On a
scale of 1-10, how much do you like to cook and bake?
You probably all know I'm an 11 on that scale, because food is my thing, recipes are my hobby, and I think butter makes the world go 'round. But no matter where you land, I think we can all agree that we like food to taste good.
For those who think cooking is a necessary evil, for those who think cooking was invented just to bring you joy, and for those who fall somewhere in the middle and could take it or leave it - here is my advice today:
Use good, real food ingredients - not sub-par, bland, processed knock-offs - and your food will go from good to
great.
When I used to make cookies with margarine, they were kind of bleh. But when I switched to real butter, my cookies hit the amazing mark.
When I used to buy iceburg lettuce and fat baby carrots, my salads were just so-so, nothing to write home about, and definitely not something
to crave. But when I switched to pretty mixed greens with colorful sweet peppers, petite baby carrots, and crisp cucumber, salads became ridiculously tasty.
When I used to buy red delicious apples, we actually dreaded eating them. When I switched to gala, pink lady, and other flavorful options, we started eating them like candy.
I could go on, but you get my point. Taking a step up to better, beautiful, colorful, real food options doesn't even have to intimidate you financially. It doesn't cost me more to feed my family real food compared to what it would cost to feed them "less than" processed "foods" so bring on the fresh strawberries, grilled chicken, and sweet corn with butter!
In regard to all things real food and delicious for everyone - whether you love to cook or not - I'll leave you with these fun bullet points for today:
2. If you're tired of deciding what to make for your family to eat every
single day - when does it ever end?? - you've got to join Simple Meals. You will love this so much.
3. One very simple trick to making all food taste better in the whole wide world (exaggeration? I don't think so) is this: Use Homemade Vanilla Extract. You'll never look back once you switch to the absolutely pure, rich, flavorful, amazing...okay, let's just call it perfect.
You can learn to make Vanilla Extract here. However, the price of beans went up and hasn't come down yet. In the meantime, we've got a few bottles hanging out we're willing to share with you while
you're waiting.
First come, first served, from a batch made before the vanilla bean prices made us cry.
While supplies last.
And with that, I'm off to experiment with more Simple Recipes to share with you in the near future.
For the love of cooking,