When was the last time you sat down to a wonderful meal? Your most recent experience was probably at the Feast of Tabernacles or Thanksgiving. Think of all the delicious foods and flavors you enjoyed. Remember the exciting combinations of items that made for a memorable dinner.

How would you like to make those things yourself?

Cooking is actually easier to learn than most might assume. At first, try to make things for yourself, such as salads, pasta, meat balls, noodle dishes, sandwiches, soups, etc. The list is endless!

Move on to cooking some of these for your family, and then volunteer to bring snack items for after Sabbath services. Over time, you will become more confident—and you may even want to host a dinner party! Such evenings are highly engaging, and you will experience some of the best conversation and fellowship possible!

But you do not need to jump all the way to a gourmet meal to reap cooking’s many benefits. Start small—pick easier items and go from there. As the saying goes, you have to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run. Nonetheless, if you apply some simple principles, you can quickly learn to make tasty dishes in no time!

Ingredients Are Key!

Of course, the first step is deciding what you want to make. Go with something that interests you—and start simple.

Whether a beginner or “seasoned” veteran, you can find many recipes and ideas in cookbooks.

The Internet is also another source for cooking inspiration. There are literally dozens of websites (such as Allrecipes.com, Epicurious.com and FoodTV.com) containing tens of thousands of recipes, many of which allow you to sort by difficulty and/or cost to prepare.

Did you know that selecting quality ingredients for the recipe is the most important step? It can be said that a meal is only as good as its ingredients! It is vital to select fresh and, if possible, organic fruits and vegetables. This will ensure the highest quality and best flavor. No doubt, you have tasted the difference between freshly picked fruit from a tree versus fruit in a supermarket. Fresh fruit is always tastier—and is full of nutrients!

It may be more difficult to choose appropriate combinations of herbs and spices. Using these takes practice; however, some are easy. If you prepare a dish for a dinner party, you might not want to combine horseradish and cinnamon—as it might be the last dinner party you hold!

Take time to plan and research different ingredients. You will be surprised at how much planning God put into designing various ingredients. Items such as garlic and onions have so many positive properties you will want to use them as much as possible.

The overall principle is to be ingredient conscious. In time, you will develop a skill in knowing what items to mix together, for both flavor and nutrients!

Healthy Is Not Horrible

The vast majority reaches wrong conclusions about taste and nutrition, falsely assuming that in order for something to be good for you, you must sacrifice flavor. This could not be farther from the truth!

God created our tastebuds and the thousands of ingredients that can tickle them. He knew what He was doing! But many today have spoiled their tastebuds by eating so much junk—heavily processed and refined items to which your body becomes addicted. The most common of these are sugar (and the many chemical sugar substitutes) and white flour. If possible, avoid them.

Resisting the urge to use these items may take time. Be patient with yourself. It takes effort to learn how to replace white sugar with natural substitutes—such as honey or maple syrup. Similarly, it is difficult to replace white flour with healthier alternatives.

Even a little research done on white sugar and bleached white flour will show they are devoid of any nutritional value. Of course, there are many kinds of natural sweeteners. For instance, strawberries or other fruit contain a type of sugar called fructose. There are also plants (actually grasses) that contain sugar. It is from sugarcane from which refined sugar is produced. You may have seen raw or “unprocessed’ sugar, which is usually darker brown in color and more irregular looking.

To produce white sugar, raw sugarcane is run through a series of chemical processes that strip it of all nutrients. (It is interesting to note that sugarcane is one of the most nutrient-rich grasses in the world.) The final product is a completely nutrient-devoid substance that is in no way similar to the original.

The by-product of refined sugar is so poisonous that it must be labeled “toxic waste” and be disposed of through a special process. Is this what you want to put into your body—never mind into the meals you are learning to create?

The process for bleached white flour is similar. All the nutrients of wheat are removed and then what is left is bleached—yes, bleached!—to produce today’s white flour. The body was not designed to ingest these manmade creations, and many people suffer health problems because of it.

With experimentation and research, you can use healthy ingredients that not only improve taste, but are free of negative side effects. Ask others what they use, and you will learn all sorts of techniques.

Share Ideas

Some websites even offer cooking tips that will help improve your cooking skills! To learn things even faster, consider taking a cooking class at a community college or high school.

Share your ideas, recipes and tips with friends! Discuss plans you may have, how certain recipes turned out, what you have learned or what ingredients work well together.

Like so many things, cooking is best learned by practicing. Try it for yourself! Remember, when possible use fresh and organic ingredients. Avoid the negative ingredients that affect our health—and pile on the good ones!

In no time, you’ll be cooking up a storm!