On October 11,
2003, the Food
Network began a new cooking style with Chef
(and Author) Sandra Lee Christiansen’s “Semi-Homemade Cooking." This cooking concept uses 70 percent
pre-packaged products and 30 percent fresh.
The results are flavorful meals, restraint remakes, and desserts
prepared in a fraction of the time that taste like they were made from scratch
and save the cook money.
A kitchen can become a safe haven,
and a joyous activity in your life. Your world may seem much easier to navigate
in the space of a kitchen than in the world outside of it. Don’t be surprised
if some of the guidelines below not only help keep your kitchen running
smoothly but also help you with all the details in your life:
1.
Do nothing when
you don’t know what to do: If I’m out of
options trying to find a solution, I’ve found that I’m trying too hard. I need
to breathe. I need a moment to get still so I can hear what God wants me to do.
Kitchens can be chaotic with stuff all over the place. Just be still and in the
moment.
You’ll be astounded that the knife you were looking for is
right there in front of you. One way to avoid some of the chaos is to prepare
all your ingredients and implements ahead of time with veggies chopped, bowls
lined up and whatever tools you need at the ready.
2.
Life is working
for you, and not against you: Things can go
wrong in the kitchen. They inevitably do no matter how prepared you are. I’m a
firm believer that there is always a good reason for everything. We just have
to be willing to wade through the challenge and be open to the lesson. Nothing
can change faster than gratitude. Trust life and be resourceful even in the
face of disaster.
3.
Live life as it
is: Just cook, and focus on what is working. You thought you had
oregano, but when it’s time to add it, you realize you must have used it up.
Maybe you have all the ingredients, but you don’t have enough of one thing or
another. Improvise, and move forward with what you do have. You might even
create something with a different slant or flavor that’s better than the
original.
Making do with what you’ve got is what gets the creative
process going. I’d bet most every chef discovered at least one of their
favorite recipes simply because they were out of some ingredient and were
forced to get creative. I’m convinced that the secret to being a great chef is
not how well you can cook, but how well you can problem-solve.
4.
Trying to be
perfect is a setup for failure: “A job worth doing is a job worth doing
right,” is my father’s motto that has benefitted me throughout my life. At
times that philosophy has been a harsh master to serve. Life is not perfect,
and neither am I. No one is perfect. We can learn from our mistakes. There is
simply no room for harshness in my life, and I am much kinder to myself than I
used to be.
5.
You are the
cook of your own kitchen: Take
responsibility for your successes and your failures. You know what they say
about too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has their own way they like to do
things. But you’ve got to make your own gumbo (compared to other’s recipe).
Your recipe comes from using your own favorite ingredients,
your own family traditions that you’ve learned from your own experiences in the
kitchen. With an open mind you may be able to pick up things here and there
that you’d like to add to your own gumbo. Sometimes you’re going to have to
improvise. Listen to your cooking instincts. I’ve finally figured out my life’s
recipe, but it took me a whole lot of time in the kitchen to get there.
“A recipe
has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe” (Thomas Keller)[i
[i] Sources used:
·
“5 Things Cooking Taught Me about Life” by Lucy Buffett
·
“Sandra Lee (Chef)” from Wikipedia
·
https://www.foodnetwork.com
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