Sheet pan meals are a fantastic way to blend flavors and make for a quick and easy meal that feeds several. (By the way, I demoted my wife to pot and dishwasher after I went to culinary school. It seemed less demeaning than to fire her completely.)
Having fresh herbs on hand are another way to really amp up your meals. We have a continuous supply of sage, thyme, rosemary, chives, oregano, and peppermint (a great substitute for anything asking for parsley, dill, or cilantro) in our house to feed my recipes. One thing I learned from reading Jamie Oliver's methods before I went to school myself is to throw out the measuring cups and spoons for herbs. Simply chop up a handful and toss them in -- and the more the merrier. We also make our own sourdough bread which adds a wonderful touch to meals, especially breakfast.
It's a shame that we don't spend more effort teaching our children to cook and eat fine foods. Eating is one of the great sensations of life, right up there with sex. It's a myth that it's more expensive to eat well, and it's a talent -- like learning a musical instrument -- that will follow one through life to the grave.
We introduced our kids from very young ages to fine restaurants, lots of ethnic foods, and lots of home cooking. It’s amazing the meals and dishes they remember at specific restaurants around the country. Both of our girls (the older ones) are excellent cooks. Our oldest and her boyfriend love taking cooking classes together and make us some wonderful meals. All of the kids were brought up making pancakes from scratch and they will love to do that — no store-bought mix. Our youngest (our son) took a culinary class in high school, and he and his girlfriend love to cook together. She’s Peruvian, so lots of great Peruvian food.
“Having fresh herbs on hand are another way to really amp up your meals. We have a continuous supply of sage, thyme, rosemary, chives, oregano, and peppermint (a great substitute for anything asking for parsley, dill, or cilantro) in our house to feed my recipes. One thing I learned from reading Jamie Oliver’s methods before I went to school myself is to throw out the measuring cups and spoons for herbs. Simply chop up a handful and toss them in — and the more the merrier. We also make our own sourdough bread which adds a wonderful touch to meals, especially breakfast.”
This year, we planted herbs in the watering troughs, we use as planter boxes. Basil, Rosemary, and oregano in the troughs with tomato plants.
Rosemary is the local wild weed. It grows everywhere. Basil planted in good soil with water will grow like a weed.
I have a couple of pots with herbs by my charcoal grill. Often, I will pull off a handful or cut the herbs and just throw them on the grill with the main course.
We like our mint sun tea with our afternoon figs. So we grow mint in with the fig tree.
We buy most of our herbs to plant at our grocery store in the produce department. The herb bunches have the roots and grow well with a little tlc.
One of our sons is a double major engineer, and he has become a good indoor chef as well as a back yard grill master.
Being an engineer, he measures/weighs everything he grills or cooks in his kitchen.
His Mother,Bro, his son and I with most herbs do it by the handful and guesstimate. His daughter, an RN, measures everything like it is special RX drug. My wife, also, an RN used to measure every herb like a potent drug. Now she asks for a handful and she gets a handful from my extra large hands to someone’s medium hands. It still works with fresh herbs like basil or rosemary.