Mom knew best – cooking from scratch

Mother’s Day passed last weekend, for me it’s a bittersweet day, I’m happy because I’m a mother, but it’s sad because my mother is gone. Be that as it may, my mother taught me many things, one of the more important things was how to cook from scratch, I can follow a recipe but I’m quite capable to straying from the recipe to improve it, or to substitute for something I don’t have. I can even cook by the seat of my pants, meaning I can take a few kitchen staples and make a dish, it’s not difficult if you learn some basics.

Knowing how to cook (and bake) from scratch has so many benefits, first off it’s going to taste better, it’s going to be cheaper, and it’s going to be healthier for you. Buying food basics rather than food products, you KNOW what is going into your dish and consequently what is going into your body.

If you are lacking in that department, there are several ways to learn how to cook, the best way IMHO is to find someone who knows how to cook and learn from them, most people with a skill will be more than happy to mentor and teach you, especially if you express an earnest interest.

If that doesn’t work for you, one thing I did to expand my cooking skills was to go to the cooking channels, WATCH the shows, watch the ones that will actually teach you, let’s skip the competition/reality style shows for now, those are strictly for entertainment value (I use that term loosely).

Here are some of the ones I recommend

Good Eats
America’s Test Kitchen
Rachael Ray
The Pioneer Woman
Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee (this one will help you ease your way from takeout and boxed meals toward home cooking)
Cooking For Real

There are other shows, if you are looking to LEARN how to cook, then stick with the cooking shows that actually show you how to cook and steer clear of the reality type/competition/game show type cooking shows, those may be exciting and fun to watch, but you aren’t going to learn much from them.

Here are the two major networks for cooking
https://www.foodnetwork.com/
https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/

There are also some great cooking gurus on YouTube, just pick out a recipe you wish to learn and do a search, you will find lots of home cooks sharing their skills.