Wednesday, January 21, 2009

so my very first post...........

on my cooking blog! let me just start by saying i LOVE to cook! i really do, i have recently started trying to cook some new stuff because my family tends to be creatures of habit and can eat the same 10 things over and over. I am Mexican so alot of what i cook is Mexican food but i have been experimenting with new things and taking lots of pictures now i will warn you i am no pioneer woman but my family are my biggest fans... usually!

so  first let me tell you a little about myself in case you don't read my main family blog. i am a sahm mom of 4 kids Liz-10, David-6, Johnathan-5, and Jake 19 months old, and we just found out we are expecting another baby in September! We also have a son Matthew who passed away at 3 months old he was Johnathan's twin brother. My hubby John works really hard so that i can stay home with the kiddos and he is AWESOME! i am a mops coordinator and i am planning on home schooling next year wow what a adventure we are on around our house! so enough about me lets talk about food!

so what will make this blog different from any other cooking blog? i cook very simple meals, i don't want to make a 7 course dinner i just want to show you some yummy food your family may love. i don't follow recipes to well i will try to tell you to the best of my knowledge but i cant make any promises =).

my biggest tip when it comes to cooking is to season your food! i mean so many people can make food look so pretty then when you taste it there is no flavor! so for my very first post i will show you some of my favorite kitchen seasonings!

100_2012  100_2011

these are my 2 favorite seasonings/spices. cumin is so yummy and adds a smokey depth of flavor to your food that is so delicious. i put it in my beans, rice, taco meat, soup, chili, and on and on.

the Tony's i have seen in Albertsons and Wal-mart but i always order a case online and put the extras in the freezer and use them as i need them. you add this just like salt and it has a little kick to it. i literally put it on EVERYTHING that i would salt.

i do use lots of pepper, salt, garlic powder and many other seasoning but these 5 i have mentioned are my favorites.

 

100_2010

i use cooking spray, and extra light tasting olive oil all the time as well as vegetable oil but i have to have he light tasting kind. the others are too strong to me. i will never forget one time we were visiting someone and they made pancakes using the regular olive oil and even with syrup we could only taste olives blahhhh......

 

100_2014

lastly here some onions and garlic, if you are not using fresh onions and garlic you are missing out! i used to think i hated onions, and now i love them cooked. Raw they are still gross to me but a cooked onion just rounds out a great meal to me!

So what spices do you love? what are your staples in your pantry? i cant wait to hear from you!