Menu Plan Monday July 27, 2015 – Back to School in the Kitchen

A lot has happened this past week in my kitchen.

First of all I’ve talked a family member into getting a chest freezer.

But more importantly I’ve started taking cooking lessons of a sort. From the Culinary Institute of America.  I love to cook but I know there are tips and tricks I could be using to make my food taste better, look better, and even be easier to prepare. All this from watching various cooking shows.

My husband and I often talk about taking cooking lessons but with his really busy schedule finding time (and a good place or format) for taking them has just not happened.

I don’t know why cooking is so important to us as a family but it is. We just love cooking together (the three of us) and like bless our guests with our efforts.

We all have different things we want to learn and improve on.

For me it’s basically everything. Taking apart a chicken. Making good sauces. Coming up with meals that go together and learning the techniques for making basic recipes that can be expanded upon based on the taste.

For my husband it’s butchering, filleting, and making sauces.

For our daughter she’s at the beginning of learning to follow a recipe, getting comfortable in making simple things on the stove. Peeling and cutting. The difference when mixing muffins, a cake, cookies, and sauces.

So I’ve finally taken a small dive and gone for at home, on our own lessons on DVD.

[easyazon_link identifier=”B00TSOS4MK” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]Culinary Institute of America: The Every Day Gourmet[/easyazon_link] has put together a series of 24 lessons for the home cook (that’s me) for better cooking. [easyazon_link identifier=”B00TSOS4MK” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]These[/easyazon_link] have been on my Amazon wish list for a while now and since I’m slowly taking the Make Over Your Morning Lessons, and Online Piano lessons I thought I would throw another learning experience in there for me this summer.

The nice thing is my daughter and husband are taking the lessons with me. The family that cooks together…

[easyazon_link identifier=”B00TSOS4MK” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]Culinary Institute of America: The Every Day Gourmet[/easyazon_link] is a DVD collection and you can also purchase individual lesson on Amazon. I have the full DVD collection and we just finished the lesson Cooking With Dry Heat (this particular lesson is also free to watch on Amazon).

My impressions so far? I’m really excited. The first lesson was on taste which I know is very important when cooking good food and something we all seem to skip over. This is more than is it good but also knowing which flavors enhance other flavors and putting good flavors together. I need to digest this lesson more and will revisit it but I’m finally getting what they mean (the Masterchef judges) when they talk about “balance of flavors”.

The things I’ve put into practice so far? Really tasting my food as I’m preparing it (way to gain weight).  I’m also trying to put those good knife skills into practice and thinking of some tools I want to swap out and getting our knives sharpened.

Well other than that this week I’ll hopefully be pulling most of our veggies from the garden. Here’s our menu for this week….

Monday: Baked Salmon

Tuesday: Chicken Adobo

Wednesday: Beef Broccoli

Thursday: Chicken Curry

Friday: Korean Tacos

What’s on your menu?

• Find more menus to inspire you from other bloggers at Organized Junkie.
• Read some Menu Planning articles for tips on planning your weekly menu
• Need delicious easy recipes for your family? Simplified Dinners is your template for fresh easy recipes every day.