Overcoming Your Fear of the Kitchen!

I get so many messages from people saying that they are a terrible cook and are worried that the recipes won’t turn out well for them. So I wanted to write a post for everyone that feels this way because you’re absolutely not a terrible cook, no one is a terrible cook – it’s a skill that everyone can learn and enjoy! I also think that overcoming your fears of the kitchen and insecurities about your cooking abilities is the best way to enjoy cooking, and enjoying cooking is essential if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. If you want to eat nourishing food then you’ll need to make it most of the time and if you enjoy making it you’re much more likely to do it!

Three Rules of Enjoying Cooking:

 1. Know That It Really Can’t Go That Wrong

When it comes to savoury dishes it really can’t go that disastrously wrong and nearly every dish is salvageable, I promise! I spend a lot of my time recipe testing and so often a recipe doesn’t come out in the way that I imagined it would, but I can always add in a few bits and pieces to make it a tasty enough meal. So if your experiment doesn’t quite go to plan, don’t worry – just add in some favourite flavours to bring it to life. I normally go for tamari, toasted sesame oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, miso paste, tahini, honey, cayenne pepper, chilli flakes, black pepper, cumin or salt. A mix of these ingredients can save just about anything!

With sweet dishes there is more room for error as baking can be more hit and miss, especially when it comes to texture. So start with easiest dishes, where it can’t really go wrong. Raw desserts are great for this as they simply need blending, which is very simple, so have a look at things like energy bites and raw brownies. You don’t have to go raw though; just head towards non-cakey recipes like apple crumble, as these are pretty fool-proof too. Cakes are the hardest as the texture can easily go wrong, so if you’re a nervous baker just ignore these to start with!

2. Adapt Recipes to Suit Your Tastes

Don’t be afraid to make changes to recipes, it’s a great way to ensure that you enjoy your meal and get the most out of your time in the kitchen. Recipes, especially savoury recipes, are there as inspirations and guidelines – you don’t have to take them exactly as they are, you can interpret them and make them your own. You can do this by simply adjusting the herbs and spices, or taking out ingredients that you know you don’t like and replacing them with something you do. If you hate a certain ingredient in the recipe like coriander/cilantro, for example, then don’t feel you need to use it – it won’t make or break the meal. Likewise, if you take a recipe like my warming winter curry, it’s so easy to adapt. It’s made using potatoes, carrots, cannellini beans and spinach, but these are all interchangeable with other ingredients that either you have in your fridge already or things that you just prefer. The potatoes and carrots can easily be swapped for sweet potatoes, squash, aubergine, cauliflower or any other substantial, starchy veggie. While the beans can be swapped for any other type of bean or just left out entirely if you don’t like them, and the spinach can be substituted for any leafy green like cavelo nero, kale or chard, or again just left out. So don’t panic about making changes, if you swap like for like then it really won’t ruin anything!

With sweet things the same rules apply when it comes to swapping like for like – change strawberries for raspberries, maple syrup for honey etc. You have to be a bit more careful when swapping ingredients that aren’t really similar, but if you want something sweeter then add more sweetness, or more cacao if you want it more chocolaty etc.

3. Make Time

If you want to start cooking and are quite to new to it then try a new recipe when you have lots of time, so that you’re not stressed and rushing. This might sound really banal and obvious, but enjoying the environment you’re in and having the time to get into your cooking without feeling stressed by the time, means you’ll have a much more positive memory of it, which will help encourage you back into the kitchen again! Play some fun music, get a friend to come hang out with you and just use the time to zone out from stress, work and emails. When I see cooking as my chill out time I enjoy it a million times more!

 

 

 

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