Television Benefit: Melissa D’Arabian and Her Ten Dollar Dinners – Great Food Fast and Cheap

Television.  It can be so good or so bad, depending upon how you use it.  I suppose this is true for most things, now that I think about it.  One of the great things about TV for me, at least, are the cooking shows.  I have truly learned how to cook from watching PBS shows like America’s Test Kitchen and other channel shows (I like Mad Hungry but I don’t follow it regularly).

However, there is one cooking show that I think stands head and shoulders above the rest, from a simplicity perspective.  It delivers on a promise to feed four a complete dinner for ten bucks and with good, tasty food to boot. 

It’s Ten Dollar Dinners with cook Melissa D’Arabian on the Food Network. 

What’s the big deal?

Well, the recipes don’t taste good, they taste great.  And they don’t take many ingredients.  (Good for time and for money.) And they are easy to put together.  It’s simple living in a kitchen. 

Now, you can follow the recipes online or in Melissa D’Arabian’s cookbook and that’s fine.  That will get you there.  There’s an added benefit of watching her TV shows, though.  Maybe more than one.

In her show, where she’s cooking a $10 Dinner on the TV screen, Melissa D’Arabian adds tips and tricks that are great and that you don’t get in the books or recipes.  Thinks like buy up Italian sausage when it’s on sale and freeze it.  Buy milk that’s about to hit its expiration date by going to the grocery store early in the morning (she goes around nine o’clock) – if your family drinks dairy. 

You get the idea, Dear Reader.

I am a big, big fan of Ten Dollar Dinners and Melissa D’Arabian and I think, Dear Reader, you might like what she’s doing, too. 

Five Tips for Breaking the Fast Food Habit

Fast food, as general rule, is bad for you and yours - we all know it, and still you drive by any fast-food joint, and there is at least one car there at the drive through window.  Not to mention those cars setting in the parking lot, with families inside eat bad stuff.  Again. 

Simplifying your life means changing your life style, to live more abundantly at less expense in time and money.  One way to do that is to cut that fast food habit.  Here are five tips to help you do that:

1.  Limit Where You Will Buy Fast Food

Some fast food is healthier than others.  El Pollo Loco, Bill Miller BBQ, Luby's Cafeteria are three local options that include healthy and fresh items on their menus. 

Avoid the golden arches and their progeny -- which reminds me, check out this May 2010 Happy Meal Rotting Experiment by a Chinese college student, where the meat did succumb to mold but the french fries simply hardened into something akin to petrified wood?  Check out how the fry is holding up the free weight, wow.

2.  Declare Fast Food to be a Weekly Treat, Give It a Theme

Make Friday night family time, lotsa folks do this already.  It's the end of the week, the beginning of the weekend.  Perfect time to have fast food for dinner: but return it to its origins of yesteryear. 

In decades past, fast food was not part of the daily menu; instead, families looked at fast food as a special time.  Mom didn't have to cook that meal, kids got to get little toys or play in the playyard. 

Get the pizza.  Extra thin crust and lots of veggies, you aren't going to be doing too badly nutrition-wise.  Get Chinese, ask that they skip the MSG.  You get the idea. 

Add a movie or a game, and presto, it's Family Movie Night, the Gang's Game Night:  a good family tradition and you've put fast food back in a corner.  (Though it's like bamboo, you gotta keep cutting it back, because it will always want to take over.)

3.  If you gotta buy fast food, skip the drinks. And the fries.

If you gotta have your burger / taco / chicken fix, then don't let them push the combo (much less the super-sizing of the darn thing) upon you.  You can buy just the sandwich, just the tacos, just the chicken.  The fries and the soda aren't mandatory.  Skip them.  There's nothing good in there for you.  Get bottled water, take the food home and drink the tea you've made and stored in the fridge. 

4.  Cook at Home, But Use Paper Plates, Plastic Silverware, Disposable Glassware

No, this isn't the greenest idea - but it's a good tip for transitioning away from a fast food habit.  Breaking down the fast food dependency sometimes means that avoiding clean up after a long day is just as enticing as the idea that you're avoiding cooking. 

Over time, maybe you will wean yourself from the disposable option; until that happens, buy the biodegradable stuff and forgidaboutit.  And don't ponder that you're spending a little more here that is unnecessary since you've got glasses and plates and things.  Sure you do; but this isn't a recommendation to swear off your pretty stuff. 

I'm recommending using disposable stuff as something you tell yourself you get to use when you're driving home and you're tired, and the drive-thru is oh so tempting.  Plus, if you keep on hand the plates and things with your kid's favorite movie theme or cartoon character (bargains here at DollarTree and PartyCity) then you may get your picky eater to eat a bit more veggies if he's got a special plate. 

5.  Have 2-3 Meals That are Five Minutes or Less to Get on the Table Always Ready to Go

Know in advance that you are gonna want to buy fast food, and prepare for battle.  If you're buying fast food because you don't want to cook, and well, it's just plain FAST, then there's the key. 

You need a few fast and easy at home meals ready to go.  Here's a couple of suggestions - all from stuff you should keep on hand, once you go to the grocery in preparation for your Fast Food Fight:

a.  Breakfast at Dinner - I have a friend who is a single mom and this is one of her standbys.  She scambles some eggs, pops toast in the toaster, lets the kids slam their own jam on the toast (big deal for these little ones), and she has dinner on the table in five minutes.  Literally.  Almond milk to drink, and she's done.

b. The Tray - The goal of a meal is to get nutrition - FUEL - into your body.  No one says that it has to be a formal June Cleaver dinner every time.  Get a platter and remember the Italians are so, so smart.  Have your own version of antipasto (cheese, meat, bread or crackers, olives, pickles, etc.) as your meal.  Or have a fruit and cheese selection.  Throw some nuts in there, and you're all set.

c. The Smoothie - Forget forks and go for the liquid meal.  Juice stuff together. Blend protein powder and whatever.  Yogurt, fruit, whatever.  You've probably got stuff in your kitchen that you can pulverize into a nice frothy drink right now.  Fast, tasty, and good for you.

Should You Be Stockpiling Food? How do you stockpile food anyway?

Last year, there was already talk of stockpiling food. As in, the federal government was stockpiling - buying up storable food in enormous volume from such places as Best Prices Storable Foods. Last month, there were news stories of China stockpiling food, too, because of the big drought it's been facing.

And, sure there's a need for a government to have food in ready demand when something like Katrina hits.

But what about our economy? Should we stockpile food in preparation for transportation halts, bank closures, or food shortages? And if so, how do you do that, anyway?

Cheap Eats and Frugal Recipes: Beer Biscuits

The biscuits in the tube are cheap, and it's fun to bang them against the counter to open 'em up, but what if you want to try your hand at cooking some the old fashioned way?

If you're new to baking, or don't have much time, then try drop biscuits (because you don't have to roll out the dough and cut out the little circles with a cutter) and start your trek using biscuit mix instead of buying all the separate ingredients (you'll move up soon enough, this stuff is fun).

You'll still need a nice baking sheet, a good hot oven, and a few ingredients - but not much. Here are two of my favorites -- they are so easy, and they taste great.

Paula Deen's Beer Biscuit Recipe

Here, Paula credits her brother Bubba for the recipe. All you need is a can of beer, a pat of butter, a 1/4 cup of sugar, and a box of Biscuit Mix (you'll need 4 cups) and you're ready to go. You stir all this together, dump them in muffin tins (I just spoon blobs onto a cookie sheet), and bake till golden in a 400 degree oven.

How easy is that?

And what's great here is all the ingredients can be on hand in your pantry, when you're ready - assuming that you keep butter in the fridge. It's the only perishable here. If you're stocked up, then you're not running to the store for a darn thing.

There's a recipe over at Cajun Recipes that makes it even simpler than this. And that's saying something, right?

They're taking 3 cups of biscuit mix, that same can of beer (it's your leavening agent), and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Period. Mixing all that together, and shaping the dough into biscuits, baking 'em at 375 until golden brown.

Wow, that's easy and fast.

Cheap Eats and Frugal Recipes: Rice

Rice is great for a food budget. First, rice is cheap. Once cooked, it feeds a lot - you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Plus, rice is easy to prepare and to store. You can also freeze rice by itself, along with most rice recipes (depends on the other ingredients). It can be savory or sweet; a side dish or an entree or a dessert.

Brown rice, or whole-grain or wild rice is very nutritious - much more so than the more familar white rice versions. Put rice with beans, and you create a complete protein, too.

Basic Rice Recipe -- How to Cook Rice

1. Rinse your rice 2-3 times before it goes into the pot. This gets rid of excess starch on the kernels, helping to prevent sticky rice as well as rice stuck and burned on the bottom of the pan.

2. If you have time, soak your rice in some water. Makes it plumper on the plate. This is really a must for whole grain (brown) rice -- soak it for a couple of hours, makes a big difference.

3. Don't use that Minute Rice or Precooked stuff. You don't need it, it doesn't taste as good, has less nutrition, and costs more.

4. Use a pot that has a tight fitting lid (steam is crucial to cooking rice) and a nice heavy construction. Me, I like my ceramic-covered cast iron pot ....

5. Some say not to salt or butter the rice while it's cooking. I ignore them. I salt the boiling water, and I add a couple of tablespoons of butter, or olive oil, for taste. I might throw in a garlic clove on a whim. You get the idea. Depends on what I'm using the rice for -- olive oil, for example, isn't really good if I'm going for a dessert if you know what I mean.

6. Older rice takes longer to cook than fresh rice. It's doable, though, just needs more time in the pot. Best if you've stored your rice in a tight jar in the pantry (air tight).

7. How much water? Put in 1.5 cups of water (one and a half cups) for each cup of white rice, 2.5 cups for wild rice. Yes, you can substitute stock for this - chicken, pork, whatever.

8. Put the rice and water on the stove and bring it to a boil over medium heat. (Some folk put whole grain rice into a hot, dry skillet and let it "fry" for a bit before combining it with the water - I might do this if I have time, and I always do this if I'm making Spanish Rice because it adds a little crunch to the dish.)

9. Add the butter and salt.

10. Turn the heat down to low and put the lid on tight.

11. After about 15 minutes, check the white rice. If it looks done, there's no liquid in the pot, and there are little holes that have popped up on the surface, you're done. Whole grain, or wild rice, takes a lot longer because it hasn't had its outer covering stripped away. It's going to take about 45 minutes to cook.

12. Remember, it's not criminal to pop up that lid and check on things - particularly when you're just getting started here. Sure, steam will escape but that's not going to be the end of the world. Stir the rice around, check your liquid levels -- if it's even hinting at burning on the bottom, you've got the heat too high.

13. Key to rice: low heat and patience.

14. Cheap, frugal rice dishes? Chicken and Rice, Broccoli Rice Casserole, Chicken Fried Rice, Spanish Rice, Rice Pudding, Rice-Stuffed Bell Peppers, Rice and Bean Cakes, and any sort of Chinese Stir Fry with veggies on hand come to mind ... rice is used a lot around here.

15. For more rice recipes, surf around these sites and see what tickles your fancy:

Recipes.LovetoKnow.Com - Rice

All Recipes.Com - Rice

16. Don't forget the chop sticks!!! Rice is the great excuse to use them - makes for a fun meal.

5 GOOD CHEAP RECIPE COLLECTIONS

There are some sites that discuss eating healthy, eating organic, eating frugally -- but what about some recipe collections where the food is good and the cost is almost pennies?

Here are five online recipe collections with really good and CHEAP recipes:

Miserly Moms' Frugal Recipes
Cheap Eats - $3 or Less
Budget 101's Dirt Cheap Ramen Noodle Recipes
Recession Recipes
Cheap Recipes at Gather.Com

Granted, some of the ingredients may include processed food (for example, canned biscuits in the Miserly Moms' Cheesy Pull-Apart Biscuits, Recipe No. 184) and they may include food with debatable nutrients (e.g., the iceberg lettuce in Recession Recipes' Iceberg Lettuce Soup), but you can always play around with these recipes -- one of the fun things about cooking anyway -- to suit yourself.

For example, cabbage is cheap and very nutrious. Maybe you substitute that for the iceberg lettuce in the soup recipe. Or you take the time to make biscuits from scratch - anything processed costs more, so you'd theoretically be saving even more money if you circumvented the canned biscuit dough....

These collections give you more than just the recipes themselves. If you go surfing through them, you'll discover themes and patterns that will help you a better shopper and a better cook. Study them, and you'll learn more than just a new dish for the family menu.

For more information:

How to Cook 4: Beans Are Easy, Cheap, and Good
Menu Planning 102
Menu Planning 101

How to Cook - 4: Beans Are Easy, Cheap, Good

Beans are so humble, unless you consider the hericot vert. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride in any menu, beans are nevertheless so varied, so favorful, so nutritious, and so cheap, that they're just plain smart to buy and serve your family.

How to Cook Beans

1. The Traditional Way.
My mother taught me to pour the bag of beans onto the kitchen table, and to slowly pull bean by bean off the edge and into a large, deep bowl. This eliminated any small pebbles that managed their way into the packaging. Once the beans were safely culled and transferred into the big bowl, the bowl was filled with water, covered with a cheesecloth, and left to set overnight.

The next day, the beans would have puffed up with all the water, and they were ready for the big Bean Pot. (Yep, my mom had a special pot just for beans. Here in Texas, refried beans and pinto beans are important parts of both TexMex meals as well as any respectable barbeque.)

The beans were drained and placed into the pot (draining being important to stave off (ahem) gas (ahem), and seasonings were added. After being brought to a boil, the heat was lowered and the beans sat on the back burner, simmering away; their smell filling the house with that great cozy feeling of something cooking on the stove. Periodically, you checked the pot and stirred the beans, adding water if it was needed, until the beans were done.

2. The Slow Cooker Way.
This is a method I've tried when I've been under a deadline and not able to watch the bean pot (yep, I have one of my own now) during the day -- or when I wake up and remember that I forgot to soak the beans. You still cull the beans, although it's been awhile since I've found a pebble in my beanbag, but you omit the overnight soak. Pour your culled beans into a large slow cooker, add your seasonings, and fill with water. Turn it to the low setting. You want lots of water here, bean juice isn't a bad thing if you've been generous on the water, but it's trouble if those beans don't have enough water here: they didn't get their soak time, and they have to hydrate. They're starting out dried, remember. Around eight hours later, you'll have a nice batch of beans.

Different Beans to Try, Seasonings to Use, Meals to Make, Why Bother

Types of beans
Pinto beans
Kidney beans
Butter beans
Black beans
Lima beans
Navy beans
Azuki beans

Seasonings
Onion
Garlic
Salt Pork
Bacon
Ham
Chicken
Chilis
Pepper
Salt
Cilantro
Tomatoes


Good Recipe Sites
Crockpot Beans - lots of recipes here
The Bean Bible

Why Beans?

Beans are among the best buys in the marketplace. They're very economical - plus they are very, very nutritious. Studies show they fight colon cancer, if eaten several times a week. Eat them with rice, and you have a complete protein substitute which is good for you and great for your budget.

15 Tips for Maximizing Your Food Budget

This month, the Center for Nutrition Policy issued a new pdf: "Low Cost, Medium Cost and Liberal Food Plans - 2007," revising a previous version of alternative food budgets. (The low cost plan is designed to work with someone feeding a family on food stamps.)

It's too hard to read, and I'm not sure what to think about all its data, anyway. So, I've compiled this list of 15 tips for maximizing your food budget:

1. Buy store brands - they're cheaper.

2. Use coupons - take an hour a week to track them down in the newspaper, mailbox, and online. Organize them according to area of the store (dairy, meat, etc.) and within that category, by expiration date. (If you're lucky, your store has its own promotional coupons, too - here in San Antonio, HEB has lots of promos plus a coupon kiosk near the customer service area). It doesn't take that long, and you can use the rest of the time to plan meals.

3. Shop on double coupon day. (Here in SA, that means Sun Harvest; HEB doesn't offer double coupon days.)

4. Plan your weekly menu to maximize the coupons.

5. Shop with a grocery list and stick to that list.

6. Do not buy junk just because you have a coupon. If the kids hate powdered donuts, don't buy them just because they're on sale. If you are into eating organic, then don't compromise just because Cocoa Puffs are 3 for a dollar. Rule the coupons, don't let them rule you!

7. Compare the unit price. Something on sale with a coupon may still cost more than the store brand.

8. Cook from scratch as much as possible: the more preparation in the item, the higher the price.

9. Organize your kitchen (freezer, fridge, pantry) as well as a little storage area elsewhere. A big sale on toilet paper may be worth stocking up - but you will need the extra space. Similarly, cooking a big batch of chili or stew may mean you freeze half for later: it's better to have an organzed freezer (not only to have a place for the item, but to remember it's there and not have it hidden for archeologists in the back right corner ...).

10. Eat your leftovers. Rework them if your family is picky about this - Food Network's Robin Miller (contributing editor for Health and Cooking Light ) has an entire show dedicated on revamping a food item in 3-4 ways for use during the week. Chicken breasts one night become shredded bbq chicken sammies the next, etc.

11. Keep a Food Journal. Yes, this sounds hokey -- but it can be a simple spiral notebook and it's purpose is to keep track of what's working and what's not. It doesn't have to be pretty. If the family loved your Organic Mac and Cheese Bake, then make a note of this. If they hated the 12 grain bread, note it. Slowly, you'll build a list of recipes that the family likes and this will make menu planning a lot easier. The Journal should also keep track of big sales -- stores tend to put things on sale on a schedule and as you gain control of this info, you'll be able to plan ahead for the sale items. I also take my journal with me to Sam's, HEB, etc. and write down prices for things that I buy a lot. It's helped me discover that the paper towels at Walmart are a better deal than Sam's, and I was just assuming that Sam's had the best deal.

12. Cook in batches. Buying in bulk (like at Sam's or CostCo) can get you a better unit price. You can break these apart and freeze parts. You can also stretch these buys through cooking a big batch and then freezing part of the entree for later. Examples: a big pot of chili, freeze half; a huge meatloaf, freeze half; broccoli-rice casserole, freeze half. You get the idea.

13. Learn to cook great vegetables that are cheap. Cabbage, greens, turnips, beets, yams, these are great foods, they are cheap foods, and you need to take advantage of them. A big pot of greens on a cold winter day, with cornbread and sweet butter? There's nothing better. Like Chinese food or Thai? Lots of cabbage potential there. Explore.

14. Find alternatives to meat. Beans and rice together make a complete protein. Cajun recipes and TexMex recipes combine them both. A favorite in my house are bean cakes - they can be crispy and spicy and very delicious as an entree and again as a sammie. Lots of variety here, lots of nutrition, and soooo cheap.

15. Reward yourself for a job well done. This whole thing should be fun, not a chore. Find the joy in all this ... it's there. Great food, great nutrition, and great savings.

How to Cook - 2

Now that you have your basic equipment and the vocabulary for cooking (see How to Cook-1), you're ready to stock your pantry basics, nail down some cooking essentials, and start off with some basic recipes. Next How-To? How to create menues for the week to maximize your food dollar and your cooking time.

Stocking Your Pantry (including the fridge)

It's efficient in both time and money to have a pantry stocked with certain things. Coupon afficiandos swear by the savings of buying in bulk and by sales coordination. Chefs swear by the importance of a well-kept pantry.

There are several sites with options on what to include: ehow.com, homemakers.com, wholefoodsmarket.com. These lists can be long, expanding as they venture into ethnic areas: Thai, Mexican, etc. Over time, you can add things like curry powder to your kitchen; it's not necessary to be international at the get-go.

Must-haves:
Canned tomatoes - great for sauces, soups, cassaroles
Tomato sauce, tomato paste - similar use to the canned, paste is a thickener
Broth - have chicken, beef, and vegetable on hand, flavoring for rice, soup, mashed potatoes, etc.
Dried pasta - at least one noodle (spagetti) for light sauces, and one tube (penne) for thick sauces, salads, cassaroles
Rice - start with the basics, you can graduate to a risotto
Canned Fish - tuna for salads, cassaroles, sandwiches; salmon for croquettes
Canned Beans - have black, cannellini, pinto, more on hand. Tons of uses.
Peanut Butter - make sauces, dips, sandwiches, desserts
Bread Crumbs - filling for cakes (bean, meat), loaves (meatloaf)
Spices - salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, cumin, chili powder, paprika (sweet), pepper sauce, pepper flakes, soy sauce, wine vinegar, cinnamon, basil, oregano, vanilla extract
Flour - for baking, thickening
Sugar - for baking, sweetening (unless you're game for stevia)
Oils - Extra Virgin Olive Oil for salads, low-heat cooking; vegetable oil for cooking at higher heat; if you are going to stir fry, must use peanut oil - it takes the highest heat before burning.
Ketchup - condiment, flavoring
Mayonaise - condiment, flavoring
Mustard - condiment, flavoring
Tea Bags
Coffee
Bread
Produce - fresh fruits and veggies that you like, don't buy farther than 5 days ahead. Dark green lettuce, tomatoes, onions, garlic, fruit in season are staples
Milk or Milk Substitute - beverage, baking, adding to soups, sauces
Butter
Nuts - freeze 'em


Cooking Essentials

Boiling Water: Put the pot on to boil and leave it. Don't add salt until the bubble are bouncing on the top, or the salt will scrape the bottom of the pot. Simmer is little bitty bubbles, slow movement. Boiling is a party.

For more essentials, there is a great, easy list at eHow.com.

Basic Recipes

Your goal is to be able to whip up a meal or two without having to check the cookbook. Until then, there are several sites with easy recipes for you: basicrecipes.com, mealsforyou.com, foodnetwork.com

Equipment

You don't need most of what they sell. That commercial for the hot tea maker? No. However, a manual can opener is a must, as are a corkscrew and a bottle top opener. A blender and a mixer (hand mixer is fine to start, you don't have to have a pink KitchenAid) are good to have, but elbow grease works just fine if you don't.

Vegetables: Fresh or Frozen or Canned

Which form of vegetables is best for you and yours? Fresh is considered best, of course: however, those fresh veggies lose a lot of their nutritional value if you boil them in water for long. Better to steam them.

It's all about the nutrients. Both Vitamin C and folic acid escape quickly: in raw vegetables, both will start vanishing after only a few days.

Research has found that canned apricots, spinach, and pumpkin provided more vitamin A per serving than those cooked while fresh. Canned asparagus, potatoes, and spinach also proved to outrank or equal fresh-cooked for vitamin C. However, freshly cooked tomatoes had higher vitamin C and fresh carrots, more vitamin A, than either canned or frozen.

The researchers explain that processed (canned and frozen) veggies can be nutritionally superior to fresh produce because the processed ones are chosen at optimal harvest, when nutrient content is at its peak. This is very important for finding vitamin C in green veggies.

Since processing seeks to maximize nutritional content, the debate becomes: frozen or canned?

Both are preserved when the vegetables are at their nutritional best, at the peak of their harvest. Canned vegetables do have a salt problem, unless you check the label and buy a "no-sodium" or "lo-sodium" variety. (Canned fruits, likewise, have that sugar issue.)

What's the difference? It's in the preparation...

Canned: cans (or glass jars), machine-filled with vegetables, as well as brine or liquid, are pre-heated and then automatically sealed. Then, they are cooked under standardized times and temperatures, assuring the veggies will store without refrigeration. Once cooled, they stay in warehouses until they reach the store shelf. You need only re-heat.

Frozen: Freshly harvested veggies are first slightly pre-cooked to keep their natural appearance and flavor during the long time they'll be stored. Otherwise, they'd brown. Then, they're placed into polyethylene bags or fiber cartons which are wrapped in marketing labels (veggie name, company logo, etc.) and placed in freezers. They still need some cooking time.

When you're at the store ...

If you buy vegetables in a can, make sure that the can isn't leaking or buckling anywhere. Swells mean spoiled. A little dent is okay.

As for vegetables from the freezer, their packages should be solid. Any package that's wet or weak means it's defrosting -- and any package that has a stain on the outside or that has an icy crust means the package was defrosted and refrozen. Doesn't mean they're toxic, but it does mean some taste has been lost. Choose something else.

Once you're home ...

Store your canned veggies at a temperature no higher than 75°F., and they'll keep for at least a year. Even after a couple of years, they'll still be safe to eat, but some taste will be lost. Open a can, put any unused portion in the fridge: they'll stay good for a couple of days. Frozen veggies need to be kept at 0°F. or lower. Open a package, put the remainder back on ice asap. If it defrosts, use it now.

Bottom line: Between the two processing options - frozen or canned - it apparently comes down to taste as a general rule. I like frozen peas better than canned, for example. Fresh remains the optimal choice: which means those Spring-time Farmer's Markets can't open a moment too soon.


Sources: allrefer.com, US Dept. of Agriculture, British Foodservice, Colorado State University Extension Service.

How To Cook - 1

With newscoverage dealing with the American lifestyle, it's coming to light that one of the problems of change is that people never learned to cook, or they've forgotten how after years of buying processed food.

Lots of people don't cook from scratch - you know, go into the pantry, search through the kitchen, use a pot and a pan, and come out with a meal that tastes good. (Sandwiches don't count. Reheated takeout or premade frozen doesn't, either.)

And maybe they should, and maybe they'd like it. It's fun. And, it's part of simplifying life. A simple life involves cooking.

So, here's the first in a series of posts dealing with this basic task. Cooking's not hard, cooking's fun -- and there is something wonderful about setting down to a homecooked meal at a table with your family. It's therapeutic. It's fun. Heck, it's spiritual, man.

You do not need to be Julia Child, and you don't need tablescapes by Sandra Lee to do this.

First, there's a vocabulary for cooking - basting, panfry, parbroil: the folks at Crisco.com have a good, clear list for you. Don't memorize this, just go look up the words you don't know when you need them.

Second, you need to have the basic equipment. Here's a short, simple list - and you can find good quality stuff at places like TJ Maxx and DollarTree, with great finds to be had at garage or estate sales:

Pyrex measuring cup - 2 cup size. It will handle the microwave (until you get the gumption to get rid of that thing).

Measuring cups/spoons - one of those gizmos that combine measurements into one is cool.

Cooking Spoons - get big wooden ones, they usually come 3-4 in a package. Get one big scoop, too. DollarTree has great buys on GoodGrips for this stuff.

Spatula -- one. Start with one.

Strainer - get a big one, you can start a collection later.

Knives - don't get one of those collections; get a chef's knife, a serrated one (uneven edge), and a smaller one. Don't be intimated by what the fancy chefs tell you. The goal is to use the tool to cut the food and not yourself -- pick ones that fit your hand as well as the task. The chef's knife is big enough to handle an eggplant or a chicken, and the serrated one is a must for cutting thru bread, chocolate, etc. The small one is used when the big one is clumsy.

Cutting Boards - get a wooden one, plastic holds germs and knives can slip on glass. Big is good, too small and you wonder what to do with the food as you're chopping, etc. It needs to give you room to work. Let a collection grow over time.

Cookie Sheet - one.

Grater - one.

Cast Iron Skillet -- simple, perfect. You have to "cure" it. Do this by covering it with oil or shortening and baking it for one hour at 350 degrees. Don't immerse in water, or you'll have to recure. Wipe it clean. Yes, you read it right. Find one of these babies dark and well-used at a garage or estate sale, and boy howdy - you've found a treasure. Bake, broil, fry - fabulous.

Soup pot aka "Dutch oven" - 5 quart or more, round, has a lid.

Pots -- Two pots with lids. Pot differs from pan by having height and a lid.

Baking pan - start with a basic Pyrex 9" by 13" and get ready for Brownies.

Bowls - a basic set of three is fine, Pyrex is nice because it can handle heat and cold. Try Amazon - 3 for 9.99.

Sources: Ehow.com Kraft.com ; Aunt Clara's Kitchen, and my own experience.

To follow along with someone, check out FoodNetwork online videos, Cooking.com videos, and WorldCulinaryInstitute.

Great first cookbook: Pam Anderson's How To Cook Without A Book.

Cooking From the Hip 1: Good Recipe Site

Cooking from the hip occurs when you stand in the pantry door, pondering what you can put together without going to the store. A helpful "hip" site is The World's Healthiest Foods. There, you can choose ingredients you want to include, those you want to exclude, click the mouse, and voila! Recipes abound - and especially nice, a separate vegetarian section. Cool.