Pick up cool tips from Jenna Stewart author of Regan by @DeeSKnight #RLFblog #Romance #Western #Historical

Two Tips for Cooking

For the longest time, whenever someone said to my husband that something "isn't like your mama used to make," Jack would say, "Thank God!" I'll admit, we did have some meals at his mother's table that even she couldn't handle. Fortunately, she could laugh at her culinary not-quite-successes. But for the most part, she was a darn good cook. That she raised two strapping, healthy sons was evidence. I'll admit I'm not the greatest cook. I once told someone that if it couldn't be done on a George Foreman or in the microwave, it wasn't being cooked in my house. However, growing up I was taught to make most anything by both mom and dad. When Jack and I lived in Virginia, we often had company for dinner—family and colleagues—and I put together some very good meals. So, these tips come from those days, not these days.

Plan ahead. Make sure you have what you need for a recipe before you start to prepare it. Ideally, I like to have everything measured out and at hand, but at least available before starting. Especially when it comes to baking. There's nothing worse than being at a critical point in a recipe and realizing that you need vanilla (or something) and it's buried somewhere in your cabinet. If I don't have things measured ahead of time, I like to keep measuring cups and spoons out and ready.

If you're using a recipe, read through it several times to make sure you know what's coming up. Can't tell you how many times I didn't do this and screwed up. "Oh, shoot! I should have added the flour ahead of the fruit." Or, "Darn, it said buttermilk instead of milk." And yeah, I know you can make buttermilk, but do you really want to stop in the middle of the recipe to do that? Sigh...

Have fun. Be adventurous. I've made recipes from all over the world, experimented with breads, and perfected comfort foods. Cooking is a blast. Not now, of course. Now I stick to microwaves and reservations.

Isn't this like writing? Plan your story. Have major plot points in mind and organized. Don't forget the conflict, the romance arc, giving your characters life, etc.—it's no fun to have to go back and correct things in the middle of trying to meet a deadline. Have fun creating your worlds and characters that populate them.