Are the vanilla beans next to the fresh herbs?

I've always just made simple chicken and pasta dishes for dinner and a ton of eating out. In many ways I am starting from scratch when it comes to cooking and going to the grocery store. So, where am I at with this?

I wanted to get a cook book that I knew would compliment the way I'm trying to eat. I ended up getting a paleo cookbook called "Against all Grain". I'm not going paleo but I knew that all the recipes would  have no wheat, which I am cutting back on and would be healthy in general. Plus.... look at those darling illustrations!

I decided to first make the "Slow Cooker Pot Roast". I got my little list and headed to the store.... I wondered aimlessly in the produce aisle trying to find a "Leek". Finally I found the picture on the tag..that was the only way I knew what it was. I was embarrassed for myself on many occasions as I tried to find each ingredient. I texted Brianne and asked for help on where to locate things and had to ask an employee for a couple things too.

When I actually started preparing the meal I thanked God multiple times for my new best friend... You Tube. I had to look up how to clean and cut the Leek, how to cube carrots and a few other things. It was actually kinda fun! Cooking is so pretty and colorful! The girls were right by my side helping me when they could. We're all learning. 

It ended up turning out really well and my husband loved it. As you can see I added potatoes to the recipe that were not in the Paleo version and I served it with bread. It was a success! But boy it felt like I needed to learn quite a bit to even get this one right. I'm really excited to get the foundational cooking stuff under my belt so everything doesn't feel so unfamiliar and time consuming. 

Tonight I was feeling adventurous and wanted to make the "French Vanilla Coffee Creamer" out of the same cookbook to put in my DandyBlend in the morning. There were 5 ingredients and one was a vanilla bean. I, of course, had never bought one before and had no clue on where to look. I started looking in the fresh herb area in the refrigerated section. I must have had a clear look of "clueless" on my face because an employee came up and asked to help and directed me to the right aisle. (blush). 

I feel like such a little kid right now! But as I mentioned on Instagram it really has given me that extra dose of understanding as I home school the girls! I'm being placed in their learning shoes and I think that's great for both of us.

This is a picture from when I was at Brianne's and she taught me how to make roasted chicken! It took us so long because she had to teach me the proper way to cut things, how to dice herbs, how to work with the chicken and lots in between. Add on a whole lot of laughing and you get a glimpse of our afternoon. I was quite giddy when it was done and boy did it taste YUM after it was cooked.  

So all in all things are going well, its just going to be slow going and messy as I have so much to learn. Good thing I love being a student, laughing at myself and feel really good about why I'm learning to cook. 

Also.... Like Brianne mentioned in her last post we are doing a daily Plank challenge on top of our 5 day a week work out routine. Join us! It hurts, you shake, you get sore... doesn't it sound great? You start at 20 seconds and after 30 days are supposed to hold it for 5 minutes ( yeah right!!) Brianne and I send a video of ourselves doing the plank each day to prove we did it. It cracks us up too.... so here is mine from today. 

30 seconds of plank and embarrassing myself

Let us know if you join the challenge :)

-Kristin