Why Tara loves Cooking, and you can too!

Guess what? It’s time for another guest blogger around here! Today we’re welcoming Tara over at A Hill Country Heart! Tara started commenting on my posts back in August and I always love to return the favor because it’s how I meet most of my blogger friends, so I quickly clicked on her page and it was history from there! I love her page first of all. It’s so simple and easy to navigate (something i’m working on for my own blog). But I also love that she’s close to my age and in the same stage of life as me. I feel like her and I are alike in many ways so that’s always fun too!

And she has family up in my area so i’m like come up here and let’s be friends!

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Hi y’all! My name is Tara and I blog over at A Hill Country Heart! I’m here today to tell you why I love cooking, and why I believe you can too!

But first, I actually have a funny story about Molly and me!  I found Molly’s blog through a link-up (What’s Up Wednesday I think?) and loved it and her immediately! I started following her blog daily and would gather here and there that she maybe lived in Texas too, but I wasn’t sure exactly where. Well…it turns out we actually worked for the same hospital (a chain of 6 hospitals) but in different cities and we didn’t even know it! I had even, as we later came to find out, made two trips to her hospital and met a bunch of people she works with! I was so surprised when we finally put two and two together. Such a small [blogger] world!

Anyway, I am more than honored and extremely excited to guest post for Colors of Life! I wanted to write about something that I used to think was hard and just not for me, but that I have come to love. I also thought “Why Tara loves drinking margaritas, and you can too!” was too easy (plus, I know you ladies love margaritas ☺). But really, I want you all to know that if you also think like I used to – that is that cooking takes too much time, is too hard, and is more of a chore, that it’s not! It can be easy, quick and it can even be fun!

Here are some reasons I love to cook:

1. It is so fun to cook for and with other people! It’s a great bonding experience. It’s also extremely satisfying to cook and eat your own meals! So pat yourself on the back when you do! 
2. I’m big into health and fitness and cooking allows you to know just how much sugar, fat, etc. you are getting from what you eat (what’s really in fast food anyway??) 
3. I really love eating and get sad when it’s over so cooking makes the process last longer (and you can taste test along the way ☺) 
4. I LOVE the presentation of food! For me it’s fun. I can’t draw or paint all that well so it kind of brings out my artistic side in a different way. 
5. Unlike baking (which I also love), you can kind of add as much as you want of what you want (pick your favorite spices, veggies, etc.)

Some tips for cooking:

1. I like to wash and pre-chop veggies and fruit so that when I do cook, I don’t have to spend extra time doing this. For example, I’ll chop green onions and stick them in a little baggie in my fridge. This way, I can just grab them and throw them in when I’m ready to cook. 
2. If I like a recipe I make, I’ll make it a few times so that I can remember how to do it and just whip it up real quick ☺ 
3. I got into cooking by taking a food and nutrition class my senior year in high school but there are so many classes out there you can take to get a grasp on cooking (I have taken classes at Sur La Table and they have been GREAT!), OR these days you can take online cooking classes or use Youtube!
   
   
4. Pinterest is a great place to find recipes, as you probably know! I get so many of my recipes from off of Pinterest but I always make sure to read comments that people leave on the recipes first! Sometimes you can tell whether or not it’s a good recipe by the comments.

Thank you all for stopping by to read about why I love cooking and thank you Molly for having me over to your blog!

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Yep, Tara I pretty much agree 100% with everything that you mentioned here especially prepping everything beforehand. Mom and I will prep Thanksgiving way in the morning, rest during the day, and start cooking up early afternoon. It’s a good process for us! Also friends, if you’re interested in the Paleo diet (I actually might be doing this for health reasons soon so that’s why i’m mentioning it) you should read her 30 days of Paleo. It’s so interesting!

 Thanks, girlfriend!!! MOVE UP TO DFW ALREADY! 🙂

And if you’ve missed any other part of this series about what we love, check them out:

Why I love running, and you can too!
Why I love yoga, and you can too!
Why Kylie loves Spinning, and you can too!
Why Jamie loves Celebrating, and you can too!
Why Christina loves Hosting, and you can too!
Why Julie loves Hiking, and you can too!
Why Randi loves Pittsburgh, and you can too!
Why Angie loves Self Care, and you can too!
Why Mattie loves Zumba, and you can too!
Why Katie loves Reading, and you can too!
Why Lindsay loves Hot Yoga, and you can too!
Why Emily loves Decorating, and you can too!