If there is one technique I could offer the world to make cooking and baking easy – it is Mise en Place! Mise en Place is one of those fancy French words that basically means to have everything in place that can be prepped, measured and ready prior to cooking or baking. Therefore, you will not have to stop and measure each ingredient or go to your pantry or fridge and get it which will slow you down. Also, it will ensure that you have all the ingredients, prior to cooking or baking. Mise en Place isn’t a great technique for everything, but for the most part I use it frequently, especially for baking and stir-fries!
Shown is a Mise en Place for Grandma Helen’s Pumpkin Bread and it may be hard to see but the butter and the sugar are already in the mixing bowl. Two pans are displayed, because the mixture can be used to make bread and/or muffins. The only thing that is not displayed is muffin cups and non-stick cooking spray.  With pre-measuring and mixing, minus bake time, it takes less than 15 minutes to make – talk about fast food!
Stir-fries are another perfect example where you will want to use a Mise en Place. Chop all your ingredients ahead of time, set out other ingredients you will be using and generally dinner is done in less than 15 minutes depending on what type of meat you use or if you use meat. Of course there is the chopping of the ingredients, but that generally takes less than 15 minutes. However, you can purchase ingredients already chopped to speed up the process.
Mise en Place for Grandma Helen’s Pumpkin Bread
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