The Honeybee's Lifestyle

Tag: Cooking

  • What’s Cooking?

    Hello Honeybees,

    Taking a cooking class is something that I have always wanted to do and last month I got the chance to do just that. Ageless Living!

    Church Health offers a FREE six-week community cooking class. They offer both beginning and intermediate classes as well as a family cooking class. You have to take the beginner class before you can sign up for the intermediate class. You must also be over the age of 13.  The family cooking class is for adults and kids 7-15.  Again these classes are FREE but you have to sign up and commit to attending at least 75% of the classes. I was ready to cook food that was both nutritious and delicious.

    Now for what I learned…..

    First, I was the youngest person in my class. Shout out to the Ageless Living crew!! There were some real “seasoned” cooks among us. There were those that never measured anything and those that measured everything. The only time I measure ingredients, outside of baking, is if it’s the first time that I am trying the recipe. After that it’s a pinch of this and smidge of that. Watching the seasoned cooks try to follow a recipe was kind of interesting.

    Second, I started taking better care of my kitchen utensils. I never knew that you shouldn’t put knives in the dishwasher. I was also able to learn how to properly cut ingredients and which tool works best.

    Third, cooking food with good nutritional value doesn’t mean that it’s not tasty. Yes, the greens without meat were actually tasty. We started every class by watching a video about healthy foods & good substitutes. Learning to read and understand nutritional numbers was very eye opening. Things that you think are good can really be bad for you. But of course it’s all things in moderation.

    Each station cooked a different dish and in the end we got to sample everything. One of the best things about the class was getting to know the other students and watching them try new dishes.

    I highly recommend this free class. They have both day & evening sessions available.

    I am ready to sign up for the intermediate class One more item checked off my bucket list.

    Beewisdom- “The greatest dishes are very simple.” – Auguste Escoffier

     

  • My Blue Apron Experience

    Hello Honeybees,

    I know that I’m late to the party but I was finally able to try Blue Apron thanks to one of my fellow Memphis Moms Blog boos.  Blue Apron allows you to gift free boxes to friends which is how I received mine. I was excited to try it and so were my sons especially my youngest. They knew about Blue Apron from seeing the commercials on Youtube.

    After following the link that she sent to me I entered the required information. Yes, you have to enter a form of payment. I ALWAYS hate this because it adds work for me on the back end to cancel it before I am billed for it. But since I REALLY wanted to try Blue Apron I went for it.I was able to put in dietary restrictions and number of servings & select from a menu. Then it was time to sit back and wait for my shipment to arrive.

    The timing of my shipment was perfect. It came the day before the snow/ice hit Memphis. I didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store so we were running low on food.

    The box was well insulated and everything was still cool. I loved that everything was individually wrapped and labeled. The recipe cards are big and colorful with very detailed instructions. I cooked the first meal which was a Ginger Steak & vegetables. My youngest son Matthew cooked the second meal which was chicken, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes.

    The Ginger Steak meal was not one that I would tackle after working all day.  The recipe cards gives you and estimated cook time. There were a lot of steps and timing issues. This was a meal for someone with a little skill in the kitchen. The meal was delicious and the flavor was amazing. You receive everything that you need to cook the meal except salt & pepper, water and oil.

    The chicken, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes was delicious, quick and easy. Matthew handled it like a future chef.

    I did order a second box with salmon and ground beef just to try something different. What I enjoyed the most was not having to shop for all of the ingredients, that it came to my front door and the step by step instructions.  If you can work Blue Apron in your budget, it’s worth it.

     

    Beewisdom- Usually, one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is- Julia Child