I'm attemping to learn how to make a decent meal that involves something more complicated than hamburger and helper (I'm single and actually had the idea of doing some compare and contrast of savings in making my own food, and it was pretty extreme. To that end, I figured the best bet was to grab some recommended newbie reciepes online and get to it.
I've been working my way along with that method for about a month now and I've encountered a serious problem - I can't stand it and am going out of my mind. I've actually found I like cooking, although the cleanup is a pain, but working off of a reciepe is making me counter-productive.
My primary problem is I see a lot of reciepes with odd ingredients I've never been exposed too, and can't understand their use. When growing up with my mom, dinner was a fairly simple affair: seasoned steak/chicken on the grill, a boxed or mashed potatoe dish, and canned vegetable was the common meal of the day. Nothing wrong with that, but there isn't any fun in that, so I look for reciepes that give me some freedom from that "box". In turn I see a lot of ingredients that just cause me to go "Huh" (usually spices I've never heard of). When I get to that point, my practical nature kicks in and I have to wonder what is the purpose, yet I've never seen a reciepe site or cook book that gives an explanation. Drives me insane.
To give a full fledged (and simple example), smoothies. I typically buy a smoothie for breakfast every morning (my crack/wake-up call), so that is one of the first things I began looking up. I figured it was a simple matter of fruit + water + ice as nessecary for consistency. Turns out that 90% of the reciepes I can find have a lot of extra ingredients. Milk, milk powder, yogurt, flaxseed (which I don't even know what in the world that is), salt (in a smoothie?!), and so on...
So, is there anywhere out there I can get some kind of science background behind cooking?
My second problem is not visiting the store every night. Pre-planning is not my forte, so dinner is typically a morning or night-before decision. Combine that fact with odd ingredients, and spending at least half an hour every night visiting the store for something I'm missing. Is this is a common problem, or is the common household actually stocking apple cider vinegar and cornichon?
I've been working my way along with that method for about a month now and I've encountered a serious problem - I can't stand it and am going out of my mind. I've actually found I like cooking, although the cleanup is a pain, but working off of a reciepe is making me counter-productive.
My primary problem is I see a lot of reciepes with odd ingredients I've never been exposed too, and can't understand their use. When growing up with my mom, dinner was a fairly simple affair: seasoned steak/chicken on the grill, a boxed or mashed potatoe dish, and canned vegetable was the common meal of the day. Nothing wrong with that, but there isn't any fun in that, so I look for reciepes that give me some freedom from that "box". In turn I see a lot of ingredients that just cause me to go "Huh" (usually spices I've never heard of). When I get to that point, my practical nature kicks in and I have to wonder what is the purpose, yet I've never seen a reciepe site or cook book that gives an explanation. Drives me insane.
To give a full fledged (and simple example), smoothies. I typically buy a smoothie for breakfast every morning (my crack/wake-up call), so that is one of the first things I began looking up. I figured it was a simple matter of fruit + water + ice as nessecary for consistency. Turns out that 90% of the reciepes I can find have a lot of extra ingredients. Milk, milk powder, yogurt, flaxseed (which I don't even know what in the world that is), salt (in a smoothie?!), and so on...
So, is there anywhere out there I can get some kind of science background behind cooking?
My second problem is not visiting the store every night. Pre-planning is not my forte, so dinner is typically a morning or night-before decision. Combine that fact with odd ingredients, and spending at least half an hour every night visiting the store for something I'm missing. Is this is a common problem, or is the common household actually stocking apple cider vinegar and cornichon?