Becoming a new home cook can be overwhelming.Ina Garten suggests starting with foods that you know and love.Pick six recipes and master them\u2014and be sure to properly season the food.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re new to home cooking, it can seem like a daunting task. Ingredients, measurements, cooking techniques and seasonings\u2014it can become overwhelming. And maybe you\u2019ve already had some fails, especially if you\u2019ve attempted more involved recipes, and are ready to throw in the (kitchen) towel.\n<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t give up so soon, says Ina Garten in her latest Substack blog post<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Instead of trying to cook to impress, Garten recommends cooking what you know and love. \u201cLearn six really good recipes and do them over and over again until you\u2019re really good at it,\u201d suggests the Barefoot Contessa. \u201cThen, vary it. If you know how to make a roast chicken, then you\u2019ll know how to make a good roast turkey. You will learn to make variations without stressing out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n We highly recommend adding simple but delicious dishes like our Baked Lemon-Pepper Salmon<\/a> and Linguine with Creamy Mushroom Sauce<\/a> to your repertoire ASAP. As long as you have a few simple mains in your arsenal (and know how to roast veggies<\/a> or make a salad on the side<\/a>), you\u2019ve got plenty of options for tonight\u2019s dinner.\n<\/p>\n Garten\u2019s second tip is to be liberal with seasonings, especially salt and pepper, emphasizing salt\u2019s role in flavoring dishes. \u201cFor example, in chicken stock, the proper amount of seasoning is the difference between tasting like dishwater and full, rich flavors,\u201d says Garten. \u201cIf you look at the research, the amount of salt necessary to season things is a healthy amount.\u201d\n<\/p>\n We agree\u2014to a point. Some salt is usually necessary to bring out the best flavors in your food. It\u2019s why restaurants, packaged foods and convenience foods are loaded with it. We use salt in our recipes too.\n<\/p>\n The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, with an ideal goal of only 1,500 mg per day. If you\u2019re doing a lot of cooking at home, staying within those recommended limits can be pretty easy\u2014but you may want to adjust them if you\u2019re sensitive to sodium or if a health care provider has recommended you limit your sodium intake.\n<\/p>\n If you\u2019re still new to the kitchen, try to follow the recipe as is instead of attempting to modify it, including the amount of salt the recipe calls for. As your confidence, knowledge and kitchen skills improve, it\u2019s time to really have fun by experimenting with different seasonings. When that time comes, a whole world of seasonings awaits exploration. And many herbs and spices<\/a>\u00a0even have health benefits when consumed regularly.\n<\/p>\n There are many salt-free seasonings you can buy<\/a>. Or, once your kitchen confidence is secured, try making your own<\/a>\u00a0(they also make great gifts!).\n<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have any favorite recipes to start with, try our high-fiber lunch recipes<\/a>\u00a0that are ready in three steps or less, or our five-ingredient dinners<\/a>. Before you know it, you\u2019ll be asking for the latest, greatest kitchen gadgets<\/a>\u00a0as gifts, and will be showing off your cooking skills for guests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Becoming a new home cook can be overwhelming.Ina Garten suggests starting with foods that you know and love.Pick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[97,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-408876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}