How to Become a Braver Mom in the Kitchen

Until recently, I did not consider myself to be a good cook.  But over this past year, I’ve experienced some things that helped changed that, and I’m sharing my top tips to be braver in the kitchen with you!  Tip #2 really made all the difference.

(photo credit: Photo by Kevin McCutcheon on Unsplash)

Do you ever feel like you’re so bad in the kitchen that you need to start a blog called “Pinterest Cooking Fails?”

Yeah, that was me.

I felt like I knew just enough to get by and not let myself or my family starve.  But secretly, I felt like was a constant disaster in the kitchen.

 

I mean—I wasn’t always bad.  

 

I did have some pretty good moments like the time Celebrity Chef Donnatella Arapaia liked  this recipe of mine. (Whaaat??!!! Imagine if she had actually tasted it?? I bet we’d be total besties!)

 

And I felt so empowered that a famous person liked one of my recipes that I then went ahead and created this super fun Minnie Mouse Veggie Pasta dish for my fam.  (Big hit with the kids!)

Click here to PIN IT for later

I’m definitely more of what you’d call a Creative Cook.  I see something that looks good, and I throw a bunch of ingredients together—based on feeling and taste.

 

And until recently, I by no means thought of myself as an actual cook, let alone someone who could consider themselves to be a legitimate Food Blogger.

So I’m not sure what I was thinking, this past summer, when I signed up for #CookoutWeek, a week long blogger celebration of all food summer-related.  (It’s organized by Food Blogger, Allison Boyer, who runs the PinterTest Kitchen.com).

 

As the week grew near, the amazing, experienced and totally legit food bloggers started listing their recipes in our collaborative google doc.  I started to feel a little insecure—like my recipe ideas wouldn’t stand up.

 

What if they weren’t good enough?

What if they tasted bad?

What if no one liked my recipes?

 

I felt like such a fake.  A fraud.  My confidence started slipping to an all-time low. 

 

But I stuck it out and started making all of my ideas.

 

That’s when things started to change within me and I started to become BRAVER as a Mom in the Kitchen!

 

 

 Tip #1: Believe in yourself and just keep cooking

Click HERE to PIN for later. 

There were some wins. 

Like this super decadent strawberry fudge and these delicious BBQ meatballs.

And some fails….which I did not dare post online.

Like my burnt red, white, blueberry granola.  (That was a tough blow because I was super excited about that dish.  And seriously People, how does one mess up Granola????!!!  Not sure, but I totally did!)

 

But overall, things turned out pretty well.

Click HERE to Pin for Later. 

And then something else started happening….something I wasn’t at all expecting.

 

I started experimenting more.

 

I started using some of these big kitchen tools that have literally just been collecting dust on my counter—Kitchen Aid mixer-yes I’m looking at you….

 

And I started having a little bit of fun.

 

What??!!! Fun in the kitchen?

 

I started to become braver. I started to become stronger, and I started to expand my menu—beyond just fish and sautéed veggies.

 

And this Fall, I signed up for another Food Blogger event and even made a savory chocolate sauce for, what else…a fish dish!  And it came out really well!

It was so good, that I was actually thinking of bottling it…. #DreamBig

 

 

I feel like I still have a long way to go in the area of traditional cooking. But I’m improving and that’s a good start.

 

Tip #2: Find a community

It’s all thanks to my fellow bloggers from Allison Boyer’s #CookoutWeek/Choctoberfest community. Their recipes were so inspirational and approachable.   Their support gave me the courage to try different things, cook in different styles, and most importantly…just have fun.

So I encourage you to find a community that you can speak freely in.

Here at Our Sutton Place, I have a Tips Tuesday thread in our Facebook Group.  Click here to join for FREE.

When you have fun, you start cooking with love and creativity and THAT is when you really start to become…a cook.Click To Tweet

 

Tip #3: Use Kitchen tools to your advantage

I also realized that using tools in the kitchen shouldn’t be something to be afraid of.  Tools are your friend and can make your life so much easier.  Again…Kitchen Aid mixer, I’m looking at you, buddy!

 

Now when my daughters need cookies or snacks for school, I actually MAKE them from scratch using my mixer.  It really doesn’t take that much time when all you have to do, is throw the ingredients in and the stand mixer basically does all the work for you.

 

If you’d like to win your own Kitchen Aid Mixer, Enter our big KITCHEN AID MIXER GIVEAWAY!  You could win your own Classic Series Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (in your choice of black or white) PLUS   a $75 Amazon gift card to put toward any accessories or attachments!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

ENTER TODAY.  Giveaway runs until Dec 21, 2018 at 11:59 PM

See Entry form widget for all rules and regulations.

Good luck!

 
And Don’t forget to check out these amazing recipes!