I had the privilege of cooking with a wonderful friend..and learned so much about italian cooking!! Here ill share some of the things we cooked together and share some of the things I’ve learned, please follow along 🙂

First lesson, is that its truly a labor of love to cook authentic Italian because it takes time and energy!! Lots of time and lots of energy!!! Another lesson, making a delicious Italian meal is not fat free!! Lol!! But wasn’t it so so delicious!! Yummo!!

My friend Marissa is from Italy and is in her late 70’s what a sweet and loving person, it was a gift to get her inside tricks to make comida italiana.. We made… Italian burger patties, meatballs, eggplant parmigiana (what a delight) Bolognese, a simple sauce and homemade Italian bread!! All in one afternoon!! Yikes!!

We started out with a little wine to begin the fun!! Loved cooking with this amazing lady, but im telling you she had more energy than i did, we started at 3pm and ended around 9ish!! YIKES!! She’s wanted to show me how to make these dishes  before she returned to Italy, so we squeezed it all in an evening! She also said she wanted to help me so i can cook for my family and also save some money!! So sweet!!

One thing i noticed is she did not approve of Prego or Ragu brands! She actually laughed at both these sauces… It turns out that the way she saves money is that she makes and jars her own sauce!! Wow!! Back in Italy they even grow thier own tomatoes!! And fresh herbs!! Wow!! She also regularly makes her own bread!! Awesome!!

Here she is making her Italian Bread!! Im truly honored she taught me how to make this 🙂 havent’ done it on my own yet but hope to do that soon!!

Marissas Italian bread, drizzled with olive oil sprinkled with salt and pepper, you can also add a slice of fresh tomato and mozzarella cheese 🙂 super yummy!!

Frugal and Authentic!! I absolutely love it!! On this occasion i did not jar my own simple and bolognese sauce but decided on freezing instead and am still enjoying Marissa’s cooking today!!  I unthaw the sauce and make my pasta, WaLA!! A nice italian meal!! Yummy!! Just add a salad and veggies!! Love it!! One thing she does is reuse her jars from jams and  sauces..  she uses a funnel, pours into jars and uses a hot water bath to seal!! Very cool!! It’s also frugal when you are making your own meals, and she does!! We made 4 loaves on this day, when she runs out she makes more!! Love it!! She reuses bags and freezes loaves too!!

There were also a few things she noticed that my kitchen needed to cook and/or store Authentic italian food!!

1. A good non stick pan; she was not happy the eggplant was sticking to the pan!! That was not acceptable she said!! Lol!! “No good” was her expression!! I thought it was still very delicious!! She recommended Teflon..

2..funnel.. my dog played and chewed on the one I had,

3..chopper/scrapper.. for scraping counters when making bread!! I was totally clueless to this fact!!

4. Wooden spoons;

https://amzn.to/2n1MPAz

5. Jars…  she recycles her jars, which is an awesome idea, there are also YouTube videos that back this up as well!! I later looked it up!! This was new to me!! Or you can buy canning jars!! She uses the hot water boiling method.. but i havent dared try it 🙂 it seems easy enough but maybe another time…

Another thing i learned is that Italian cooking requires good olive oil and lots of it, First Cold Pressed Extra Virgin is the best 🙂 we used the California Olive Ranch; Extra Virgin Olive Oil,

Oregano is a flavorful herb that Italian cooks add to thier foods, she showed me the difference between the canned and dried oregano verses the fresh from Italy herb!! Wow, the fresher oregano from Italy is much more fragrant!! Apparently her son who still lives in Italy sent her some, she brought it for me when we cooked together!! Nice!! That was a treat!!

So we had a fun evening of Italian Cooking!!! Thanks to my lovely friend Marissa!! I appreciated her tips and the lovely meal and meals that followed!! I especially loved the Eggplant Park with Bolognese and Pasta!! Yum!! The Bread was out of this world delicious too!! Ok I Loved it all!! Hope you’re enjoyed this post, please leave me a comment, Like, leave me a thumbs up or feel free to Share!   My  next post will share some tips to cook a healthier Italian dinner 🙂 thanks for reading 🙂