my cooking tips...

These are just a few tips that i use when cooking:

- when sauteing anything in the pan, like veggies, meat, and onions, use a little bit of broth, either vegetable, chicken, or beef broth to "de-glaze" the pan. You can avoid using oil or butter because the liquid will pull the food up from the pan and prevent it from sticking. It also helps to make a little sauce in the pan so the items aren't dry, do this once the items have cooked a little and you notice there are brown bits in the bottom .

- when cooking anything on the stove, and you want to make a sauce to cover the food, pull things from your condiments. I like to use Ketchup and Italian dressing for a zesty flavor. Sometimes I use ranch and taco seasoning for a ranchero sauce (like from taco bell), sometimes just ranch. Honey mustard is also a good flavor.

- Always add some kind of seasoning to vegetables while steaming, this will make them more appealing to your picking husband... (kelvin!)

- For a lighter take on spaghetti, use shredded chicken instead of ground beef. Sounds strange, but its very good.

- I like to make flavored butters for garlic or Cinnamon bread. I take a stick of butter, and i put it in a glass bowl, one that has a lid (i have the mini prep bowls from pampered chef) i melt the butter about half way, and then mix it up until the solids and the liquids are one. Then i flavor it, with garlic and basil, or Cinnamon and sugar, or any other flavor you could think of! Then i use what i need, and then refrigerate the rest. The butter will harden and you can use it any time you need a little flavored butter. And if its in the fridge for a while and you just want to get rid of it, just put it in the pan when you need to use butter or oil.

- when I'm making gravy's or soups that need to be thickened, instead of using flour or cornstarch, i use Bisquick. It seems to taste better, and doesn't need to be "cooked out" like flour, and doesn't instantly turn to a solid like corn starch.

well I hope these tips were useful to you! I'll be sure to give some more along the way!