New Tools

I love to cook. Within the last several years I have finally discovered my love of chopping and mixing and making fresh, homemade foods for my family. I wish I had perfected my techniques before my children were born. Maybe that way they would not have had endure childhoods filled with Hamburger Helper, boxed mac-and-cheese and the like. I did make some homemade things, but nothing like what I have been able to produce since I started concentrating on learning. At the time, the quick and easy ways were all I thought I was capable of or had time for. Anyhoo, I can't change that now and am glad I can provide them with better tasting offerings now. Don't get me wrong, I still use some pre-fab ingredients and meals from time to time, but am also able to make all kinds of wonderful, from-scratch dishes that I am proud to serve.

All this to show you a picture of my latest acquisition of cooking-related items. I have learned a lot from watching instructional programs on The Food Network. One of the best tips I've gathered is the idea of "mise en place." A fancy term to describe having "all your ingredients prepared and ready to go before you start cooking", (reluctantgourmet.com). Anne Burrell uses this term quite a bit. Some of the recipes I use move really quickly when adding ingredients, especially when making sauces and such. I've wanted to get some little containers to use as prep cups so I could have the ingredients ready to go, just like they do on some of the cooking shows.

So without further ado....I give you....my new prep cups!!

These little jewels can be found in the kitchen section of Wal Mart and cost all of 88 cents each. I've already broken them in while prepping the ingredients for my non-Miss-Grumpypants supper tonight. They did the trick!!

I hope to share recipes and more cooking tips in the future. Stay tuned!