I Never Knew How Easy It Is!

I am definitely new to the cooking scene (at my wedding luncheon there were a lot of jokes about my lack of cooking skills), but I think I’ve improved a lot since Ryan and I got married nearly four years ago. I love to try new recipes, and I probably try two to three new recipes every week to keep life interesting.

Some things  I was always scared to try to make because I thought it would be difficult, but once I tried it, it was actually easy! Here are three examples:

Freezer jam:

I make freezer jam every summer now, ever since we first ran out of Ryan’s mom’s jam that first summer after we were married. I buy strawberries, raspberries, and this year blackberries when they are their very cheapest and buy a TON of them. I then make enough jam to last us a year (plus just freeze some berries whole for topping desserts and things).

Making freezer jam is really easy! You just buy the packets at the store, follow the directions on the package, and put it in a nice little tupperware. I have to warn you though, once you make and eat your own jam, it’s hard to go back!

Tortillas:

Ryan decided to make tortillas from scratch a couple of months ago for his dinner night (Sunday), and they were so yummy and easy! The hardest part is rolling them out, which mainly just takes awhile if you roll them all out at once. We used to buy the uncooked tortillas from Costco, but from now on we are making them from scratch! We use this recipe, but we just use the ingredients in the footnote. Maybe I’ll try whole what tortillas sometime. Also, using the butter-flavored shortening makes them really good. Just sayin’.

Chicken broth:

Chicken broth in a can is pretty expensive, so we have been using chicken bouillon cubes to make chicken broth. However, I am thinking real chicken broth probably tastes much better and is probably healthier too. So, the last time whole chickens were on sale I bought one for like two or three dollars. We roasted it up, shredded and froze the leftovers from that dinner, and then used the carcass to make some broth. It made a lot of it!

My mom has been telling me to do this for years, but I thought it was hard, so I never tried. It’s not hard! I can’t wait to use it in a recipe :)

I now have a freezer full of broth and freezer jam, and a fridge full of 20 homemade tortillas any time I want, with not much effort. I feel so domestic :)