What really sucks about cooking from scratch...
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I agree that cooking can definitely be a hobby.
I just wish I had any kind of creativity when it comes to it... I just follow (easy) recipes, pretty much.0 -
I always set up my recipes with MFP and it all figures it out for me (as long as I can select the item with grams. I so hate it when an item is setup as "medium", "cup", etc. Can't trust any item that way). Then, I put everything with my name in the beginning of the recipe (i.e.: (DebzNuDA) Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple). It's so easy to find and log. If I find that I need to change a recipe then all I need to do is "Edit" the recipe.
But it's not your recipe, and it's someone's recipe you're editing... I don't get this.
How is the recipe not mine?? I added all of the items, decided what, how much, etc. I quite often set up the nutritional info from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27 since I believe it is the true info instead of the items (i.e. chicken breast, roasted of serving a cup, a container, etc.) database set up by members. While cooking or baking I will find that now and then I add or delete an item so, them I "edit" MY RECIPE. SO yes, THEY ARE MY RECIPES AND I KEEP THEN TO ME and ME ALONE.0 -
Mine are:
- trying not to get stuck in a rut by making the same things all the time
- Trying something new that I am not sure I will like at the same time investing time and money in it
- buying unfamiliar ingredients that I may never use again0 -
What I'll admit to, is that when I'm playing with a new technique, like sous vide, the failed attempts.
Irksome.0 -
OP - just count backwards. If your roast takes 1 hr 30 to cook, and your rice takes 40 (20 for the water to boil and 20 for it to cook), don't start your rice until the roast has been in there for 50 minutes.
That and practice.
The worst thing about cooking is 10000000% the dishes. hate hate hate hate hate0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Me too. I figure in my mind what the longest component is, start that the second I get home, and then do the others as appropriate. Practice has made me really good at this except for huge multi part meals like thanksgiving where I make lists of what to do when starting days in advance.
I agree lemurcat but i do have thanksgiving down to a science. It is my favorite meal to cook.0 -
Kids don't want to work? Then they don't eat.
Pretty much. I have 4 kids. They are expected to keep a moderately tidy room and bathroom, plus do such chores daily as feed the cats, scoop the cat litter and vacuum the laundryroom after, load/unload the dishwasher, clear and wipe the table after dinner, wash pots/pans, vacuum kitchen & eating area. In addition, it's my 12yo son's job to pull up the trash cans after school on Thursdays, my 11yo daughter's job to pull up the recycling bin on Wednesdays. My 9yo daughter gets the mail M-F. My 14yo watches one or more of her siblings as needed. Oh, and they do their own laundry, from washing, to drying, to folding and putting away. They are all old enough for responsibility. Everyone who lives in this house has a part in keeping it going, not to mention it teaches them things. My three oldest can also cook, though that is not a required chore for them.
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Learn how long everything takes to cook and time it. Alternatively keep whatever's done first warm in a 100 degrees celsius oven.0
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Crushing garlic. I LOVE garlic - would add it to every single meal if I could. But garlic crushers are messy and annoying, and I haven't mastered the chef's way of using the flat side of the knife blade. It's a good thing I don't mind getting bigger chunks of the stuff every few mouthfuls!
Oh, and cleaning up afterwards. Love planning, preparing, and cooking food. But loathe any form of housework, so the clean up is my most hated part of cooking. I do it. I just hate doing it.
Maybe I'm crazy for this, but I use a finely-sized cheese grater and just grate my garlic. Super easy and no mincing or crushing OR large chunks of garlic in my finished product!0 -
How do you hold garlic cloves while you grate them?Susieq_1994 wrote: »Crushing garlic. I LOVE garlic - would add it to every single meal if I could. But garlic crushers are messy and annoying, and I haven't mastered the chef's way of using the flat side of the knife blade. It's a good thing I don't mind getting bigger chunks of the stuff every few mouthfuls!
Oh, and cleaning up afterwards. Love planning, preparing, and cooking food. But loathe any form of housework, so the clean up is my most hated part of cooking. I do it. I just hate doing it.
Maybe I'm crazy for this, but I use a finely-sized cheese grater and just grate my garlic. Super easy and no mincing or crushing OR large chunks of garlic in my finished product!
I smash garlic cloves with the heel of my hand over the flat end of a big knife, remove the paper then chop it more finely. It's not my favorite part but the pre-cut or even pre-peeled stuff just doesn't have the flavor of freshly chopped, to me.
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My oldest, a 7 year old, is just gettin good a dishes (where I don't have to rewash most of them). Its fabulous to only have a few (usually sharp) things to wash! Especially since we don't have a dishwasher.
I control the "sink full" of dishes by severely limiting the number of dishes, pots and pans that we own. We are a family of 6...we have a 6 piece table setting (6 plates, bowls, cups, silverware). I own one large skillet, one large 3" deep covered pan (saucier I think its called?) And one large pot with pasta insert. One 9x12 pyrex dish, one rimmed cookie sheet, one set of silicone muffin cups. One spatula, one large serving spoon, one wisk, one measuring cup, 1 bread knife, 1 paring knife, 1 chef knife, 1 peeler.
Thats it. Even if every dish, pot, pan and utensil I own is dirty....its not that bad.0 -
WednesdayJanuary07th2015 wrote: »
Dishwashing is a reasonable chore for a child.
In my opinion, raising younger siblings is NOT a reasonable chore or expectation. Sorry that happened to you, it really sucks. (Just one of the 8000 reasons the Duggars can bite me) But, kids do need kid-appropriate chores. Folding laundry, washing dishes, helping with sweeping/vacuuming....normal. "You've been assigned your little brother?" Not so much.
Agreed! Kids need to be given chores..but they still need to be kids!
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WalkingAlong wrote: »
How do you hold garlic cloves while you grate them?Susieq_1994 wrote: »Crushing garlic. I LOVE garlic - would add it to every single meal if I could. But garlic crushers are messy and annoying, and I haven't mastered the chef's way of using the flat side of the knife blade. It's a good thing I don't mind getting bigger chunks of the stuff every few mouthfuls!
Oh, and cleaning up afterwards. Love planning, preparing, and cooking food. But loathe any form of housework, so the clean up is my most hated part of cooking. I do it. I just hate doing it.
Maybe I'm crazy for this, but I use a finely-sized cheese grater and just grate my garlic. Super easy and no mincing or crushing OR large chunks of garlic in my finished product!
I smash garlic cloves with the heel of my hand over the flat end of a big knife, remove the paper then chop it more finely. It's not my favorite part but the pre-cut or even pre-peeled stuff just doesn't have the flavor of freshly chopped, to me.
You know that ugly dried bit at the bottom of the garlic? I press my finger and thumb on it to hold the clove in place, then grate it from the top down. You don't even have to peel it that way, because the grater won't grate the peel... So once it's grated, you're holding the ugly dry bit attached to the peel... Voila!
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I absolutely LOVE my electric pressure cooker!0
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clean up and dishes
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Susieq_1994 wrote: »WalkingAlong wrote: »
How do you hold garlic cloves while you grate them?Susieq_1994 wrote: »Crushing garlic. I LOVE garlic - would add it to every single meal if I could. But garlic crushers are messy and annoying, and I haven't mastered the chef's way of using the flat side of the knife blade. It's a good thing I don't mind getting bigger chunks of the stuff every few mouthfuls!
Oh, and cleaning up afterwards. Love planning, preparing, and cooking food. But loathe any form of housework, so the clean up is my most hated part of cooking. I do it. I just hate doing it.
Maybe I'm crazy for this, but I use a finely-sized cheese grater and just grate my garlic. Super easy and no mincing or crushing OR large chunks of garlic in my finished product!
I smash garlic cloves with the heel of my hand over the flat end of a big knife, remove the paper then chop it more finely. It's not my favorite part but the pre-cut or even pre-peeled stuff just doesn't have the flavor of freshly chopped, to me.
You know that ugly dried bit at the bottom of the garlic? I press my finger and thumb on it to hold the clove in place, then grate it from the top down. You don't even have to peel it that way, because the grater won't grate the peel... So once it's grated, you're holding the ugly dry bit attached to the peel... Voila!
thats brilliant!0 -
Meal timing is definitely the hardest thing to learn. I've been doing it for years so now everything comes out hot at the same time. You've had great advice: pre-prep your ingredients, start with the thing that takes the longest, and time everything backwards from when you want to serve. Once you get more experience you'll be able to multitask more and you'll actually know how long things take.
The hardest part about cooking these days in my house is: I've asked my kids to feed the cats and set the table before 6:00 when I start to cook. But almost invariably, they forget (or they're not even home yet, because sports practice and stuff).
So at 6:00, EVERYONE piles into the kitchen - two kids doing chores, two hungry cats yowling, and a husband dumping his work satchel on the counter and grabbing snacks out of the fridge ... all as I'm trying to chop 4 things at once and keep the stuff on the stove from burning. Utter chaos.
(In advance: thank you for all the forthcoming "advice" about how if I beat my kids more or withheld the wifi password, they'd do their chores when they were supposed to. But we're good. If it was our biggest household problem, I could solve it, but on the actual scale of household problems "my family is around too much at dinner time" is like a 1 out of 10).0 -
What sucks about cooking is mountains of dirty dishes.
The rest of it is fine with me.
Ha, this! I'm AWFUL at washing up, love cooking though. Best thing about eating is a good home cooked meal with a mountain of veggies. And until I started doing it, I didn't know what good food was imho.
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