How I learned to enjoy cooking
When you move into a 100 year old home, you may not know what you are going to get in terms of appliances in the kitchen. Fortunately for us, the kitchen had been pretty recently renovated with awesome appliances (like this Viking Range)! Before moving to the mid-atlantic I had never cooked on a gas range, but I can say that I am now a convert!
We did do a bit of renovation and turned an unused corner of the kitchen into a pantry (there was no dry food storage in the kitchen beside the dish cabinets), repainted a dark brown backsplash, and changed a couple light fixtures (more pictures to come). Overall though the kitchen was in really great shape!
I've never been a huge cook, maybe because I wasn't good at it. Chemistry was never my strength is school despite studying science in college and I think that has been passed on to cooking (kitchen chemistry, I just can't get away from it). This was all changed when I tried Blue Apron (not sponsored, just love them)! The recipes were interesting, changed every week, and the ingredients were delivered right to the door. With two working professionals, the connivence of not having to meal plan, grocery shop, and then prepare the food made me enjoy the process of cooking so much more! They are currently running a special at Blue Apron for $60 off your first set of orders. They run quite a few specials which makes trying it less intimidating! Check out the link to the special below!
Blue apron was also helpful and makes some recommendations of utensils for starter cooks that you should have in your kitchen. While they are not all entirely necessary, I have found that they make cooking so much easier (and as a result more enjoyable!). I had purchased some cheap cooking supply kits and had proceeded to break and burn most of them. I learned that buying the cheapest set of knives and tools actually made cooking much more difficult! When reinvesting, we went for products that would last.
Sometimes you can find good brands at stores like HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx, but these were purchased right from the brand. We have a mixture of metal and wooden tools for different types of cookware. The wooden and blue utensils are from Le Creuset along with the two canisters that hold them. The colors are great and they keep everything organized. The metal tools are from Kitchenaid and have held up great. I’ve put some links below to find similar sets! Having the right tools to cook your food makes the process so much more painless.
Recently we upgraded our cookware collection by investing in a Le Creuset pan/dutch oven during the Williams and Sonoma sale (still going on now if you want to check it out!). Though it is a little pricy it truly does cook food so well (I feel like I'm in the Bon Appetit test kitchen!). Currently we have been using a nonstick pan from Costco which has been awesome, but we have had to replace it once already from wear and tear. The non-stick tends a little less forgiving for those learning to cook. When something burns, it makes it much more challenging to clean since you can't use any abrasive scrubs to remove it.
This pan is an awesome, it can be used on the stove and transferred into the oven to finish any bakes! Though you still can't use super abrasive cleaners on it like steal wool, Barkeepers Friend is an awesome, awesome product. It can be used on Le Creuset dutch ovens and is a great multi-purpose cleaner. We use it to clean our porcelain sink all the time which has a tendency to stain with coffee and other pigmented foods.
To add a little bit of fun and color, tea towels can be an inexpensive way to spruce up your space. I love being able to switch out towels with the different seasons without breaking the bank. Right now we have a combination of lemons which is fun for spring and blue/gray stripes from HomeSense. Having a space that you enjoy being in helps makes cooking much more enjoyable!
Finally, a glass of wine while you prep dinner always helps take the edge off cooking! ;)
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