Here are seven tips to remember when cooking your meals:
1. MAKE IT SIMPLE
You do not need to cook an extravagant meal. You can do this for special occasions. A basic meal at our home consists of a choice of meat, two or three different vegetables either steamed or sauteed, and a salad. I love to include lots of vegetables. A baked potato meal is a nice change. Bake potatoes and make lots of different fillings to add. Each member of the family can choose the fillings they like best. This is even fun to do with visitors if you make lots of interesting fillings.
2. MAKE IT NUTRITIOUS
Eliminate all refined foods. Use brown rice instead of white. Grind your grains freshly and back your own bread if possible. Do not over-cook your vegetables—steam them or short cook them in a tiny amount of water. Or raw! Children prefer eating raw carrots than cooked.
3. MAKE IT TASTY
This is the secret. Food must taste delicious. Delicious food is the spice of life. Bland food is boring. Gradually stock up on your herbs and spices and experiment! Be imaginative! Try a bit of this and a bit of that! It is the enchantment of cooking! If you use your spices and herbs sparingly at the beginning you won’t spoil a dish by using the wrong ones, but you’ll gradually find what works best. In our home we like our foods HOT AND SPICY, but you will do it to your own taste.
4. MAKE IT FULL OF AROMA
The spices and herbs and the smell of the meal cooking should draw everyone to the kitchen and make them hungry for the meal.
5. MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE
Coordinate your meal so you have different colors and always arrange your food attractively, whether on each plate or in serving dishes for the family to help themselves. Use herbs, flowers, and leaves to decorate. Set the table nicely and welcomingly. Your children can do this task and teach them to do it creatively and beautifully.
6. MAKE PLENTY
It is better to have more than you need than not enough. If you have extra, it’s great for leftovers for lunch the next day, or you can freeze it for another meal. However, the idea in cooking plenty is to be ready for that unexpected guest or person who needs a meal.
7. MAKE A SALAD
Make a big salad at least once a day, either for lunch or for supper.
Most of all, have fun! Instead of preparing meals as a chore, embrace the challenge of making the most nutritious, attractive, delicious, exciting meal you could ever make!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
P.S. I’d love to hear some of your tips.