Martha, Martha…

​I’m feeling a little under the weather today, so this update will be brief.

As part of the biblical womanhood experiment, I’ve been cooking my way through Martha Stewart’s Cooking School and cleaning my way through Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook.  

Some things I’ve learned from Martha so far:

• It is possible for a piece of cheese to cost $13.69.
• Grating your own horseradish is not worth it.
• Not a single grocery store in the Dayton city limits sells cipollini onions, but if you befriend the produce guys BiLo they can order just about anything for you. 
• There is a rather significant difference between a garlic clove and a garlic bulb. (Yeah, I know that this is pretty basic, but I’ve always just purchased prepackaged minced garlic, so I guess I assumed that the white papery things in the grocery store were cloves.  Fortunately, the reality of the situation became apparent as soon as I opened one of the bulbs, so ended up using the right amount of garlic in the recipe, but with a lot leftover…so feel free to stop by if you’re short on garlic.)
•  Pretty much everything on Martha’s “clean every day” list, I do once a week. 
• Pretty much everything on Martha’s “clean every week” list, I do once a month. 
• Pretty much everything on Martha’s “clean every month” list, I’ve never done in my life. 
• I really like beets, even though cooking with them makes me look like Dexter after a kill.
• Blanching onions isn’t so hard.
• I don’t really like onions.

So far, our favorite of Martha’s recipes have been: 

Roasted Autumn Harvest Salad (LOVED this)
Stout and Beef Stew (took forever, but worth it) 
Stuffed Shells (good for a crowd) 
Savory French Toast BLT (super easy and unhealthy, but delicious!) 

Don’t forget to add your own original recipe to the mix for a chance to have it published!

So what were some of your rookie mistakes when you first learned to cook?