1. Not reading through the recipe all the way before starting.
2. Overcrowding the pan.
3. Not preheating the pan.
4. Not using a large enough pot for cooking pasta.
5. Sautéing wet greens.
6. Substituting dried herbs for fresh without properly compensating.
7. Frying food in oil that is not hot enough

Even as an experienced home cook I sometimes fall prey to a few of these easy-to-make mistakes, such as pan overcrowding and not waiting long enough for oil to come up to temperature. In addition to naming each mistake the article also goes on to give tips on how to avoid making the mistake in the future. It’s well worth reading, so check it out:

7 Common Cooking Mistakes – Real Simple

1. Roma Tomatoes

We absolutely love Roma tomatoes. Last year we had four Roma plants and at one point wound up harvesting about 140 tomatoes over the course of three days. This year we decided to scale back to two Romas instead of four. Both of us really like the convenient size of Romas and the fact that they very rarely taste mealy. We started with two small potted Romas from Lowes.

2. Early Girl Tomatoes

Like the Romas, last year we also planted four Early Girls as well. Yes, you’ve done the math right: last year we had eight tomato plants crammed into a roughly 2′x8′ section of our little garden. Crowded didn’t even begin to describe it. This year we’re doing two Early Girls to go with our Romas. Last year’s Early Girls didn’t end up being all that early, the Romas actually were ready for harvest first, however we really liked the taste and size of the Early Girls so we’re trying them again this year. Our two Early Girls also came in the form of small pots from Lowes.

3. Sweet Green Bell Peppers

Between the 8 tomato plants and a hill of yellow squash that grew to over 4′ tall last year, our green peppers never really had a chance. This year we’ve got two sweet green bell pepper plants with a corner all to themselves, so hopefully we’ll get more than the 5 or 6 peppers we got all last year.  Once again these were started from small plants from Lowes.

4. Poblano Peppers

This is the biggest experiment we’ve got going in our garden this year. I absolutely love Poblano peppers for using in chili, so the last time I cooked chili I made sure to save some Poblano seeds. I inadvertently touched my face after handling the seeds, resulting in a mild chemical burn, so hopefully this experiment will turn out to be worth all the trouble! I dried the seeds for a couple weeks and we’ve planted quite a few in the corner opposite the bell peppers, so we’ll be waiting anxiously to see if they sprout in the next couple weeks.

5. Mesclun Greens

As we went to begin preparing the soil for this year’s gardening we realized we had a handful of mesclun greens sprouts that must have been left over from last year. We carefully removed them before turning over the soil and I transplanted 9 or 10 of them back into the garden when we were done. We’ll see how they do. Hopefully this will mean our first garden salad of the year will come early this year!

Has anyone else started their garden yet this year? If so, what are have you planted? I’ll have to post again in the next few days once we get everything else in the ground.