10 Important Cooking Tips

1. Always plan your meal ahead. That means getting all your ingredients (and utensils) together in order of how you need them. This really speeds up cooking!
2. Minimize your dishes. Example: Mix dry ingredients separately from liquid ingredients, but instead of mixing them together in a different bowl just add the dry stuff to the liquid bowl.
3. Clean as you cook. Do this at your own discretion it is not always easy with kids, but if you spill something clean it up right away. Dirty a spoon your not using again wash it right away! It takes mere seconds and makes clean-up after easier.
4. Do not be afraid to spice things up! Just test your dish as you slowly add things in. If you just stick to the recipe it can be really bland. Experiment a little!
5. Plan out your time accordingly. If you look up a recipe online it usually has an estimated time for cooking and prep; however, you can pretty much expect most meals will take anywhere from 30-60 minutes.
6. Plan ahead! If you want to make that really awesome meal that takes a lot of time prepare some of the ingredients the day before and refrigerate or freeze them so that it takes less time to cook!
7. Stay clean! Wash your hands before and after handling raw meats (that means try not to touch anything before you wash your hands or use gloves).
8. Proper cooking utensils can make a huge difference in time it takes to cook a meal. If you use the right knife or spoon or spatula (metal for pan cooking people please!) it really helps!
9. Leave your fear of cooking out of the kitchen. Just trust your instincts. If it smells like its done taste it! If it looks pink keep cooking! Anyone CAN cook!
10. Don't be afraid to involve others. You have a lot going on have your kid, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, mom, roommate, whoever help out!

Mochi Ice Cream

Mochi Ice Cream

A delicious Japanese treat that is easy to make. Very simple and yummy! Serve partially thawed.




What you'll need:

• 10 scoops ice cream (flavor of your choice *fruit flavors are the best*)
• 1 cup glutinous-rice flour (mochiko)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• corn flour, for dusting
• glass bowl
• mixing spoon
• plastic wrap
• cutting board
• airtight container

1. Soften the ice cream, scoop into 10 round balls, and refreeze on a small flat cookie sheet until hard.
2. Combine glutinous rice flour and water in a glass bowl. Mix well to paste, then add sugar and vanilla, mix until dissolved.
3. Cover with plastic wrap (or for the more non-plastic people a wet paper towel) and microwave for 2 minutes. It will be half cooked and very sticky. Remove and stir well while it’s hot.
4. Cover and return to microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well.
5. Wait for the dough to cool before moving on to the next step (just needs to be at room temp). Place plastic wrap over a cutting board. Dust generously with corn flour (do not skip this the dough is super sticky!).
6. Place dough onto board and divide into 10 pieces.
7. Flatten dough with your palm (I recommend wearing floured gloves). Wrap each piece of dough around an ice cream ball and refreeze in an airtight freezer container.
   

*Note* For this batch I used Frozen Yogurt and it took a while for it to refreeze. I imagine with ice cream it shouldn't take too long.

Oh how the time flies when your wrestling a 7 month old

This has certainly been an interesting week and I'm sure you are all waiting for that recipe. I'll try my best tomorrow to get it posted. Pictures as well. Let's just say I lost my last set of car keys, had my car door hit in a parking lot, leaving me stranded with my 7 month old son in that order. So in between my classes, my son, and dealing with all that comes out of that situation I will hopefully have this taken care of tomorrow!

Tip: If you use Hunt's sauce to make your spaghetti sauce (like I do) don't be discouraged if it smells a lot like ketchup all of a sudden, for whatever reason they seem to have altered their sauce slightly. I overcompensated my spices as a result. Don't do that.

Welcome busy folk!

This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship! You get the chance to learn how to really cook in a simple way that won't break the bank! Soon I'll be posting my most recent venture into a cheap and easy ice cream treat from Japan called Mochi ice cream which is a rice ice cream treat. This is such an easy thing to make and super quick and easy! Your kids will love it too ^_^