Two things I'm excited, no, ECSTATIC about on this Wednesday, October 15th, 2014: 1. I'm going home to VA today to spend time with my family and get to stay a whole week!!! Bring on the mountains, crisp fall air, and breathtaking fall foliage. Eeep!! October is simply the most stunning time to visit Virginia - the scenes from the Blue Ridge Parkway are out-of-this-world incredible! I'm counting on a hike {or two}, taking my dog Boomer for walks, visiting my favorite bakery, cooking with the fam, and getting some fresh fall style inspo from my fabulous seesters.
The second thing I'm psyched about is that today I get to tell you about a ridiculously amazing resource I've discovered recently: CookSmarts! A few months ago, I was contacted by the founder of CookSmarts, Jess Dang, who wanted to introduce me to myriad of cooking resources offered by their company as a potential benefit to the readers of Sweet Cayenne. I agreed to look over there website, and boy, was I amazed!
You guys, I'm starting to thing that this is the best resource for all things related to cooking that I've ever come across. It's literally a goldmine of cooking tips, videos, inspiration, recipes, and infographics that can turn any aspiration of becoming comfortable in the kitchen into a delicious reality (see this link). Just look at this beautiful and informative infographic they have developed to help you with produce shelf life:
In addition to helping people learn how to cook, Cooksmarts will plan your meals for you, generate a shopping list, and provide support for any cooking questions you have along the way. What I love so much about the meal plans developed by CookSmarts is that there are versions general healthy living, Paleo, gluten-free and vegetarian. They are easy to customize for taste preferences, skill level, and budgets as a week's worth of meals will often utilize the same ingredients in different ways as well as turn leftovers into delicious "round two" meals.
CookSmarts literally thinks of everything so you don't have to - they account for seasonality, cost, cooking skill, nutrition information, and shopping lists. All you need to do is purchase the ingredients and cook them - with lots of support and troubleshooting tips along the way! Seriously, if you've ever considered signing up for a meal planning service, please consider using CookSmarts! In addition to all of the wonderful free cooking information they offer, you get the following benefits with a meal plan subscription:
- Access to weeks and weeks of meal plan archives filled with colorful, fresh and healthy recipes
- The ability to track meals you've made and favorite meals so that you acquire an arsenal of go-to healthy recipes
- A priceless amount of kitchen confidence as you learn new kitchen skills
- More time - you don't have to think about what's for dinner, you just have to cook it!
- Opportunity to earn $$ - CookSmarts will pay you a referral fee for every friend that signs up
- Improved health and variety in your diet by eating balanced, nutrition-filled meals
Sound good? I sure think so! So how much does it cost? Luckily, I've found CookSmarts to be extremely affordable and well worth the low cost of $6 per month when you sign up for a year ($8/mo on a monthly plan). That's less than paying for Hulu or Netflix, and soooooo much better for you!
**Affiliate Disclosure**
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. By clicking on them and subscribing to CookSmarts, I could receive a referral payment. I was not compensated to write this post, and all opinions are my own.
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