Now that fall is in the air and the local farmer’s market has closed it’s time to start break the monotony of pasta or rice and fresh vegetables and start making actual dinners 🙂 I’ve decided that this fall and winter I want to try something new – a brand new recipe at least once a week! Usually I stick with what I know, have made before or have tried at someone else’s house. But, my recipes are getting boring and I’m getting tired of eating the same dishes over and over. So, I started looking on the Internet for new dishes to try. So far I’ve had the most luck at foodtv.com and marthastewart.com. I do not eat red meat, nor touch raw chicken or fish (just a weird food phobia I have) so I thought finding recipes would be a little difficult but I was very surprised to see how much is out there! So, if you have picky eaters, don’t worry, you will definitely find something out there!
- Pick recipes with ingredients you like! Example, if the recipe calls for rosemary and you know people that you are serving or you yourself does not like rosemary then either substitute it with something else or move on and find a different recipe. Don’t try to trick yourself into thinking “maybe I’ll like it once it’s in the dish.” You won’t and you’ll end up throwing it away.
- When needing fancy ingredients… try to use the rest of it during the week. For example, I usually don’t cook with fresh ginger, but this week my recipe called for it. So, I made a chocolate ginger cake to go along with it and will plan on adding it to other dishes during the week! Sometimes you can also freeze left over ingredients, too!
- Make larger batches! If you’ve made the recipe before or you’re 99% sure you’re going to love the new recipe make a larger batch and plan on freezing the leftovers for lunches or another dinner during the week. Try to eat your frozen food within 2 weeks to make sure you get the best flavor and avoid freezer burn!
- Substitute! Again, budget friendly is key – it’s not that good of a recipe when it costs $30+ per plate! If a recipe calls for “whole milk” but you happen to have “half and half” in the fridge, go ahead and use the “half and half”! I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to ingredients and try not to stress out if it’s not perfect. Most of the time no one notices!
I’ll be posting my Creative Cooking Monday recipes here once a week. If you have a recipe you’d like to recommend or have come up with a better name than “Creative Cooking Monday” please let me know 🙂
Comments