Kitchen & Cooking Basics
Let's tackle some kitchen basics and answer popular questions that can empower you to be your own healthy chef at home. Healthy cooking and eating does not need to be overwhelming. Learn about recommended tools, staple ingredients, and preparation tips to lower the stress, save time, and enjoy your time in the kitchen.
Important Education Takeaways
Stock your kitchen with the basics: equipment, tools, and grocery staples. A well-stocked kitchen is an essential first step in cooking healthy homemade meals with ease.
Identify food items you tend to use most often as these can allow you to easily pull together basic meals and can serve as the foundation for more complex recipes.
Your go-to kitchen equipment and tools might include a favorite chef’s knife, rice cooker, parchment paper, and glassware food storage containers.
Fridge, freezer and pantry essentials might include eggs, plain Greek yogurt, tofu, canned or homemade broth, brown rice, canned beans, canned tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, and a good olive oil.
Learn about shopping for a heart healthy diet in this 4-minute video.
Helpful information on cooking with healthy oils and choosing produce can be found in our Ask the RD blog.
Set yourself up for success. Stress less by creating a functional workspace in your home kitchen.
Before you start cooking, review your recipe, gather the necessary ingredients, and set up a clear workspace with the needed tools and equipment.
Keep it simple, practice efficiency, and clean as you go to minimize stress and mess!
More great tips can be found here!
Practice makes perfect! Build your skills and confidence in the kitchen by making cooking part of your regular routine.
Start with some simple recipes that require only a few steps and a handful of ingredients. Our homemade pesto or homemade stock are great options to try as you are getting started! These are also great starters for many meals and recipes and offer flexibility in their use.
Work your way up to more complex recipes as you build your skills. Maybe you’ll choose to learn a new cooking method or try different foods and flavor combinations. Soon you’ll be modifying recipes, swapping ingredients, and making delicious homemade meals with ease.
Recipes
Recipe of the month: One-Pan Chicken Orzo
As always, this recipe is the showcase of our live taught, virtual cooking class. Our chef and registered dietitian bring the recipe to life as they walk you through food prep, swaps to meet dietary or taste preferences, plus tips and tools to support you being your own healthy chef at home.
Bonus recipe: Baked Salmon with Quick Cucumber Salad
From Jamie’s kitchen to yours, our monthly bonus recipes are published on our website and social media the 4th Wednesday of each month. We invite you to browse our recipe collection and come back often to find more flavorful and heart-healthy recipes.
We invite you to join us for the live taught, virtual nutrition classes each month to gather more information on our nutrition topics. This is also an opportunity to ask topic-related questions of our experts as well as connect socially with attendees for idea sharing. As a registered participant for our In the Kitchen program, you receive a few reminders ahead of each scheduled monthly classes, but here’s an easy to remember schedule: Nutrition Education (30-minutes, 2nd Wednesday, 12pm), Cooking Class (up to 60-minutes, 3rd Monday, 12pm).
Contributing author: Jamie Libera, RD, LD, CCTD, registered dietitian, Providence.