Happy Cooking

Late last year I started setting up my kitchen to help me figure out what I needed to do to lose the weight for good.  To remove the processed crap from my plate I started making everything from scratch.  What I had apparently forgotten is that I truly love to cook.  I knew I loved to bake, heck I owned a coffee shop/deli/bakery for a while so my love for the kitchen was not a super surprise.  What I didn't know is just how much joy I could get from slicing and dicing foods, preparing them, adding seasonings, the amazing smells that would radiate through my house, and the looks on the faces of those I had cooked for when they taste my latest masterpiece.  This was an unexpected but very much welcomed side effect of being in the kitchen.

I do have to give a little credit to the tools which I have been using.  There is truth in the fact that doing something with the right tools can really make it easier which can lead to enjoyment of the act which can make you want to do it more.  While I had not seen myself as being a consultant for the company for life, I had sure planned on getting those amazing tools I had wanted in my kitchen so I could cook easier and have more fun.  Success.  My absolute favorite pieces are my knives.

There is just nothing more important than a good, strong, sharp knife that can really make the difference. Without one can struggle to get things properly cut up, lose the ability to have even sized items (not that it really matters to some but it is kind of fun to try), and most important it can be dangerous.  If a knife is not strong enough or is not sharp enough one can get serious injury.  I can't tell how many times I have cut myself trying to do something and the knife slips.  I even had one snap when I was cutting something, I think it was an apple, and the blade went flying.  Cheap is cheap.

So many people have said to me as I was doing a show or event, 'it's so expensive.  I can't afford that.'  What people fail to understand is just how much they are spending buying the cheap versions over and over again when they break or fail.  If you spend the money one time to buy a good quality knife that is backed by a lifetime guarantee, you will be spending in a lifetime of buying over and over again the same as buying quality once.  It took me a minute to wrap my head around this as well but it's true.  Spend your hard earned money on something that will give you the best results and last or be guaranteed instead of knock offs that will fail and fail and fail.

Now, don't get me wrong.  If you are not going to be using the tool a lot, if you are not going to be pushing it to the limits, enjoying using it, getting your money's worth out of it, don't buy it.  If you are only going to use something once or twice for a special occasion and then never need it again, buy cheap.  It's OK.  Just don't punish yourself by buying cheap on everything.

So by now you have noticed I have not mentioned the company name.  I did not start off writing this blog post as an advertisement, however, that is what it appears to have become so I guess I will go with it.  I am a Pampered Chef consultant.  No, this is not my day job but it has served me well, filled my kitchen with more than I will ever need of fabulous tools and gadgets to help me prepare foods and really get back where I enjoy being.  It has reminded me just how truly happy I am knife in hand dicing up foods, listening to the sizzle of the veggies in the pan as the heat brings their flavors to life, putting them into amazing dishes to feed friends and family.  It even paid for me to go on many trips this year for my other business as a photographer so I could capture some really amazing shots and as an artist so I could paint my beautiful paintings from those shots.  All in all, it really did help me in many aspects.  But the most important was bringing me back to the thing I didn't know I was missing.  My kitchen is my new happy place where I can make magic to share. 

Well, off to make another scrumptious meal. 

#72 - Be Silly Putty

With the holidays coming up so quickly an the end of another year, I have decided that 2018 has moved by too fast...what have I accomplished.  Think I will take this opportunity to take a look back at the year.

I know my businesses have changed quite a bit, going from doing art shows, craft fairs and events almost every weekend in previous years to just a couple this year and focusing more on fine arts and entering contests I never would have dreamed of before. My painting has changed so much, adding the twists of abstract paintings to the library of my works.  I have found that coloring outside the lines is something I really do enjoy and find that it can touch so many more people as they are able to see things in my works that I can't.  I do love that part of art, making people feel.

My cameras have not been ignored.  I have enjoyed taking them on many different adventures this year including going to many places I had not been before and seeing new things I could share with others through my photographs.  There is something so freeing about jumping in the car, camera in hand, and just going until I find something I must capture, then going again, continuing to spend the time looking for the beauty in the world that we so often miss because we rush from place to place without slowing to see the sites inbetween.  I was able to capture mountains and forests, animals and plants and people, historic buildings and places, and even beauty in simple things we take for granted. The lens sees all and freezes moments in time allowing us to pause and review and share with others those things otherwise lost to time.

I rediscovered my love of writing, something I did when I was young to get my feelings out typically in poem form but never really shared.  Only having been published a couple of times but having one of my poems stolen and republished through the internet with minor changes and tweeks stopped me from following that path much more out of fear of losing my works again. This blog gives me the opportunity to write my thoughts, share the insane things that happen to me, and continue to explore the written word (ok typed word) so hopefully some day I can continue those books and manuscripts I have started but left unfinished over the years.  Maybe some day.

Adding a new business to my portfolio definitely added more excitement and fun to the mix.  Getting back into the kitchen where I can create more beautiful and yummy things like I did when I owned my cafe/bakery was an added bonus that came from adding Pampered Chef to my resume.  I forgot just how satisfying it can be to take simple ingredients and create a masterpiece of flavors.  It has allowed me to explore the healthy cooking side of the kitchen even more but not forget the baking that I so love to do and now combining them.  

Maybe it's time to combine all my loves into something new, a new challenge, a new experience I have not had yet.  The posibilities are endless and I look forward to 2019, ready to add a few more firsts to my list of experiences.  Life is, after all, a collection of experiences that mold and shape us into who we are.  By staying pliable and allowing those experiences to continue to shaped us, by not becoming rigid by experiences that may not have been so positive, we are able to grow and prepare for even more greatness that life has to offer.  Kind of like the silly-putty we used to play with as children, transfering the images of comics from the news paper a nd stretching them into funny abstracts of themselves then wadding it up to start again or mold it into something new.

Goal:  Stay pliable, have fun, and keep your eyes open to the future.

#57 - Kitchen Therapy

Today I decided I needed some simple kitchen therapy. There is simple pleasure in taking ingredients and turning them into an amazing meal. The chopping of vegetables and herbs, putting them together and creating something healthy and tasty has such a rewarding outcome.  So much better than shopping therapy, for me anyway.  Not to say that shopping therapy doesn't have its positives.

On today's menu was a day of mass cooking.  My first meal though was just breakfast.  Fried a couple slices of bacon and set them aside.  After removing most of the bacon grease, I put into the same pan 3 sliced button mushrooms, some sun-dried tomatoes in oil, half a clove of garlic sliced paper thin, and 2 handfuls of baby spinach.  Once cooked down, I moved it to the top of the pan and added an egg, frying it then chopping it up and mixing it all together.  A sun-dried tomato tortilla with some thin slices of tomato basil cheese that will melt under the warm goodness.  Talk about a fantabulous way to start a day.  That and 3 cups of coffee.

Later in the day was the big cooking experience.  I setup the Pampered Chef Quick Cooker pressure cooker and prepared to see how it handled a whole 5 pound chicken.  Along side of the chicken I put a lemon sliced thin, added thyme and rosemary.  Closed the lid and made sure all the arrows were going all the right way.  Set it to 30 minutes on the Chicken/Poultry setting and hit start.  Less than an hour later I was pulling out the tongs to retrieve the chicken, so good it was falling off the bone.  Once the chicken was out, I strained the remains into a large bowl to save all the broth.  So good and so easy. 

Cleanup was a breeze, then I was ready for round 2.  Next in line for the Quick Cooker was a turkey breast, bone-in.  Cleaned and prepped, in it went with a cup of the broth from the chicken cooked earlier.  With salt and pepper and a little spray butter on top, I closed the lid, set to Chicken/Poultry setting, clock at 45 minutes and hit start.  The smell in my house was like Thanksgiving.  Clock ticking, watching the time pass and wishing it would hurry because the smell is making me want to eat.  Once it was done and the steam released, I opened the cooker and used my turkey picker utensils (bought them last year but never even opened them) to retrieve the yumminess.  Looked and smelled amazing.  Photos taken because it was just too pretty not to shoot, then sliced in.  WOW.  So moist, just like my gramma's holiday bird. 

Today was an amazing outlet, a therapeutic release of love into food.  Looking forward to another day of new recipes tomorrow and a new kitchen gadget to start saving them a little more uniform.  Tomorrow I purchase a vacuum sealer.