Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway
by Oct 15th, 2010 // Giveaway
Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway
![Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_4530.jpg "Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway")
I am officially in awe of my dear friend, Jaime Curtis. Jaime’s much anticipated book, Prudent Advice, hit stores this past week and it SOLD OUT on Amazon within days. (They have since ordered more.) The book is absolutely gorgeous and it’s filled with thoughtful advice that is neither preachy nor old-fashioned. Each page reminds me of the kind of woman I want to be and inspires me to teach my kids to be as ethical as they are witty.
![Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/prudentadvice4-1.jpg "Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway")
Isn’t the advice in #3 so lovely? “Don’t ever underestimate your father’s ability to understand you.” I would never have thought to tell my kids that but I totally agree 100%. (Love you, Dad!)
![Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_45342.jpg "Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway")
And how cool is it that the book includes a color wheel with the words “There is a science to everything.” Even ART! Believe me, it gets better and better with every page. Congratulations, Jaime. You are truly an inspiration and I’m so lucky to call you a friend.
![Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_4587.jpg "Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway")
Lucky for us, Jaime chose Cooking With My Kid to be a part of her blog tour! That means we get to giveaway a copy of Prudent Advice. In honor of Jaime’s great achievement and generosity, I invite you to share your Prudent [Kitchen] Advice when commenting on any of this week’s post. Starting today we’ll post a new piece of advice with each post through 10/22. All you have to do is comment with your own piece of kitchen advice to be entered to win. If you want more chances to win Prudent Advice come back each day and enter another piece of advice. (Only one comment per day please.) The giveaway will close at midnight on 10/22 and the winner will be selected at random from all the comments / advice received.
![Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gus_Reb_Soup.jpg "Prudent [Kitchen] Advice Giveaway")
I couldn’t help but post this picture of my kid with his mama because it relates to my advice! Here it is: A watched pot never boils. You can accomplish so much while you’re waiting!
What’s your Prudent [Kitchen] Advice?
My kitchen advice: Clean up as you go. It makes the post meal dishes less intimidating and more likely to get done.
Kitchen advice from my mum when waiting for the baking to come from the oven: If you open the door before the buzzer goes off then you add another 10 minutes to the cooking time.
Kitchen advice:Patience pays =}
I totally agree with you about advice # 3; my father knows me so well he never fails to know what I'm thinking. My mother used to say we had a 6th sense towards each other. One piece of advice I give my daughter is "put it back!" – life is so much easier when everybody puts back what they use so others can find it when they need it.
Thank you for this wonderful giveaway!
ap_lemos at yahoo dot com
Wipe your counters down every night! It makes mornings much happier and cleaner
I am so excited about her book! I love her site (and yours).
My kitchen advice…Don't be afraid to experiment. Not every dish needs a recipe.
Use baking soda and water to clean your stainless steel cookware. Its easier on the pans and works!
A place for everything and everything in its place. That makes for an organized and clean kitchen. What a great looking book!
Make a weekly menu. . . makes the grocery bill lower and you'll have everything you need for the week of meals.
know whats in your pantry. theres little more annoying than having to run out for a ingredient while cooking.
My advice if you're in my kitchen: order in
But thanks to this site I make a mean baked ziti!
One decent knife is worth half a dozen other kitchen gadgets.
When directions call for spraying the bottom of a dish/pan, don't turn it over and spray the actual bottom.
My kitchen advice is something my grandma always used to say. She said everyone should have at least one hallmark dish they hone and perfect, something people will always remember about you, and say, "She makes the best ________." I'm working on having 10 hallmark dishes!
My Kitchen Advice is "you are in charge of the food not the food in charge of you" I used to get so nervous reading new recipes and especially ones with new ingredients but I realized they could not get me I was the one to make them flourish and if all else fails order pizza!
Have fun in the kitchen, love what you make, and share generously!
Always wear shoes or slippers when working in the kitchen, it will hurt less when you drop a cast iron pan on your foot!
My mom always taught me to clean as I go! I never really developed that habit, but I do move things to the sink as I go
when you make memories in the kitchen, you often times make messes at the same time. but don't worry- messes can be cleaned up- don't stress!
Clean as you go when cooking anything. My husband doesnt and it drives me crazy!
My mother in law uses this Finnish saying "more days than sausages", which basically means that you shouldn't indulge yourself every day. I think it sounds funny and makes sense.
I love the picture!
My kitchen advice is to go with the flow! My kitchen is rarely in order (with a year old and a 9 month old I'm lucky to get the dishwasher going). My 2 year old likes to help unload the dishwasher by throwing all of the silverware in the drawer and I leave it that way. Someday he'll learn that each piece goes in a particular spot, but for now, he's just glad to have a job.
He also likes to help unload other things, but usually gets distracted and throws them on the floor…playing with them until I put them up. Nope, I don't rinse or re-wash them. Probably gross, but I'm just trying to get things done!
Don't worry about a little flour on the floor. Little hands have a tendency for those things. It's alright. Little hands also have a way of adding magic to dishes, and mom's heart.
I learned from my mom to "Plan ahead and plan your meals so you use up all the fresh ingredients by the end of the week" For example, if you know you're going to use half a package of mushrooms on Monday, plan another meal with the rest of the mushrooms later in the week so they don't go bad. I used to waste a lot of food because I'd only use half of something and then not use the rest, and was always amazed at my mom who always seemed to know what she was going to do with the rest. Now I'm trying to plan ahead like her and it is so much more time efficient and economical.
When kids are helping, a little more or less doesn't matter. If some spills it isn't the end of the world!
Buy a coffee grinder and grind your own beans every morning-it's worth it!
That book looks fantastic! Will it be in stores or online only?
My kitchen advice: Get a jar or two of Better Than Bouillon. Generally I'm a make-from-scratch kinda girl but that stuff is just amazing. It's intended to be broth but I use it in other ways too. I make a butternut squash side dish that's just frozen squash, caramelized onion, thyme, black pepper, and a teaspoon of BTB. You wouldn't believe how much depth that little bit of concentrate gives the dish! The first time he ate it my husband was complaining about how fatty it must be because it tasted creamy. Nope, no butter, no oil, just my secret weapon. ; ]
Never be afraid to try something new.
My daughter says "Bake cookies every week."
When I turned 14, my mother told me that it was time for my "cooking lessons" (and laundry, sewing, and cleaning, etc.). Not because it was her expectation that I necessarily be a home-maker, but because being able to cook real healthy meals is a skill that every adult should have in order to take care of themselves, and the people they love, if they choose. I remember rolling my teenage eyes at her at the time, but today I support my family, come home and make mostly-organic dinners for my kids (sometimes with their help), sew quilts for babies, and many more things. There are so many skill she taught me that year in our "lessons". I guess my advice is that cooking is a failing art in these times, but there is no better way to show yourself and others love and take care of body and spirit.
Keep your computer out of the line of fire!! I cook so many recipes I find on blogs I've always got my laptop in the kitchen these days. I've come close to shorting out the keyboard too many times!
Read the recipe. Twice. Three times, even. All the way through. THEN start. And if you're doubling/halving/etc., write down the newly calculated quantities before you start.
Most of my mistakes happen when I don't heed my own advice.
Listen to music while washing dishes. It makes the time go by much faster!
Enjoy it! You're going to have to do it forver, and it can be very enjoyable.
Don't be scared of bread making – it just seems that it takes forever to make that one loaf. In reality, you knead it for 10-15 minutes, then leave the dough alone for hours – and it does the work for you.
Walking into a clean kitchen the next morning is worth the clean up the night before!
here is ,my advice, learned from experience: never add cold water to a hot glass baking dish! never!
Empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning so dishes don’t pile up all day
Don't be afraid to write in your cook books!!! Label your favorites, add changes and X out the really bad ones. It makes searching for a recipe much easier, especially when you don't stick to the same 10-15 recipes.
salt your pot of water AFTER it is boiling. i learned the hard way and my new pot, at the time, no longer looked new. bummer.
Mise-en-place: Measure it out before you begin. It will save you from realizing you need an ingredient in the middle of preparing a recipe.
Use good knives, keep them sharp, and chop calmly and methodically. Impersonating an iron chef only leads to trips to the emergency room (know this from personal experience sadly).
My only advice is to remember that no matter what you have to serve, it's always best with hot rolls. And if you have hot rolls, you can serve anything you want for dinner, whether it's a full-on gourmet meal, or a bottle of peaches. Nobody will complain!
Collect family recipes – even if they aren't in style. And make them.
A lot can be solved with plain old salt and pepper!
would love to win a copy of this book for my daughter, I love to cook with my kids and have found some great ideas on here.
I really enjoyed reading everyone else's kitchen advice. Mine was "Clean as you go" but that has been said a few times . . . so I will say, Ask your mom, grandma, aunt's, uncle's – whoever – for their recipes to family favorites. They won't always be around and it is funny to carry on family dishes for generations. We make Chocolate Gravy jus like my Grandma Ada did with her "secret ingredient" (no it isn't love).
Advice from my mother regarding Thanksgiving Day gravy: Place the flour and water in a plastic dish and shake it before adding to your broth. It eliminates any lumps. Thanks to those words, my gravy is now THE favorite in my entire family, as well as my husband's.
Always under cook your pasta by a couple minutes. Soggy noodles don't make anyone happy.
When you are cooking, you generally don't have to be finicky. When you are baking, you generally do.
My kitchen advice is clean as you go! It makes everything much more pleasant.
Learn how to use leftovers. Pack them in lunchboxes the night before, use components to make a new dish the next day or freeze what you can to stretch your grocery dollar!
Cook with your kids-it's way messier and takes heaps longer but creates beautiful memories
My kitchen advice is to have fun! Some people look at cooking as a chore, but it's as fun as you make it. And don't be afraid to make a mess, while you're at it! (Though I agree with a lot of the other commenters – that cleaning as you go makes a huge difference).
Thanks for the chance to win!
Advice for the day: To clean pots and pans, use a cloth dipped in lemon.
Hi Rebecca, I'm not officially entering because I have 8 of my own Prudents, but I wanted to say thank you for the nifty popcorn giveaways in the book-signing gift bags. I'm going to pop it with my own little guy. It was a pleasure meeting you and hope to see you again soon. xo Sherri
The advise I would give to my daughters is eat what you love with people you love.
Good quality knives make a world of difference in the kitchen. Dull knives are dangerous and makes chopping/mincing/slicing take forever. Invest in a high quality set of knives and a sharpener and you will be able to cut things like they do on the food network. After getting my set of chef knives, I have been able to make it look just as effortless as they do on tv. It is wonderful and fun!
Always read directions from start to finish BEFORE you start cooking. Sometimes a complicated recipe has a good tip, that you need to know before you put everything together.
Appreciate when others cook or bake for you, even if it isn't your favorite.
Let your kids try whatever food they want to try – even if you think they won't like it. You might be surprised. I have been.
Never turn down help in the kitchen! Even if the helper is a little one, they will teach you so much!
I love #4! That book looks so fun, especially the picture of Frida.
My advice? As you cook, keep in mind how much you love the people you are cooking for (including yourself). I promise that it'll make the food taste better.
Jarred minced garlic. True love. It's TOTALLY not cheating, and even if anyone could TELL it was pre-minced, the time saved is well worth it — especially if you are not so great with knives.
Advice-egg shells can be used to clean the bottoms of sticky jars. Fill it up with soap water and eggs shells…shakey shakey and the eggs scratch the goo off!
Grow some of your own food if you can. It is cheaper and tastes WAY better.
My kitchen advice: Don't worry about making a mess. It can always be cleaned off!! Have fun!
My kitchen advice….get yourself a nice pretty apron. I love cooking in my ruffled apron.
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