I feel like I need to give you a recipe for un-recipe. I will be the first to admit that for the longest time I was scared to cook without the guide of a recipe. I wouldn't even make a thing if I didn't know how much of what I was putting in. Now, well now I'm a hot kitchen mess! well not really, but my kitchen is messy! I very rarely use a recipe, and if I do it's a guide. I often use my own nose to smell the ingredients, like get right into the pan and smell what you're going to put in. Tossing the measuring spoons for 'yea that looks about right'. I don't always have wins. But the successes are great! I love my kitchen, and I want you to be friends with yours too!
My love for unraveling a recipe started when we moved to the UK. Lots of my Canadian recipes called for ingredients that England just didn't have. I really had to be creative and trust my palate. Trust that I knew flavors enough. Like a recipe that I had called for sun dried tomato salad dressing. There was no way I was going to find that, so what could I use instead? Sun dried tomatoes that's the start, what else? Well what's in salad dressing? The sun dried tomatoes came in oil, so I didn't drain it. Maybe a bit of garlic? A wee bit of vinegar? balsamic, perhaps. Sounds like a good substitute, and it didn't take much to whip it up besides some thinking. Or my famous risotto. The base recipe I use is from Jamie oliver, I follow it loosely until the end when I toss caution to the wind. Goat cheese today, parm tomorrow. Who knows! mushrooms, maybe? or maybe I have leeks?
Don't let your meals be tied down to a recipe. There are days when you have a meal planned and when you go to get your ingredients you find that someone has eaten a main part. Not a big deal. Roll with it! What do you have in the fridge? Start with the veg, what veg do you have kicking around...remember the slightly dead ones will cook up fine! Then move on to meat. Do you have something in the fridge to keep the veg company?
I love a good fridge meal. I always have ground beef in the fridge, sometimes a little fast fry steak. There is normally veg a plenty and some sort of cheese in the bottom drawer! The other night hubs informed me that he would be home for dinner after putting it in the calendar that he'd be out. What to make, what to make?! Well I had peppers, ground beef, sad tomatoes, some chilies, cauliflower and spinach. I quickly put a pot of rice on (I don't eat rice, but hubs and the kids do!) I would stuff peppers. I fried the beef, added some homemade taco seasoning. Once that was just about cooked I added the tomats, spinach and chilies. Smells good! Once that was done I took a wee bit of meat mix and added it to the rice for hubs peppers. For mine I chopped the cauliflower and added that to my meat. Put those in the oven for half an hour. The kids won't eat roasted peppers. So I put cheese on the leftover meat and popped that in the oven, Mexican skillet!
See it doesn't take skill, it takes creativity and some thought. Once you start playing in your kitchen you'll be more comfortable stepping outside the recipe boundaries. Letting go of, it has to be this way and replacing it with your likes and desires. It's good to have a base at all times in your fridge and pantry. Like cheese, veggies, ground beef/tofu/chicken, rice, flour and bread. You also need to start getting comfortable with the thought that breakfast isn't cereal and toast. Lunch isn't a sandwich and Dinner isn't tacos (or whatever dinner norm is in your house!) Sometimes in a pinch, dinner is a jumbo salad with all the fixings or meat loaf, biscuits with fruit, homemade mini pizzas, pancakes or maybe a mash up of lunch breakfast and dinner! Remember your base! I use mine a lot!
Recipes can be great. However, the real magic begins when you can let loose and allow yourself the freedom to create. Trust your senses, trust your gut, and trust your palate. Just remember, if you do create a really fantastic meal (and you will!) write down what you did. You may not follow it again, but it will act as a guide for next time.
Your kitchen is a big playground! Have fun with it, explore in it and create the most memorable meals of your life in it! You'll be thankful you took the chance!
Yours in health
Tiffany
My love for unraveling a recipe started when we moved to the UK. Lots of my Canadian recipes called for ingredients that England just didn't have. I really had to be creative and trust my palate. Trust that I knew flavors enough. Like a recipe that I had called for sun dried tomato salad dressing. There was no way I was going to find that, so what could I use instead? Sun dried tomatoes that's the start, what else? Well what's in salad dressing? The sun dried tomatoes came in oil, so I didn't drain it. Maybe a bit of garlic? A wee bit of vinegar? balsamic, perhaps. Sounds like a good substitute, and it didn't take much to whip it up besides some thinking. Or my famous risotto. The base recipe I use is from Jamie oliver, I follow it loosely until the end when I toss caution to the wind. Goat cheese today, parm tomorrow. Who knows! mushrooms, maybe? or maybe I have leeks?
Don't let your meals be tied down to a recipe. There are days when you have a meal planned and when you go to get your ingredients you find that someone has eaten a main part. Not a big deal. Roll with it! What do you have in the fridge? Start with the veg, what veg do you have kicking around...remember the slightly dead ones will cook up fine! Then move on to meat. Do you have something in the fridge to keep the veg company?
I love a good fridge meal. I always have ground beef in the fridge, sometimes a little fast fry steak. There is normally veg a plenty and some sort of cheese in the bottom drawer! The other night hubs informed me that he would be home for dinner after putting it in the calendar that he'd be out. What to make, what to make?! Well I had peppers, ground beef, sad tomatoes, some chilies, cauliflower and spinach. I quickly put a pot of rice on (I don't eat rice, but hubs and the kids do!) I would stuff peppers. I fried the beef, added some homemade taco seasoning. Once that was just about cooked I added the tomats, spinach and chilies. Smells good! Once that was done I took a wee bit of meat mix and added it to the rice for hubs peppers. For mine I chopped the cauliflower and added that to my meat. Put those in the oven for half an hour. The kids won't eat roasted peppers. So I put cheese on the leftover meat and popped that in the oven, Mexican skillet!
See it doesn't take skill, it takes creativity and some thought. Once you start playing in your kitchen you'll be more comfortable stepping outside the recipe boundaries. Letting go of, it has to be this way and replacing it with your likes and desires. It's good to have a base at all times in your fridge and pantry. Like cheese, veggies, ground beef/tofu/chicken, rice, flour and bread. You also need to start getting comfortable with the thought that breakfast isn't cereal and toast. Lunch isn't a sandwich and Dinner isn't tacos (or whatever dinner norm is in your house!) Sometimes in a pinch, dinner is a jumbo salad with all the fixings or meat loaf, biscuits with fruit, homemade mini pizzas, pancakes or maybe a mash up of lunch breakfast and dinner! Remember your base! I use mine a lot!
Recipes can be great. However, the real magic begins when you can let loose and allow yourself the freedom to create. Trust your senses, trust your gut, and trust your palate. Just remember, if you do create a really fantastic meal (and you will!) write down what you did. You may not follow it again, but it will act as a guide for next time.
Your kitchen is a big playground! Have fun with it, explore in it and create the most memorable meals of your life in it! You'll be thankful you took the chance!
Yours in health
Tiffany