New Year, New Skills

So glad you are back joining us for our second blog post! Last week we introduced you to the blog and talked about the amazing growth Katie’s Plates had in 2016. Katie’s Plates- Nashville is now up and running and has begun making deliveries! We are so excited for this new branch to get up and thriving—be sure to tell your Nashville area friends about us!

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There’s a lot of excitement at the start of a new year and many people are making resolutions for growth in regards to health, finances, travel, family, and more. By now, a few weeks in, however, these same people are beginning to see if the resolutions they picked out for themselves will last or fall to the wayside before February comes around. We can certainly relate to the latter. It’s easy for us to come up with goals to achieve, habits to adopt, and to-do’s to accomplish, but following through and creating the lifestyle shift is the more difficult part. Of course, if eating healthy is your aim, Katie’s Plates can make this one a no-brainer! As for other shifts you want to take place, remember to make your resolutions SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely. When you take the time to solidify your goals using the adjectives in this acronym, you are more likely to follow through! It’s the difference between saying “I will run more in 2017” and “I plan to run a 10k in June by increasing my miles each month until I am comfortable with this distance”. Try this SMART method with your current goals!

Now, we have a bit of fun for you. We love resolutions- they push us to continue to improve ourselves and grow in new ways. And since we love cooking, we’ve compiled a list of kitchen skills that we find essential, or just plain fun, for cooking and creating amazing food, and we want to challenge YOU to try them yourself! 

Take it as a fun exercise and see how many you can try. Who knows, maybe they will a spark new interest in connecting with your food and the process of cooking.

Must-Have Skills in the Kitchen:

1) Crack an egg with one hand. Then crack two eggs at once with both hands. This one is fun, and a bit messy when starting out. We made this the first in the list to get you to let loose and see that you can have fun in the kitchen! Once you get it down, you can impress friends and family with your culinary tricks. Fun note: somedays, we have to crack up to 160 eggs for just one recipe! So this trick has certainly come in handy.

2) Become a pro at “eye” measuring. This exercise won’t necessarily become common practice in your cooking, but it is a great way to turn your culinary skills up a notch. To start, choose anything from chopped vegetables, a liquid, or a powder. Begin by measuring out a certain amount of the item. Take a good look at it. Maybe put it in your hand (we don’t recommend this for liquids) and see how much space it takes up. Then, put the amount you measured back, and see if you can “eyeball” the amount back out. Measure this to see how close you were. This is a fun exercise for those interested in becoming quicker and more confident in the kitchen. Note: when it comes to baking, exact measurements are much more important, so use caution if attempting with this type of cooking! 

3) Sharpen your knife skills, literally. Did you know that you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp knife? It’s true! A well sharpened knife is less likely to slip and will slice much easier than a dull knife. With a dull knife, you actually have less control over the blade and are at a higher risk of cutting yourself. A well sharpened knife will also be better for your food as cleaner cuts will uphold the integrity of the food. Think slicing a tomato: a dull knife creates a crude cut and will cause the cells to become damaged and erupt, producing extra juice and ragged edges (this also accelerates aging and discoloration). A sharp knife, however, will cut cleanly through and create less damage, producing a less messy and more aesthetically please slice. You can use a honing steel, a sharpening stone, or a water stone to sharpen with- or you can have someone sharpen your knives for you.

4) “Temp” your food. If you’re not doing this already, we highly recommend you start this practice to ensure safe serving temperatures. Make sure you have a correctly calibrated thermometer (Google how if you are unfamiliar- it’s easy!), and stick the thermometer in the middle of the thickest piece of meat. Use this as your guide for correct internal temperatures: (source: USDA)