeat! In reflecting on that moment, I realized that what I was doing was putting my own expectations on the food. I see this at cooking demonstrations all the time—as I am cooking the food people will often say things like, “I don’t eat X” or “I would never put those two ingredients together.” And almost every time, if the person tries the food, they are pleasantly surprised. We all tend to get stuck in our ideas about food. If we can relax from that, even just a little bit, we have the opportunity to open up whole new worlds of possibility on our plate!

3. Trying something new is fun! I try new recipes almost every week. It is actually a running joke with my husband that we rarely get to eat something twice. But the truth is, even while the recipes may change, I tend to gravitate towards flavor combinations and cuisines that I am already familiar with and have not experimented as much with cuisines from whole regions of the world, even though I thoroughly enjoy the food when someone else cooks it. If I am being honest, this is because I feel a bit intimidated, but this experience reminded me that pushing myself outside of my comfort zone is not only fun and exciting, it also encourages my kids to experience new flavors and foods and witness me growing, too!

As I move forward I hope that this experience will stay with me so that I can better understand the worries some feel around cooking and also push myself to take chances in the kitchen I might not have otherwise taken. Oh, and I’ll definitely be making the dishes Jing taught me again!

<p>The post 3 Ways to Let Go of Stress in the Kitchen: Lessons I Learned When I Became the Cooking Student first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

With this series I want to give you an honest account of what worked in my kitchen and what didn’t. I’ll share ways that I simplified recipes, ways I adjusted them, how easy or hard I thought they were, and, most importantly, how they turned out. My hope is that this series will show some of the practical tricks you can use to simplify and modify recipes but that it will also exemplify how flexible, creative, and fun cooking can be, even when things don’t turn out as planned…

So without further ado, here’s my first installment of The Recipe Roundup

Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Garlic Pesto

The moment I saw this gorgeous recipe from The Minimalist Baker I knew I had to try them and I am very glad I did because they were DELICIOUS!! The original recipe called for boiling the potatoes first, but I didn’t want to make two pots dirty for one side dish so, to simplify and turn it into a one-pan dish, I cut the potatoes into quarters (a little bigger than bite-sized), tossed in them olive oil, and started roasting at 425. Half way through the roasting I took them out, smashed them, drizzled a tiny bit more olive oil on so they wouldn’t dry out too much, and then put them back in. Then I just topped them with pesto I already had in the freezer.

Make Again? YES

Roasted Citrus

I was so excited to try these. I mean, come on! How gorgeous is that picture?! I have been ogling roasted fruit for a while and imagining all of the different ways I was going to use it, so for my first attempt I made some cara cara oranges and grapefruit slices. Sadly, these were a bust for us. No one liked them, not even me. The roasting took the juicy-ness out of the fruit and I didn’t find that there was a boost in flavor that made that lack of moisture worth it. That being said, I could see how some people would really love these, so don’t rule out trying it for yourself!!

Make Again? PROBABLY NOT. I might try other fruits, but roasted citrus was not our thing.

30 Minute Cashew Chicken

Cashew Chicken is my husband’s go-to order on those very rare occasions when we order Chinese food (or when I am out of town), so when I saw this recipe from Don’t Waste the Crumbs I knew I had to try it as a special surprise for him. When it was put out on the table my 8-year-old said, “but I don’t like Chinese food!” And then he took a bite and said, “Oh! I guess I like homemade Chinese food!” I call that a win! It was super simple to throw together and to make it even easier I used a bag of the stir fry mix you find in the frozen veggies section at the supermarket. It took longer than 30 minutes to cook, more like 35, and I cranked up the oven to 400 for last 10 minutes, but that may be because I used frozen vegetables which slowed the cooking of the chicken down.

Make Again? ABSOLUTELY!

One Pot Chili Mac n Cheese

One pot + chili + mac and cheese?! This recipe from Well Plated sounded almost too good to be true… but it wasn’t!! It was a huge hit! Everyone really enjoyed it and I loved that it was a one-pot meal. The recipe is really simple as it is already written, so the only change I made was skipping the jalapeño to keep it from being too spicy for my guys. It took a little longer to cook than the directions said, maybe 5 minutes more. Next time I might add some chopped frozen spinach or baby spinach for the last few minutes of cooking, then I wouldn’t even need to make a side veggie!

Make Again? FOR SURE.

Taco Bowls

I have been wanting to make taco bowls for a while and so I used these directions for my first attempt when I was also testing out the avocado crema I blogged about last week. The crema was a huge hit, but the bowls were not. They did not look nearly as pretty as they did in the pictures, in fact they barely worked as bowls. As you can see here:

Now, if it only had been my failure at getting the shape right, which was to be expected as food presentation and crafty-ness in general is not my forté, that would have been one thing, but everyone said they had a weird consistency—not crunchy enough, a little chewy. So all in all, a bust.

Make Again? I might try making the bowls again, because I love the idea, but next time I think I’ll try a different approach and might use corn tortillas instead of flour.

<p>The post The Recipe Roundup: What I made, what worked, what didn’t first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

As you know, my goal is to help to make cooking more approachable, manageable, and, hopefully, enjoyable. I want to help to make cooking a natural and stress-free part of your daily life. So when I put my holiday gift guide together each year I am not thinking about the coolest gadgets or the hottest new cooking tool, instead I want to help you find the best, hopefully affordable, kitchen supplies that will help to turn your kitchen into a place you enjoy, a place where you want to spend at least a little time, a place where delicious things are made. So this year I am sharing the tools that I couldn’t live without, tools that have made my cooking life happier and more productive. So add these ideas to your own wishlist or get them for someone you love and then enjoy delicious meals for years to come!

InstantPot

I bought this amazing machine because people just couldn’t stop raving about it. The time it saved, the endless possibilities, and I’ve got to say I have to agree. Once you get the hang of cooking with it, the features are awesome! Brown rice in 20 minutes! Beans from dried in 30 minutes! Mind blowing! But probably my favorite aspect is the sauté feature. I love that I can quickly sauté the onions, brown the meat, or infuse the oil with spices before I start the slow cooker. It adds so much more flavor to the dish with no more pots or pans to wash! Plus you can fit a ton in this thing which means you can then freeze leftovers for another night!

Dutch Oven

I am often asked what a dutch oven even is. A dutch oven is a pot with a lid that can be used both on the stove top and in the oven. They are wonderful for casseroles, sauces, stews, and soups. In other words, all the foods that we crave at this time of year! I use one of my dutch ovens (yes, I have three…) at least once a week. It is a pot I couldn’t live without.

A Good Knife

When I do kitchen evaluations one of the things I find most often is that people are still cooking with the crappy knives that they bought straight out of high school or college. They are dull, hard to manage, and just generally terrible. What I tell people is that a good, well-sharpened knife is probably the most important tool in your kitchen. Your cooking takes so much less time if you are working with a good knife because chopping goes so much faster. Trust me. Get this knife.

Knife Sharpener

This is a tool I put on my list every year because it is that important. As I said, a well-sharpened knife is essential, both for efficiency and safety. I try to have my knives professionally sharpened once a year and then about once a week I pull out my own little sharpener to make sure the edges on my knives stay nice and sharp.  I had so many different kind of sharpeners before this one and they were all really difficult to use and sometimes nerve wracking. This one is simple and effective. I highly recommend it.

Microplane Grater/Zester

This is a tool I lived without for years but now that I have one I can’t imagine life without it! I use it for grating cheese and/or vegetables at least once a week. Once you have one of these puppies, pre-grated parmesan cheese can be a thing of the past and trust me, the freshly grated parmesan can take a dish from good to fantastic!

Waffle Iron

If you have been following me for a while you will know that I am a lover of the waffle iron. Of course I make breakfast waffles in it, which I then freeze for easy weekday breakfasts and lunchbox sandwiches, but I also make omelets, hash browns, and vegetable waffles in mine, which all help make dinners quick, easy, and fun!

Silicone Baking Mats

This is my latest favorite addition to my kitchen. I had thought about getting a set of these for years but it always felt sort of silly when I was already using parchment paper, but when they were on sale at Costco I decided to give them a shot and I LOVE them! They are so easy to use and clean, but my favorite part is that they are better for the environment. Now, instead of going through roll after roll of parchment paper, I can just use these mats for cookies, roasting vegetables, and everything else I use my baking sheets for!

Chico Snack Bags

Confession time. For years my kids have been using reusable bags in their snacks and lunches, but my husband was incredibly resistant because he felt like they looked like they were for kids (which, to be fair, they did). But then I found these bags and his tune changed after one day! These bags are awesome! They can hold a big sandwich or a small snack because they have different velcro levels. They are also super easy to clean. An awesome (and cheap) investment that will help you to do something good for the earth and your wallet at the same time!

Cookbooks of Choice

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese is a really fun read with great tips about what is worth making from scratch and what isn’t. A great book for a confident cook!

How to Make Everything FAST by Mark Bittman is a cookbook I recommended last year and am recommending again because I use it so often. No recipe in this books takes more than an hour to make! It is a very practical guide that can help even the most novice cook to gain confidence in the kitchen, while also providing fun ideas for the more experienced chef.

Kitchen Evaluation with Me! 

Do you wish your kitchen was an easier place to work? Is your kitchen a mess, a jumble, a disaster area? Do you wonder what foods should stay and which should go? If so, then a kitchen evaluation with me might be the perfect way to start 2017 off right! I’ll help you to think through ways to make your kitchen more efficient, better organized, and just generally more pleasant. This can be done in person or over video chat, so location is not an issue. Email me for details.

**Note: This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through these links, your cost will be the same but I will receive a small commission to help with operating costs of this blog. I only link to products I personally use, trust, and love. Thanks for your support!

<p>The post 2016 Holiday Gift Guide first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

But what if you don’t want cooking to be the thing that drops? What if you are working to get into a good routine with cooking so that you can eat healthier, save money, expose your kids to foods other than grilled cheese and macaroni and cheese, etc? Then it is time to do the bare minimum.

Many of you know that one of my main goals is to help people to realize how accessible and simple cooking can truly be. I firmly believe that even in the busiest of times, cooking is possible and worthwhile. So how to you keep cooking as a regular part of your routine when things are so crazy?

Here are my tips for bare minimum cooking:

1. Stick with what you know. When you are overwhelmed, adding to that with new recipes (or at least complicated new recipes) is going to add to your stress, so try to take advantage of what you are already comfortable with. If that is getting boring, try switching up the protein, grain, or spices. For example, a pasta with red sauce can get a makeover by adding some sausage (real or veggie), by changing the grain to rice or couscous, or by me
   lting mozzarella on top.
2. Go with what is quick. There is no shame is scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, French bread or pita pizzas, or sandwiches for dinner! They get the job done and will almost certainly be healthier (and cheaper) that the store-bought versions.
3. Double the staples. If you are going to roast some vegetables, make a pot of rice, or cook some meat/vegetable protein double it. The leftovers will help you to make a quick and easy dinner such as fried rice, quesadillas, frittata, or wraps the next night!

What are your tricks for getting dinner on the table even when times are crazed? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!

<p>The post Bare Minimum Cooking: 3 Tricks for Easy Meals During Busy Times first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

If you are itching to get some new, healthier habits started this spring, then what better way than starting to cook more? Home cooking has been shown to be better for your health, your waistline, and your wallet! So to help you get started I’ve come up with 6 ways to kick-start your cooking this spring:

1. Try one new recipe a week. Feeling like you are sick of your go-to recipes but overwhelmed by the idea of starting from scratch? Then try picking one recipe a week to take on. If you feel like you need a total reboot, try out new a breakfast dish one week, lunch another, and dinner the next. Bonus tip: Try to stick to simple recipes so that you can experience some success without too much stress.
2. Reorganize your kitchen. Making your kitchen work better for you can make it more appealing to spend time cooking. Try to think through what would make your kitchen work more smoothly and then spend one weekend afternoon making it happen! Great first steps include cleaning out the foods you won’t ever use and donating them to a food pantry, reorganizing so like-things are together, and getting your storage containers under control.
3. Pull out that appliance you haven’t used much. Got a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, blender, or food processor that you don’t ever use? Pull it out and give it a whirl! Search for simple recipes that use that appliance. Who knows, you may find that you have a new favorite appliance or a new favorite recipe or both!
4. Sharpen your knives. Sharp knives are essential to efficient and safe cooking. If you don’t have a sharpener, call your local hardware or craft store and find out if they have a knife sharpening event coming up. Once you get those nice sharp knives home you won’t believe the difference!
5. Experiment with one-pot meals. One pot meals are awesome because they are usually simple, quick, and there are fewer dishes to do at the end! The possibilities are endless: pastas, soups, stews, casseroles, so much to try!
6. Sign up for the 10-Day Cooking Challenge! The 10-Day Cooking Challenge is a great way to kick-start your spring! With less than an hour per day of time commitment, I’ll introduce you to efficient cooking techniques, new ways to use ingredients you are already comfortable with, and kitchen organization approaches that will help you to fall in love with your space! We start April 13 and early bird pricing ends THIS SUNDAY (March 27). Learn more.

<p>The post 6 Ways to Kick-Start Your Cooking first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

There are things we can do to change the environment while we are cooking such as cooking with someone, playing fun music, or having a glass of wine. But there are also some simple steps you can take to make the actual cooking easier. They will save you time, which will, in turn, make the whole process feel less burdensome.

1. Start with a clean kitchen. Have you ever been making a meal and suddenly you run out of counter space? Or have you found yourself piling things on top of each other or precariously balancing a bowl while you quickly do something at the stove? Or maybe you have been in the middle of a recipe and suddenly realized that the measuring cup you need is dirty? I’ve done all of these and it is super stressful! Well, starting with a clean kitchen helps you to avoid all those hectic and stressful moments. I know, starting with cleaning sounds like a bummer, but trust me on this. Putting those dishes in the dishwasher, quickly washing that pot you used to heat up breakfast, and making sure the counters are clear will help your cooking dramatically and here’s why: starting with a clean slate, so to speak, means that you will be better organized, you won’t be juggling things to make counter space, and you will spend less time searching for things.

2.Clean as you go. I know, I know, you are thinking, “another cleaning tip?! We’re supposed to be talking about cooking!!” One of the biggest complaints I hear about cooking, though, is actually that the cleaning up after is what drives people crazy and I totally get it. There is nothing more disheartening than finishing eating a meal that I cooked only to find the kitchen overflowing with dishes (even if I don’t usually have to do them, thanks to my wonderful husband). That’s why I try very hard not to let that happen anymore. If I have downtime while I wait for the next step in the cooking process I clean up a bit. Maybe it is just throwing some dishes into the dishwasher, maybe it is washing a couple of dishes, maybe it is wiping down the counter where I spilled the flour for the 1,000^th time (I’ve really got a serious spilling problem), but I do little bits here and there and it has made a huge difference in my ability to enjoy the meal I prepared both while I am eating it and afterwards, which then makes me more likely to want to cook again the next night.

3.Prep-as-you-go. all recipes are written in such a way that you measure and prepare all the ingredients before you even start cooking. This is called mis-en-place and it is great for restaurant kitchens but it is a useless time suck for home cooking. Instead, read the recipe through, think about the order in which things should happen, and then prep-as-you-go. So, for instance, if you are starting a recipe with onions and garlic getting sautéed in a skillet, chop those first and start them sautéing while you then chop the other vegetables. This may be a little bit challenging if you are not a fast vegetable chopper, but as you cook more, this will become easier and easier. So just plan it out based on your own ability—it will still save you lots of time!

4.Let the food be. Unless the recipe calls for you to stir constantly, hovering over the food doesn’t help it to cook any faster or come out any better and, in fact, will probably just increase your stress. So instead use that time to prep-as-you-go or clean up a bit, and then just check on the food occasionally.

5.Timers are your friend! Cooking can be a multi-tasking feat so use the tools that are right there in your kitchen (and on your phone) to help you to not have to keep track of everything at once. Set timers to remind yourself of when to check the rice, stir the roasting vegetables, flip the pancake, etc. That way you can do other things at the same time and not burn anything.

If these tips resonate or have made a little light bulb go off in your head, then join the 10-Day Cooking Challenge, which starts next Wednesday (January 20)! The Challenge is designed to teach you skills so that you can cook quickly, efficiently, and with less stress! Plus you’ll make delicious food that is good for your body and your wallet! What could be better than that?!

<p>The post Easing the Burden of Cooking in 5 Simple Steps first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>

But recently I suddenly had this epiphany about cooking that has really changed the way I look at my time in the kitchen. Now I will acknowledge that I really enjoy cooking. I like the creativity it provides in my life. I like the ritual. But recently I also realized that one of the things that calls me back to the kitchen over and over again is the mindfulness of cooking. And this is something that I think can be true for people who like to cook and also those who struggle with it.

Cooking requires mindful attention. If you let your mind wander to your to do list, your worries, your fears, your anxieties, you are much more likely to hurt yourself (as I did yesterday when I was rushing through my to do list in my head and cut myself). Cooking requires you to focus in on what you are doing. It asks that you put other things aside. It compels you to be present in that moment. For someone like me who struggles a lot with meditation and getting my mind to slow down, I have come to look upon my time in the kitchen as a respite.

We live in a society in which most of us are constantly rushing, multitasking, and cramming too much in. There are few spaces these days where we can shift our focus to just one thing. But one of those spaces is the kitchen. So next time you are cooking, even if it is just making a salad or cooking a box of pasta and some jarred sauce, try to take a moment to notice that focus that is required, that mindfulness. Maybe, just maybe, you can breathe into it for a minute and enjoy the moment for what it is. Perhaps that shift will allow you to enjoy cooking just a little bit more, or maybe it won’t, but at least for that instant you will be completely present in the moment at hand. And just that is a gift.

Want to be cooking more but don’t know where to start? Join the 10-Day Cooking Challenge! We’ll be finding ways to ease the burden of cooking and enjoy it more! The next group starts next Thursday, September 24th, so sign up now!

<p>The post The Mindfulness of Cooking first appeared on The Balanced Kitchen.</p>