Yesterday we had a cooking lesson at our apartment. Our good friend and I had talked about me showing him how to cook a few things. I’m not a pro, but I like to cook and it’s fun to share that with someone who wants to learn. Yesterday was the first class.

Our friend is a bachelor and doesn’t spend much time in the kitchen cooking for himself. So I thought up an easy menu that he could prepare.

Our menu included: Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes and Homemade Gravy, Roasted Broccoli, Salad with Homemade Dressing, and Peach Crisp.

The Tri Tip Roast Beef was done in the Crock Pot. He boiled and mashed potatoes, adding the usual yummy ingredients to make them creamy. He learned how to make a rou to start the gravy, then whisked in the drippings from the roast. He chopped and roasted the broccoli with some olive oil, salt and pepper (in the toaster, because our oven is broken). We had a simple salad of romaine lettuce and heirloom tomatoes, with a homemade vinaigrette (that had been emulsified). For dessert, he chopped up some peaches, and made individual peach crisps with an oat, cinnamon, brown sugar topping. It was all delicious. And, he made it all himself! My job was simply to say what to do when, and how to do it. It was great! 

It was fun and empowering to show someone that they can cook a “fancy” meal! I’m looking forward to our next lesson!

(Update: the recipe for the roast can be found here.)

De Ma Cuisine means “from my kitchen”. It’s French. I love the French language and most of the content is from my kitchen. So, it works. 

De Ma Cuisine pronounced phonetically sounds like deh maa kwe-zeen. I’m planning to share recipes, tips, thoughts and maybe a photo or two. Basically, it’s a place to share what I love… I love to cook, and I love to plan menus. I also love to help people who don’t love those things. 

Although there are many posts already on here, this is my official launch post for De Ma Cuisine. The older recipes are ones I took from my old blog.

It’s been a couple months of working diligently on this website, and I’m finally ready for it to be viewed by the world… I think… gulp.

My work days have been filled with not much else but what feels like playing as I’ve been dreaming and constructing. I am learning as I go, and loving what I’m doing. I’m still in the middle of figuring out this whole blogger thing, this whole self-employed thing, this whole what-the-heck-do-I-want-to-do thing… and it’s… challenge, it’s inspiring, it’s pretty great.

I’ve been dying to present this space to the world, but have forced myself to wait until it was actually ready. I think it is, I think I can… here it is… Please enjoy!

– Rachel

Eating local, eating organic, farmers’ markets, more omega 3s and antioxidants, no MSG or trans fats… all trendy right now. That’s great. I love them all. I think they are all important. But, what about taking the next step… homemade food. It’s not trendy. It’s not glamorous. Sometimes it takes way longer. But, it’s worth it!

What started out as necessity to save money, has become a way of life for us. Most people want to eat healthy. Many are complaining about the economy and saving money, about what’s in their food that they don’t know about. Make it yourself, and you eliminate that fear. Make it yourself and you will save money. Make it yourself and because you control the ingredients, you can make it as healthy as you want.

I don’t just mean made at home, out of a box. That’s a step, and an important one for some. If that’s your step, I commend you. But, I also challenge you, dear readers, to not ONLY shop local, at farmers’ markets, eating organic fresh foods, but to prepare them yourself!