1: Prep Your Mindset
Important guidelines to keep the right mindset for good food cooking success.
Timestamps:
00:33 Cooking is Power
01:08 Perfection-Free Zone
03:14 Lesson Action
01 Getting Started
Your progress
0% completeWhat you’ll learn
First things first, we need to get our minds and kitchens ready for good food cooking. We want it to feel easy and stress-free. All you need to get started is the right attitude, know how, and a little confidence boost!
Your goals for this module:
- Understand the power of cooking for ourselves and others
- Let go of any perfectionism we may bring to the kitchen
- Learn to accept “mistakes” as opportunities to learn and grow
- Finally ditch the notion that you “can’t cook”—start believing you can
- Set up a kitchen that’s ready for good food cooking
- Understand what tools are essential for cooking and what’s nice to have but not a must
Lessons
Required: watch and complete the recap for each lesson
2: Habits & Change
It’s easy to get excited and inspired by new goals, but there’s an important secret to maintaining momentum.
Timestamps:
00:33 Make Cooking a Habit
03:08 Leave a Pot on the Stove
04:06 Lesson action
3: Prep Your Kitchen
Good food cooking habits start by making the kitchen one of the most inviting rooms in the home.
Timestamps:
00:32 A Sacred Space
01:30 Clean It Out
02:21 Rearrange & Organize
03:13 Lesson Action
4: Appliances & Tools
Learn all about the essential tools and appliances for good food cooking.
Timestamps:
01:02 Wooden Spoons
02:39 Chef’s Knife
04:21 Cutting Boards
08:14 Blender
11:17 High-Walled Pan or Skillet
14:30 Mixing Bowls
16:58 Lesson Action
Practice Recipes
Recommended: prepare a minimum of 1 recipe
You’ll be busy getting the kitchen in top shape this week, so let’s make some easy salad dressings that double as sauces or dips for last-minute snacks, salads, and wraps. Try some tossed with cooked grains, noodles, rice and/or your favorite raw, roasted or steamed veggies—see how versatile and convenient it is to have these friends in the fridge this week.
Creamy Ranch Dressing
This recipe makes a hearty, comforting salad dressing, but also use it as a dip for crudités or roll it up in a tortilla with cooked grains, beans, and veggies for a quick, satisfying wrap. Also try it tossed with cooked grains, rice, noodles, and roasted veggies for an easy dinner bowl.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
This recipe is a staple for fresh salads, but use it to marinate veggies for roasting or sautéing. Try it as a dip for veggie fries and crudités, toss with cooked grains, rice, or noodles, and use it to season a wrap, too.
Pad Thai Sauce
This delicious dressing can be served warm or cold—try it for salads or toss some with cooked rice or noodles, grains, and sautéed or roasted veggies of all kinds. Try it as a dip for fries and crudités, or use it as a sauce in a wrap. Just keep some in the fridge to make meal creation easy this week.
Resources
Helpful and inspiring books, articles, recipes, shopping links, and more for good food cooking.
Extra Recipes
Extra recipes are just that—extra. Take them on if you like, or save them for later. Do what’s best for you, but always challenge yourself. Going outside of your comfort zone is how you learn and grow.
Here are a few ideas for busy cooks who are getting the kitchen ready this week!
Extra Learning
Extra know-how for you to dive into when you want to.
Thoughts About Microwaves
This is a cooking course, so here are a few reasons why microwaves aren’t recommended. You can absolutely use one if makes sense for you, but we won’t be providing any tips or recommendations for microwave use.
PFCs & Aluminum
The tools that you cook with are a personal choice, but make sure it’s an informed one. You may notice in the lessons that we don’t recommend using non-stick Teflon cookware, or cooking foods directly on or in aluminum, and here’s why.
Good Food Cooking Zen
Cooking forces us to slow down, be present in the moment, and rely on our senses.
A Clean Workspace
A clean workspace is a safe, stress-free, and thoughtful workspace.
How to Reduce Oil in Your Cooking
We definitely embrace oil for good food cooking around here (even teach you all about frying later), but if you need to reduce oil in your diet or take a break from it altogether, we have a few ideas you can try.
Shopping: Appliances & Tools
These are some of the tools and appliances we’ll be using throughout this course. Some are essential, and some are just nice-to have. We’ve listed them here for shopping convenience.
Some of these links take you directly to affiliate partner sites. You’re welcome to skip these links to research and buy products wherever, or however you like.
Inspiration + Motivation
We have an important mantra around here:
An apron is just a cape on backwards.
The power that comes from good food cooking begins with us, but it causes a ripple effect that makes many lives better.
If you ever need a reminder about the power you have, download our digital wallpapers and place them on your computer, tablet, or phone. You can also print them out and put them on your fridge, bathroom mirror, or desk area, too.
It’s nice to have reminders of how awesome we are scattered everywhere we can.
Extra Books & Courses
Some of these links take you directly to affiliate partner sites. You’re welcome to skip these links to research and buy products wherever, or however you like.
The Power of Habit
This New York Times bestselling book by Charles Duhigg can help us understand why we fall into the patterns that we do, and provides us with tools for how we can make long-term changes.
The YumUniverse Pantry to Plate Cookbook
100 recipes + 30 recipe templates to help you create incredible meals from what you have on hand—as seen in O Magazine and on Oprah.com. Written by your Good Food Cooking Basics Instructor and author Heather Crosby. (plant-based, gluten-free)
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Throughout the course, we’ll reference this book for extra cooking challenges if you like.
The YumUniverse Cookbook
150 veg-powered, gluten-free recipes for all eaters—written by your Good Food Cooking Basics Instructor and author Heather Crosby. (plant-based, gluten-free)
Gluten-Free Baking Academy
Learn to make gluten-free baked goods like sourdough, quick breads, flatbreads, sandwich loaves, and cookies with wholesome, minimally processed ingredients.