Are you often crazed by the prospect of last minute planning and cooking on weekdays? Or are you bored by those few trusted recipes you always use when entertaining? Well, I’m here to show you how easy it can be to prepare exciting and delicious meals that will fill your kitchen with irresistible aromas and draw your family and friends to the table like a magnet!  It’s as simple as learning some essential time management skills (wrapped around wonderful, soothing recipes) that will help you feel less physically stretched at the end of a work day, and more excited to share your food with friends and business associates on leisurely weekends.  

First, imagine that your kitchen is a gym, and cooking and baking is an exciting and challenging sport. For your first visit to the gym, you would never start out lifting 50 lb. weights (you would be exhausted!); you would likely start with 5 or 10 lb. weights and gradually increase as you developed more strength. See what I mean? It’s the same with cooking. Like any sport, it must be learned progressively and incrementally (I like to think of it as “kitchen training”). As you learn to “flex your kitchen muscles,” it’s important that you are able to fully digest (no pun intended!) the process of completing a recipe successfully.  And it’s even more important that you are able to enjoy yourself at the table, with those you love, without feeling overwhelmed.

To help you confidently develop (and strengthen!) your kitchen muscles, I’ve used a barbell system for grading my recipes. This will help you feel comfortable with preparing a particular recipe from set-up to serving. The number of barbells assigned to each recipe indicates the level of skill required.

Always keep in mind that spending time in the kitchen is, first and foremost, about recreation and self-fulfillment. I want you to cook happily and lovingly. And remember, if you have a question or need help, I'm only an e-mail away at Ask Lauren.

I’ll be adding new recipes every week, so please come back and visit soon. Now, turn on the music, roll up your sleeves and get those buns to the oven!