Guest writer

Cook gets current

Even culinary clods can reform

Should I ever write a book titled The Modern Girl's Guide to Cooking, it would contain a chapter devoted to one of the little-known known uses of the oven: storing encyclopedias.

I've read books promising joy in multiple arenas, but joy in the kitchen has not been discovered. When women discuss having weeks of already-prepared meals stored in their freezers, when they suggest that suppertime can be simple, they burst my bubble when I realize they are not talking chicken nuggets or fish sticks!

My cooking credentials date to events that barred me from my mother's kitchen. I was not welcome there because I was famous for disasters and messes--using a hotel recipe for rolls, perking instant coffee, and dumping all poundcake ingredients in the bowl without mixing between each ingredient I added.

A truth I learned early on: Fixing supper does not count as cooking. Something warm on a plate served at 6 p.m. does not equal appetizing, appealing, nutritious or delicious. Opening a can, warming the contents, dumping it onto a plate--these kitchen strategies do not produce rave reviews.

Mother tried to educate me at Zero Hour, the week before I married. My handwritten easy-meals recipe book included hand-drawn sketches of foreign objects such as a colander. I lacked the desire to become a culinary queen so, as a young married woman, I became expert at making reservations.

I was usually in such a hurry I could not give the required time to a recipe. Therefore, I fixed supper: I opened a can, warmed up the contents, and dumped it onto a plate.

When children came along, I expanded my collection of recipe books. I enjoyed making specialty dishes like crepes, brownies, and crockpot roast beef with a special sauce of dry onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup. The go-to vegetable dish was the ever-popular green bean casserole, a dish which no one can ruin. I made Rice Krispies Treats and sprinkled flour on my face to impress the family.

The kids got older, I worked longer hours. I planned my wardrobe a week in advance, hanging the outfits together. I wrote out a weekly supper menu. Taster's Choice Instant Coffee by IV started each day. As after-school activities became more time-consuming, I became an expert at picking up Taco Bell on the way home and clipping coupons for restaurant specials.

Breakfast consisted of Pop-Tarts, Leggo My Eggos, doughnuts, and sausage biscuits from the microwave. Lunch came from a brown bag or a school lunch line. Supper was often late, and when I did cook, the kids said, "Mom, can we go out to Piccadilly tonight?"

So, what changed? I have time to cook, prepare meals, and eat healthy. I work, but on my own schedule.

Also, I cook for a very appreciative diner. "MMMmmm! That is so good. Thank you." He lives to enjoy another meal.

Here's the good part, the modern girl's guide to cooking: A new day dawns and sunbeams dance a jig.

I attended a Freezer Meal Prep Workshop sponsored by the women's group at church. The hostess sent a grocery list based on the meal plan I chose: everyday meals. I paid a fee and the hostess provided her brand of spices, oils, and recipe enhancements. I prepped: cut up chicken, and filled 10 gallon-size freezer bags with beef, turkey, pork, shrimp, sausage, salmon, and chopped vegetables, according to the directions.

At the workshop, we followed a printed recipe, used her spices and oils, added some canned seasonings like Ro-Tel tomatoes and diced green chilies, and filled up the 10 freezer bags with ready-to-freeze-and-thaw bagged main dish meals. We double-bagged the finished product and included the instructions for finishing the supper sandwiched between bags.

Since I cook for two most of the time, I have so many meals in the freezer that I may not have to stew over supper for months. All the dietary information that everyone focuses on in our modern kitchens (non-GMO, organic, healthy, calorie and carb count, etc.) is noted on the recipe.

I did not blow my grocery budget when I spent dollars at the grocery and dollars for the spices. I also spent one afternoon of prep, plus 2 hours (socializing and Subway sandwich supper included) of combining everything for the meals.

That's how today's cook operates: grocery shopping time--one hour; prep time--one hour; combining time--about 90 minutes. With that done on one day of the cook's choice, the rest of the weeks or month of preparing the evening meal becomes a breeze. Supper is healthy and delicious, and no one has a face faux-freckled with flour!

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Jane Gatewood lives in Rector.

Editorial on 10/10/2015

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