Quick Help for the Terrible Cook
If you've read this blog for any length of time (or even if you just look at the name!) you can tell that homemaking doesn't exactly display my strong points.
Sadly, that includes cooking.
I certainly enjoy eating, but cooking I do not. When I post a recipe, you can be guaranteed it's going to be easy. If I can do it, anybody can.
However, there has been one simple thing that has really upped my cooking game of late. I can actually fry an egg and keep the yolk runny. I can cook a pan of oatmeal and keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
And I didn't even have to learn any new cooking techniques.
Want to know my secret?
Non-stick pans.
Gasp! Don't you write about healthy living sometimes? And aren't those supposed to be toxic?
Yes, Teflon pans, although extremely convenient, contain toxic chemicals that can be terribly harmful to the human body.
However, there are several companies who are now manufacturing non-stick ceramic pans. These particular pans do not contain harmful chemicals but are every bit as convenient as other types of non-stick pans.
My dear husband, for some strange reason, decided to buy me a set of them for Christmas. (Perhaps he was tired of eating half-burnt food?)
I didn't realize just how much I loved them until I cooked something in one of my old stainless steel pans the other day. Oh my goodness! It was such a challenge to keep the food from sticking, burning, and just being generally nasty. (One at which I wasn't terribly successful.)
I don't even have to think about it anymore with these new pans. They're making cooking so much easier for me.
And they are saving me tons of clean-up time too! I hardly even have to wash the pans. The food fragments practically slide right out of them. A little courtesy swish with a rag is all I need and I'm done!
I can't say anything about other brands that are out there, but this is the brand my husband bought me.
It's one of the cheapest brands available, but I'm extremely happy with it.
I will say that I've been very careful with it so that I don't scratch the non-stick coating. It has several instructions that must be followed, such as:
- never use metal utensils
- hand-wash only
- do not heat on high
- never heat without fat in the pan
If you're not the greatest cook in the world, I would definitely suggest getting yourself a set of these! They have made a huge difference for me, and I know they will help you out too!