Have You Learned How to Cook?

When I got married at the age of 22, I thought I was an awesome cook. Then, after two days of marriage, I had made every recipe I knew.

On the third day of marriage, I sat in the kitchen crying. I thought, “Okay, I’m probably going to be married 50 years or so –times 365 days of cooking each year –and I only know two recipes!”

I was in a panic.

So I pulled out a cookbook I had received as a wedding gift and started experimenting. My poor husband. So many nights I would put an experimental dinner on the table in our tiny apartment. We would take one bite and try to swallow it without gagging. Then we would put our silverware down and decide what fast food we would go get that night.

I decided I did not want my daughter to have that same experience, so on her 12th birthday I gave her a three-ring binder filled with 30 empty plastic sleeves. I told her my pathetic cooking story and challenged her to fill her binder with a month’s worth of recipes by the time she graduated from high school.

These were the rules for recipes going into her binder:

• She had to pick the recipe.

• She had to make it completely by herself.

• She had to think it was delicious and wholesome.

In Solomon’s description of a good wife, he says, “She provides food for her family.” (Proverbs 31:15 NIV)

By the time you graduate from high school, will you be prepared to cook for yourself and for your future family? I encourage you to go buy a three-ring binder, and decorate the front of it really cool –make it your own! Put 30 plastic sleeves in it, and every once in a while ask if you can try making a new recipe for the family. If the meal is yummy and a keeper, then type it up and put it in your binder. If it’s gross, then toss that recipe and try a different one sometime. (I’ve thrown away a lot of gross recipes over the years, so don’t feel bad if you don’t like it!)

If you don’t know how to cook, a great place to go for recipes online is to Pioneer Woman. She makes yummy food, and she gives excellent directions with pictures of what to do at each step.

Here’s one of my favorite recipes to get you started:

Quesadillas

• On one side of a flour tortilla spread a spoonful of Tostito’s Salsa Con Queso dip.

• Pour a can of black beans into a bowl and heat them, then drain the liquid. Spread a spoonful of beans on top of the queso.

• Buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli at the grocery store. Pull the meat off the bones, and cut the meat up really small. Sprinkle a handful of the chicken onto the beans and queso.

• Now sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top of that.

• Fold the tortilla over these ingredients, and put the quesadilla into a really hot, dry skillet on the stove top. Let it heat until it looks toasty brown underneath, then flip it over to brown the other side.

• Serve the quesadillas with homemade guacamole and sour cream.

• How to make guacamole: Smoosh up a few avocados in a bowl with a fork. Add a little salsa for flavor.

Think how much your future family is going to love eating your yummy food!