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Entity provides important life hacks for new cooks and aspiring chefs.

During high school, your parents cooked all your meals. During college, you ate at the cafeteria. But now you’re a woman on your own and you need to start feeding yourself healthy food for a change. If you can’t tell the difference between a ladle and a spatula, ENTITY has a few tips to get you started. Keep reading to learn six lifehacks that will help inspire your cooking journey.

1 Garlic is your friend

Honestly, there is nothing better than the smell of chopped onions, garlic, rosemary, salt and olive oil cooking away in a pan, the sssssssssss of a sizzling pan audible throughout the kitchen.

Garlic is one of the only food items you will ever find that is tasty, affordable and good for you. Add chopped garlic to a variety of meals for a fantastic flavor. Don’t forget the number one rule of cooking with garlic: Don’t burn it – if you do it leaves a bitter aftertaste.

2 Add Herbs to Your Dish

Herbs add a sharp, fresh flavor to any dish that may be sorely lacking interest. Do you have a jar of pasta sauce or maybe a cup of noodles lying around? Add some fresh basil. Sautéing some onions? Add rosemary! There are so many herbs you can add to rice to make a much better tasting dish. Mint goes great with lamb, and if you’re cooking chicken, it’s thyme for some herbs!

Buying dried herbs at the market is pretty easy, but sometimes grocery stores will sell fresh herbs that are really inexpensive. Sometimes they’re even cheaper than the dried ones and tastier to boot! Plus, if you want to turn your food into art, you can even use herbs as a trendy and stylish garnish.

3 Knife Skills

If you have any knife skills, cut all of your food into small, similar pieces so everything cooks evenly. If you are lacking in knife skills, find someone who does and ask him or her to dinner. That way, you both get an elegant meal and entertaining conversation. Two for one!

You can also get a mandolin slicer, which has helped more than one foodie with their Instagram game. This slicer is similar to a cheese grater, but instead of cheese you use vegetables or fruit. With the ability to control the size and cut of your veggies, you’ll soon be able to create simple, easy and perfect-looking plates full of nutritious beauty!

4 Use Stock Instead of Water

Chances are, you’ve heard of chicken stock (aka chicken broth). There are a few different kinds of stock as well. The most common ones are chicken, beef and vegetable stock, which are all easily found in grocery stores.

Stock can really add some diversity to your meals. Are you making pasta and tired of the same, boring taste? Cook your pasta in stock instead of water – this adds a lot of flavor and combined with steps one and two, can help transform a fairly bland meal into tasty cuisine that requires little effort. Substituting stock for water will impress your friends into thinking that you’ve diligently learned a new recipe. Minimal effort for maximum outcome.

5 Make Your Own Home Made Bread

Believe it or not, bread is among the easiest things you can bake. Find a recipe for bread – white, wheat, whatever you want – and heat up some milk, add a bit of sugar and yeast, let that stand for a few minutes and put together all the dry ingredients in another bowl.

You know what’s stress relieving? Kneading bread. It requires a little bit of arm strength, but once you’ve done that there are only a few steps left. Just put your ball of dough in a greased bowl and then in a semi-warm place to rise. This step takes about an hour.

What do you do while the bread rises? This is the best thing about being a woman who bakes – you can do some work, write a paper, maybe even balance your checkbook or do your taxes. Once the dough has risen sufficiently, place it in the oven. Once the loaf is golden brown, melt some butter, add some chopped garlic and then spread some on that freshly cooked bread you just made for a delicious treat.

6 Prep Work Is Everything

A good cook is supposed to do multiple tasks at the same time – like chopping up ingredients while others are cooking – thereby maximizing time as much as possible. If your cooking skills aren’t yet up to par, do all of your prep work ahead of time. Any chopping, shredding, dicing – do it all before you start cooking.

You might get better at prep work in the future, but in the meantime there’s no shame in doing it all beforehand. Better a slightly longer baking time than burnt, inedible food.

Ready to whip up your first meal? With these cooking life hacks, being #WomenThatDo in the kitchen is looking simple, stylish and delicious!

Edited by Ellena Kilgallon
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